The Ice Warriors

(Series 5, Episodes 11-16)

Summary: Giant collars and skin tight cow print onesies will be really hip in the future.  Computers versus the human mind, with some interesting twists.  And oh look – a female scientist!  Victoria does some more screaming, Jamie suffers heroic man-pain and the Doctor is oddly blasé about melting an entire alien race.

Watch it because: Those husky-voiced Ice Warriors.

Original Air Date: 11 November – 16 December 1967.

Doctor: Patrick Troughton.

Companions: Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling).

Writer: Brian Hayles.

Director: Derek Martinus.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes, although Episodes 2 and 3 are animations.

Lost Episodes VII

The Abominable Snowmen

(Series 5, Episodes 5-10)

Significant for: The first appearance of the Second Doctor’s recurring foe, the Yeti.

The Tomb of the Cybermen

(Series 5, Episodes 1-4)

Summary: A group of archaeologists visit the planet Telos to discover what happened to the Cybermen.  Look out – it’s a trap!  Oh, but some of you knew that!  This story is just so layered.  Jamie makes a new space buddy, only for him to die horribly minutes later, the Cybermats are introduced, and Victoria screams even more than Polly.

Watch it because:

Victoria: “You probably can't remember your family.”

The Doctor: “Oh yes, I can when I want to. And that's the point, really. I have to really want to, to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they... they sleep in my mind and I forget.”

Poor Susan.

Original Air Date: 2 – 23 September 1967.

Doctor: Patrick Troughton.

Companions: Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling).

Writer: Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis.

Director: Morris Barry.

Producer: Peter Bryant.

Available on DVD? Yes.

Lost Episodes VI

The Macra Terror

(Series 4, Episodes 28-31)

Significant for: The first appearance of the Macra and the first re-design of the opening titles since the series began.

The Faceless Ones

(Series 4, Episodes 32-37)

Significant for: The departure of Ben and Polly, who realise they have landed back on Earth on the day they left, in 1966.

The Evil of the Daleks

(Series 4, Episodes 38-44)

Significant for: The Doctor adopts another orphan, Victoria Waterfield, after her scientist father is killed by the Daleks.

The Moonbase

(Series 4, Episodes 24-27)

Summary: The Doctor and his friends visit the moon in Hazmat suits and discover a base that controls the Earth’s weather.  Jamie gets a bump on the noggin and becomes deliriously Scottish, Polly makes a lot of coffee (no tea on the moon) and the Doctor fakes scienceing to buy them time.  The Cybermen are back, but the future still has no women, which is a shame as it turns out the Cybermen can be defeated with nail varnish remover.

Watch it because: The Phantom McCrimmon Piper!

Original Air Date: 11 February – 4 March 1967.

Doctor: Patrick Troughton.

Companions: Ben Jackson (Michael Craze), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines).

Writer: Kit Pedler.

Director: Morris Barry.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes, although Episodes 1 and 3 are animations.

The Underwater Menace

(Series 4, Episodes 20-23)

Summary: Newsflash!  Atlantis is not lost!  They’re still hanging around under the sea, waiting for a crazy Russian scientist to help them rise from the waves.  Jamie, despite being from the 18^th century, is remarkably nonplussed by all this.  Polly, predictably, spends a lot of time screaming, but doesn’t get to make any tea.  The Doctor and Ben have a Titanic moment as the city floods, but thankfully both make it out alive.

Watch it because: The fish people of Atlantis are curiously beautiful.

Original Air Date: 14 January – 4 February 1967.

Doctor: Patrick Troughton.

Companions: Ben Jackson (Michael Craze), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines).

Writer: Geoffrey Orme.

Director: Julia Smith.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes, although Episodes 2 and 4 are reconstructions.

Lost Episodes V

The Power of the Daleks

(Series 4, Episodes 9-15)

Significant for: It’s Patrick Troughton’s first episode, and the first time the Doctor has to explain regeneration to his companions (though it is not referred to by this name yet).

NOTE: A full-length animation will be released on DVD TOMORROW!

The Highlanders

(Series 4, Episodes 16-19)

Significant for: The arrival of Jamie McCrimmon, a Scottish piper from the 18^th Century.

The Tenth Planet

(Series 4, Episodes 5-8)

Summary: It’s the far distant future: 1986.  An international space base exists in Antarctica, yet still no women serve in the military.  A mysterious ‘tenth planet’ appears in the sky (someone should break the news about Pluto to these guys).  It turns out to be an upside down version of Earth, for reasons never fully explained.  We meet the Cybermen, Polly screams a lot and makes tea and Ben gets very angry at the audacity of these cybernetic geezers.  The Doctor is so worn out by the whole experience that he stumbles back to the TARDIS and regenerates into Patrick Troughton.

