An Unearthly Child (sometimes referred to as 100,000 BC) The first version of the opening episode was recorded at Lime Grove Studios on the evening of 27 September 1963, following a week of rehearsals. However, the recording was bedevilled with technical errors, including the doors leading into the TARDIS control room failing to close properly. After viewing the episode, Newman ordered that it be mounted again. During the weeks between the two tapings, changes were made to costuming, effects, performances, and scripts. The second attempt at the opening episode was recorded on 18 October, with the following three episodes being recorded weekly from 25 October to 8 November. Recording for the five episodes (including the pilot) cost a total of , which Lambert noted was within the programme's budget.
Themes and analysis
Scholar Mark Bould discusses how the serial establishes Doctor Who socio-political stances in his 2008 essay "Science Fiction Television in the United Kingdom". He writes, "The story represents the separation/reunion, capture/escape, pursuit/evasion that will dominate the next twenty-six years, as well as the programme's consistent advocacy of the BBC's political and social liberalism." He cites Ian and Barbara's attempt to teach a cavewoman kindness, friendship, and democracy, writing "a tyrant is not as strong as the whole tribe acting collectively". Scholar John R. Cook reflected in 1999 that the presence of teachers as companions echoes Doctor Who original educational remit. Malcolm Peltu of New Scientist noted in 1982 that the serial was set in the Stone Age because the show's original intention was "to bring to life the Earth's history".
Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood argue that the cavemen's focus on fire is meant to stand in for all technology, thus linking the latter three episodes with the questions of generational change raised by the first episode and its focus on suspicion of children, and tying that to a discussion of technological progress, including the nuclear bomb. They also argue that, contrary to the tendency to treat the story as a one-episode introduction to the series followed by "three episodes of running around and escaping" that the piece should be considered as a single, dramatic whole that is "about making four people who barely know one another learn to trust each other".
Reception
Broadcast and ratings
The first episode was transmitted at 5:16:20p.m. on Saturday 23 November 1963. The assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy the previous day overshadowed the launch of the series; as a result, the first episode was repeated a week later, on 30 November, preceding the second episode. The first episode was watched by 4.4 million viewers (9.1% of the viewing audience), and it received a score of 63 on the Appreciation Index; the repeat of the first episode reached a larger audience of six million viewers. Across its four episodes, An Unearthly Child was watched by an average of 6 million (12.3% of potential viewers). Episodes 2–4 achieved ratings of 5.9, 6.9, and 6.4 million viewers, respectively. Mark Bould suggests that a disappointing audience reaction and high production costs prompted the BBC's chief of programmes to cancel the series until the Daleks, introduced in the second serial in December 1963, were immediately popular with viewers.
The serial has been repeated twice on the BBC: on BBC2 in November 1981, as part of the repeat season The Five Faces of Doctor Who, achieving average audience figures of 4.3 million viewers; and on BBC Four as part of the show's 50th anniversary on 21 November 2013, achieving an average of 630,000 viewers.
Critical response
The serial initially received mixed reviews from television critics. Michael Gower of the Daily Mail wrote a short favourable review of the first episode, claiming that the ending "must have delighted the hearts of the Telegoons who followed". A reviewer in the Daily Worker stated that they "intend following closely" to the show, describing the ending as "satisfying". Variety felt the script "suffered from a glibness of characterizations which didn't carry the burden of belief", but praised the "effective camera-work" and eerie sound effects, noting the show "will impress if it decides to establish a firm base in realism". After the second episode, Mary Crozier of The Guardian was unimpressed by the serial, stating that it "has fallen off badly soon after getting underway"; she felt that the first episode "got off the ground predictably, but there was little to thrill", while the second was "a depressing sequel ... wigs and furry pelts and clubs were all ludicrous".
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