This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: Nov 10th To Nov 16th - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: Nov 10th To Nov 16th

There's some green-monster cock-kissing, or something like that, in an absolutely mega week in Doctor Who history...


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 10th
Let me set the scene for you. The Fourth has loosened his scarf, dimmed the lights and casually slipped Marvin Gaye's 1973 classic Let's Get It On into the sound system of the mines of Chloris. Yes, it's that moment in Doctor Who history where Tom Baker became *acquainted* with The Creature from the Pit. I honestly don't know if it was in the script or Tom had just had a tad too much of the booze at lunchtime that day, but it's a bizarre pre-watershed moment. Part three of the 1979 adventure was broadcast at 6:02pm, and watched by 10.2 million rather surprised viewers.

Moving on - It's the first Sarah Jane Adventures episode of the week, and we have part two of The Mark of the Berserker, broadcast on this day in 2008 to 1.53 million viewers.


November 11th
On this day in Doctor Who history we have episode one of the Second Doctor adventure The Ice Warriors. Broadcast in 1967 at 5:10pm and watched by 6.7 million viewers, which was 2.5 million less than were tuned in to part three of The Stones of Blood eleven years later.

The award for most recent episode of the week goes to series eleven's Demons Of The Punjab, broadcast just 12 months ago to a consolidated audience of 7.48 million.


November 12th
Episode two of the Second Doctor's debut adventure The Power of the Daleks was broadcast for the one and only time in the UK on this day in 1966 and watched by 7.8 million viewers. It's been missing from the BBC archive now for the best part of 50 years (Have you got it? Check down the back of the sofa just in case), but received a very nice animated release in 2016.

One other actual Doctor Who episode for today, and it's part three of Image of the Fendahl, which first aired in 1977 and was watched by 7.9 million viewers.

But we're not done yet as it's spin-off time. Firstly we have the Torchwood team away with the fairies in Small Worlds. Broadcast in 2006 at 10:00pm, it was watched by 1.26 million viewers. The following year we have 1.77 million tuned in for part one of The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Lost Boy. Then, in 2009 it's another episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, part one of Mona Lisa's Revenge was watched by 1.12 million viewers. Finally, on Saturday 12th November 2016 the fifth episode Class was released on BBC Three, titled Brave-ish Heart.


November 13th
Strap yourself in as today, November 13th, is a mega one in Doctor Who history.

We start with the opening episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, titled The Nightmare Begins, which was broadcast on this day in 1965 and watched by 9.1 million viewers. Eleven years later, the Crispy Master is in full swing in part three of The Deadly Assassin, which was watched by a mighty 13 million viewers, one of them being Mary Whitehouse. Protector of morals, upholder of traditional standards and all round busy body, Ms Whitehouse took beef with this week's cliffhanger and deemed the sight of a seemingly drowned Tom Baker to be far too much for the little kiddos of Blighty. Such was the noise Ms Whitehouse made that Aunty Beeb trimmed the ending for future broadcasts.

We're gonna skip ahead a bit to 2009. Those poor little kiddos of Blighty have had to wait a whole 24 hours for part two of The Sarah Jane Adventures story Mona Lisa's Revenge, and it would be cruel of me to make all 0.92 million of the CBBC viewers to wait any longer.

Right, deep breath (no, not that Deep Breath) as we have a lot to cover now...


Back to 1999 for BBC Two's Doctor Who Night. A three and a half hour celebration presented by Tom Baker, which included...

9.00 Doctor Who: Adventures in Space and Time
Documentary charting the history of the time-travelling maverick, including contributions from writers and actors who have worked on the series, plus clips featuring all the Doctor's incarnations.

9.40 The Pitch of Fear
First of three sketches written by David Walliams and (as he was credited at the time) The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss. It is 1963, and a young TV producer has an idea for a family series. With Mark Gatiss , David Walliams and Paul Putner.

9.45 How to Live Forever
Professor Tom Kirkwood, an expert on ageing, explains the scientific concept of regeneration that has allowed the Doctor to live on in different guises.

9.50 Carnival of Monsters
Recollections of the Doctor's most memorable foes - including the Daleks, the Sea Devils and the Cybermen- and how they were created.

