Melvyn Bragg presents this 1977 documentary about Doctor Who from BBC2's 'The Lively Arts' strand, featuring extensive behind-the-scenes coverage of the making of The Talons of Weng-Chiang and looking back at the history of the programme and its psychological impact on the viewers, particularly children.
Melvyn BraggPresenter
Caron ScottRosemary MatthewsKeith HewettCaspar HewettEric Sherwood Jones
Tom BakerKenneth BaileyElizabeth FiberryElizabeth Matthews
For one night only, Professor Brian Cox takes an audience of celebrity guests and members of the public on a journey into the wonderful universe of the Doctor, from the lecture hall of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Drawing on the latest theories as well as 200 years of scientific discoveries and the genius of Einstein, Brian tries to answer the classic questions raised by the Doctor. Can you really travel in time? Does extra-terrestrial life exist in our galaxy? And how do you build something as fantastical as the TARDIS?
Doctor Who returns to the Proms to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the popular BBC series. As well as showcasing Murray Gold’s music from the past eight years, the concert also journeys back to the early days of Doctor Who and the groundbreaking work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Featuring special guests from the series, big screens and a host of monsters ready to invade the Royal Albert Hall, this is not the year to be exterminated!
A selection of classical favourites with a strong flavour of time and space. Join Freema Agyeman (aka Martha Jones), and others from the Doctor Who cast, for an intergalactic musical adventure - with a little help from Daleks, Cybermen and other aliens from the series!
A true pioneer in audio exploration and psycho-acoustics, Delia Derbyshire conceived one of the most familiar compositions in science fiction, the Doctor Who theme, while working in a BBC basement. Her soundscapes felt like they connected to another realm. Kicking off with the discovery of 267 tapes in an attic, along with a treasure trove of journals hidden in her childhood bedroom, this film tunes in to Derbyshire’s frequency; that of a life-long non-conformist, whose peals of laughter in an archive interview tickle with delight and eccentricity. Featuring a rich archive, interviews, fictional embodiment and Cosey Fanni Tutti’s psycho-sonic channelling, director Caroline Catz traces acoustic pathways on her archeological dig into Derbyshire’s resonant life.
The very first crew of the TARDIS land in a petrified forest on an alien planet. Determined to explore, the Doctor leads his companions into the metal city, where they discover danger at every corner and what will become his deadliest enemy... the mutant Daleks. It's time to encounter the Daleks once again, but this time in a way you've never seen them before. Originally transmitted in December 1963 to February 1964, the seven original episodes of the first Dalek story have received a cosmic makeover, dazzlingly colourised and woven together into a 75-minute blockbuster with brand-new sound and a brand-new score created by Mark Ayres. The Daleks has been gloriously updated, whilst ensuring the original story remains as thrilling as it was in 1963.
In this animated adventure, The Doctor and Martha Jones trek through space and time in a race against the galaxy's greatest despot, Balthazar, to follow a complex trail of clues to discover the location of the legendary lost spaceship, the Infinite, which, according to myth, can grant anybody their heart's desire.
The Doctor and his friends Ben, Polly and Jamie arrive at Gatwick airport. They quickly stumble upon an alien plot, centring upon the mysterious ‘Chameleon Tours’ - a low-price holiday company, whose young passengers have been vanishing in unexplained circumstances. The Doctor investigates further, but it isn’t long before his own friends start disappearing too.
The Doctor revisits the Himalayas because he wants to return an ancient relic he was given many centuries ago. On arriving however, the Doctor is blamed for a series of brutal murders in the area. Jamie and Victoria discover the true culprits – the previously peaceful Yeti that live in seclusion on the mountainside have apparently turned violent.
The Daleks draft the Second Doctor into distilling the Human Factor. Once implanted, it will make the Dalek race invincible. Jamie’s faith in the Doctor is stretched to the limit as the Doctor appears to be collaborating with the Daleks. The Doctor has a few tricks up his sleeve, but then again so might the Daleks.
The Doctor visits his old Time Lord friend Chronotis in Cambridge, 1979. But the ruthless Skagra has also arrived to retrieve a book that will help unlock one of the Time Lords' greatest secrets: what is Shada? Filming for this story was never finished, and in this version the unfilmed material is completed via animation.
Jamie tries to evade Yeti in the tunnels of the London Underground. Meanwhile, The Doctor and Victoria meet a potential new ally - Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart.
The original 1967 master recordings of ‘The Macra Terror’ were lost soon after the programme’s original transmission. However, audio-only recordings have survived and have been used here to create a brand new fully animated reconstruction of this lost classic.
For the second time since its revival, Doctor Who's music will be enjoyed by numerous fans since the previous Proms in 2008. Everyone's favourite monsters are here! Nothing else to do but hang on for the ride, and see where you end up.
The Doctor hurtles through space and time to a crucial point in the Daleks’ history.
The Doctor and his friends find themselves in the lost city of Atlantis, where the crazed Professor Zaroff has convinced the people of Atlantis that he can raise their sunken city from beneath the sea. However, the Doctor discovers a terrible secret behind Zaroff's plan — a secret that could destroy all life on Earth.
Where will you go and Who will you meet on Planet Bedtime Stories tonight?
Following the Doctor's regeneration into a new, younger body, the TARDIS lands at an Earth colony on the planet Vulcan in the far future. Mistaken for an official Earth Examiner, the Doctor discovers that a scientist called Lesterson is attempting to reactivate two inanimate, subservient Daleks found in a crashed space rocket. The colonists refuse to heed the Doctor's dire warnings that the Daleks are dangerous.
Actor William Hartnell felt trapped by a succession of hard-man roles while wannabe producer Verity Lambert was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. Both of them were to find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama. Allied with a team of unusual but brilliant people, they went on to create the longest running science fiction series ever made.
The TARDIS lands on a planet on the verge of total annihilation as it drifts too close to the three suns which its orbits.
A documentary depicting the Czechoslovak army's border patrol.