Today In DOCTOR WHO History: April 19th

It's the beginning of the end for the Second Doctor, today in Doctor Who history.

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).

April 19th
We get things underway today with the first installment of the epic Second Doctor adventure The War Games. Episode One was broadcast in 1969 at 5:14pm and watched by 5.5 million viewers. Moving on to 1975 and another story began, this time for the Fourth Doctor. Part one of Revenge of the Cybermen was broadcast at 5:36pm and watched by 9.5 million viewers.

Then it's Tenth Doctor time, with 2008's Planet of the Ood broadcast at 6:19pm and, splitting the difference in viewers from the two adventures above, 7.5 million were tuned-in, with some of them switching over to BBC Three for that week's Doctor Who Confidential, titled Oods and Ends (see what they did there?).

On something of a sad note, it was this day in 2011 when we said goodbye to the wonderful Elisabeth Sladen. As Third and Fourth Doctor companion Sarah Jane Smith, she departed the series at the end of The Hand of Fear, but as Sladen later stated in interviews that although she had left Sarah Jane "Sarah Jane never left me", and she never left the hearts of many of the show's fans. Consistently voted one of the top companions, Sladen returned for K-9 & Company, The Five Doctors, audio adventures and several unnofficial spin-offs, before bridging the gap between classic and new-Who with a guest spot on School Reunion, which of course led to the marevllous Sarah Jane Adventures. Of the many tributes that were given after her passing in 2011, her Doctor Who co-star Tom Baker had this to say...

"Sarah Jane dead? No, impossible! Impossible. I had no idea she was ill; she was so private, never wanted any fuss, and now, gone. A terrible blow to her friends and a shattering blow for all those fans of the programme whose lives were touched every Saturday evening by her lovely heroic character, Sarah-Jane Smith.

Lis Sladen was very important to me, you know. When I joined the little world of Doctor Who, Lis was already a star. Those sweet memories of happy days with Lis Sladen, the lovely, witty, kind and so talented Lis Sladen. I am consoled by the memories. I was there, I knew her, she was good to me and I shall always be grateful, and I shall miss her.

Lis laughed at my silly antics; yes, she did, she laughed me to success."

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.