An Unearthly Child (TV story)

Summary
Curious about an unusual student Susan Foreman, two school teachers follow her home to a junkyard. This leads to an encounter with the mysterious Doctor and a his police box which turns out to be a craft capable of travel in time and space.

Afraid that the teachers will reveal his secrets the Doctor whisks them back in time. They arrive in 100,000 BC and encounter a group of cave people desperately trying to create fire. Kidnapped and imprisoned in a cave filled with skulls the unwilling travellers have to work together to create fire and escape their captors.

Cast & Characters

 * Dr Who - William Hartnell
 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell
 * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
 * Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
 * Za - Derek Newark (episodes  2 -  4)
 * Hur - Alethea Charlton (episodes 2 -  4)
 * Old Mother - Eileen Way (episodes 2 -  3)
 * Kal - Jeremy Young (episodes 2 -  4)
 * Horg - Howard Lang (episodes 2 -  4)

Uncredited Cast

Crew

 * Writers - Anthony Coburn, C. E. Webber
 * Director - Waris Hussein
 * Producer - Verity Lambert
 * Script Editor - David Whitaker
 * Designers - Barry Newbery, Peter Brachacki
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Catherine Childs
 * Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield
 * Costumes - Maureen Heneghan
 * Fight Arranger - Derek Ware
 * Film Cameraman - Robert Sleigh
 * Incidental Music - Norman Kay
 * Make-Up - Elizabeth Blattner
 * Production Assistants - Douglas Camfield, Tony Lightley
 * Special Effects - BBC Visual Effects
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Geoff Shaw
 * Studio Sound - Jack Clayton
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Influences

 * The Time Machine (HG Wells), the first story to really popularise time travel, it becomes recurring theme in Doctor Who
 * The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis) - A seemingly ordinary object can be a doorway into an extraordinary world
 * 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Doctor's motivation for kidnapping people; series creator Sydney Newman acknowledged Captain Nemo as a major influence in his original concept for the Doctor's character and personality.

Ratings

 * An Unearthly Child First Broadcast - 4.4m viewers
 * An Unearthly Child Second Broadcast - 6.0m viewers
 * The Cave of Skulls - 5.9m viewers
 * The Forest of Fear - 6.9m viewers
 * The Firemaker - 6.4m viewers

Myths

 * An Unearthly Child was broadcast 10 minutes late due to an extended news report into the assassination of President Kennedy the previous day.
 * C. E. Webber co-wrote the story with Anthony Coburn. (Webber had actually been working on a proposed episode known as The Giants which was originally intended to be the first story but was later rejected).
 * This story was broadcast live. (No Doctor Who story has ever been broadcast live).
 * Jackie Lane was offered the role of Susan. (Although she auditioned for the part she withdrew before the role was cast).
 * Waris Hussein spotted Carole Ann Ford in BBC play called The Man on a Bicycle when he was looking for someone for the role of Susan. (This play was actually broadcast months before Hussein became involved with Doctor Who).
 * Jacqueline Hill worked as a model in Paris.
 * The original police box was a prop left over from Dixon of Dock Green.

Location Filming
The story was filmed at both Ealing and Lime Grove Studio D.

Continuity

 * The Doctor returned to Foreman's Yard in 1963 in Remembrance of the Daleks, 1985 in Attack of the Cybermen and 1997 in The Eight Doctors.
 * It is revealed in Remembrance of the Daleks that the Doctor was hiding The Hand of Omega in London when the teachers discovered his presence.
 * Interference explains the importance of Foreman's Yard to the Doctors timeline and introduces the character of IM Foreman.
 * During this adventure the Doctor encounters his Eigth Incarnation who has travelled back along his own timeline (The Eight Doctors).
 * The events of this story can be seen to follow on from those in Time and Relative.
 * Susan claims that she made up the term TARDIS from the initials of Time and Relative Dimension in Space. But it is later revealed that Gallifreyan society is several million years old. An explanation for this apparent inconsistency is proposed in Lungbarrow.
 * This is the first time the TARDIS has had a problem with the chameleon circuit
 * We see the Doctor smoking a pipe in the Second episode but he is never seen smoking again.
 * Reference is made to the Doctor and Susan having visited the French Revolution (1789 - 1799). It is also suggested that they have visted England after 1971 as Susan is aware of the introduction of the decimal system.
 * Susan is listening to John Smith and the Common Men when Ian and Barbara walk in, John Smith being the stage name of 'the honourable Aubrey Waites, also known as Chris Waites according to Ian. John Smith was to become an alias used by the Doctor in several of the later stories

Discontinuity

 * When Susan says "I like walking through the dark" neither Ian nor Barbara seem bothered about the thought of a teenage girl walking alone at night.
 * Why does Susan ask Barbara for a book about the French Revolution and then leave it in the classroom? As far as she is concerned at this point she will be at school the next day
 * Just before Ian is electrocuted by the console someone in the studio can be heard shouting a cue
 * At the end of episode one the caveman shadow is seen to extend much further than it really should
 * If not an error then something which hasn't really been thought through. Given that it is so cold in Episodes 2,3 and 4 why are the cavemen wearing so little clothing.

Quotes
The Doctor - "I tolerate this century, I do not enjoy it."

Story Arcs

 * IM Foreman Arc
 * Hand of Omega Arc
 * Ian and Barbara's Abduction

Similar stories

 * Rose - A new start for the show

More Info

 * Story Synopsis
 * Story Transcript
 * Story Novelization
 * Story Statistics
 * Story in the Media

Public Releases

 * DVD Release - This story has not yet been released on DVD.


 * Video Release - Released as "Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child"


 * First Release: The BBC originally intended to release this story in a box set with The Daleks and The Edge of Destruction but they changed their plans and decided to release each story individually.


 * UK Release: January 1990 / US Release: January 1992
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV4311
 * NTSC - CBS/FOX Video 3401
 * NTSC - Warner Video E1906


 * Notes: The 'next episode' caption has been removed from Episode 4.


 * Second Release: An unedited, remastered edition:


 * UK Release: September 2000
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV6959