Doctor Who (Godfrey Porter's World)

Doctor Who was a TV series in a meta-fictional alternate reality where the Doctor did not appear to ever have existed as a real individual. (PROSE: The Thief of Sherwood)

History
From 19 September to 24 October 1964, a six-part story entitled The Outlaws was first broadcast, starring actor William Hartnell as a version of the First Doctor. The six episodes were titled: "The Deserted Castle", "The Thief of Sherwood", "The Alchemist", "Errand of Mercy", "Ransom" and "A Guest For the Gallows". Episodes 3 and 5 were missing but still existed as off-air recordings. It had the production code "I".

The guest cast for "The Deserted Castle" included William Russell in a dual role also as Robin Hood, Archie Duncan as Little John, Ronald Hines as Will Scarlet, Frank Thornton as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Anneke Wills as Maid Marion, Milton Johns as the peddler, Carl Bernard as a villager and Ivor Colin as a man-at-arms. The writer was Godfrey Porter, the title music was by Ron Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the incidental music was composed and conducted by Harper C Bassett, the story editor was David Whitaker, the designer was Barry Newbery, the associate producer was Mervyn Pinfield, the producer was Verity Lambert and the director was Patrick Whitfield.

While doing an alchemy demonstration for the Sheriff in Episode 3, the Doctor nearly blows himself up while mixing chemicals, leaving him absent for two episodes while Hartnell recovered from a short illness.

The Daleks appeared in one of the first eight stories of this version of Doctor Who; the tenth story was titled Planet of Giants and followed on from a cliffhanger in which the fault locator warned of a build-up of pressure within the TARDIS.

In 1986, Godfrey Porter wrote a novelisation of The Outlaws entitled The Thief of Sherwood for Target Books. (PROSE: The Thief of Sherwood)