Meanwhile, Frick thought it might be more modern to feature a flying saucer carrying the regular cast of characters from story to story.

As detailed in a subsequent report by Frick, Wilson thought that if a time machine was used it should be able to travel not only backwards and forwards in time but also into all kinds of matter such as a drop of oil or under the sea.

Some discussion was held over the type of craft to be used in the series. Many ideas were put forward, with all agreeing that around seven or eight ideas would be needed to make enough stories to fill a 52-week series. The meeting set out to lay down some ground rules for the series, with discussions ranging from the practical to the esoteric and with concepts such as the nature of energy and the persistence of human thought being debated. His published stage plays had included Be Good, Sweet Maid in 1957 and Out of the Frying Pan in 1960, while for television he had written the 1961 action-adventure serial Hurricane and in 1962 the children's comedy William, which starred Dennis Waterman in one of his earliest roles and was adapted from some of the Just William books by Richmal Crompton. They were joined by a fourth member of the script department, Cecil Edwin Webber.īetter known by the nickname 'Bunny', Cecil Webber was an established playwright with credits on the stage and screen. It was on 26th March 1963 - exactly 50 years ago today - that four people convened in an office in Television Centre to lay down the ground rules for the series that would develop, eight months later, into Doctor Who.ĭonald Wilson chaired the meeting in his role as Head of the Script Department, and it took as its starting point the reports on science-fiction compiled the previous year by the Survey Group, whose authors, John Braybon and Alice Frick, were present. The story so far: Sydney Newman, the new Head of Television Drama at the BBC has asked the Script Department to come up with ideas for a new science-fiction series that would not not only bridge the gap on Saturday evenings between Grandstand and the pop music show Juke Box Jury but also appeal to both audiences. The eighth in our series of features looking at events leading to the creation of a true TV legend.

Unearthly series order