Season 1



The first season of Doctor Who ran between 23rd November 1963 and 12th September 1964

It consisted of eight serials (listed below), one pilot episode and 42 episodes.


 * Pilot
 * An Unearthly Child aka "100 000 BC" (4 episodes)
 * The Daleks aka "The Mutants" (7 episodes)
 * The Edge of Destruction aka "Inside the Spaceship" (2 episodes)
 * Marco Polo (7 episodes)
 * The Keys of Marinus (6 episodes)
 * The Aztecs (4 episodes)
 * The Sensorites (6 episodes)
 * The Reign of Terror (6 episodes)

The series was essentially the creation of a committee, with the following amongst the many who created the various parts that went into the series: Donald Wilson (time travel), Sydney Newman (the Doctor and Susan), C. E. Webber (Ian and Barbara, scenario for the first episode), Anthony Coburn (Susan's Name, the TARDIS as a Police Box), David Whitaker (Susan as the Doctor's granddaughter).

Verity Lambert was chosen by Sydney Newman as Producer of the series and Mervyn Pinfield was assigned as Associate Producer, picking up on the mainly technical side of the series such as dealing with the in-camera SFX.

Initially, the series was only ordered for the first four episodes that made up 100 000 BC and came close to going no further. This was extended to thirteen episodes, but the production team had either eleven (100 000 BC & The Mutants) or eighteen (100 000 BC, The Mutants, & Marco Polo). To solve this problem David Whitaker wrote the two episode Inside the Spaceship, something that normally wouldn't have happened due to an existing rule about Script Editors writing for the series they were editing.

The first through to third season story titles have been a contentious issue for more information see Disputed story titles.

Stories considered during this season, but ultimately going unmade included:


 * The Masters of Luxor by Anthony Coburn
 * "The Hidden Planet" by Malcolm Hulke
 * "The Red Fort" by Terry Nation
 * "The Miniscules" by C. E. Webber

Other releases

 * The Virgin Missing Adventures book The Sorcerer's Apprentice is set after Marco Polo
 * The Past Doctor Adventures books City at World's End and The Witch Hunters are set after The Reign of Terror
 * The BBC - Short Trips adventures The Last Days and Nothing at the End of the Lane are also set after The Reign of Terror
 * The Eight Doctors sees the Eighth Doctor traveling back to the third episode of 100,000 BC.