Doctor Who 1963 - 1968 - Doctor Who Timeline (2025)

In 1963 C.E. Webber and Sydney Newman outline the format for Doctor Who.

November
23
1963

The first episode of Doctor Who airs.

Carole Ann Ford is cast as Susan Foreman.

Jacqueline Hill is cast as history teacher Barbara Wright.

William Russell is cast as science teacher Ian Chesterton.

William Hartnell is cast as the Doctor.

The Doctor kidnaps the schoolteachers because he fears they'll tell others about the TARDIS.

Radio Times Doctor Who listing.

It all started in a junk yard.

Season One

• An Unearthly Child
• The Daleks
• The Edge of Destruction
• Marco Polo
• The Keys of Marinus
• The Aztecs
• The Sensorites
• The Reign of Terror

100,000 BC

In the first adventure the TARDIS crew travel back in time.

The TARDIS crew teach the cavemen how to make fire.

The original Doctor Who logo and title sequence.

The first alien planet to appear in Doctor Who was Skaro, home of the Daleks.

Viewers had to wait a whole week to find out what the Daleks were.

The Daleks were created by Terry Nation and designed by Raymond Cusick.

The Daleks first full appearance where they capture the TARDIS crew.

Ian gets inside a Dalek.

The creature inside the Dalek shell.

The Daleks were involved in a costly nuclear war with the Thals. The Daleks were mutated survivors of the war. The Thals however had adapted to the radiation and remained unchanged.

The TARDIS food machine.

The fast return switch.

The third story was split into two episodes and set inside the TARDIS.

For a family show Doctor Who could be quite violent.

Marco Polo - The first Doctor Who Radio Times cover.

The TARDIS crew arrive in Central Asia, 1289 where they meet Marco Polo.

Marco Polo.

Marco Polo was the first famous person to appear in Doctor Who.

The Conscience of Marinus, a super computer.

The Keys of Marinus

The Voord. The BBC hoped the Voord would be as popular as the Daleks.

The Aztecs believe Barbara to be a reincarnation of the deceased High Priest, and therefore a god.

Mexico, 15th Century - A behind the scenes photo of The Aztecs set.

The Sensorites. The Sensorites live in the Sense Sphere which is located in the same star system as the Ood Sphere.

The Sensorites remove the TARDIS lock.

The Doctor attempts to restore peace by curing the illness.

Doctor Who was originally seen as an educational programme as well as a drama. A lot of the early historicals featured no aliens.

The TARDIS crew arrive in Paris, 1794.

Napoléon Bonaparte.

Season Two

• Planet of Giants
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• The Rescue
• The Romans
• The Web Planet
• The Crusade
• The Space Museum
• The Chase
• The Time Meddler

October
31
1964

Doctor Who Season Two begins.

Susan and Ian come face to face with a giant ant.

Every episode for the first few seasons had their own title.

The TARDIS arrives back in London but not 1963.

The Daleks are back and this time they're invading the Earth.

London, 2164.

The Daleks appear on the Radio Times front cover.

A flying saucer travelling across London.

Susan leaves the TARDIS crew staying behind on Earth in 2164.

Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks written by David Whitaker. This is the first Doctor Who novelisation.

Koquillion.

Maureen O'Brien is cast as Vicki.

The TARDIS crew discover a crashed spaceship on the planet Dido.

Dalek toilet soap.

Dalek badge.

1960s Dalek Plate.

Dalek Kite.

Dodge the Daleks. One of the first Doctor Who board games.

The TARDIS lands in Rome, 64 AD.

The Doctor gets mistaken for the famous lyre player Maximus Pettulian.

Ian and Barbara get captured and sold as slaves.

Emperor Nero.

The TARDIS crew stay in Rome for a holiday.

The Doctor gives Nero the idea to have Rome razed to the ground by accidently setting fire to the map.

1960s Dalek toys.

Dalek Rolykin.

Doctor Who TARDIS money box.

Dalek money box.

Doctor Who Dalek shooting range.

