50 Golden Doctor Who moments

In advance of the 50th anniversary of TV’s longest running sci-fi show, we take a look at some of the best moments from the Timelord’s timeline.

1963

1. It’s November 23. The first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, is screened the day after President Kennedy’s assassination. William Hartnell stars as the unworldly “Doctor”, who travels in time and space in a police box which is dimensionally transcendental (the technical term for bigger on the inside than the outside!).

2. The fifth episode features the debut appearance of a monster who would delight and terrify children and adults for the next 50 years. The Daleks are created.

1964

3. The Doctor and his companions travel back in time for an adventure with Marco Polo, the first of many real historical characters to feature in the series. Marco is played by Mark Eden, whose best-known role would be as Corrie villain, Alan Bradley Rita’s beau who lost an argument with a tram.

1965

4. The show transfers to the big screen In Glorious Technicolor. The Daleks are there and Peter Cushing plays the Doctor.

5. Peter Purves, who would become a long-serving Blue Peter presenter, joins the cast as Steven Taylor.

1966

6. A second big-screen version of Doctor Who also stars Bernard Cribbins. The legendary voice of the Wombles would appear in the TV series as Donna Noble’s grandad, Wilf Mott, over 40 years later, and cause David Tennant’s regeneration!

7. This year features the first appearance of another classic monster who would stand the test of time the Cybermen.

8. One of the most brilliant plot devices in TV history. When ageing star William Hartnell decides to bow out as the Doctor, show bosses create a storyline whereby the character cheated death by a process known as regeneration and enabled the series to continue with an entirely-different actor in the lead role. Patrick Troughton becomes the second Doctor.

9. Frazer Hines joins the cast as kilted Highlander Jamie McCrimmon. Hines would later become a celebrated soap star as Emmerdale Farm’s Joe Sugden.

1967

10. The Doctor and his companions do battle with the Abominable Snowmen!

1968

11. The first appearance of Colonel later Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (played by Nicholas Courtney), who would feature alongside five other Doctors.

1969

12. The Doctor’s home race is revealed for the first time he’s a maverick Time Lord. Put on trial by his own people, he’s sentenced to regeneration and exile on Earth.

1970

13. With Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor, the show appears in full colour for the first time. Back then, colour TV was the equivalent of 3D!

14. Another memorable monster is introduced as shop window dummies the Autons come to life and kill passers-by!

1971

15. The show’s production team decide the Doctor requires his own Moriarty and another renegade Time Lord, the Master, is created (played brilliantly by the late Roger Delgado).

16. Katy Manning joins the cast as Jo Grant. After leaving the series, Katy famously posed topless with a Dalek which was also unclothed.

1972

17. The first three Doctors appear together in an adventure.

18. An imprisoned Master is seen enjoying an episode of another TV classic of the time, The Clangers!

1973

19. The Doctor encounters giant maggots in The Green Death, an adventure which warns of the threat to the environment years before its time.

20. The most celebrated Doctor Who companion joins the show the late Elizabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith would appear in her own series a remarkable 35 years later.

1974

21. The legend that was and is Tom Baker “all teeth and curls” takes over as the fourth Doctor.

1975

22. The Doctor’s first meeting with the creator of the Daleks the mad scientist Davros.

23. The Doctor encounters the Loch Ness Monster!

1976

24. The Doctor features in an adventure on his home planet, Gallifrey, for the first time.

1977

25. Louise Jameson becomes the Doctor’s most unusual companion skimpy leather bikini-clad savage girl Leela.

26. The Doctor gets a dog! Robot hound K9 joins the TARDIS crew. He’s still going today in his own animated series.

1979

27. Lalla Ward takes over as the Doctor’s Time Lady companion, Romana. Lalla and Tom Baker would later and briefly marry.

28. John Cleese makes a memorable cameo appearance as an art critic evaluating the TARDIS!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fA59ghHUzNQ

1981

29. Peter Davison, previously best known as All Creatures Great and Small vet, Tristan Farnon, becomes Doctor No 5.

1982

30. Classic film star Richard Todd appears in one adventure.

1983

31. A 20th-anniversary special sees the first five Doctors appearing together, although Tom Baker didn’t fancy it, so stock footage of him was woven in. William Hartnell had passed away by this time, so Richard Hurndall took the first Doctor role.

1984

32. Colin Baker is the latest Doctor and his first adventure sees him trying to strangle his companion!

1985

33. The Second Doctor and Jamie join forces with the sixth Doctor for a special adventure partly filmed in Spain.

1987

34. Sylvester McCoy becomes the seventh Doctor.

1988

35. The Daleks climb stairs well, fly up them for the first time in the TV version of the series!

1989

36. With ratings falling, the series is axed. That wasn’t much of a golden moment!

1996

37. After seven years, Who-starved fans are served some new action at last, in the shape of a TV movie. It meets with a lukewarm response, and Paul McGann’s tenure as the eighth Doctor begins and ends there.

2005

38. With a fanfare of publicity and a budget the previous series could only dream of, Who fan and top writer Russell T Davies masterminds the show’s return. Starring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as his companion, Rose Tyler, it’s a ratings sensation, and Doctor Who is back.

39. The 21st-century version of the Daleks appear for the first time, and delight a whole new generation.

40. John Barrowman appears as Captain Jack Harkness, who goes on to star in his own spin-off series, Torchwood.

41. The Doctor turns up in a futuristic Big Brother House and Rose plays a game of deadly Weakest Link with the Ann Droid!

42. Childhood fan of the show, David Tennant, takes over as the 10th Doctor.

2006

43. The Doctor meets Queen Victoria, who knights him, and then banishes him from Earth!

44. Sarah Jane Smith makes a welcome return.

45. The upgraded Cybermen and Daleks appear in an adventure together for the first time.

2007

46. John Simm plays the latest incarnation of the Master.

2010

47. After four years, Tennant stands down and 26-year-old Matt Smith complete with bow-tie and tweed jacket becomes Doctor No 11.

48. The Doctor and companion Amy Pond have an adventure with Vincent Van Gogh.

2011

49. The TARDIS crash lands in Hitler’s office and the Doctor and his companions lock Der Fuhrer in a cupboard!

2013

50. John Hurt appears in the last scene of the most recent series . . . as the Doctor!