Watch it because: It’s the first time we meet the Cybermen and the last time we see William Hartnell as the Doctor.  Sob.

Original Air Date: 8 – 29 October 1966.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills).

Writer: Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis.

Director: Derek Martinus.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes, although Episode 4 is only available as an animation, which sadly means we don’t actually see William Hartnell’s final scenes.

Lost Episodes IV

The Smugglers

(Series 4, Episodes 1-4)

Significant for: Being the first episodes to be filmed on location outside of London, in Cornwall.

The War Machines

(Series 3, Episodes 42-45)

Summary: London, 1966.  A computer named WOTAN wants to take over the world by controlling the minds of a few scientists up the BT Tower.  The military are called in but are hapless and ineffectual.  The Doctor defeats the computer’s tank-like robots by roping them off in a VIP area, picking up a cockernee sailor and a posh secretary in the process.  Meanwhile, Dodo disappears in episode two, never to be seen again.

Watch it because: Doctor Who does the swinging sixties.

Original Air Date: 25 June – 16 July 1966.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane), Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills).

Writer: Ian Stuart Black.

Director: Michael Ferguson.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes.

Lost Episodes III

The Savages

(Series 3, Episodes 38-41)

Significant for: Steven leaving, to help two future races build a lasting peace.  Peter Purves was the last of his fellow actors that William Hartnell really trusted and it’s heartbreakingly obvious in Hartnell’s final few stories that, on top of his health issues, there is a spark missing in his performance.

The Gunfighters

(Series 3, 34-37)

Summary: The Doctor, despite being a highly skilled scientist from another planet and time, with all the dentistry there ever was or will be available to him, decides the best place to sort out his toothache is the American Wild West.  (Time Lords get toothache – who knew?)  Dodo and Steven dress as Disney cowboys and, quite fortuitously, turn out to be remarkably skilled musicians.  A lot of people get shot and a woman sings the plot for us, in case we weren’t paying attention.

Watch it because: Don’t.  Unless you keep it on mute.

Original Air Date: 30 April – 21 May 1966.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane).

Writer: Donald Cotton.

Director: Rex Tucker.

Producer: Innes Lloyd.

Available on DVD? Yes. Though I’d happily exchange it for the safe return of Marco Polo.

Lost Episodes II

The Celestial Toymaker

(Series 3, Episodes 30-33)

Significant for: The Doctor and his companions are forced to play a series of bizarre games in order to return safely to the TARDIS.

The Ark

(Series 3, Episodes 26-29)

Summary: Completely inexplicable new travelling companion, Dodo, is convinced that the spaceship carrying all that remains of humanity on which they’ve landed is Whipsnade Zoo, and promptly sneezes all over the occupants who have long since lost their immunity to the common cold.  In Act Two, the Doctor and his friends return to find the Monoids, previously enslaved by the humans, have now turned the tables.  Steven leads a rebellion, Dodo is outraged to find that she is not, in fact, at Whipsnade Zoo, and the Doctor convinces everyone to live in peace.  Except the Monoids, who rather spectacularly wipe themselves out in a bloodbath reminiscent of the final scene of Hamlet.

Watch it because: The Monoid’s space mop hairstyle.

Original Air Date: 5 – 26 March 1966.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane).

Writer: Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott.

Director: Michael Imison.

Producer: John Wiles.

Available on DVD? Yes.

Lost Episodes

Unfortunately, due to a BBC policy of ‘junking’ TV episodes during the 1960s, many First and Second Doctor stories are missing.  They are being hunted down and recovered and we live in hope that they will one day reappear in someone’s garage, but for now they remain officially lost.  Thanks to fan recordings and stills, these lost episodes have been recreated as ‘reconstructions’.  I’ve watched some, but even my nerdy fan heart can’t quite bear sitting through an entire story as reconstruction, so for those episodes (with the exception of Marco Polo, because it’s brilliant) I have relied on the Target novelisations, internet summaries and Doctor Who Magazine.  I will henceforth present them in the format below.

Mission to the Unknown

(Series 3, Episode 5)

Significant for: Being one of the few episodes of early Doctor Who not to feature the Doctor or his regular companions.  It is also the last episode produced by Verity Lambert.

The Myth Makers

(Series 3, Episodes 6-9)

Significant for: Vicki’s departure, to marry Troilus in Ancient Greece.  And change her name to Cressida…  The Doctor also gains a companion – Katarina (Adrienne Hill).

