This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: March 15th To March 21st - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

Home Top Ad

Post Top Ad

This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: March 15th To March 21st

Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma Kamelion...


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 15th 
It's a big week in Doctor Who history; two regenerations and a companions death! Spoiler - it was Adric's, so few tears were shed.

We start back in 1969 when episode two of the Second Doctor adventure The Space Pirates was broadcast to an audience of 6.8 million. Moving on to 1975 and 10.5 million were tuned in to a story that is routinely voted the number one Doctor Who story of all time - part two of Genesis of the Daleks.

Time was running out for Adric in 1982 (although some may say not quick enough), with part three of Earthshock drawing 9.8 million viewers. The following year the first part of the pseudo-historical adventure The King's Demons saw 5.8 million tune in to catch the introduction of Kamelion, the rarely seen shape-shifting companion. And finally on this day in Doctor Who history, we had one hell of a cliffhanger courtesy of part three of The Caves of Androzani. The Fifth Doctor's swansong drew an audience of 7.8 million.


March 16th
On this day in 1968 8.2 million people were watching the Second Doctor in episode one of Fury From The Deep, a story which is entirely missing from the archives. Six years later part four of the Third Doctor adventure Death to the Daleks was watched by a 9.5 million viewers. Then on Tuesday March 16th 1982 the fourth and final part of Earthshock (possibly subtitled Adric's Last Stand) saw 9.6 million viewers tuning in - just to be sure!

If you were watching BBC1 from 6.47pm on Wednesday March 16th 1983 then you were joined by 7.2 million others, all there for the second and final part of The King's Demons. The following year we said farewell to the Fifth Doctor in part four of The Caves of Androzani, and if it wasn't bad enough that he was dying of Spectrox toxaemia, Adric showed up just to put the boot in! 7.8 million people were watching, all of them excited for the change that was to come - none of them having seen The Twin Dilemma yet!

Poor old Colin, eh? He had a rough time of it, didn't he? And speaking of Colin and time, this day in 1985 bought us part two of the Baker of the Colin variety's Timelash, which was watched by 7.4 million viewers.


March 17th
Just the one episode broadcast on this day, and that was back in 1973. Part four of Frontier In Space was watched by 7.1 million viewers. As you can see from this screen grab, Jo, the Doctor and the Master have been forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with a coronavirus patient. The Doctor's glum as he's trying to work out just how many anti-bacterial wipes it'll take to disinfect all the rooms in the TARDIS!!


March 18th
In 1967 the Second Doctor faced the episode two of The Macra Terror. Broadcast at 5.15pm to an audience of 7.9 million viewers. Also on this day in 1972 the fourth part of the Third Doctor story The Sea Devils was watched by an audience of 7.8 million.

Then it's time for not one, but two Doctor Who minisodes, as the 2011 Comic Relief night broadcast on this day included the Eleventh Doctor shorts, Space and Time.


March 19th
We begin this week in Doctor Who history by joining the 6.2 million people who on this day in 1966 were watching part three of Dodo Gets A Cold, or The Ark (entitled The Return) as it's more commonly known. Twelve years later, in 1977, a whopping 11.4 million scarf loving people tuned in to part four of The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Elementary.

Then we pop over to Cardiff for some Torchwood. Adrift premiered on this day in 2008 and was watched by 0.97 million BBC Three viewers.


March 20th
The Web Planet episode six (entitled Centre) was broadcast on this day in 1965, it 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 it was watched by 8 million viewers. As you can see from this screen grab, the Doctor can't quite believe how much spaghetti the Master ate for his lunch, even after he vomited it all back up!

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 Third Doctor adventure The Ambassadors of Death was watched by 7.1 million viewers.

Then, 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.

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...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Post Top Ad