About Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television program produced by the BBC. The program depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveler known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, solving problems, facing monsters and righting wrongs.
The program is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world[1] and is also a significant part of British popular culture. It has been recognized for its imaginative stories, creative low-budget special effects during its original run, and pioneering use of electronic music (originally produced by the BBC Radio phonic Workshop). In the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the show has become a cult television favorite and has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television programs, including the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series in 2006.
The program originally ran from 1963 to 1989. After an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production with a backdoor pilot in the form of a 1996 television film, the program successfully reappeared in 2005, produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Some development money for the new series is contributed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is credited as a co-producer. Doctor Who has also spawned spin-offs in multiple media, including the current television program Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the 1981 pilot episode K-9 and Company.
Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 pm (GMT) on 23 November 1963, following discussions and plans that had been in progress for a year. The Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, was mainly responsible for developing it, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the Head of the Script Department (later Head of Serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series. The series' title theme was composed by Ron Grainer and realized by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radio phonic Workshop. The program was originally intended to appeal to a family audience. The BBC drama department's Serials division produced the program for 26 series, broadcast on BBC One. Viewing numbers that had fallen (though comparably increased at some points), a decline in the public perception of the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production suspended in 1989 by Jonathan Powell, Controller of BBC One. Although it was effectively cancelled (as series co-star Sophie Aldred reported in the documentary Doctor Who: More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS), the BBC said the series would return.
While in-house production had ceased, the BBC was hopeful of finding an independent production company to re-launch the show. Philip Segal, a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures' television arm in the United States, approached the BBC about such a venture. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a television movie. The Doctor Who television movie was broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996 as a co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures, the BBC, and BBC Worldwide. Although the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), it was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series.
Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories, but as a television program Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003. In September of that year, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series after several years of unsuccessful attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series are writer Russell T Davies and BBC Wales Head of Drama/BBC Television Controller of Drama Commissioning Julie Gardner. It has been sold to many other countries worldwide (see Viewer ship).
Doctor Who finally returned with the episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005. There have been three further series in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and Christmas Day specials in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The fourth series began on BBC One on 5 April 2008. There will be a rest year in 2009, with no new series, although David Tennant will star in 4 specials in that year. After the 2008 Christmas special and four special episodes in 2009, a fifth full-length series is planned for Spring 2010, with Steven Moffat replacing Davies as head writer and executive producer.
The 2005–present version of Doctor Who is considered a direct continuation of the 1963–89 series, as is the 1996 telefilm. This differs from other series re-launches that have either been re-imaginings or reboots (e.g., Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman) or series taking place in the same universe as the original but with a totally new cast of characters (e.g., Star Trek: The Next Generation and spin-offs).
The program rapidly became a national institution, the subject of countless jokes, newspaper mentions and other popular culture references. Many renowned actors asked for or were offered and accepted guest-starring roles in various stories.
With popularity came controversy over the show's suitability for children. Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC in the 1970s over what she saw as the show's frightening or gory content. The program became even more popular — especially with children. John Nathan-Turner, who produced the series during the 1980s, was heard to say that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments, as the show's ratings would increase soon after she had made them. During the 1970s, the Radio Times, the BBC's listings magazine, announced that a child's mother said the theme music terrified her son. The Radio Times was apologetic, but the theme music remained.
There were more complaints about the program's content than its music. During Jon Pertwee's second season as the Doctor, in the serial Terror of the Autons (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims and blank-featured android policemen marked the apex of the show's ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade included the Doctor's apparently is being drowned by Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin (1976) and the allegedly negative portrayal of Chinese people in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977).
It has been said that watching Doctor Who from a position of safety "behind the sofa" (as the Doctor Who exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image in London was titled) and peering cautiously out to see if the frightening part was over is one of the great shared experiences of British childhood. The phrase has become commonly used in association with the program and occasionally elsewhere.
A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that by their own definition of "any act(s) which may cause physical and / or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental", Doctor Who was the most violent of all the drama programs the corporation then produced. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience regarded the show as "very unsuitable" for family viewing. However, responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that: "to compare the violence of Dr Who, sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood, is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously.”
The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the show in the public's consciousness. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use the TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who. In 1998, the Metropolitan Police filed an objection to the trademark claim; in 2002 the Patent Office ruled in favor of the BBC.
The program's broad appeal attracts audiences of children and families as well as science fiction fans. Its camp tendencies have also made it popular in gay culture.
The 21st-century revival of the program has become the centerpiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule, and has "defined the channel”. In 2007, Caitlin Moran, television reviewer for The Times, wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British”. The film director Steven Spielberg has commented, "the world would be a poorer place without Doctor Who.”
This information was provided by Wikipedia.