The Daleks’ Master Plan

(Series 3, Episodes 10-21)

Significant for: The reappearance of the Daleks and the first companion death (Katarina).  One-off companion Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh) arrives and leaves within the same story.

The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve

(Series 3, Episodes 22-25)

Significant for: William Hartnell playing a dual role.  Steven is so disgusted that the Doctor, in order not to change established events, leaves his new friend Anne Chaplet die, that he storms out of the TARDIS onto Wimbledon Common in 1966.  However, he shortly returns when a young girl named Dodo Chaplet wanders into the TARDIS to report an accident to the police…

Galaxy 4

(Series 3, Episodes 1-4)

Summary: The TARDIS lands on a planet just hours away from its fiery demise.  Steven flirts with some attractive female droids who proceed to trap him in an air lock and drain the oxygen for his troubles.  Vicki takes a liking to some spherical robots that she names “chumblies” and out-sasses the Doctor.  The two of them help a silken-voiced peace-loving alien fish race escape and everyone lives happily ever after.  Except the droids.  Who die.

Watch it because: You can’t watch most of it, but Vicki’s intrepidness is worth sitting through the reconstructions.

Original Air Date: 11 September – 2 October 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) and Steven Taylor (Peter Purves).

Writer: William Emms.

Director: Derek Martinus.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Only Episode 3 is still in existence – the others are all reconstructions.  The story is included with The Aztecs Special Edition DVD.

The Time Meddler

(Series 2, Episodes 36-39)

Summary: The TARDIS lands in 1066, but stowaway Steven refuses to believe they’ve travelled in time (He rescued the panda, in case you were worried).  The Doctor leaves Vicki to convince him and sets off to explore, encountering some frightfully well-spoken Saxons and Vikings and a meddling monk with a gramophone and a toaster. Something ain’t right with history…

Watch it because: It’s the first time we meet another of the Doctor’s people.

Original Air Date: 3 – 24 July 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) and Steven Taylor (Peter Purves).

Writer: Dennis Spooner.

Director: Douglas Camfield.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Chase

(Series 2, Episodes 30-35)

Summary: Doctor Who on LSD.  A bunch of vengeful Daleks chase the Doctor and his friends through time and space, where they encounter the crew of the Mary Celeste, a haunted house of horror clichés and a wildly imbecilic American tourist.  Ian dad-dances to the Beatles and destroys yet another of Barbara’s cardigans, the Doctor gains a suspiciously dissimilar lookalike and we meet Steven Taylor, an astronaut from the future, who has been sent so crazy by his years of isolation that he rushes back into a burning building to save a toy panda.  Most importantly, Barbara and Ian finally find a way back home - to 1965, but what’s two years between friends?

Watch it because: “I shall miss them. Yes, I shall miss them. Silly old fusspots.”

Original Air Date: 22 May – 26 June 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) and Steven Taylor (Peter Purves).

Writer: Terry Nation.

Director: Richard Martin.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Space Museum

(Series 2, Episodes 26-29)

Summary: The TARDIS materialises on a mysterious dusty planet, where the gang find themselves invisible guests at a museum in which they are also exhibits.  They conclude that in order to avoid ending up stuffed in a glass case, they must change time.  Ian destroys Barbara’s cardigan, the Doctor fools a mind-reading device into thinking he’s a walrus and Vicki incites revolution amongst a group of overly-eyebrowed teenagers.

Watch it because: The Doctor hiding in a Dalek.

Original Air Date: 24 April – 15 May 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien).

Writer: Glyn Jones.

Director: Mervyn Pinfield.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Crusade

(Series 2, Episodes 22-25)

Summary: Yet again, Barbara is kidnapped and sold into slavery, this time by the Saracens.  Yet again, Ian freaks out and sets off to rescue her, after first being knighted by Richard the Lionheart.  By the time he arrives, Barbara has rescued herself.  The Doctor and Vicki stay behind and giggle a lot.

Watch it because: Barbara is so done with being the victim.

Original Air Date: 27 March – 17 April 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien).

Writer: David Whitaker.

Director: Douglas Camfield.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes, although Episodes 2 and 4 are missing and are only available as reconstructions, which is a shame, as it means we don’t get to see Ian spread-eagled and covered in honey. If that, y’know, floats your boat…

The Web Planet

(Series 2, Episodes 16-21)

Summary: The TARDIS lands on a planet where everything is a trifle smeary and very echoey.  Barbara, because it’s the 1960s and she’s a woman, tidies the TARDIS, and Ian mourns the demise of his tie.  The winged Menoptra are trying to reclaim their planet from the warbling Zarbis, who are being controlled by the Animus, a mutant spider that communicates with the Doctor via a hairdryer.  Vicki thinks it’s all terribly good fun; Barbara coordinates the invasion force and defeats the Animus single-handedly as everyone else has passed out.

