British Television Science Fiction - Creation of Doctor Who and ITV

Creation of Doctor Who and ITV

Britain's first commercial television network ITV to explore science fiction for programming purposes in the early 1960s. A proponent for such experimentation was Canadian-born producer Sydney Newman, who had become Head of Drama at ABC. At ABC, Newman produced the science-fiction serial Pathfinders In Space (1960) and its sequels Pathfinders to Mars (1960) and Pathfinders to Venus (1961) and oversaw the science-fiction anthology series Out of This World (1962), the first of its kind in the UK. ITV also made an attempt at children's science fiction, with its short-lived programme Emerald Soup (1963), which coincidentally aired the same night that Doctor Who premiered.

Two important events for the future of the British television science fiction occurred in 1962. The first was that the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, Eric Maschwitz, commissioned Head of the Script Department Donald Wilson to prepare a report on the viability of producing a new science-fiction series for television. The second was that Sydney Newman was tempted away from the ABC to take up the position of Head of Drama at the BBC, officially joining the Corporation at the beginning of 1963.

The BBC developed an idea of Newman's into Britain's first durable science-fiction television series. Taking advantage of the research Wilson's department had completed, Newman initiated the creation and along with Wilson and BBC staff writer C. E. Webber oversaw the development of this new series, which Newman named Doctor Who.

After much development work, the series was launched on 23 November 1963. The importance of Doctor Who to British television science fiction cannot be overstated. It lasted for twenty-six seasons in its original form, through which first emerged many of the writers who until the 1980s would create most of the genre's successful British shows. One of the few science fiction series to have become part of the popular consciousness, its success led the BBC to produce other efforts in the genre. Of particular note being its own science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown (1965–71), which ran for four seasons.

Some of the ITV companies were imitating American styles of production, shooting some of their series on film rather than in the multi-camera electronic studio for lucrative sales in the 'international' market. One producer who was keen to make science fiction for the commercial network was Gerry Anderson, who initially used puppets for his shows. His science fiction shows in 'Supermarionation' such as Thunderbirds (1965–66), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–68) and Stingray (1964–65) remain popular among followers of archive television.

Their success led his backers ITC to finance the live-action shows he most wanted to develop. The first of these was UFO (1970–71), which featured American actor Ed Bishop as the head of an undercover military organisation with responsibility for combating aliens who came to Earth in the eponymous space craft. A planned second season was delayed and eventually reformatted as a new show, entitled Space: 1999 (1975–77), which ran for two seasons and was a moderate success.