Welcome my friends to the return of our weekly column looking back at the episodes broadcasts, the birthdays celebrated and the special events that happened this week in Doctor Who history.
You can click on any red text to read our full retrospectives/reviews for that episode, and just as it's always been, all dates and viewing figures listed are for UK premier broadcasts unless otherwise stated.
Aug 4th
We start this week with the broadcast anniversary of, not an actual episode, but the show that gave us confirmation of the man who would be Who. Yup, August 4th 2013 Zoe Ball announced that Peter Capaldi was to be the Twelfth Doctor, about 20 minutes into Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor. 6.1 million U.K. viewers tuned in, with millions more around the globe as the event was simulcast.
Also on this day in Doctor Who history, and again not technically an actual episode of Doctor Who, we go to 2011 for Episode 4 of Torchwood: Miracle Day which received its UK premiere (six days behind its U.S. broadcast). Titled Escape to L.A. It's fair to say the show divided the 5.19 million viewers, many bemoaning the relocation to America, and feeling that a line of dialogue from this episode describing lemonade, of all things, perfectly summed up the whole Torchwood USA affair.
"Fizzy in the UK, flat in the US!"
Aug 5th
And still it's not an actual episode (possibly not the best week to resurrect this column?) but it was based on one so that kinda counts. Back in 1966 the second Peter Cushing Dr Who movie, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., received its premiere. And yes, that is Bernard Cribbins.
Back in 2011, if you were living in the U.S.of A. at the time things were looking good for you. After all, Trump was just a failing businessman turned overweight host of Celebrity Apprentice, and if you were one of the fourteen people who subscribed to Showtime you could watch the world premiere of episode 5 of Torchwood: Miracle Day. That was titled The Categories of Life, and we'll mention it again properly next week as in the UK we had to wait six days to see it - and because, quite honestly, I only included it here to meet the word count (well, at least we're honest).
Aug 8th
Hooray, it's a proper bonafide episode of Doctor Who, and the 6.9 million viewers did rejoice when they watched A Land Of Fear, the opening chapter of 1964's The Reign Of Terror. This six part adventure would eventually bring the debut season of Doctor Who to a close, but not before the First took part in what looks like a very early Fast Show sketch - Suits you Sir!
How about some Doctor Who audio for your listening pleasure, hmmm? Well, OK then! Episode 5 and 6 of the very first Doctor Who adventure to be produced exclusively for the radio received their debuts today in 1985. Yes, the show was on 18 month hiatus, there was a Doctor In Distress, or perhaps just in need of a paycheque, so Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant (as companion Peri) appeared in Slipback on Radio 4. These final two 10 minute installments were broadcast as part of the children's magazine show Pirate Radio Four. It wasn't great, sadly.
Aug 9th
Baker of the Colin variety is back again to lend his dulcet tones to this early webcast, as the BBCi service premiered the second episode of the Sixth Doctor animated adventure Real Time on this day at 12pm in 2002. Mind you, as most people had 56k dial-up internet connections back then, chances are it was the following day by the time it had buffered. If you are so inclined you can view the whole thing here.
Aug 10th
Yay! With absolutely no expense spared on the production, and a wardrobe budget that would be the envy of every other 1968 television series (a-hem), Season 6 of Doctor Who got underway on this day with episode 1 of The Dominators, which was watched by 6.1 million viewers.
Lastly, August 10th would've been Kate O'Mara's birthday. The Rani actress was born in 1939, and sadly left us in 2014 aged 74.
That's it for this week, a little bit sparse for actual Who episodes I know, but that's the Summer schedules for you. Join us again next Sunday as we look back once more at another week in Doctor Who history.
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