10.20 The Web of Caves
Comedy sketch centred on the various alien adversaries that have confronted the Doctor.

10.25 How to Build a Tardis
Nuclear physicist Doctor Jim Al-Khalili explains how a blue police box enabled the Doctor to travel through space and time.

10.30 Doctor Who The Daleks.
The final episode, shown in 1964, of the first story with the Daleks. Starring William Hartnell. Written by Terry Nation; Directors: Christopher Barry and Richard Martin.

10.55 The Kidnappers
Sketch in which enthusiasm for Doctor Who goes too far. With Peter Davison.

11.05 Doctor Who
Feature-length adventure, first shown in 1996, starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. On New Year's Eve 1999, a British police box materialises in San Francisco. Written by Matthew Jacobs; Executive producers: Alex Beaton. Philip Segal and Jo Wright : Director: Geoffrey Sax.

And we're still not done for November 13th...


November 13th not only saw a repeat viewing for the Eighth Doctor's debut outing, but also his only other (to date) televisual-type appearance. But before we get to the Eighth Doctor's swansong we have the Ninth Doctor's debut adventure. No, not Christopher Eccleston, but Richard E Grant! Confused? Read on...

In 2003 Grant briefly provided the voice for what began as the official Ninth Doctor but was quickly shot from canon when it was announced Russell T Davies would be reviving the series. Long before the web was a popular medium for watching television shows, episode one 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.

Then, a decade later and the world had changed. Streaming and the like was the new normal, but still the BBC managed to crash the internet with the release of The Night of the Doctor, giving Paul McGann the regeneration he deserved, and a nice early birthday present...


November 14th
Happy birthday Mr McGann!

So what do we have for this day in Doctor Who history? Can it rival November 13th? Er, in a word, no! But there's always part three of Planet of Giants, titled Crisis, which was broadcast on this day in 1964 at 5:15pm, and watched by 8.9 million viewers.

Oh, and there's also the 2015 series nine episode Sleep No More. Mark Gatiss' crapola found footage story holds the title of being the lowest watched episode of Doctor Who since the show was revived in 2005. (And they say there's no accounting for taste!) It was watched by 4 million viewers overnight. This number rose to 5.61 million after seven days of time-shifting. I mean, surely word of mouth from the 4 million who tuned into the broadcast would've saved those extra 1.6 million their wasted hour, no?


November 15th
It's back to the 'all teeth and curls' era once again for yet another bumper day. We start with two fine Fourth Doctor stories both coming to an end. From 1975 we have part four Pyramids of Mars, broadcast at 5:45pm and watched by 11.7 million viewers, and five years later the fourth part of Full Circle had 5.5 million pairs of eyed watching.

Moving into the 1980's, 1986 to be exact, and the Sixth Doctor is facing part eleven of The Trial Of A Time Lord, which saw 5.3 million tune in for the third installment of Terror of the Vervoids. Three years later and the end of classic Who was nigh when part four of The Curse of Fenric arrived on this day with just 4.2 million sets of eyed tuned in to witness.

In 2009 another era was coming to the end - that of the Tenth Doctor. But before The End of Time 10.32 million viewers would take a dip in The Waters of Mars.

Finally for this day we have episode one of Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith, a story which, unsurprisingly, comes from the CBBC series The Sarah Jane Adventures, broadcast in 2010 on Monday November 15th. The 0.82 million viewers would only have to wait 24 hours to catch the second part...



November 16th
Three part threes to begin this day. Firstly, one from the Second Doctor adventure The Invasion which was broadcast on this day 47 years ago to 7.1 million viewers. Five regenerations later and we have 1987's Delta and the Bannermen, and the following year's The Happiness Patrol. Respectively they were watched by 5.4 and 5.3 million viewers.

A double dose of Who treats arrived on this day as part of the 2007 and 2012 Children In Need appeals. Above you'll find the fifth and the tenth starring in Time Crash, and below we have the prequel to The Snowmen, The Great Detective.



And, as promised, we mustn't forget part two of the 2010 The Sarah Jane Adventures story Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith for the 0.81 million eager CBBC viewers.

Did you watch any of these adventures live? Are you secretly stashing the only copy of Power of the Daleks? Are you sure? Did you check down the back of the sofa? Go on. Do it. We'll wait......... No? OK, We'll let you off then.

Until next Sunday...

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