Watch it because: Roslyn de Winter – Insect Movement.

Original Air Date: 13 February – 20 March 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien).

Writer: Bill Strutton.

Director: Richard Martin.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Romans

(Series 2, Episodes 12-15)

Summary: The Doctor & Co take a holiday in ancient Rome.  Whilst the Doctor and Vicki are off exploring Rome, Ian and Barbara’s Palpable Sexual Tension is rudely interrupted when they are captured and sold as slaves.  As the title of the second episode postulates, all roads do indeed lead to Rome, via a dead lyre player-slash-assassin, a Gladiator arena and some Carry on Nero antics in the Caesar’s palace.  As Rome burns and the Doctor giggles hysterically about his hand in it, the four companions are eventually reunited, with much heart-warming grape eating and toga wearing.

Watch it because: Ian and Barbara.  Even the coldest of hearts will melt.

Original Air Date: 16 January – 6 February 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien).

Writer: Dennis Spooner.

Director: Christopher Barry.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Rescue

(Series 2, Episodes 10-11)

Summary: The newly-depleted Team TARDIS discover a crashed ship on the planet Dido where adorable space orphan Vicki and injured Bennett, the only two crash survivors, are being menaced by the bug-eyed Koquillion.  Hello?  Is it me you’re looking for?

Watch it because: The Doctor adopts Vicki and it’s beautiful.

Original Air Date: 2 – 9 January 1965.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien).

Writer: David Whitaker.

Director: Christopher Barry.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

(Series 2, Episodes 4-9)

Summary: Back on Earth again, but this time in a future menaced by the Daleks, their robo-men slaves and strange pet reptile. Not even a fleet of Daleks can stand in the way of Barbara’s rampage, Ian’s crotch takes centre stage and Susan loses a shoe, but gains a man.  The Doctor says his first goodbye, via speakerphone, after locking his granddaughter out of the TARDIS.  Harsh.

Watch it because: The Daleks on Westminster Bridge.

Original Air Date: 21 November – 26 December 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Terry Nation.

Director: Richard Martin.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

Planet of Giants

(Series 2, Episodes 1-3)

Summary: The TARDIS lands on Earth.  Hurrah!  Ian and Barbara are home!  Unfortunately, they’re only an inch tall.  Whilst in this miniaturised state (due to spacey-wacey reasons) they contend with a giant cat, deadly insecticide, Bunsen burners and plugholes.  This time it’s Barbara’s turn to soldier on, whilst the others foil a plot to wipe out all insectoid life on Earth by confusing a telephone operator and starting a tiny fire.

Watch it because: Ian in a matchbox.

Original Air Date: 31 October – 14 November 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Louis Marks.

Director: Mervyn Pinfield (Ep 1-2) & Douglas Camfield (Ep 3).

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Reign of Terror

(Series 1, Ep 37-42)

Summary: Landing in revolutionary France, our leads immediately raid the dressing up box, but are quickly arrested and sentenced to death.  Barbara attempts to crowbar her way out of a cell whilst Susan screams about rats and succumbs to a headache so bad she cannot possibly take a chance to do a runner and escape the guillotine.  Ian is a recruited to a distracting cloak and dagger side plot and the Doctor struts about with a dead bird on his head.  And then Napoleon shows up.

Watch it because: The BBC knows how to do period drama.

Original Air Date: 8 August – 12 September 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Dennis Spooner.

Director: Henric Hersch.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes, although the missing Episodes 4 and 5 are animated to the original soundtrack.

The Sensorites

(Series 1, Episodes 31-36)

Summary: Second-cousins-twice-removed of the Ood, the telepathic Sensorites, are being exploited by human colonisers.  The Doctor stops by to help, Barbara does very little, Susan reads minds with the help of a stethoscope and Ian is poisoned but soldiers on.  Stay alert, because the whole plot hangs on some key clothing switches.

Watch it because: The Sensorite at the window...

Original Air Date: 20 June – 1 August 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Peter R Newman.

Director: Mervyn Pinfield (Ep 1-4) & Frank Cox (Ep 5-6).

