Fifty-Four years is a very long time. I’ve not even been alive for half that time. It’s a legacy. And not to be cliche but it’s planning seeds in a garden you don’t get to see, is perhaps the best way to describe this film.
As part of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, Mark Gatiss set out with a plan. A telling of how the program was created in 1963 in a feature film made for television as part of the five decade celebration. From the concept that popped into Sydney Newman’s head, to the first moment the cameras start rolling, to Daleks, to departures to finally renewal and 1966 with a new Doctor. It was to be titled An Adventure in Space and Time and I was beyond excited.
It was to star David Bradley (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, I’m sensing a theme) as William Hartnell himself, Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert, Brian Cox as Sydney Newman, Sacha Dhawan as Warris Hussein, Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill, Julian Glover as William Russell and Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford.
Cue the weeping at the perfection of this casting.
It was with eager anticipation that I looked forward to this film. More than I ever cared about the actually proper Day of the Doctor with Matt Smith and David Tennant.
We begin.
This is the BBC. The following program is based on actual events. It is important to remember, however, that you can’t rewrite history. Not one line. Except, perhaps, when you embark on an adventure in space and time.
They have me. Best film. 10/10 all the Oscars—alright, alright, I’m calm.
The scene opens with a credit sequence very reminiscent of the infamous cloudy reverb of the original opening, declaring the film An Adventure in Space and Time proudly as the orchestra and choir swell with some rather groovy tunes. Then we are greeted by the TARDIS, upon a misty drive. Beautiful and blue and mysterious and just the sight we wanted to see.
The next shot is just gorgeous and perfect. First of all, there’s a little reference already for the keen eye. A car pulls up onto a common. Barnes Common. Which in the original Dr.Who and the Daleks book (the first Doctor Who novel) is where David Whitaker begins the story, where Barbara and Ian and the Doctor first meet. I see you Gatiss. I see you.
Who’s in that little car? Mr William Hartnell. He’s told by a police officer to please move along, as his car is in the way, and then we’re in the studio. Bill being impolite to what ever poor lacky has been told to fetch him. He claims he isn’t ready. Then he’s walking into the corridor, to the TARDIS set, and we see Mr Bradley in the First Doctor costume for the first time.
And hot damn does he look perfect.
The BBC is growing these people in their back garden I’m certain.
We’re taken back through time. Again. From 1966 to 1963.
And Sydney Newman has arrived at the BBC.
Hey I rhymed!
He’s accosted by Harry the security guard played by William Russell, demanding to his pass which Sydney doesn’t provide. It’s funny, because apparently William Russell himself was harassed by the fellow in real life, every time he came into the BBC to work. And one day he forgot his pass and the guard wouldn’t let him in even after two years. Anyways, he has a grand idea! Science Fiction! To really reign in that teeny-bopper audience, but something adults and kids alike would enjoy. And who does he have in mind to head such a project??
The one and only Verity Lambert, who’s throwing a shin dig and discussing with her friend Jacqueline Hill her career in television, exclaiming how she gave herself a year. Get on or get out. After watching the first woman in space send a message back on the telly, (After switching from the soap opera Compact, a show that Warris Hussein was working on at the time) Verity gets a call from Mr Newman. How beautifully symbolic. And utterly convenient. (Though mind you at the point of this space venture, she was already pretty involved, but for the sake of drama) He asks her what she knows about children.
But then we get into the heart of it, Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert at the BBC as Sydney dictates the show that was soon to be. Legitimate stuff, no bug eyed-monster or B.E.M.s, a plucky kid getting themselves into scrapes, good looking gal and guy, and an older fellow a Doctor. All this, and he wants her to produce. The first female producer the BBC has ever had.
Meanwhile Mr Hartnell is grumpy over the fact he hasn’t had any work outside of bossy Sargent majors, and it’s making him irritable. Little does he know what’s just a phone call away.
We also get a taste of the bullshit that Verity had to put up with. Everyone giving her looks in the hallways or even giggling as she walks past (something that persists through out the most of the film) and Mervyn Pinfield and Rex Tucker asking if the producer is with her when she steps into what will be her office. But she fires back coldly “You’re looking at him.” And declaring they need a fellow who can play older who the Doctor. She’s got piss and vinegar in her veins and holds no bars, which I think is acted brilliantly.
Rex Tucker buggers off and enter, quick magnificently, Warris Hussein declaring “What is this? What are we going to do with this?” In reference to the Cavemen script aka An Unearthly Child. His dismay only grows with the knowledge that they’ll be filming in Lime Grove Studio D saying it’s “smaller on the inside!” and that it’ll never work. “….When do we start?”
There’s a lovely scene at the bar at the BBC. Where Warris is getting ignored quite blatantly until Verity quite assertively demands drinks from the bar tender and won’t budge until he does. Obviously, such a scene never exactly happened in real life, but it demonstrates in an effective way how both were outsiders in a sea of smoke and sweaty old white dudes, and how they both banded together.
Speaking of which, in a very clever sequence of “Please Be Doctor Who, Mr Hartnell” Warris and Verity detail some other very important things about the birth of the program. Showing Delia Derbyshire (love of my life) arranging the theme song and the infamous sound of the TARDIS being made by a house key on piano wire. Making the opening credits by pointing the camera down it’s own monitor and oh dear having someone’s face in the credits is horrifying. And cleverly acknowledging that not everyone who was important to the making of the show could be seen or mentioned because “so many people have been at the birth of this thing, we’d be here all day.”