Doctor Who mechanical Dalek.

With over 13 million viewers The Web Planet was the most watched episode from the 60s.

Menoptra.

Zarbi.

Venom Grub.

Berwick Dalek Playsuit.

Zarbi and Venom Gun Badge.

Menoptra Badge.

The TARDIS arrives in 12th Century Palestine where a holy war is being fought between King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin.

Zarbi.

Venom Grub.

Joanna played by Jean Marsh. Jean Marsh later appeared in The Daleks' Master Plan and Battlefield

The TARDIS lands on the planet Xeros, a space museum.

The planet Xeron.

The Xerons.

A Dalek in the space museum.

The Morok leader of the space museum.

The Moroks invaded the planet Xeros and turned it into a museum.

The TARDIS crew discover their future selves displayed as exhibits in the museum.

Dr Who and the Daleks stand-up Jigsaw.

The Doctor kept a Time-Space visualiser from the museum. The Doctor can tune into any event in history with this device.

The Supreme Dalek makes a cameo appearance.

The Daleks return in their third story simply titled The Chase.

Aridians from the planet Aridius.

Inside the Dalek spaceship - notice the old dummy Daleks guarding the door.

The Daleks Time Ship.

The Daleks try exterminating the TARDIS.

New York.

The Mary Celeste.

Dracula.

The Daleks create a robot Doctor.

The Death of Doctor Who - The title 'Doctor Who' is rarely used in the programme.

The city on the planet Mechanus.

Mechanoids were huge powerful robots originally built by humans to help colonise different planets. Eventually they were abandoned and forgotten on Mechanus.

Using the Dalek time ship Ian and Barbara return to Earth in 1964.

Peter Purves is cast as Steven Taylor.

Dalek rocket gun.

Doctor Who Mechanoid Toys.

Doctor Who Give-a-Show projector.

The Monks TARDIS.

1066

The TARDIS lands in 1066.

A Viking ship.

The Doctor discovers that one of his own people disguised as a Monk is planning to wipe out the Viking fleet.

August
23
1965

The movie - Dr. Who and the Daleks is released.

Peter Cushing is cast as 'Doctor Who'.

The first Doctor Who movie is released based on the first TV Dalek story.

This is the first time the Daleks were seen on screen in colour.

Roy Castle is cast as Ian.

Roberta Tovey is cast as Susan.

Jennie Linden is cast as Barbara.

The Thals.

Season Three

• Galaxy 4
• Mission to the Unknown
• The Myth Makers
• The Daleks' Master Plan
• The Massacre
• The Ark
• The Celestial Toymaker
• The Gunfighters
• The Savages
• The War Machines

September
11
1965

Doctor Who Season Three begins.

The Rills.

The Drahvins a race of cloned soldiers.

Repair robots named Chumblies by Vicki.

Maaga leader of the Drahvins.

Producer Verity Lambert filming her last episode, Mission to the Unknown.

Mission to the Unknown - The Daleks are plotting to overthrow the solar system. This is the only Doctor Who episode not to feature any appearances from the TARDIS crew.

The TARDIS arrives not far from the city of Troy where Steven and Vicki are taken prisoner by the Trojans

Vicki stays on Earth with the Trojan prince Troilus.

Adrienne Hill is cast as Katarina.

The Trojan Horse.

Doctor Who Astro Range Gun.

Doctor Who Cherilea swapit Daleks.

Daleks The Great Escape.

Doctor Who Painting Book.

Original Doctor Who hardback books.

Following on from Mission to the Unknown is the epic 12 episode story titled The Daleks' Master Plan.

The Nightmare Begins.

The TARDIS lands on the planet Kembel.

This was the last Dalek story written by Terry Nation until 1973.

The Doctor in ancient Egypt.

There was no CGI in the 60s most of the planet sets were impressive hand built models.

The meddling Monk returns helping the Daleks. The actress Jean Marsh also returns to Doctor Who playing Sara Kingdom

Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System.

The Supreme Dalek.

