Today In DOCTOR WHO History: March 8th

Look into my eye...

Welcome to our daily round-up of the Doctor Who episodes which received their premiere broadcast on this day throughout the show's long history, along with anything else of note that may have taken place. You can click on any red text to read our full retrospectives/reviews for that episode, and note that all viewing figures listed are for UK broadcasts (unless otherwise stated).

March 8th
March 8th is largely a day of new beginnings in the history of Doctor Who, beginning back in 1969 when the Second Doctor began a new adventure with The Space Pirates and brought 5.8 million along for the ride. Moving on to 1975 and in only his fourth on screen adventure the Fourth Doctor discovered the Genesis of the Daleks, routinely voted the number one Doctor Who story of all time. Did the 10.7 million people tuning in know they were witnessing the start of a genuine classic?

Another very highly regarded story began on this day in 1982, the Fifth Doctor's Cyber encounter Earthshock. 9.1 million Adric lovers were glued to their TV sets (Shall I tell them, or will you?). Taking a break from new beginnings, part three of Enlightenment was broadcast on this day in 1983, with 6.2 million people tuning in.

The following year the Fifth Doctor began his final adventure, and it's another story that often features in the top three of any Doctor Who poll. Part one of The Caves of Androzani drew an audience of 6.9 million. Change was coming, and if you believe Colin Baker it was not a moment too soon...

Join us again tomorrow for another round-up of the episodes broadcast, the spin-offs aired, the special events, the birthday's celebrated and anything else of note that went down on this day in Doctor Who history.