| This page is similar in name or subject to other pages.
See also An Unearthly Child for a complete list of references to clarify differences between these closely named or closely related articles. |
- "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" | |
|---|---|
| Series Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 1 | |
| |
| Air date | November 23rd, 1963 |
| Writers | Anthony Coburn |
| Director | Waris Hussein |
| Producers | Verity Lambert; Rex Tucker; Mervyn Pinfield |
| Starring | William Hartnell; William Russell; Jacqueline Hill; Carole Ann Ford |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous — |
Next "The Cave of Skulls" |
"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.
Synopsis[]
Susan Foreman is a fifteen-year-old girl of a most peculiar nature - "an unearthly child". She is a student at the Coal Hill School in Shoreditch, where she takes science classes withe instructor Ian Chesterton and history class with teacher Barbara Wright. Though Susan seems quite knowledgeable of the breadth of world history, Barbara cannot help but notice that she is ignorant of most current events.
This piques Barbara's curiosity and she discusses her concerns with Ian Chesterton. They get Susan's home address from the school secretary and follow her home after class. They see her enter a strange police call box in the middle of the I.M. Foreman Junkyard. Upon close inspection, Ian notes that the box is making strange humming sound, as if it were alive.
A well-dressed elderly man approaches them and tries to shoo them away from the police box. They know Susan is inside and begin to grow even more concerned. The man tries to enter the box, but Barbara and Ian brush past him. They are astonished to find that the inside of the otherwise slender police box is a considerably larger hexagon-shaped room with strange spheres along the walls and a massive computer control center in the middle. Susan is there and explains that the elderly man and she are actually aliens from another world and that they are time travelers. The old man is her grandfather and known only as The Doctor. Susan tells them that what they thought was a police call box is in fact their time machine - a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The Doctor cannot risk their existence becoming known to the populace of Earth, so he has little choice but to keep Ian and Barbara inside the machine. Activating the controls, the TARDIS jaunts through the timestream where it arrives in Earth's prehistoric past.
Cast[]
Principal Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| William Hartnell | The Doctor |
| William Russell | Ian Chesterton |
| Jacqueline Hill | Barbara Wright |
| Carole Ann Ford | Susan Foreman |
Guest Stars[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Leslie Bates | Shadow |
| Francesca Bertorelli | School girl |
| Reg Cranfield | Police man |
| Heather Lyons | School girl |
| Mavis Ranson | School girl |
| Brian Thomas | School boy |
Notes & Trivia[]
- This is the first installment of a four-part storyline.
- 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.
- A novelization of this story-arc entitled Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child was published by Target Books on October 15th, 1981. The book was written by Terrance Dicks with cover illustration provided by Andrew Skilleter.
- 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.
- This episode is actor Brian Thomas' only known work in the science fiction genre.
- Susan Foreman is the first Gallifreyan featured on Doctor Who.
- Susan Foreman takes credit for coining the name TARDIS as an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space while describing its properties to Barbara Wright.
- Future director Joe Ahearne is born on the same day that "An Unearthly Child" first airs. He will go on to write episodes of the Doctor Who revival series.
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.
Quotes[]
- Susan Foreman: The TARDIS can go anywhere.
- Barbara Wright: TARDIS? I don't understand, Susan.
- Susan Foreman: Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I had thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside.
....
- Ian Chesterton: Let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?
- Susan Foreman: Yes.
- The Doctor: Quite so.
- Ian Chesterton: But that's ridiculous!
....
- The Doctor: You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms?
- Ian Chesterton: No.
- The Doctor: But you've discovered television, haven't you?
- Ian Chesterton: Yes.
- The Doctor: Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen, you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?