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Aztecs

(Series 1, Episodes 27-30)

Summary: Whilst grave robbing, resident TARDIS historian Barbara is mistaken for the resurrected form of an Aztec god.  Never one to miss an opportunity to change the course of history, she proceeds with an attempt to outlaw human sacrifice whilst making some horribly imperialistic judgments about the nature of Aztec culture.  Elsewhere, Ian can’t catch a break, Susan is defiant in the face of forced marriage and the Doctor accidentally gets engaged.

Watch it because: Barbara is the first companion to learn their lesson about fixed points in time.

Original Air Date: 23 May – 13 June 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: John Lucarotti.

Director: John Crockett.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Keys of Marinus

(Series 1, Episodes 21-26)

Summary: Team TARDIS are blackmailed into setting off on a quest to retrieve the keys to a mind-controlling machine. Over the course of their quest, our team are variously: groped by a statue, attacked by plants, threatened with rape (did you just go there in a teatime show, Doctor Who?), chased by ice knights and framed for murder.  The Doctor transforms himself into a dramatic if ineffectual lawyer whilst Barbara and Susan turn their hand to amateur sleuthing.  The baddy attempts to maintain his highly plausible disguise by inventing a deadly disease, but Ian ain’t fooled.

Watch it because: It features the original TARDIS team at their companionable best.

Original Air Date: 11 April – 16 May 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Terry Nation.

Director: John Gorrie.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

Marco Polo

(Series 1, Episodes 14-20)

Summary: The Doctor & Co land in 13^th century Cathay and encounter none other than Marco Polo, on his way to meet Kublai Khan.  The TARDIS is taken hostage, Susan makes a new BFF, the Doctor gets a little saddle sore, Ian sucks at chess and Barbara is the space mum we all wish we had.

Watch it because: Well, you can’t.  It’s missing, sadly.

Original Air Date: 22 February – 4 April 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: John Lucarotti.

Director: Waris Hussein (Ep 1-3,5-7) & John Crockett (Ep 4).

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Only reconstructions are available.

The Edge of Destruction

(Series 1, Episodes 12-13)

Summary: Everyone is acting a little strangely, except the Doctor, who is crotchety and suspicious.  Susan takes a dislike to the TARDIS furnishings, Ian shows some leg and Barbara confronts the Doctor about his unpleasant behaviour.  In a ground-breaking moment of character development, he apologises.  Time goes a bit wibbly, but it turns out it’s because a switch was stuck.  Happens on my kettle all the time.

Watch it because: “We’re at the very beginning, the start of a new solar system.  Outside, the atoms are rushing towards each other.  Fusing, coagulating, until minute little collections of matter are created.  And so the process goes on and on until dust is formed.  Dust then becomes solid entity.  A new birth, of a sun and its planets.”

Original Air Date: 8 – 15 February 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: David Whitaker.

Director: Richard Martin (Ep 1) & Frank Cox (Ep 2).

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

The Daleks

(Series 1, Episodes 5-11)

Summary: The Doctor lies about a broken part in order to explore an alien world devastated by nuclear war; like any good teacher, Ian confiscates it.  Meanwhile, Barbara is menaced by a sink plunger and nabs herself some hot alien totty.  Crisis is averted by the application of physics and some handy anti-radiation gloves and/or drugs.  Ian encourages a pacifist race to commit genocide, possibly due to Nazi analogies or possibly because he’s jealous of Barbara’s new man.

Watch it because: Debut of the Daleks. ‘Nuff said.

Original Air Date: 21 December 1963 – 1 February 1964.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Terry Nation.

Director: Christopher Barry (Ep 1,2,4,5) & Richard Martin (Ep 3,6,7).

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

100,000 BC

(Series 1, Episodes 2-4)

Summary: In a bout of early-instalment-weirdness, the Doctor is a kidnapper, a would-be-murderer and a pipe smoker.  Barbara freaks out, Ian displays worrying signs of sexism, ageism and scepticism, and Susan delights in balancing human skulls on flaming torches.

Watch it because: Things can only get better…

Original Air Date: 30 November – 14 December 1963.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Anthony Coburn.

Director: Waris Hussein.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.

An Unearthly Child

(Series 1, Episode 1)

Summary: Demonstrating a flagrant disregard for safeguarding policy, two school teachers follow a pupil home because she seems a little bit odd.  Arriving at a junkyard, they meet a dodgy old man whom they suspect of locking said pupil inside a police telephone box.  When they attempt to investigate, they are swiftly abducted through time and space.

Watch it because: This is where it all began…

Original Air Date: 23 November 1963.

Doctor: William Hartnell.

Companions: Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Writer: Anthony Coburn.

Director: Waris Hussein.

Producer: Verity Lambert.

Available on DVD? Yes.