Ideally, any programme scheduled here would appeal to children that had previously been accustomed to the timeslot, the teenaged audience of Juke Box Jury, and the adult sports fan audience of Grandstand.

In March 1963, he was made aware by Baverstock – now promoted to Controller of Programmes – of a gap in the schedule on Saturday evenings between the sports showcase Grandstand and the pop music programme Juke Box Jury. Newman was a science fiction fan who had overseen several such productions in his previous positions at ABC Weekend TV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In December, Canadian-born Sydney Newman arrived at BBC Television as the new Head of Drama. Prepared by Frick with another Script Department staff member, John Braybon, this report recommended a series dealing with time travel as being an idea particularly worthy of development. A follow-up report into specific ideas for the format of such a programme was commissioned and delivered in July. The report was prepared by staff members Alice Frick and Donald Bull, and delivered the following month, much to the commendation of Wilson, Maschwitz and the BBC's Assistant Controller of Programmes Donald Baverstock. In March 1962, Eric Maschwitz, the Assistant and Adviser to the Controller of Programmes at BBC Television, asked Donald Wilson, the Head of the Script Department, to have his department's Survey Group prepare a study on the feasibility of the BBC producing a new science fiction television series. A one-off television film, co-produced with Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television, was screened on the Fox Network in the United States in 1996. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ĭoctor Who is a British television science fiction series, produced and screened by the BBC on the BBC TV channel from 1963 to 1964, and on BBC1 (later BBC One) from 1964 to 1989 and since 2005. Such statements should be clarified or removed. This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information.

Doctor Who FCBD 2015 by Nick Abadzis