By John Bowman, Chuck Foster, and Marcus

Doctor Who began on 23rd November 1963, but the first tentative steps that led to the launch of what would become the world's longest-running and most successful science-fiction series in television history took place 20 months earlier, in March 1962 - exactly 50 years ago this month.



As we head towards the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the show's first episode, An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who News is proud to present this occasional series that will go back in time to celebrate and mark the golden milestones in the creation of a true TV legend.

Every fan knows thatbegan on, but the first tentative steps that led to the launch of what would become the world's longest-running and most successful science-fiction series in television history took place 20 months earlier, in- exactly 50 years ago this month.As we head towards the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the show's first episode,is proud to present this occasional series that will go back in time to celebrate and mark the golden milestones in the creation of a true TV legend.

PREVIOUS BRITISH TV SF & TELEFANTASY (including Doctor Who connections) :



1962 TOP BBC PERSONNEL :



Hugh Carleton Greene – Director-General, 1960-69

Editor-in-Chief of the BBC and the person ultimately responsible for everything broadcast

– Director-General, 1960-69 Editor-in-Chief of the BBC and the person ultimately responsible for everything broadcast Kenneth Adam – Director of Television, 1961-68

Responsible for everything on BBC Television

– Director of Television, 1961-68 Responsible for everything on BBC Television Stuart Hood - Controller of Programmes at BBC TV, 1961-63

- Controller of Programmes at BBC TV, 1961-63 Donald Baverstock – Assistant Controller of Programmes for BBC TV, 1961-63

– Assistant Controller of Programmes for BBC TV, 1961-63 Norman Rutherford – Acting Head of Drama (having taken over from Michael Barry in September 1961) until December 1962 and the arrival of Sydney Newman from ABC

– Acting Head of Drama (having taken over from Michael Barry in September 1961) until December 1962 and the arrival of from ABC Donald Wilson – Head of Script Department

– Head of Script Department Eric Maschwitz – Assistant and Adviser to the Controller of Programmes

The BBC of the early Sixties was a very different organisation to the global multi-media corporation that exists today. The British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1922 by a group of six electronics companies that needed to make radio programmes to provide content for the sets they were trying to sell. By 1927, a Royal Charter was granted, the Company had become a Corporation, and had developed into the world's largest public-service broadcaster. By 1962, radio was still considered to be a more important service than television, with the BBC broadcasting three national networks: the Home Service, the Light Programme, and the Third Programme.Television tests had begun as early as 1929, with the world's first regular high-definition service launching on. After a break because of World War II, transmissions resumed in 1946. The BBC had exclusive use of the airwaves until 1955, when competition arrived with the formation of the commercial channel ITV, and the BBC faced a rival for the first time in its history. Struggling to compete, the BBC appointed a dynamic new Director-General,, in 1960. He took an organisation seen by many as a stuffy, stagnating branch of the Establishment and turned it into a radical, risk-taking, innovative broadcaster, producing programmes as diverse as, andBy 1962, TV sets were a feature in nearly 13 million of the UK's 17 million homes. The BBC radio licence fee stood at £1 per year, but to watch television you would need to fork out £3 plus £1 excise duty, making £4 each year, roughly equal to £64 today. For that you could watch the single BBC channel, which broadcast for around eight hours each day, closing down at 11pm until around lunchtime the next day.From its inception, BBC Television had been an eclectic mix of genres, with drama featuring from the very start., an adaptation of the short play by Luigi Pirandello, was the first drama transmitted, being broadcast live on. By 1938, the first science-fiction programme had been commissioned.(aka) was a 35-minute adaptation of a section of Karel Čapek's 1920 play broadcast on. The play in full was broadcast live a decade later, with future Doctorin the role of Radius.By the Sixties, the BBC had a well-established Drama Unit. Split into two separate groups, the Script Department was responsible for commissioning and developing scripts, and the Drama Department would then be tasked with making the shows. At the time, the Script Department was headed by, a veteran of the film industry who had joined the Corporation in 1955. Wilson had a team of eight script editors working for him, each with a brief to develop a strand of programming, as well as writers, adapters, readers and researchers.The appetite for ideas for new material to be developed by the department was huge and it was Wilson who had set up a small group called the Monitoring Group, later known as the Survey Group, whose task was to keep a watching brief on other media and to look for ideas that could be used by the Script Department in developing ideas for television.The impetus of the report that would eventually lead to the creation ofcame from former screenwriter and lyricist. Maschwitz had, until recently, been the Head of Light Entertainment at BBC Television, so was not known for his drama connections, but by early 1962 he was working as Assistant and Adviser to the Controller of Programmes.It was in this capacity that Maschwitz, in, suggested to Wilson that the Survey Group investigate the literary genre of science-fiction to see if such material was suitable for a series of short, single adaptations. Wilson set two of his staff, script editor for dramaand his colleague, the task of producing a report to be presented to an upcoming script meeting.It was with the commissioning of this report that wheels began turning and events were put in motion that would lead to the first episode ofbeing screened on