The Early Years (reference book)

The Early Years was a Doctor Who reference book published by W. H. Allen.

Publisher's summary
On 23 November 1963 a British institution was born. After a ten minutes delay because of news of the assassination of President Kennedy, the BBC launched a new science-fiction series. Designed as a semi-educational programme, it told of the adventures in space and time of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and her mysterious grandfather. More than two decades later, Doctor Who has become the longest-running science fiction TV series in the world.

Doctor Who - The Early Years is a detailed and informed account of the origin and the making of the television series. For the first time ever, the blueprints for the original Daleks are reproduced, together with stills from TV episodes that have long since been lost; cast lists and plot breakdowns from the early years are printed, together with interviews and photographs of all those involved in the making of Doctor Who — from the Canadian-born Sydney Newman who instigated the series, to the designers, writers, actors and producers who made the show an unqualified success.

Written with the full co-operation of prominent designers and producers, and packed with behind-the-scenes interviews and rare photographs, The Early Years is an indispensable reference work, and is destined to become a classic work on the early years of British TV science fiction.

Subject matter
Full background information on many of the early 1960s William Hartnell stories.

Notable features

 * Concept design / sketches for models and sets used in the early stories.
 * Specific chapters dealing with particular stories including: The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction, The Keys of Marinus, The Sensorites, Planet of Giants, The Rescue, The Romans, The Chase, Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks' Master Plan.
 * Background on designing the Daleks.
 * On the final few pages there are telesnaps from the first part of The Power of the Daleks.