100,000 BC - Definition and Overview

This article is about the Doctor Who serial. For information about this year, see references at Centuries.

100,000 BC was the very first serial in the BBC television series Doctor Who. It features William Hartnell as the Doctor.

Synopsis

Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, two schoolteachers, become concerned about one of their pupils, Susan Foreman. Visiting her home, they discover that she appears to live in a junkyard with her grandfather. In fact, Susan and her 'grandfather' are aliens, who can travel through time and space in the TARDIS, a spaceship disguised as a police box which is notable for being much larger on the inside than it is on the outside.

The four travel to the paleolithic era (presumably on Earth, though this is never stated) and encounter a primitive tribe which has lost the secret of fire.

Writer

Anthony Coburn (with C. E. Webber (uncredited) for the first episode)

Main cast

• The Doctor: William Hartnell
• Susan Foreman: Carole Ann Ford
• Barbara Wright: Jacqueline Hill
• Ian Chesterton: William Russell
• Hur: Alethea Charlton
• Horg: Howard Lang
• Za: Derek Newark
• Old Mother: Eileen Way
• Kal: Jeremy Young

Episode Titles

• An Unearthly Child
• The Cave of Skulls
• The Forest of Fear
• The Firemaker

Notes

1. The first episode of 100,000 BC, "An Unearthly Child", had to be refilmed due to technical problems and errors made during the performance. During the days between the two tapings, changes were made to costuming, effects, performances, and the script. Changes made before the final version was filmed include a thunderclap sound effect was deleted from the opening theme music; Susan's dress changed to make her look more like a schoolgirl than the original costume which made her appear more alien and sensual; a reference to The Doctor and Susan being from the 49th Century was replaced by them being from "another time, another world" and the door of the TARDIS control room was repaired so that it closed properly.
2. In many ways this is a two-part story; there is a strong discontinuity between the first episode, introducing the characters and establishing the premise of the series, and the three episodes set in the paleolithic. The first episode, in particular, is often seen as a classic of television science fiction (though the contemporary critical reaction was less positive).
3. The first episode of Doctor Who was transmitted the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There is a myth that the transmission was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage, though in fact it went out just eighty seconds late.
4. Coburn's script for the very first episode was in fact heavily based on a draft originally prepared by BBC staff writer C. E. Webber, who had greatly contributed to the initial formatting of the programme and been present at many of the key development meetings. However, Head of Serials Donald Wilson felt that Webber was incapable of 'writing down' to the level required for Doctor Who, and none of his scripts ever made it to production. Nevertheless, he received a co-writer's credit for An Unearthly Child on internal BBC documentation, although not on-screen.
5. The second episode mentions the malfunction of the (then unnamed) chameleon circuit.

Alternative titles

As was usual at the beginning of the series' history, no overall title appeared on-screen, and each episode has its own title. 100,000 BC is the title that was used by the production team at the time of transmission. However, due to the absence of an onscreen title, reference works have titled the story as variously:

• The Tribe of Gum (an early working title)
• The Cavemen (a quick description of the story material)
• An Unearthly Child (the title of the first episode)

Which title should be used is a subject that has generated deep controversy amongst fans of the series.

External links

• Cast and Crew list, on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/unearthlychild/castcrew.shtml)