Doctor Who’s Beginning Is A Complete Mystery
Radio Times reports that broadcaster and writer Paul Hayes has uncovered a number of mysteries about the development of the BBC’s Doctor Who while conducting research for his new book, Pull to Open. In his research, Hayes made the discovery that the inaugural filming for the popular science-fiction series never actually took place on the originally scheduled shooting date.
Though the original filming date of August 20, 1963 has been a widely accepted piece of head-canon for many fans of the show, it turns out that no production for the show actually occurred on that date, and sources aren’t so sure when the actual filming took place.
Considering that we’re talking about Doctor Who, one could have fun imagining a scenario in which Doctor Who himself altered the timeline with his TARDIS, but the truth behind this new revelation is simply a matter of incorrect record keeping.
In fact, even though filming for Doctor Who was said to have been on August 20, 1963, and has been documented as such, there was another document uncovered by Hayes that told him that the originally scheduled filming session was canceled eight days later. But as of this writing, nobody knows what date the filming was rescheduled to, because there is no record to be found.
Considering that we’re talking about Doctor Who, one could have fun imagining a scenario in which Doctor Who himself altered the timeline with his TARDIS, but the truth behind this new revelation is simply a matter of incorrect record keeping.
There’s nothing nefarious about this misinterpretation of the facts, however, and we can attribute this kind of misinformation to the result of a document simply going missing by accident, or never being produced in the first place. Or maybe whoever was in charge of the books during that time was out sick, and their co-worker simply forgot to update the notes.
Speaking about his intense research about Doctor Who, Hayes mentioned that he uncovered a lot of small factoids about the series, but nothing particularly earth-shattering. In other words, Hayes took a more granular look at the background and development that happened during Doctor Who’s earliest days, and sifted through a number of documents before making his discovery that changes the history of the show ever-so-slightly.
But he also understands how researchers have previously overlooked this small error in the chronology of the series, stating, “It’s understandable – there is a lot of information on a lot of pieces of paper in those files!”
The original filming date of August 20, 1963 has been a widely accepted piece of head-canon for many fans of the show, it turns out that no production for the show actually occurred on that date, and sources aren’t so sure when the actual filming took place.
What’s more baffling to us is that the Birmingham-based TV archiving organization, Kaleidoscope, is still having some trouble getting its hands on the original master copies of 97 episodes of Doctor Who.
Doctor Who’s Lost Episodes
Chris Perry, the head of Kaleidoscope, and a research associate of the Royal Holloway University of London, has reason to believe that these lost episodes probably remain in private collections. Though Perry has hinted that he may know the location of these episodes, he has also suggested that the current owner (or owners) don’t want to return them to the archives at this point in time.
If you’re looking for more behind-the-scenes information about Doctor Who, you’ll be pleased to know that Paul Hayes’ book, Pull to Open, has been released as of August 7, 2023. This 424-page book serves as an unauthorized history of Doctor Who and does a deep dive into how the BBC created and launched the popular show. Surely, this is a must-read for any die hard Doctor Who fan.
