An Unearthly Child (100,000 BC Episode 1)

The one where two curious school teachers interfere in something best left alone...

It's been said before, and it'll be said every time somebody new sees An Unearthly Child for the first time - this has to be one of the finest first episodes of any television programme, ever. We all know that the first attempt at filming it wasn't up to scratch (but isn't it lovely we can see that too?), but for saying it was produced by an inexperienced 27-year-old and directed by a 24-year-old, the achievement stands the test of time considerably. A lot of the success has to go to writer Anthony Coburn too. He was 35, but not exactly an old hand either.

Right from the very first second, An Unearthly Child is astonishing. Those opening visuals and that theme music would have knocked the socks off the audience back in 1963 - the looping, undulating, ever-so-slightly-threatening score by Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer perfectly matches Bernard Lodge's ethereal, mesmeric, hypnotic "howlaround" graphics. In 1963, it was like nothing ever seen before, and even today, it remains almost unique, its bewitching power undiminished.

The theme tune plays for a full 90 seconds as we see a policeman wander through a foggy street, and hear church bells chime in the distance. Director Waris Hussein's ambitious opening dolly shot is superb, pushing through the gates of Totter's Yard, briefly taking in the ramshackle surroundings, before focusing in on a humming police box. This puts the viewer right into the set, and we're left wondering what the hell a police box is doing in a junkyard. Then we zoom in on the police box door panel - PULL TO OPEN - like a Christmas present waiting to give up its surprise!

"Wait there please Susan, I won't be long!" The first words ever uttered in Doctor Who, by our first proper character, Barbara Wright. We're then treated to a hilarious exchange between some anonymous school children, when a somewhat camp young man, who looks for all the world like a teenage Kenneth Williams, peers over two girls' shoulders, pulls an "oooooh" face, and runs off. The two perfectly Sixties girls roll their eyes, and one whispers in the other's ear, causing both to snigger and walk off. This is Doctor Who's first moment of levity, and it's very probably in the form of gossip about somebody's sexuality. What a shame we don't get to see these young characters again!

The scenes between Barbara and Ian show that the teachers obviously have a solidarity. Barbara can be quite serious and stern, while Ian humours her, teases her almost. But the relationship works, and is convincing, because of the chinks of warmth between them. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill strike just the right balance between professionalism and familiarity here, fueling decades of conjecture about the truth of Ian and Barbara's relationship, both before and after they travel with the Doctor. One thing that's not explained, though: why has Susan's homework been so poor lately? It can't be because she and her grandfather have been zipping about time and space, because she later says they haven't been anywhere for five months. Unless she's been spending her evenings at the local milk bar, or Harry's cafe...

Ah, Susan! Again, Hussein excels with his establishing shot of the kooky teenager. Carole Ann Ford is perfectly cast as this quirky, strange, elfin creature who dances like an alien and seems utterly out of place. On her transistor radio, she listens to a Shadows-esque track by John Smith and the Common Men (actually Three Guitars Mood 2 by the Arthur Nelson Group), but this is nothing compared to the ominous, foreboding score composer Norman Kay gives her when she's acting all strange. It's a creeping, spooky piece of music perfect for its subject. "I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious!" says Susan. She's no ordinary teenage girl, that's for sure.

I love the fact that writer Anthony Coburn had the foresight to presume the UK would adopt a decimal monetary system by having Susan mention that it hasn't happened "yet". Decimalisation in Britain was certainly under discussion as early as 1960 following the success of the transition in South Africa, but it wasn't formally announced as happening until March 1966.

Another surprising moment in this episode is when Ian and Barbara discuss Susan while sitting in the car in Totter's Lane. Ian considers that Susan might be meeting a boy in the junkyard. That would be "so wonderfully normal" admits Barbara. Seldom would teenage libidos be mentioned again in Doctor Who's classic era.

"I feel frightened," shivers Barbara, "as if we're about to interfere in something best left alone." That may be the case Babs, but your life will never be this normal again!

