By Robbie Jones
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and whilst we all sit here in excitement, eager to see how events unfold, the BBC treated us to a TV special called An Adventure in Space and Time. After all, all brilliant things have to start somewhere. What younger fans of the show may not realise that The Doctor wasn’t always as jumpy, vibrant and young as Matt Smith, but was actually a grumpy old man.
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and whilst we all sit here in excitement, eager to see how events unfold, the BBC treated us to a TV special called An Adventure in Space and Time. After all, all brilliant things have to start somewhere. What younger fans of the show may not realise that The Doctor wasn’t always as jumpy, vibrant and young as Matt Smith, but was actually a grumpy old man.
The special starts as the story of Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine), a young woman who dreams of working in TV, but she has never had her big break. That is until Sydney Newman (Brian Cox. No, not the one who likes stars), head of Drama at the BBC, asks her to produce a new sci-fi show for kids. She teams up with Warris Huessein (Sacha Dhawan), the first ever director of the show, and go about casting the show. Eventually they cast the main character himself, seeking out William Hartnell (David Bradley), a grumpy character actor in his 50s who has made his name starring in war films. Ready to take on a new role, Hartnell accepts, and despite shaky ratings following the JFK assassination, the show becomes a huge hit. Kids especially love it, and the show gradually becomes more popular, but the story shifts to that of Hartnell, as we see his ailing health and how hard he could be work with, in his three years on the show.
I don’t have a lot of experience with the classic series; I could count the number of stories I’ve seen on one hand. Of Hartnell’s era, I have only seen his second story, The Daleks (Which as you find out in the special, propelled the show to success and pulled in 10 million viewers), so for someone as new to it as I am, this is a really fascinating experience. It was interesting to delve into William Hartnell’s personal life, and more importantly, how much he loved his job.
The special is absolutely amazing. The writing is superb, and the acting is flawless; Jessica Raine pulls off Verity Lambert wonderfully, and Brian Cox was great. But David Bradley....An absolute master class in acting. Let’s ignore the fact that he was the spitting image of Hartnell, his performance is an absolute tour de force. If he does not get a Bafta for this, there is no knowing how angry I will be.
For Who fans old and new, this is essential. A beautifully shot, fantastically written and amazingly performed tale of the show’s inception. If anything has got me excited for tomorrow’s night big special, it’s certainly this.
For Who fans old and new, this is essential. A beautifully shot, fantastically written and amazingly performed tale of the show’s inception. If anything has got me excited for tomorrow’s night big special, it’s certainly this.
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