This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: March 20th to March 26th - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: March 20th to March 26th

This week in Doctor Who history we said goodbye to Tom and two of the other splendid chaps made their debut...


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.

March 20th
We get things underway this week with The Web Planet episode six (entitled Centre) which was broadcast on this day in 1965, and was watched by 11.5 million viewers. Two regenerations and 6 years later, the Third Doctor faced episode two of The Claws of Axos. Broadcast Saturday March 20th 1971 at 5.15pm and watched by 8 million viewers.

It also happens to be Freema Agyeman's birthday today. Happy birthday Miss Jones!


March 21st
March 21st 1964 saw the fifth episode of Marco Polo (entitled Rider From Shang-Tu) broadcast at 5.15pm and watched by 9.4 million history loving viewers. Six years later episode 1 of The Ambassadors of Death was watched by 7.1 million viewers, and in 1981 it was the end, but the moment had been prepared for - part four of Logopolis, the Fourth Doctor's swansong, was watched by 6.1 million viewers.  

Also on this day in 2008 the Torchwood episode Fragments debuted on BBC Three to 0.72 million viewers.


March 22nd 
Back in 1969 episode three of the Second Doctor adventure The Space Pirates was broadcast to an audience of 6.4 million. Moving on to 1975 and 8.5 million were tuned in to an adventure that is routinely voted the number one Doctor Who story of all time - part three of Genesis of the Daleks. Then in 1982 we had the Fifth Doctor, the Master and Concorde. What could possibly go wrong? Find out in part one of Time-Flight, which was watched by 10 million viewers.

And finally on this day in Doctor Who history the Sixth Doctor's controversial era got underway with an adventure that is routinely voted the worst Doctor Who story! There was companion strangling, there was Mestor, there was the coat (oh, the coat!), and there was The Twin Dilemma. Oh yes, and there was also 7.6 million viewers tuned in that Thursday evening at 6.41pm.


March 23rd
On this day in 1968 7.9 million people were watching the Second Doctor in episode two of Fury From The Deep, a story which is, sadly, entirely missing from the archives.

If you took a look at the image above and thought "that's a terrible home made Minion costume" then two things - you're right, and you've likely never seen the Third Doctor adventure The Monster of Peladon, which was broadcast on this day in 1974 watched by 9.2 million. Then on Tuesday March 23rd 1982 the second part of Time-Flight drew and audience of 7.4 million.

On Friday March 23rd 1984 7.4 million people were intrigued enough to check back in for part two of The Twin Dilemma, and exactly the same figure were watching twelve months later for the first part of Revelation of the Daleks.

Let's take a brief break from the screen and head to the theatre, darling, for Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure which opened on this day in 1989 at Wimbledon Theatre, London before touring the country. Jon Pertwee played the Doctor until June 3rd, two days later Colin Baker took over for the duration of the tour.


March 24th 
Just the one episode broadcast on this day, and that was back in 1973. Part five of Frontier In Space was watched by 7.7 million viewers. 


March 25th
In 1967 the Second Doctor faced the episode three of The Macra Terror. Broadcast at 5.51pm to an audience of 8.5 million viewers. Also on this day in 1972 the fifth part of the Third Doctor story The Sea Devils was watched by an audience of 8.3 million.


March 26th
On this day in 1966 7.3 million people were watching part four of Dodo Gets A Cold, or The Ark (this episode entitled The Bomb) as it's more commonly known. Twelve years later, in 1977, 10.1 million deerstalker-lovers tuned in to part five of The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Elementary.

Oh, and on this day in 2005 we were off and running as Christopher Eccleston made his debut as the Ninth Doctor, and Doctor Who returned to our screens in an episode entitled Rose, courtesy of Russell 'Tussle' Davies. Broadcast at 7pm on BBC1, 10.81 million tuned in to catch Graham Norton talking over the start of the show thanks to a sound mix up from the live broadcast of BBC Three's Strictly Dance Fever.

That's it for this week, but did you watch any of these adventures live? We'd love to hear your memories about any of them. Tell us in the comments below.

Until next Sunday...

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