David Bradley cements his place as the perfect man to play Mr Harnell by grabbing his lapels, and widening his eyes. “Doctor..who, hm?” It’s almost eerie.
And there we have it! It’s the SQUAD! Bill Hartnell, Jackie Hill, William Russell and Carole Ann Ford! They are the original team TARDIS! And with their powers combine they’re going to save the Earth! On…On television! Okay it’s cool leave me alone if I’m happy. (Though the whole picture of them cheering with Verity is actually from a we filmed X amount of episodes thing.) BUT IT’S CUTE! UNITY! WE ARE THE WORLD!
Though rehearsals aren’t exactly smooth sailing. Trials and tribulations are abound. Bill doesn’t thing he’s right for the part, the set department is slow on the upkeep when it comes to actually making the TARDIS, Sydney warns Verity that she needs to step up, or he would perhaps question his decision to have her as his producer
.
Which in turn has Verity quite slickly getting the designers to design the TARDIS and hell yeah helll yeah LOOK AT THAT TARDIS. It’s gorgeous and 60s and mint green.
We are now given a taste of how hard to was the film in the 1960s. Cameras hitting into wires, the doors not shutting, the lights getting too hot and turning on the sprinklers, and having to film everything as live. It’s hectic and mad but you have to appreciate the little things when it comes to acting here.
The actors aren’t going for direct impersonations, but have distinct little nuances that their real life counterparts had. Inflections, facial expressions and the like. Especially for Jemma Powell as Jackie Hill; she manages to do a wonderful take as Barbara Wright. And when it comes to Jackie herself, she incorporates all the grace, dignity, kindness and how true she was into her performance. There’s a little moment before they all head on set and she just takes a deep breath. I don’t know why that just stuck with me but it did.
Of course, this is just the pilot. And notoriously Sydney Newman saw the pilot episode and put the kibosh on it. So they have to re film and rewrite and more happy with the product, a transmtion date is scheduled.
But President Kennedy was shot, and quite interestingly we get Sydney Newman reading the Daleks script. And although we never here the Daleks say “EXTERMINATE” in that first episode, it is quite a cool series of shots…..oh erm…too soon? But hell to the yeah Verity Lambert showing her belief in the show, her perseverance and her commitment!
The rest of the film plays out beautifully, and I know me just explaining what happens is just going to take away the beautiful experience and watch this is. But Verity being the heart of the show, Bill falling in love with his role, the way the group comes together. How Bill starts to lose his memory as his health declines, how angry he become when his friends leave and how parts of the show begin to change. I could go on and on about this film but I’ll have to save it for my 100 page paper that I will one day write.
But Bill is no longer the Doctor that Doctor Who needs
And those words of the opening come back to haunt him.
“You need to move along now. Sir, you’re in the way.”
The next scene is the one that makes me cry. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch this film, I will sob whenever we play this. And it is a tesitimate to Mr Bradley’s performance. Here is a link between all the many tales of why William Hartnell left the program. The BBC wanted him gone, his health and his wife’s worry, and that he thought it was best. But he loved the show, dearly, once he was on board he believed in it to the utmost. He didn’t want to go.
He didn’t want to go.
Seeing him, at his weakest, having to give up the role he loved, having to see him break, makes the audience break as well.
The words never have held such power. It makes the 10th Doctor’s regeneration seem selfish.
They’re a hard truth.
We’re back to the present. We’ve come full circle. Times have changed, and so must he. And Patrick Troughton is ready to take over. It is a big shame to see such an underwhelming performance for Pat, after we’ve had such stellar people playing other real life people to a T and this fellow falls horribly flat. Was Frazer Hines not available?
The console switches flipped. The future in focus. And the fate of our players are told.
The eternal words of Mr Hartnell himself send us on our way, that one day he will come back..
Warris Hussein was at this years Long Island Doctor Who Convention or (L.I.Who). Much to my utterly delight (and the pain of my roommate as I squealed quite loudly, so loud I think dear Warris heard me in England) And he was asked a few times about the film. How accurate it was. Obvisouly some things never happened, and somethings in fact he went to Mark Gatiss and said “Mark. This is…very wrong. Verity didn’t do this, Sydney didn’t say that.” And most things were fixed. In fact he was very fond of the film, and marveled how Bradley got who William Hartnell was as a person.
There’s a reason I call this the true 50th anniversary special. There’s flaws, of course. What was added for the sake of dramatizing or generalizing things that happened, how times might have changed, people cut, people shoved into one person. Oh sure I take grievance with things like that. And will complain to forums that pat me on the head and so “okay grandpa now go suck on a hard candy.” But it tells the tale of the Doctor Who’s origins. It incorporates so many elements of what went down and helps you appreciate the hard work that went into this show so many years ago.
But this film is so wonderfully beautiful. A gorgeous tribute to this brilliant and creative program and the people who made it.
Please, if you haven’t already, go and watch this film.
Go see where it all began and marvel at the tenacity and drive of those who came before.
Tina Marie DeLucia