12 Things You Need To Know About Doctor Who Before Seeing The Latest Episode
Beloved British sci-fi show Dr. Who is set to make its 10th season return this year and with a new bang. But the tension keeps building up for fans all over the world who are already thinking up what’s to come in April’s new episode.
Quirky, futuristic and nerve intensifying (for the kids) you certainly know which Doctor to tune into. Here are some fascinating facts you might not have known about this history-in-the-making series, Doctor Who and its coming to the Middle East, exclusively on OSN.
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1. There was another Doctor Who show that ran from 1963 to 1989
Yep. They even managed to film over 679 episodes.
2. Doctor Who is about a time-traveling doctor who travels uses the TARDIS that often looks like a blue British police box
3. It was originally meant to be a kiddie show
Just imagine our lives without it now. The director of the very first episode, Waris Hussain, said that the show’s original concept was meant to be educational for the younger kids about science and history.
With popularity came controversy over the show’s suitability for children and morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC in the 1970s over what she saw as the show’s frightening and gory content.
4. Hugh Grant could’ve been The Doctor but turned it down
And guess what his reason was?
He was worried the show wouldn’t be a hit.
(Oh the regrets he must be having)
5. The doctor was married to Marilyn Monroe and two others
Haha, yes. The Doctor (from the show, of course) was apparently married three times- to Marilyn Monroe, River Song and England’s Queen Elizabeth I.
6. The first doctor’s health problems led to the idea of regeneration
William Hartnell, who played the first Doctor from 1963 to 1966, was having health problems toward the end of his run on the series. To ensure that the show could go on without its original star, and to avoid enraging the viewers who had come to love Hartnell, it was decided that the ability to regenerate be a part of The Doctor’s mythology.
7. The transmission of the first episode was delayed by 80 seconds
It has been claimed that the transmission of the first episode of the British Science fiction prog, produced by BBC was delayed by 80 seconds due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day.
The BBC believed that many viewers had missed this introduction to a new series due to the coverage of the assassination, as well as a series of power blackouts across the country, and they broadcast it again on 30 November 1963, just before episode two.
(It won’t be delayed at all when screened on OSN!)
8. Twelve actors have headlined the series as The Doctor
The Doctor portrayed by series leads in chronological order: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
9. Recommended by Spielberg himself
Acclaimed director Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, ET, Jaws) has commented that, “the world would be a poorer place without Doctor Who“.
10. It bags the first electronic music signature
The theme music of Doctor Who was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television, and after five decades and counting, remains one of the most easily recognised.
11. From screen to dictionary
The word TARDIS is an entry in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the iOS dictionary. (Time Lords. The Doctor. The TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space is the Doctor’s machine).
Moreover, Doctor Who books have been published from the mid-sixties through to the present day.
12. It took 6 years to trademark the Tardis
In 1996, after years of selling TARDIS-branded merchandise, the BBC attempted to officially trademark The Doctor’s preferred mode of transportation—but the move was met with resistance from the Metropolitan Police, as the time-travel machine is essentially a police box.
Six years later, in 2002, the BBC finally won the case, while the Metropolitan Police were ordered to pay £850, plus legal costs.
