‘AN UNEARTHLY CHILD’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Beginning of ‘Doctor Who’
This is where it all started…back in 1963!
I was a newcomer to ‘Doctor Who’ back in 2005/2006. I was enjoying watching the new series with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant as the Doctors. In the interim of waiting for new episodes to come, I decided to venture forth and pursue watching the classic series of ‘Doctor Who’.
My life has never been the same since as I’ve enjoyed watching classic episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ from before I was born. It was my Dad who got me into watching ‘Doctor Who’ and because he knew I was enjoying the new series a lot, he purchased ‘The Beginning’ DVD box set with William Hartnell.
My Dad’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ was with William Hartnell back at the beginning. He remembers watching the very first episode of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 1963 and remembers watching ‘The Daleks’ for the very first time. Watching these episodes gave me a thrill as they are pieces of TV history.
‘The Beginning’ DVD box set contains three stories including ‘An Unearthly Child’; ‘The Daleks’ and ‘The Edge of Destruction’. I’ve enjoyed watching these three stories and found them an interesting insight into learning how this extraordinary TV series that I love watching began all those years ago.
‘An Unearthy Child’ is the first adventure ever in the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s a four-part story by Anthony Coburn.
N.B. – The episode selection contains the unaired ‘pilot episode’ as well as the four transmitted episodes of this TV story. Watch the actual ‘four episodes’ first before watching the ‘pilot episode’.
‘Doctor Who’ had humble beginnings as the first episode starts with a policeman inspecting a junkyard at 76 Totter’s Lane in Shoreditch, London. Inside that junkyard is a battered old police box.
The first episode begins at Coal Hill School with a schoolgirl called Susan Foreman. Susan is a mystery girl to teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright as she seems to know more than she should.
They become curious and follow her home to 76 Totter’s Lane. They discover that Susan lives with her grandfather called the Doctor and they live in a police box that is a spaceship called the TARDIS.
I enjoyed watching this first episode and comparing how the new series started with ‘Rose’ in 2005. It must have been extraordinary for audiences in 1963 who have never seen anything like this before.
I enjoyed the set-up of the first TARDIS team in ‘Doctor Who’. Usually the Doctor travels with one companion. But here, he starts travelling with three companions including Susan, Ian and Barbara.
Carole Ann Ford stars as Susan, the unearthly child and the Doctor’s granddaughter. I like Carole’s performance as Susan who is no ordinary schoolgirl and turns out to be alien despite being cheeky.
William Russell stars as Ian Chesterton, a brave man who teaches science at Susan’s school. He finds Susan extraordinary and is gobsmacked that her home is a police box that is ‘bigger on the inside’.
Jacqueline Hill stars as Barbara Wright, who teaches history at Susan’s school. Barbara is a kind-hearted lady who’s curious about Susan and asks Ian to join her to find out who she really is.
The star is William Hartnell as the First Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. This was the first time I’d seen William Hartnell and I found his interpretation of the Doctor interesting compared to the new series.
The Doctor is eccentric and alien. He clearly isn’t nice as he seems to be in the show’s first TV story. He takes Ian and Barbara away from their home-time against their will as they blunder into the TARDIS.
The TARDIS takes the four time-travellers to the Stone Age where they meet the cavemen who want to make fire. I must admit I found the cavemen story less interesting than the actual first episode.
The DVD special features are as follows. There’s the un-transmitted ‘pilot episode’ in the Episode Selection menu. There’s also the ‘pilot episode’ studio recording’ feature; three versions of the theme music video; four comedy sketches (including three with Mark Gattis and David Walliams) and a photo gallery of the story. There are audio commentaries on three selected episodes of the story. They are all moderated by Gary Russell and are with William Russell; Carole Ann Ford; producer Verity Lambert and director Waris Hussein. There is also an information text commentary option to enjoy.
‘An Unearthly Child’ has an exciting first episode on how ‘Doctor Who’ began and depicts the first adventure set in the Stone Age. I enjoyed watching these four episodes. It was a slow start into this series, but things would get better especially with the following story in ‘The Beginning’ DVD box set.
‘An Unearthly Child’ rating – 5/10
| The previous story
For the First Doctor was
For Ian was
For Susan was For Barbara was
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The next story For the First Doctor is
For Ian is
For Barbara is
For Susan is
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| Return to The First Doctor’s Timeline | |
| Return to Ian’s Timeline | |
| Return to Barbara’s Timeline | |
| Return to Susan’s Timeline | |
| Return to The Doctors’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to The Companions’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to Doctor Who Timelines | |
| Return to Doctor Who | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Bradley's Basement 
Yeah the pilot episode hooks you in with mostly the four leads but episodes 2-4 are slow go going it lacks excitement & the scene when the Doctor hints to bash that injured mans skull in was shocking for a family show I’m glad these nuisances were ironed out later on in the season, i like comparing the transmitted & untransmitted episode of the pilot, the Doctor is unlikable in the untransmitted ep & i understand why they made the changes they made.
