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episode guide

an unearthly child

story 1 : season 1 : serial A : 4 episodes

Producer: Verity Lambert
Director: Waris Hussein
Writer: Anthony Coburn
Script Editor: David Whitaker
Designer: Peter Brachacki
Designer: Barry Newbery

cast information

William Hartnell (Dr. Who); William Russell (Ian Chesterton); Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright); Carole Ann Ford (Susan); Derek Newark (Za); Alethea Charlton (Hur); Eileen Way (Old Mother); Jeremy Young (Kal); Howard Lang (Horg);

crew information

Catherine Childs (Assistant Floor Manager); Mervyn Pinfield (Associate Producer); Maureen Heneghan (Costumes); Derek Ware (Fight Arranger); Robert Sleigh (Film Cameraman); Norman Kay (Incidental Music); Elizabeth Blattner (Make-Up); Douglas Camfield (Production Assistant); Tony Lightley (Production Assistant); BBC Visual Effects (Special Effects); Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds); Geoff Shaw (Studio Lighting); Jack Clayton (Studio Sound); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 pilot version a 26 August 1991 at 14:15 25'23" 1.7mil 16mm telerecording
2 pilot version b never aired 25'55" n/a 16mm telerecording
3 An Unearthly Child 23 November 1963 at 17:16 23'24" 4.4mil 16mm telerecording
4 The Cave of Skulls 30 November 1963 at 17:15 24'26" 5.9mil 16mm telerecording
5 The Forest of Fear 7 December 1963 at 17:15 23'38" 6.9mil 16mm telerecording
6 The Firemaker 14 December 1963 at 17:15 24'22" 6.4mil 16mm telerecording
  1. pilot version a
    » The original pilot is retained with technical difficulties during the second half set in the TARDIS interior
    » Discovered at the FVTL c.1978 in a wrongly labeled film can
  2. pilot version b
    » Version b is the same up to the point that Barbara enters the TARDIS
    » A small clip also exists of an aborted take of the interior scenes
    » Discovered at the FVTL c.1978 in a wrongly labeled film can
  3. An Unearthly Child
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978, unknown if always held
  4. The Cave of Skulls
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978, unknown if always held
  5. The Forest of Fear
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978, unknown if always held
  6. The Firemaker
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978, unknown if always held
    » Video release has 'next episode' caption deleted

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who -- An Unearthly Child
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 068 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
October 1981 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
15 October 1981 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
ISBN: 0 426 20144 2
1987 Published by Éditions Garancière, France in paperback
Translated into French by Jean-Daniel Breque
With cover artwork by: Penichoux
1990 Published by Goldmann Verlag, Germany in paperback
Translated into German by
With cover artwork by: David McAllister
15 February 1990 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 20144 2

plot synopsis

Investigating the background of pupil Susan Foreman, her two teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, find that she lives in a time machine called the TARDIS, with her grandfather, the Doctor. The Doctor is forced to take off with all four characters on board, and the ship arrives in 100,000 BC, where a tribe of cavemen, desperate to rediscover the secret of fire, kidnaps them...

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