BBC planning a history of Doctor Who series for the show's 50th anniversary

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BBC planning a history of Doctor Who series for the show’s 50th anniversary

TV shows just don’t stick around for 50 years. Ten is considered a damn good run, but fifty (minus a few years hiatus) is a damn big milestone, and the BBC is going all out to celebrate. As part of the party, they’ll be running a series documenting the history of Doctor Who and how the show came to be.

Longtime Who writer Mark Gatiss announced this week that he’s been tasked with writing a 90-minute drama for the BBC telling the story of how Doctor Who first made it to TV screens back in 1963. Titled An Adventure in Time and Space, the film will tell the story of how one of the most iconic television series of all time first came to be.

“This is the story of how and unlikely set of brilliant people created a true television original. And how an actor—William Hartnell—stereotyped in hard-man roles became a hero to millions of children,” Gatiss said. “I’ve wanted to tell this story this for more years than I can remember! To make it happen for Doctor Who’s 50th birthday is quite simply a dream come true.”

Gatiss, whose name you might recognize as the co-creator of Sherlock, has been involved with the revived Who series since the beginning. His contributions as a writer include “The Unquiet Dead” (season one), “The Idiot’s Lantern” (season two), “Victory of the Daleks” (season five) and “Night Terrors” (season six). He’s also written four Doctor Who novels and several Who short stories, and like many who work on the show, he’s a lifelong fan.

Via