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BBC bosses face a dilemma over celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who on November 23, which falls a day after the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. So which event will take precedence?

The first Doctor Who was eclipsed by the JFK coverage, and had to be shown again the following week, just before the second instalment.

The Guardian didn’t review it at all. One critic complained: “The space- ship, for some unexplained reason, looks like a police box in a dusty desert. I hope this will be explained later.”

Only this week at a BBC drama party, Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat was talking about the clash with Alan Yentob. “Alan is quite clear that the BBC will not be marking Kennedy in any way and it will be all about Doctor Who, aren’t you Alan?” joked Moffat.

Yentob replied with a chuckle: “I think there can be room for both.”

A BBC spokesman said:“We haven’t announced all of the plans yet [for Doctor Who], but they will be epic.”