This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: May 3rd To May 9th - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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This Week In DOCTOR WHO History: May 3rd To May 9th

Tom and Liz get a couples neck massage at the Spa Station Nerva, this 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.

May 3rd
Here we go again as we get things underway with another week in Doctor Who history, starting with the Second Doctor's final adventure The War Games which continued on this day in 1969. Episode Three was broadcast at 5:15pm and watched by 5.1 million viewers.

Moving on to 1975 and the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane visit one of the weirdest spas this side of Raxacoricofallapatorius (don't even think of booking the aromatherapy treatment there - oh boy!). Here on Spa Station Nerva the skin care treatment is nothing to write home about but the head and neck massage is to die for!

"Oh, oh yes! That's got it."

On the other hand it could just be part three of Revenge of the Cybermen, which was watched by audience of 8.9 million viewers.

Then it's new-Who time, with 2008's The Poison Sky (nothing to do with that Raxacoricofallapatorius aromatherapy!), broadcast at 6:19pm and watched by 6.53 million viewers, and completing the Tenth Doctor two-part Sontaran adventure.


May 4th
May the fourth be with you - wrong franchise I know but we do have three Doctor Who episodes broadcast on Star Wars day. First up, on this day in 1968 6.9 million people were watching the Second Doctor in episode two of The Wheel In Space, an installment which along with parts 1,4 & 5 are now sadly missing from the archives.

Skip forward one regeneration and 6 years and we have the Third Doctor instructing Sarah Jane to stand very still whilst he rolls up yesterday's copy of The Mirror. Yes, it's the beginning of Jon Pertwee's swansong Planet of the Spiders. Part one was broadcast on this day in 1974 and watched by a huge 10.1 million viewers. Thirty Nine years later and the Eleventh Doctor story The Crimson Horror drew an audience of 6.47 million.


May 5th
One classic Who episode and one modern Who episode were broadcast on this day. The classic being part five of 1973's Planet of the Daleks, which was watched by 9.7 million viewers. The modern being The Lazarus Experiment, an episode which was watched by 7.19 million.

And in Who related birthdays for today we have Richard E. Grant, who scored an incredibly brief tenure as the Ninth Doctor in the animated adventure Scream Of The Shalka before returning as a different Doctor, Simeon, in The Snowmen, and it's also the day that Delia Derbyshire was born. Responsible for arranging the Doctor Who theme tune and a key-figure of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop sadly passed away in 2001 but what a legacy she left behind, eh?


May 6th
It's back to 1967 for episode 5 of the Second Doctor adventure The Faceless Ones, a story which was watched by 7.1 million viewers. Then in 1972 it's another episode 5, this time for the Third Doctor - The Mutants drawing an audience of 7.9 million.

On to new-Who and The Girl in the Fireplace, broadcast this day in 2006 at 6.59pm and also watched by 7.9 million viewers. Then the Twelfth Doctor proved to be rubbish at comedy, despite a previous alternate career as Malcolm Tucker, Knock Knock premiered on this day in 2017. The 5.73 million viewers are still waiting for the punchline.


May 7th
On this day in 1966 6.6 million people were watching the second episode of The Gunfighters (titled Don't Shoot the Pianist). 49 years later the Ninth Doctor faced The Long Game, the 2005 story drawing an audience of 8.01 million. Then it's time to set sail for the Eleventh Doctor adventure The Curse of the Black Spot, which was broadcast in 2011 at 6:15pm, and watched by 7.84 million land-lovers. Argh! 


May 8th
Part three of the First Doctor story The Space Museum (titled The Search) drew 8.5 million viewers when it was broadcast on this day in 1965. Two regenerations and 6 years later, the Third Doctor faced episode five of Colony in Space. Broadcast Saturday May 8th 1971 at 6:13pm and watched by 8.8 million viewers. Then, on this day in 2010, 7.68 million viewers were watching the Eleventh Doctor in The Vampires of Venice.


May 9th
On this day in 1964 the fifth and penultimate part of The Keys of Marinus (titled Sentence of Death) was broadcast at 5.14pm and watched by a 7.9 million viewers.

And finally for this week in Doctor Who history, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was pirate week - what with the Brig's eye patch and Curse Of The Black Spot just two days ago - rather it's an alternate universe. Yes, it's back to 1970, the year that Doctor Who first aired in glorious colour, and episode 1 of Inferno got underway on this day. It was watched by 5.7 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...

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