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.
January 26th
We begin another week in Doctor Who history with part three of Invasion of the Dinosaurs which was broadcast this day in 1974 and watched by a whopping 11 million viewers.
I know what you're thinking, that picture above is Elon Musk testing out his new solution to reach Mars, but you're wrong! Cast your mind back to Tuesday January 26th 1982 and you'll remember that it's actually part four of Four To Doomsday, which was broadcast at 7:06pm and watched by 9.4 million viewers.
What else do we have for this day? Well there's part four of Snakedance which aired the following year and was watched by 7.4 million. And in his final season, Peter Davison's Doctor began a new adventure with Frontios, broadcast Thursday January 26th at 6.41pm to an audience of 8 million. And then we have the second and final part of the Sixth Doctor adventure Vengeance On Varos which was broadcast in 1985 and watched by 7 million.
Tonight, my friends, the Judoon make their long awaited return (a-hem). It's a new episode from series twelve and it's called Fugitive Of The Judoon. I'm pretty sure they're not chasing Dr Richard Kimble, although that would be a cool crossover.
January 27th
On this day in 1968 8.3 million people were watching the Second Doctor in episode six of The Enemy of the World. A new adventure for The Third Doctor began in 1973, as 10.3 million watched Carnival Of Monsters. More scarier than the monsters themselves were the outfits (above) *shudder*
Moving onto 1979 and part two of The Armageddon Factor drew an audience of 8.8 million. Finally, for the old gogglebox, on Friday January 27th 1984 part two of Frontios was watched by 5.8 million viewers. But that's not quite all, as on this day in 1996 the second part of the Third Doctor radio drama, The Ghosts of N Space was broadcast.
January 28th
In 1967 episode 3 of The Underwater Menace drew an audience of 7.1 million viewers.
Now, you're probably like me, that when people criticise the wobbly sets and effects from Classic Who you have your standard retort, something like; they did wonders with the little budget they had, or that it's not about the effects it's about the story. Well, ladies and gentlemen, take a butchers at Underworld, a Fourth Doctor adventure that blows those theories clear out the water! 11.7 million people couldn't quite believe their eyes (a-hem) when they saw all the cutting edge CSO trickery on display in part four, which premiered on this day in 1978.
Stand by - ROBOT FIGHT!
January 29th
First up today it's episode 12 of the epic First Doctor adventure The Daleks' Master Plan (entitled The Destruction Of Time). It was the final episode in this story and as it's currently missing presumed wiped only the 8.6 million people tuned into BBC One at 5.50pm that Saturday in 1966 have fully enjoyed it in its entirety.
Moving on to 1972 and episode one of The Curse Of Peladon, which drew an audience of 10.3 million. Also on this day in 1977, Robot Fight!!!! As 12.1 million people tuned in to watch the opening episode of The Robots Of Death.
January 30th
Episode three of the pure historical adventure The Romans (entitled Conspiracy) was shown this day in 1965 and watched by 10 million viewers. Two regenerations and 6 years later, the Third Doctor began a new adventure, as 6.1 million tuned into The Mind Of Evil. We also have the Torchwood episode To the Last Man broadcast on this day in 2008 at 9:00pm and watched by 3.51 million viewers.
January 31st
January 31st is a day full of Doctor Who opening episodes. First up, from 1970, we have Doctor Who And The Silurians, which was watched by 8.8 million viewers. Then, as Elisabeth Sladen tries to work out why she's holding an oversized HB pencil prop, we have the 1976 adventure The Seeds Of Doom which saw Tom spilling a massive bottle of Baby Bio in his garden and an audience of 11.4 million watching. Five years later The Keeper Of Traken had 7.6 million viewers watching.
February 1st
On this day in 1946 the great Elisabeth Sladen was born. On the day of her 18th birthday the Doctor's first adventure with The Daleks came to a close, with an episode entitled The Rescue. I wonder if she was one of the 10.4 million watching, little knowing that a decade later she'd join the series as fan favourite companion Sarah Jane Smith.
In 1969 the Second Doctor faced the second part of The Seeds Of Death, with 6.8 million tuning in to watch, and then in 1975 the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan were joined by a whopping 13.6 million viewers for part two of The Ark In Space that Saturday tea time. How's that for a birthday treat!?!
Seven years later the Doctor's much younger looking older self began a new adventure, Kinda, which was watched by 8.4 million. The following year it was time for yet another adventure to get underway for the Fifth Doctor. Mawdryn Undead was broadcast in 1983 to an audience of 6.5 million viewers.
That's it for this week, but did you watch any of these adventures live? Man, that Underworld has not aged well, has it?
Until next Sunday...
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