The first episode of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell, was broadcast on November 23, 1963
• Hartnell was earning 250 guineas an episode by 1964
• Before the first show went out, Donald Baverstock, the chief of programmes for BBC1, told the production team that more “historical and scientific hokum” and less “prosaic dialogue” was required
• Tom Baker, right, who occupied the Tardis between 1974 and 1981, is the longest-serving Doctor
• Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons on BBC1 until 1989, when it was controversially dropped
• Audience research carried out by the BBC in 1972 found that the show was considered one of the most violent on television
• Paul McGann starred as the Doctor in a one-off film version in 1996
• The Tardis cost £4,328 to build
• The ethereal theme tune was the first in the world to be made up entirely from electronic sounds
• Interest among children in the Sixties declined if the Daleks weren’t in storylines
• The BBC thought that the programme was proving so expensive to make that it might not be able to go beyond four episodes. Donald Baverstock wrote in 1963: “Such a costly serial is not one that I can afford”
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