Happy Forty Ninth Anniversary Doctor Who!

Today is the birthday of a landmark television series.  On this date in 1963 the very first episode of a brand new sci-fi show was transmitted for the very first time.  The programme was called Doctor Who and viewers watched enthralled as two curious school teachers discover that one of their pupils actually lives inside a Police Box at 76 Totters Lane!

Carole Ann Ford played the character of Susan Foreman, who would be revealed to be the Doctor's grand daughter.  The Doctor himself was played by the noted character actor William Hartnell, who was best remembered for The Army Game as well as the films The Way Ahead and Carry On Sergeant.  He was well loved in the role of the Doctor and only left the part when he became too ill to continue.

No one back then could even begin to perceive just how popular this show was going to get until the TARDIS actually left the Stone Age and landed on the planet Skaro.  However let's just forget about the Daleks for a moment, we all know it was their first story which catapulted Doctor Who into the success story it now is.

I wasn't born when Doctor Who first began but the very first episode of the show is a ground breaking piece of television drama.  It set's up the basic format of Doctor Who which would endure for another twenty six years on BBC1!  Thanks to the concept of regeneration which allowed the shows Producer's to change the lead actor, the long term future of Doctor Who is assured.  I have no doubt that the programme will always continue as not only is it a popular show but it is held in high regard by the BBC as a super brand because of it's marketing and merchandising potential.

There is something special about Doctor Who which transcends it for me as more than just a television programme.  It is looked at with great affection and love by many people worldwide.  The shows legacy gives us era's of the programme which are unique thanks to the fine actors cast in the title role. The programme's fan base and appeal consists of kids of six up to adults in their eighties.  Such is the power of a programme which grew from modest beginnings way back on this particular day in 1963.

In truth Doctor Who is possibly one of the greatest television shows ever created, if not the greatest!  The show has a limitless appeal, and since it's return in 2005 it has garnered even more fans. 

So let us raise our glasses today at 5.00pm as the Doctor Who Bar's Special Session of An Unearthly Child get's under way and we celebrate the birth of a television legend.

We press play at 5.15pm on the first episode of the longest running sci-fi series in the universe!

Happy Forty Ninth Birthday to Doctor Who.