Today in History: The First Episode of Dr. Who

On this day (November 23) in 1963 Dr. Who aired for the first time on the BBC. The episode was titled An Unearthly Child and William Hartnell starred as The Doctor. It was the first show to air on the BBC after they ended continuous coverage of JFK’s assassination. It is now the longest running science fiction television program in history.

I became quite obsessed with Dr. Who when I was in high school. The first episode I watched was the fourth doctor’s (Tom Baker) Robots of Death. Thanks to some friends of my father’s I was able to view every episode in the first twenty-two seasons. (Yes, I had a lot more time on my hands in those days. And to think, I thought I worked so hard.) I stopped watching religiously somewhere in the Colin Baker run because I couldn’t find the show while I was in college. I’ve seen the occasional episode since then and watched the movie starring Paul McGann with my wife but nothing ever came of that doctor. My niece is now a major fan but I find I don’t have the time to binge watch all the seasons since then, although it appears that the stories have greatly improved in quality since my viewing days.

Dr. Who is an important part of the culture now. I have worked plot elements (such as the ventriloquist dummy from the Talons of Weng Chiang) into role playing games I run for my son. (The dummy was nicer in my version.) Even though I don’t watch it anymore, I feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside knowing that it’s still going on.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Who!