This was Nicholas Courtneys first appearance in Doctor Who.

Katarina was the first companion to die on the show.

William Hartnell at a RAF Finningly Air show.

A Dalek at the Air show.

The TARDIS at the Air show.

The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.

1572

The TARDIS lands in Paris, 1572.

Catherine de' Medici.

Jackie Lane is cast as Dodo Chaplet.

The TARDIS lands on an ark.

The Monoids live in peace with the humans who are in charge of the spaceship.

After curing an illness the Doctor, Dodo and Steven leave. The TARDIS however re-materialises on the Ark 100 years later where the Monoids are now in charge of the ship.

The Celestial Toymaker.

Steven and Dodo have to play one of the Celestial Toymakers games to free the TARDIS.

Producer John Wiles didn't get on well with William Hartnell. The Doctor was made invisible for part of this story, when he re-appeared a different actor should have played him however the new 'Head of Serials' forbid this.

Innes Lloyd takes over from John Wiles as Doctor Who producer.

Doctor Who Annual.

The TARDIS lands in Tombstone, Arizona, 1881.

The Doctor visits the dentist about his toothache.

The Clantons brothers believe the Doctor is Holliday.

The Doctor and the Marshal of Tombstone.

The Savages was the first story of the classic series to use an overall onscreen title.

The Savages.

Steven stays behind to help the Elders and Savages.

The Savages was a four part story. Episodes before this had individual titles.

The Elders kept their advanced society by draining the life out of the Savages.

Titles used to introduce the War Machines.

WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue) an advanced computer that controlled the War Machine robots.

Arriving back in the 60s the Doctor places an 'out of order' sign on the TARDIS door.

The iconic BT Tower.

Dodo decides to stay behind in London.

The Doctor confronts a War Machine.

Intending to give Dodo's key back Ben and Polly enter the TARDIS whilst it is taking of.

A War Machine appears on Blue Peter.

Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. The second and last Dalek movie.

Bernard Cribbins plays a police officer called Tom. Bernard Cribbins later starred as Wilf in the 2008 series of Doctor Who.

August
5
1966

The Movie - Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D is released.

The Doctor and Susan.

A red movie Dalek.

Jill Curzon played the Doctors niece Louise.

The Dalek Saucer.

From the BBC Television Serial by Terry Nation.

Season Four

• The Smugglers
• The Tenth Planet
• The Power of the Daleks
• The Highlanders
• The Underwater Menace
• The Moonbase
• The Macra Terror
• The Faceless Ones
• The Evil of the Daleks

September
10
1966

Doctor Who Season Four begins.

The TARDIS arrives in seventeenth century Cornwall - The Smugglers.

Location filming footage of The Smugglers.

1986

The TARDIS lands in Antarctica, 1986.

International Space Command's Snowcap Base.

The Tenth Planet, Mondas.

The first image of the Cybermen.

Mondas is absorbing energy from Earth. The Cybermen want to convert humans to Cybermen.

Mondas absorbs to much energy and explodes destroying all the Cybermen left on Earth.

The Doctor collapses on the floor and regenerates.

The Power of the Daleks.

The Radio Times.

The Doctor discovers an old Dalek spaceship.

The Doctor on Vulcan.

The Doctor, Ben and Polly in the TARDIS.

1967 Doctor Who Annual.

500 year diary.

The Dalek Outer Space Book.

Frazer Hines is cast as Jamie McCrimmon.

1746

The TARDIS arrives in Scotland after the battle of Culloden.

The Highlanders.

The Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie discover a hidden civilisation, the lost city of Atlantis.

The Fish People were humans that had been surgically altered to breathe water.

The TARDIS on the moon.

A Cyberman spaceship.

Inside the Moonbase control room.

The Radio Times.

The Cybermen hope to use the gravitron to destroy life on Earth.

The Moonbase was built around a gravity machine called the gravitron to control the weather on Earth.

The TARDIS arrives at a colony planet where a giant crab-like Macra is capturing people living there.

