An Adventure in Space and Time is Mark Gatiss’ account of the beginnings of Doctor Who in the BBC, principally through the eyes of William Hartnell but also a bit of Verity Lambert, too.
It was absolutely magical. The script was sparkling, the music epic, and the sets perfect. David Bradley was amazing as Hartnell and all the supporting actors fulfilled their own roles absolutely loyally. It was wonderful to see so many tributes and I loved people-spotting the old hands as background characters.
The final bit, with Hartnell’s goodbye, made me well up.
When Hartnell left, the Doctor ended with him. The First Doctor took his place.
I so agree - I have heard people say that Hartnell and Troughton where the worse doctors - what those people don’t realise is without Hartnell the doctor would not have been so well received and without Troughton the regeneration would not have worked.
The show was fantastic as a 48 year old male who never cries - I must admit I was swelling up at the end when Hartnell cried…
I agree - and how well the story was done without all the special effects. My favourite story is War Games - Jamie is the best companion of all time - well him and Sarah Jane…
It was very much a love letter to Hartnell, and while it was a tad rose-tinted in places much of the dramatic license was forgivable.
One of the elements that I found startling was how much effort they put into getting actors who resembled the actual people. It made Shearsmith’s less-convincing appearance as Troughton look a bit off, given the work they’d done elsewhere.
I also noted how wonderful it was to see Bradley getting to exercise a full range of acting chops. His turn as Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films was too much of a one-note performance (not his fault - the character is written that way) so it was great to see him doing something which required a lot of emotional subtlety. A stellar performance.
I don’t know if it was intentional, but his “I don’t want to go!” seemed like a callback to the Ten-into-Eleven regeneration, which actually made it all the more poignant.
Similarly, the cameo at the end (I won’t spoil it) ought to have been a horrible, jarring and blatantly-manipulative moment, but was done so lovingly that it worked powerfully IMO.
In short - I liked it. I liked it a lot better than I expected to.
I thought this was one of the best bits of television I’ve watched in a long time.
While Hartnell was the main focus I particularly enjoyed the bits about Newman, Lambert and Hussein. Doctor who really was an amazing show right back to it’s roots.
I am a fan of the classic Doctor Who stuff - The NuWho stuff is OK but mainly filled with gadgets and effects - I prefer a good story and I can use my imagination to fill in the monsters if the effects let me down - its not as if I think its a real monster…
It took me 6:57 minutes in total with no regenerated Dr. (on the third try)
The Daleks and Cyber men have regular movement patterns, you can stand on the square next to them and not be hurt. You can use the mouse to click on the destination square if you don’t want to use the keyboard and to hurry it up, but be careful, the Dr. will choose the shortest distance and run into danger unless you are sure the shortest distance is a safe one.
Watch out for a Weeping Angel in the cemetery and in the final screen you need to get 2 letters, the moving energy tiles also follow a linear pattern so there are many safe squares to stand on.
