Forty-five years ago today, one day after the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy, viewers in the UK witnessed the beginning of a legend — “An Unearthly Child”, the very first episode of Doctor Who.
It’s hard for a modern viewer to imagine what it was like back in 1963, as the first notes of that haunting, unearthly theme music was first heard.
The episode introduced the mysterious character known only as “the Doctor”, and his ancient, barely-working, but still amazing TARDIS.
By the end of the first episode, all we knew of the Doctor was that he was “from another time, another world,” and indeed that’s all we knew of him for years afterward — it wasn’t until the end of the sixth season that we even heard the name “Timelord”.
There’s no way that the people watching the show back then could’ve imagined that 45 years on, the show would be back on the air again with the 9th, now the 10th (and soon the 11th) actor to play the part, and that the TARDIS, the Daleks, the Cybermen, and more would be names known by millions of fans around the world.
But speaking as a die-hard fan for over 30 years, I am so glad I discovered the show accidentally while flipping channels all those years ago, and I’ve never stopped watching since.
So break out your DVDs or your old VHS tapes, and raise a glass to toast the greatest TV show ever made. Here’s to the next 45 years of Doctor Who.
Happy birthday, Doctor Who!
The beginning: “An Unearthly Child”, first broadcast November 23rd, 1963
Tags: doctor who 45th anniversary, doctor who anniversary, doctor who birthday
Hard to believe that it has been 45 years. I remember wathching on my local PBS station. When I started watching it was on every monday at 11:00pm. Then they switched it to saturday mornings. Than sifi channel took over and that was the end.
but isn’t the doctor a capricorn?