Polly gets captured by the Macra.

The Doctor makes a quiet escape from the holiday camp.

The title sequence changes for the first time.

1966

The TARDIS arrives at Gatwick Airport.

The Chameleons are faceless aliens.

Using Gatwick Airport as a cover the Chameleons are stealing the identities of the kidnapped commuters in a plan to take over the Earth.

Deborah Watling is cast as Victoria Waterfield.

Doctor Who Annual.

The Daleks capture Jamie, the Doctor and Victoria and take them to Skaro.

Toy models were used for filming some of the Dalek shots.

The final end to the Daleks...

The Evil of the Daleks was written by David Whitaker. This was intended to be the last Dalek story on Doctor Who as Terry Nation was trying to sell the Daleks to American television.

Season Five

• The Tomb of the Cybermen
• The Abominable Snowmen
• The Ice Warriors
• The Enemy of the World
• The Web of Fear
• Fury from the Deep
• The Wheel In Space

September
2
1967

Doctor Who Season Five begins.

Victoria joins the Doctor and Jamie.

An archaeological expedition arrives on Telos hoping to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen.

The Cyber tombs on Telos.

Toberman stopping the Cybercontroller from escaping.

The first Cybermats.

Jamie, Victoria and Professor Edward Travers. This is the first appearance of Professor Travers who is tracking the Yeti in Tibet.

The Great Intelligence.

The Doctor with one of the spheres.

The robot Yeti controlled by The Great Intelligence.

Brittanicus Base in the middle of an Ice Age in Earths future.

Climbing out of the TARDIS.

The base is completely computerised.

Title Sequence.

The first discovery of an Ice Warrior.

The Ice Warriors.

Ramón Salamander was a respected politician and a scientist. He invented a technology that could help the growth of crops and stop global hunger. However his ultimate goal was world domination.

People start mistaking the Doctor for Salamander.

2017

The TARDIS lands in Australia sometime in the future.

Salamander tricks his way into the TARDIS.

The TARDIS gets caught up in a web in space.

The Doctor wonders what the web is.

Travers sold a robot Yeti to a museum.

Professor Travers claims to have reactivated a control sphere.

Nicholas Courtney is cast as Colonel Lethbridge Stewart.

London Underground.

Fury from the Deep.

The Sonic Screwdriver made its first notable appearance in Fury from the Deep written by Victor Pemberton. Sadly the episode it appeared in no longer exists.

The TARDIS lands in the sea off the eastern coast of England.

Victoria decides to stay on Earth with the Harris family.

Saying goodbye to Victoria.

A Servo Robot.

The Wheel in Space.

The Wheel in Space - a 6 part story.

Malicious saboteurs, the cybermats in the Wheel in Space.

The Cyber Planner.

In a nearby rocket the Cybermen are awakening.

The newly designed Cybermen return hoping to use the Wheel as a platform to launch their invasion of Earth.

Wendy Padbury is cast as Zoe Heriot.

A device used to project images from the mind onto a view screen.

The Wheel in Space was the last story of Season 7. The end clip was used as an introduction to the repeat of The Evil of the Daleks.

Season Six starts with The Dominators. The Dominators plan to detonate a bomb at the core of the planet Dulkis, this would turn the planet into a radioactive ball which would then fuel their space fleet.

Season Six

• The Dominators
• The Mind Robber
• The Invasion
• The Krotons
• The Seeds of Death
• The Space Pirates
• The War Games

The Dominators.

August
10
1968

Doctor Who Season Six begins.

Robot Quarks controlled by the Dominators.

Original design artwork. The BBC hoped that the Quarks would replicate the merchandise success of the Daleks but there was a dispute over who owned the copyright.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe in the TARDIS after escaping from a volcano on Dulkis.

Jamie and Zoe are lured outside the TARDIS by the white robots.

The TARDIS gets destroyed.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land in a world of fiction outside of time and space.

The White Robots.

The Doctor has to make up Jamies face but he gets it wrong.