Don’t suppose your dad recorded the missing 97 episodes or knows there whereabouts does he lol, great review as ever Tim of the Doctor’s humble beginnings.
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Hi Simon.
Glad you enjoyed my review on ‘An Unearthly Child’.
Very pleased you concur with me on my thoughts about the first episode being great whilst the last three episodes set in the Stone Age were slow-going. Yeah the Doctor about to bash a man with a rock was quite shocking to see. I’m glad the Doctor’s character changed later on in the series in being more compassionate and kind-hearted. I’m also pleased with the alterations made in his introduction from the untransmitted to the transmitted pilot episode. I didn’t like how the Doctor was portrayed in the untransmitted episode as he did indeed came across as unlikeable in that.
Um, not to my knowledge I’m afraid. Video recorders weren’t around in the 1960s were they? 😀 Also my Dad didn’t watch every single episode of ‘Doctor Who’ as a kid like I’ve done. He recalls the first episode, the first ‘Daleks’ story, ‘Marco Polo’ and ‘The Chase’ vividly from watching the series back in the 1960s.
Many thanks for your comments, Simon. Glad you enjoyed the review.
Tim. 🙂
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Great review Tim.
It’s been a while since I watched ‘An Unearthly Child’, but I seem to recall the story very well. I mostly agree with what you’ve said about it. I’ll be rewatching the story this month so that I can do my own review of it, then I’ll do the rest of Season 1. You probably won’t be doing this, but I thought I’d start watching Season 2 at the same time. That’s probably not the best thing to do, but I don’t want to leave watching Season 2 for too long. There’s also the new illustrated version of the ‘Doctor Who and the Daleks’ novelisation, which I’m currently reading whilst listening to the audiobook read by William Russell.
Before all that though, I will be listening to the Big Finish Companion Chronicle ‘The Beginning’, which documents the First Doctor and Susan leaving Gallifrey. Have you heard it Tim?
My ‘Black Orchid’ review should be easy to do since I can remember the plot and production well enough.
Take care, WF92.
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Hi WF92,
Glad you enjoyed my review on ‘An Unearthly Child’. I look forward to your review on the story when you get to sharing it on your blog. I don’t know when I’m going to share updated reviews on the stories in Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’. At the moment, my priority is getting the rest of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon sorted as well as finish writing up ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, which I’ve been lagging behind for the past couple of days. Hopefully it’ll all be done and I’ll be getting onto updating my reviews on Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ soon.
I’m hoping to check out and review ‘The Beginning’ audio story as part of my ‘Doctor Who’ Easter review season. Whether that will happen or not remains to be determined. Stay tuned. 😀 I look forward to when your ‘Black Orchid’ review comes along.
Many thanks, and Happy New Year.
Tim 🙂
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Excellent review Tim, I’ll never grasp how episode 1 is so good yet 2-4 become lacklustre, surely a better story would’ve benefited the first story of a new series than cavemen and fire.
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Hi Simon.
Glad you enjoyed reading my review on ‘An Unearthly Child’ again. Yet, it’s wierd how the first episode can be so captivating, yet the second to fourth episodes are so average. Then again, they were just starting and it’s just as well ‘The Daleks’ became a winner in the following story.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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When I finally had the chance to see An Unearthly Child (let alone anything else, even the Daleks, from Hartnell’s era) after the classic series cancellation, what I was most unprepared for was one question I asked myself. Namely: Would I have still become a Whovian had I seen Dr. Who at the very start? As I’ve shared in previous comments, Tom Baker’s era started it all for me and then it was seeing The Three Doctors by chance that prepared me somewhat for earlier eras.
Humble beginnings is right when new fans can come to terms with how much simpler Dr. Who’s adventure format originally was. Even in a decade where sci-fi in many humble-beginning ways was making significant headway on TV. Certainly Star Trek. For a show that would clearly work through a most special and unique sci-fi flexibility, I have great respect for Whovians who would have enjoyed classic Dr. Who during the very beginning. Because that’s the best way to grasp all that’s changed for Dr. Who in the many following decades.
Thank you, Tim, for your review.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘An Unearthly Child’. Glad you enjoyed my review. I like to consider both the classic and the new shows of ‘Doctor Who’ as part of the same series. Even if they had different ways of making the show, they’ve more or less kept to the same premise of the Doctor who is an alien travelling in space and time in the TARDIS with friends. It’s something I expected to see in the William Hartnell era after checking out the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant eras, and I’ve enjoyed the humble beginnings ‘Doctor Who’ had. This is especially through the TARDIS team of the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan in both ‘An Unearthy Child’ and the remaining stories of ‘The Beginnings’ trilogy. ‘The Daleks’ may have set ‘Doctor Who’ on the right track, but I appreciate the very first episode being set in London 1963 where we meet Susan and how Ian and Barbara are intrigued by her before they meet the Doctor. It’s a shame that the next three episodes featuring the cavemen story let it down slightly.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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