Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show
- Publication: The Medicine Hat News
- Date: 1977-05-17
- Author: Peter Calamai
- Page: 16
- Language: English
LONDON—There was really only one programming choice for the BBC to run opposite the epic "Jesus Christ" which rival Independent Television broadcast .at Easter.
Dr. Who—the BBC's very own epic, science-fiction hero.
So all throughout Britain, one TV families had a tussle over skipping an hour of Christian miracles for a retrospective look at the 13-year rise of a cantankerous eccentric into a cult hero.
Dr. Who is 750 years old, has two hearts, wanders through time and space in a commodious police call box and is seen weekly by about 12 million, an audience which usually makes it the BBC's most popular drama offering.
Convention says a sizeable portion of the audience (60 per cent adult, 40 per cent children) watch the Doctor's exploits from behind a sofa or through the cracks of distant doors, shivering with delicious fright.
That's because Dr. Who resembles, in his duties, a Matt Dillon of the universe.
"It's the cowboy syndrome," admits producer Graham Williams. "The Doctor is the guy in the white hat who rides into town and plugs the guy in the black hat ... even if the baddie does have tentacles."
Not just tentacles but an infinite variety of death rays, a stream of intergalactic evil geniuses, and assorted villain gladiators, including a very special foe known as the Daleks.
But even the most inventive terror doesn't explain the program's survival through more than 400 time-travelling episodes with four Dr. Whos, nine plucky female assistants, not mentioning sales to two dozen other countries.
The Commonwealth looms large in the sales abroad—Australia, Hong Kong and Zambia are the three biggest buyers; Dubai edges Canada into fifth place.
"It frightens the life out of the Dutch, French and Germans; they won't touch it," says Tony Cash, producer of the BBC's retrospective. "They think it's too horrible for children."
Mind you, they don't get the humor."
Much of the humor derives from the Doctor's eccentricity. It begins with the costume devised two years ago by the current Dr. Who, actor Tom Baker, who was Rasputin in the film "Nicholas and Alexandra" but now contrives to resemble Harpo Marx.
A floppy, platter-sized black hat, a 17-foot-long multicolored scarf and a greatcoat with yoyos in the pocket (plus the every-handy Sonic Screwdriver) are not the trappings of your average U.S. television hero.
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- APA 6th ed.: Calamai, Peter (1977-05-17). Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show. The Medicine Hat News p. 16.
- MLA 7th ed.: Calamai, Peter. "Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show." The Medicine Hat News [add city] 1977-05-17, 16. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Calamai, Peter. "Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show." The Medicine Hat News, edition, sec., 1977-05-17
- Turabian: Calamai, Peter. "Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show." The Medicine Hat News, 1977-05-17, section, 16 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_top_U.K._TV_sci-fi_show | work=The Medicine Hat News | pages=16 | date=1977-05-17 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 May 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Dr. Who top U.K. TV sci-fi show | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_top_U.K._TV_sci-fi_show | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 May 2024}}</ref>
