This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: Nov 22nd to Nov 28th - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: Nov 22nd to Nov 28th

Did anything of note happen this week in Doctor Who history? Yeah, you could say it did...


Click on any red text to read our full retrospectives/reviews for that episode. All dates and viewing figures are for UK premier broadcasts unless otherwise stated.

November 22nd
Part one of The Android Invasion was broadcast on this day in 1975 at 5:47pm and watched by huge 11.9 million viewers. Beat that State of Decay! Oh, you can't. Part One of the 1980 Fourth Doctor adventure had just half the viewers, with 5.8 million tuning in.

Poor old Sixie. Twelve weeks now he's been stood in the dock! Still, not long until he gets some refreshing "carrot juice" *shudder*. Part four of Terror of the Vervoids was broadcast on this day in 1986 and watched by 5.2 million viewers.

Three years later the end was nigh. Part one of Survival aired at 7:35pm that Wednesday evening. 5 million loyal fans tuned in, whilst 15 million others watched Coronation Street!


November 23rd
The very first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast Saturday afternoon at 5:16pm, but I'm sure you all knew that? 4.4 Million viewers sat down to watch An Unearthly Child, part one in a four part adventure that at the time of broadcast went under the title of 100,000 BC (original working title being The Tribe of Gum). Now, of course, we refer to the whole story as An Unearthly Child, likely thanks to the 1973 Radio Times Tenth Anniversary Special which called it that.

Also broadcast this day in 1968, and watched by 6.4 million viewers, was episode four of the classic Second Doctor Cybermen adventure The Invasion. In 1987 5.5 million people tuned into part one of Dragonfly, and the following year 6.10 million people saw the Seventh Doctor do battle with the Cybermen in the first part of Silver Nemesis.

Currently the only story from the revived series which was broadcast on the show's actual anniversary is the 2013 50th Anniversary special, The Day of The Doctor. Simulcast around the world in cinemas and on television, it kicked off at 7:50pm with a huge BBC One audience of 12.8 million viewers. And if you pressed the Red Button afterwards you'd have been able to enjoy the marvelous Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. In fact, let's watch it again shall we?...



November 24th
The Fourth Doctor and Romana faced the Nightmare of Eden on this day in 1979. Part one drew an audience of 8.7 million viewers.

Also on this day episode one of The Sarah Jane Adventures, er, adventure, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, was broadcast in 2008 at 4:35pm, and watched by 0.72 million viewers.


November 25th
Part Three of The Ice Warriors is now missing (along with the previous installment), so unless you were one of those 7.4 million people who tuned in for this Second Doctor adventure back in 1967 then you've likely only seen the animated recreation. Then, the Fourth Doctor began a new adventure on this day in 1978, with part one of The Androids of Tara watched by 8.5 million viewers.

But the big one for this day arrived back in 1983, when the 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors was broadcast as part of that evening's Children In Need appeal. 7.7 million people tuned in to the UK broadcast, but it had already premiered two days previously in the USA, on Doctor Who's actual anniversary.


November 26th
All of Patrick Troughton's 1966 debut adventure The Power of the Daleks is currently missing, believed wiped, so only the 7.8 million people watching episode four on this day in 1966 have seen it in all its glory. Also on this day we have part one of The Sun Makers which aired in 1977 to an audience of 8.5 million viewers.

And now a story which is not quite as exciting as the previous time Doctor Who had teamed up with Children In Need for a multi-Doctor adventure - the 1993 30th Anniversary 3D special Dimensions In Time. It would be fair to say that it is quite hard to love, but during the annual charity telethon part one was watched by an enormous audience of 13.8 million viewers - making it one of the most watched episodes of Doctor Who ever! Sad fact that.

Spin-off corner brings us the Torchwood episode Greeks Bearing Gifts, which was broadcast in 2006 and watched by 1.31 million BBC Three viewers, plus part two of The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Lost Boy, which aired a year later to 1.25 million CBBC viewers.


November 27th
As it is now sadly missing from the archives, only the 10.3 million people lucky enough to tune in on this day in 1965 would have seen episode three of The Daleks' Master Plan (entitled Devil's Planet).

Then I'm afraid it doesn't get any better but 13.6 million people tuned into watch part two of Dimensions In Time when it aired during Noel's House Party on Saturday Nov 27th 1993.

Episode three of the 40th Anniversary animated web adventure Scream of the Shalka was released onto the BBC's Doctor Who website at noon on this day in 2003.


November 28th
Today is Karen Gillan's birthday. Happy Birthday Pond!

And let's have an actual Who episode too, shall we? How about the second part of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, entitled The Daleks, which was broadcast on this day in 1964 and watched by 12.40 million viewers.
Nice!

And that would be your lot for this week in Doctor Who history, but don't forget that next Saturday the Twelfth Doctor will be Heaven Sent.

Did you watch any of these adventures live? Let us know in the comments below, we'd love to here your memories of them.

Until next Sunday...

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