Hussein cuts to a shot of Susan eating a sweet, then pans to the smashed head of a dressmaker's dummy. His ambition and vision shines through. He is determined to make something special. We share Ian and Barbara's curiosity as they explore the junkyard, and then, at 11 minutes 30 seconds, we hear a cough from out of shot. And here he is - Doctor Who! "What are you doing here?" he says, and the adventure begins.

William Hartnell is fantastic in this episode. He's since become known for his fluffs and jitters and vagueness, but here, distilled in this 25 minutes, is why he was respected as one of the finest character actors of his day. He was a film star, no less, and his experience shows. He has instant gravitas and presence, throwing asides as he examines a damp and dirty painting. As the Doctor eavesdrops on Ian and Barbara's discussions about Susan, Hartnell's eyes dart from side to side as he pretends to examine a jug. Hartnell looks right down the camera lens at times, pulling every possible moment of mystery and eccentricity out of his performance. He makes the Doctor scheming, stand-offish, confident but charming, and uses more of his own speaking voice than the slightly more elderly affectation that he'd quickly develop.

And then, at 14 minutes and 29 seconds, Barbara Wright bursts through the doors of the TARDIS and we're treated to a beautiful pan across the control room. It is clean, white and gleaming, a minimalist vision of the future as seen through a 1960s lens. Peter Brachacki's work on the TARDIS interior set is breathtaking in its scope and vision. He might not have been all that invested in the show behind the scenes, but what he did give to Doctor Who was perhaps the single most visionary design of the programme's entire run. And this is episode one!

Coburn's script from hereon in starts to build Doctor Who's mythos. We learn that the Doctor and Susan are from a different civilisation, a different century, it seems. But then there's mention of being cut off from their own planet, "without friends or protection". Are they fugitives on the run? Escaped prisoners? It's all so beautifully intriguing. Coburn poses as many questions as he answers. Are they aliens? Or time travellers from Earth's future? It'd be some time before we found out for sure...

The Doctor is a bit of a bastard here, it has to be said. As soon as Ian and Barbara are inside his Ship, he seems to sideline them, ignore them. He talks about them and to them as if they are lesser creatures. He is patronising, judgmental and superior in ways Jon Pertwee's Doctor could be. He even wantonly electrocutes Ian at one point, and shows no remorse.

I'm not quite sure what happens when the TARDIS eventually takes off. The Doctor seems perfectly willing to allow Susan to leave him to stay in the 20th century, but suddenly the Ship is taking off and the occupants are flung about like dolls. The take-off is depicted for all the world like a rocket ship, with the slowly rising whistle effect, the zoom out from the London city street from above, and then the vertical rocket trail from the title sequence. This scene is thrilling and weird, and seems to leave the Doctor dazed, and Ian and Barbara unconscious (we don't see the effect on Susan).

We then cut to the police box standing incongruously in a desert landscape, it's roof light flashing like a beacon. The police box has moved! And then a shadow is cast across the foreground, watching the TARDIS from off-camera. This "something is just off-camera" trick will be reproduced for the end of episode one of the following serial in the form of a sink plunger. But that's another story...

An Unearthly Child remains an ambitious, well-written and superbly executed piece of television which, in many ways, is the pinnacle of what Doctor Who is all about. Some claim Doctor Who was never quite this good again. That's not the case, but it's true that Doctor Who very rarely managed to recapture the mystery and magic of these 25 minutes. What the production team achieved back in October 1963 was nothing short of sorcery.

First broadcast: November 23rd, 1963

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: For sheer OMGness, it's got to be Peter Brachacki's TARDIS set.
The Bad: There's nothing to fault in this 25 minutes. It's perfection.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★★

NEXT TIME: The Cave of Skulls...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Cave of Skulls (episode 2); The Forest of Fear (episode 3); The Firemaker (episode 4)

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/an-unearthly-child.html

An Unearthly Child is available as part of the Doctor Who - The Beginning box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Beginning-Unearthly-Destruction/dp/B000C6EMTC