Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child

"We are not of this race. We are not of this Earth. Susan and I are wanderers in the fourth dimension of space and time, cut off from our own people by distances beyond the reach of your most advanced science."

- The Doctor

"An Unearthly Child" is the first broadcast episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is a slightly altered version of the originally recorded pilot episode and was directed by Waris Hussein and written by Anthony Coburn. It first aired on BBC-1 on Saturday, November 23rd, 1963. In this episode, two London school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright take an intense interest in one of their stranger students, fifteen-year-old Susan Foreman, who displays an uncanny intellect for a girl of such a young age. Deciding to keep their eye on her, they follow her home only to discover that the road home leads to an old junkyard. They watch Susan enter a mysterious police call box in the middle of the yard where upon they meet her grandfather, a polite, elderly man known only as the Doctor. The police call box is actually a time machine from another world called a TARDIS. When the Doctor learns that Ian and Barbara have followed Susan back to the TARDIS, he finds himself with little choice but to abduct them in order to safeguard their own identities as alien time travelers.

Notes & Trivia

 * Cast rehearsals for "An Unearthly Child" were held at 239 Uxbridge Road in West London on September 21st, 1963. The episode was recorded on September 27th at Studio D, Lime Grove Studios.


 * This episode first aired the day following the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.


 * Had a viewership of 4.4 million. The second broadcast, which aired on BBC-2, attracted 6.0 million viewers.


 * First episode to be broadcast internationally.


 * Director Waris Hussein would go on to direct nine more episodes of the series in season one, beginning with "The Cave of Skulls" and six episodes of the seven-part "Marco Polo" story-arc.

Home Video
"An Unearthly Child" was first released on the Doctor Who: The Hartnell Years video compilation in VHS format in 1991 by BBC Video. The version of the episode that appeared on the video tape was a previously unbroadcast episode that included different takes from the one that originally aired. This version is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "pilot" episode of the series, though that particular industry term was not used on BBC television in the early 1960s. The episode was introduced by actor Sylvester McCoy, who played the Seventh Doctor from 1987 to 1989. The episode was also included on the Doctor Who: The Beginning DVD collection which was released in Region 2 format in January, 2006. It was released in the United States and Canada on Region 1 format on March 2nd. The episode included audio commentary by actors William Russell, Carole Ann Ford and producer Verity Lambert. An alternate audio commentary included commentary by director Waris Hussein and was moderated by Gary Russell, editor of the Doctor Who magazine.