![]() By 1976, however, over 1 million had been sold and the sales of colour sets overtook those of black and white sets. Of course, to begin with many people would still have watched Doctor Who in black and white as colour TV sets were very expensive to begin with: just 200,000 sets having been sold by the end of 1969. Secondly, the new serials were filmed in colour, which allowed a fresh look (although it was not without problems when the screen showed less than convincing monsters and questionable sets). This format harked back to the Quatermass serials of the 1950s in which Professor Bernard Quatermass also grappled with alien invasions of southern England. The Earth in fact turned out to be the Home Counties, subject to a surprisingly high number of alien invasions. ![]() The programme makers felt that the format had become tired and wanted to show the Doctor battling his enemies on Earth, rather than on far distant planets. This was brought about by four key factors:įirstly, the producer Derrick Sherwin – who bridged the transition from the Second to the Third Doctor – opted for a new story arc, anchoring the Doctor on Earth (having been exiled by the Time Lords at the end of “The War Games”) where he becomes the scientific advisor to UNIT, a quasi-military outfit first encountered by the Second Doctor in “the Invasion.” UNIT is led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) who first appeared as a regular army officer in “The Web of Fear” and then as the commanding officer of UNIT in “The Invasion”. Against the odds the series was re-invigorated, re-establishing itself as a Saturday teatime must-see for another generation of young people, including myself. With the departure of Patrick Troughton in 1969 Doctor Who teetered on the edge of cancellation as the ratings had fallen to just above five million for his final ten part serial, “The War Games.” In the end the BBC decided to give it another season, which some suspected might well prove to be the last.
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