An Unearthly Child
"An Unearthly Child" was the first serial of Doctor Who, which originally aired from 23 November to 14 December 1963. It is named after the title of the first of four episodes which comprise this serial, but these four episodes are sometimes collectively designated under alternate titles, including "100,000 BC" and "The Tribe of Gum".
It was written by Anthony Coburn, directed by Waris Hussein, and produced by Verity Lambert.
Episode summaries
The section headers refer to the title of each 25-minute episode.
An Unearthly Child
Two English schoolteachers, Barbara Wright (History) and Ian Chesterton (Science), discuss one of their students, 15-year-old Susan Foreman, whose odd behaviour has caught their attention.
Barbara has found out Susan's address, and, out of concern for the girl's living conditions (the address is that of a junkyard), convinces Ian to accompany her there to see where Susan goes when she returns home from school.
They see her enter the junkyard, but when they follow her in, she has disappeared. Instead they find a police box which is making a strange humming noise.
An old man arrives, and walks towards the box. Barbara and Ian hide, until they hear Susan's voice as the old man begins to open the door of the police box.
They then explain the reason for the presence to the old man, who dismisses their concerns, but Susan opens the door of the police box and calls out for her grandfather. As Ian and the old man struggle, Barbara enters the police box, followed a moment later by Ian and the old man.
It is bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Confronted, the old man -- the Doctor, whose name is not Foreman -- and Susan begin to explain that the police box is, in fact, a spaceship (named "the Tardis" by Susan), and that they are not of this world. But in the face of Ian's incredulity, and out of concern for the fact that the schoolteachers might reveal their secrets if they leave, the Doctor activates the ship's controls, and the Tardis takes off, leaving 1963 London.
The Cave of Skulls
The Tardis arrives in prehistoric times.
The Forest of Fear
The Firemaker
Notes and analysis
An unaired "pilot" version of the episode "An Unearthly Child" exists; it was included on the DVD released for this serial.
The first episode is often considered independently of the latter three, as the introduction of the four central characters and the establishment of the premise are distinct from the prehistoric adventure that follows, and self-contained in terms of action and setting.
The "100 000 BC" storyline (to distinguish it from "An Unearthly Child"), however, provides an excellent counterpoint to the culture shock endured by Barbara and Ian upon meeting the Doctor and discovering Susan's unearthly background. They go from being primitive people in the face of advanced technology and alien knowledge to being the aliens in a world that is to them primitive, simply by travelling back in time.
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