November 23, 1963: "Doctor Who" Premieres

William Hartnell

November 23, 1963: Doctor Who premieres on the BBC. The 1st episode is titled "An Unearthly Child." Due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the day before, it was repeated the next week.

The show was created to fill a gap between children's and young adult programming. Canadian producer Sydney Newman, recently made Head of Drama at the BBC, was tasked with creating the show, with heavy contributions from Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber.

"The Doctor" is the alias assumed by a millennia-old humanoid alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels through space and time in a device called the TARDIS: "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." It's bigger on the inside than on the outside, and can take any exterior form. Except The Doctor's TARDIS has a problem, and is stuck in the form of a mid-20th Century British police call box -- as Americans would say, a phone booth.

The Doctor usually travels with one or two "companions." When the show premiered, William Hartnell played him, and his first companion was named Susan Foreman, alleged to be The Doctor's granddaughter, played by Carole Ann Ford.

Hartnell, 55 years old at the time of the show's premiere, had been typecast as hard-bitten military men, and the idea of playing a mischievous old man appealed to him. It's as if an American version of the show were created in America in the year 2000, during the British version's long hiatus, and it starred R. Lee Ermey. That wouldn't have worked. Tommy Lee Jones, maybe.

A trope is that The Doctor's true name is never revealed. In the 1st episode, since the granddaughter's name is Foreman, The Doctor is addressed as "Doctor Foreman." But he says, "Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" Within the show, "Doctor Who" became a running gag, but, through 2022, the closest thing to an official name that the character has ever gotten is "The Doctor."

The show was an immediate hit, and The Doctor visited many prominent points in Earth's history. But in 1966, Hartnell fell ill. Rather than cancel the series, they explained his recasting by saying that Time Lords can "regenerate," allowing them a change of cellular structure and appearance that allows them to survive what would ordinarily be a fatal injury.

Hartnell told the producers that there was only one actor to could properly replace him in the role, even though they looked nothing alike: Patrick Troughton. Troughton took over the role on November 5, 1966; Jon Pertwee on January 3, 1970, at which point the show switched from black & white to "colour"; Tom Baker, the longest-lasting Doctor, on December 28, 1974; Peter Davison on January 4, 1982; Colin Baker (no relation to Tom) on March 22, 1984; and Sylvester McCoy from September 7, 1987 until the series was canceled, its last episode airing on December 6, 1989.

(Note: What the British call a "programme," we Americans call a "series." And, what they call a "series," we call a "season.")

A TV-movie aired on May 27, 1996, with Paul McGann as The Doctor. The show was revived, premiering on March 26, 2005, with Christopher Eccleston. From here on, the show became known for its big Christmas episodes, which made for good timing to switch to a new actor for the Doctor: David Tennant on December 25, 2005; Matt Smith on January 1, 2010; Peter Capaldi on December 25, 2013; and Jodie Whittaker, the 1st female actor to play The Doctor, on December 25, 2017.

Whittaker was the Thirteenth Doctor. Previously, it was established that Time Lords could regenerate 12 times, giving them 13 "lives." This was retconned when it was revealed by The Doctor's longtime nemesis, The Master, that The Doctor was not a true Time Lord, but was "The Timeless Child," and had already had countless lives before taking on the form of the First Doctor, Hartnell's version. Thus, on October 23, 2022, Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, returned, as the Fourteenth Doctor, with roughly the same appearance but a different personality.

Tennant had been one of the youngest actors to play the role, at 34, but now, at 51, he is one of the oldest. In the coming Christmas episode, Ncuti Gatwa, who grew up in Scotland after escaping from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide with his family, will begin playing the Fifteenth Doctor, the 1st nonwhite actor to play the role. (The Doctor has had male and female companions, and they have come from every race to be found on Earth.)

The oldest has been Capaldi, 59 when he left. The youngest has been Smith, 27 when he started. McCoy, Tennant, Capaldi and Gatwa have been Scottish; the rest of The Doctor's portrayers have been English-born-and-raised, although McCoy and McGann have been Englishmen of Irish descent. Nevertheless, every Doctor has spoken with a traditional upper-class English accent.

On occasion, the show's time-traveling feature has allowed "reunions," where the current incarnation of The Doctor has met one or more previous versions. In 1973, for the show's 10th Anniversary, a special was aired, titled "The Three Doctors." Troughton and Pertwee were able to act alongside each other, but Hartnell's health only allowed a camera setup in his home, so it appeared that he was communicating with them remotely.

Hartnell died 2 years later. For the 20th Anniversary Special, "The Five Doctors," Richard Hurndall was cast as the First Doctor, while Troughton, Pertwee and Tom Baker returned to join Davison. Hurndall died the following year. David Bradley, who bears a much stronger resemblance to Hartnell than did Hurndall, has played the First Doctor in scattered appearances since 2017.

Troughton died in 1987, Pertwee in 1996. John Hurt, who played "The War Doctor" in the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" in 2013, died in 2017. As of November 23, 2022, all other actors who have played The Doctor are still alive.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Doc Brown vs. Doctor Who," Zach Sherwin played Dr. Emmett Brown, inventor of the time-traveling DeLorean car, against the Tenth Doctor, played there by "Nice" Peter Shukoff. Halfway through the battle, Brown directed a Dalek to shoot The Doctor, and he regenerates into Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, complete with his TARDIS "regenerating" into its earlier form. George Watsky played the Fourth Doctor.

*

November 23, 1963 was a Saturday. Nearly every sporting event in America was canceled, or at least postponed, due to the JFK assassination. But 15 college football games were played as scheduled:

* Rivalry: Number 6 Oklahoma were upset by Number 10 Nebraska, 29-20 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 9 Auburn beat Florida State, 21-15 at Cliff Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama.

* Rivalry: Florida beat the University of Miami, 27-21 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* Rivalry: Louisiana State beat Tulane, 20-0 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

* Rivalry: Tennessee beat Kentucky, 19-0 at McLean Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.

* Rivalry: Utah beat Utah State, 25-23 at Romney Stadium in Logan.

* Rivalry: William & Mary beat the University of Richmond, 29-6 at City Stadium in Richmond.

* Arkansas beat Texas Tech, 27-20 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Bowling Green beat Xavier, 26-15 at University Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio.

* Kent State beat the University of Dayton, 23-0 at Memorial Stadium in Kent, Ohio.

* Ohio University beat Marshall, 17-0 at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio.

* Southern Mississippi beat The Citadel, 37-12 at Faulkner Field (now M.M. Roberts Stadium) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

* Vanderbilt beat George Washington University, 31-0 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.

* And New York City team Columbia beat New Jersey team Rutgers, 35-28 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

Two NBA games went ahead as scheduled. The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-99 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Cincinnati Royals, 133-121 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Bob Pettit of the Hawks and Oscar Robertson of the Royals each scored 33 points.

One NHL game was played, and not in the U.S., although it did involve a U.S.-based team: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Before every English soccer game that Saturday, a moment of silence was held for JFK. Arsenal, the team I would one day start supporting, beat Lancashire team Blackpool, 5-3 at Highbury in North London.