Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time

[Basel Gill]

Cindy and I watched this two nights ago on Time Warner's on demand system. BBC did a TV movie telling the behind the scenes tale of the beginnings of the original Dr. Who show.

 

David Bradley (Filch in Harry Potter) gives a poignant performance as William Hartnell here. In RL, Hartnell had a lot of trouble remembering his lines due to his ill health, and it got worse as his time on the show went on. Bradley's performance does a really good job of showing this, as he often stumbles during a take as the Doctor, and looks around disoriented a lot. We get shown a lot of the prejudices that were in place at the time in TV. Verity Lambert was elevated from a production assistant to her first full-time producer job, and the first female producer in the history of the BBC. Waris Hussein directed the original pilot, and was the first Indian director in the network's history. The two of them both have to deal with prejudice, and you can tell that despite their being named to these jobs, the glass ceiling is still firmly in place in 1963 Britain. The scene with the two of them having a drink together and sharing their thoughts on the matter is really well done.

 

The movie carries the narrative through until the end of Hartnell's time, and some of the companions are just shown in small cameos that only last a few seconds. But the physical resemblances in a lot of the actors to their RL counterparts is incredibly effective. When I first saw the Matt Smith episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", guest starring Bradley, I already knew about this movie being made, and knew from just looking at him that he was a great choice to play Hartnell. The people playing companions Barbara and Susan are both spitting images, and if you look up a picture of the real Verity Lambert, there's a strong resemblance there too. (The guy playing William Russell as Ian wasn't so close-looking but gives a good performance.) All in all, I'd recommend this to any fan of Doctor Who.

 

On a side note, I would LOVE to see a similar behind the scenes movie about the early days of Star Trek.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I'd love to see this continued as a series on other doctor incarnations as well. it was a very loving tribute to hartnell and to the whole series.

 

I wonder how close to fact the movie is in certain details (ie did hartnell quit or get fired, etc..) were things skewed to tug heart strings a bit or are the previous bios wrong?

 

fantastic movie all in all, even with the somewhat out of nowhere smith cameo at the end.

[Leala Sedai]

I really liked that movie as well.  It had me crying at the end.  It also gave me a whole new respect for the show's beginnings.  It wasn't just the people behind the making of the show that got shoved around.  There were a lot of people who didn't care about it at all.  They stuck it in a small studio, they threw together last-minute sets, just to get it out of the way, (although, I love how the TARDIS ended up looking in the end).

 

It was a great movie, and I really enjoyed watching it as I waited for the 50th Anniversary special.

[Basel Gill]

Not just any small studio, but one that was smaller on the inside!

[Bannakaffalatta]

I enjoyed it a lot, I wasn't paying attention to the commercials when they adverted it, so I thought it was going to be a series. So each week, I kept seeing that it wasn't recording, so I would record it, go to watch it, and it would be the same. Very disappointed. =(

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I could watch it a few more times. I doubt they could manage such a spot on cast for very many if they did continue though.

[Bannakaffalatta]

Honestly I was hoping it was a series that went until 1989 when it got axed originally. The ups and downs, and a look at why it failed. I know that's known, but a perspective however much it gets dolled up would be awesome to see.