Doctor Who Television Programme Spin Off’s Other Science Fiction/broadcast fiction... Heroes, Primeevil, Smallville, Star Trek, Stargate, .......

1. History, Ownership and Platforms

2. Doc Who - A/V
• Doctor Who Television Programme
• Spin Off’s
• Other Science Fiction/broadcast fiction...
• Heroes, Primeevil, Smallville, Star Trek,
Stargate, .......

3. Doc Who - e media
• Official Websites
• Unofficial website
• Fansites
• BBC I player
• You tube...
• Celeb Sites

4. Doc Who - Print
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Radio Times - (unofficial fan-mag)
• Celebrity Magazines
• Original Fiction
• Re-produced fiction from TV

5. BBC
• Public service broadcasters generally
transmit programming that aims to improve
society by informing viewers.
• Public service broadcasters also strive to
entertain their viewers.
• The BBC is a public service broadcaster.

6. BBC
• The BBC is a good example of a Public Service
Broadcaster. Here are some key dates:
• 1922, the BBC is formed and John Reith is
installed as General Manager
• The company begins a daily radio broadcast
• 1925, following the invention of television, Reith
presents a statement of his views on
broadcasting. He argues that broadcasting should:
• Educate, inform and entertain
• Act as a cultural, moral and educative force

7. BBC - Funding
• 1936-39, BBC television begins broadcasting, although radio is still dominant
• 1954, the Television Act allows commercial television to be broadcast, although it
must keep to some of the principles of public service and:
• Educate, inform and entertain
• 1955, ITV begins transmitting
• 1982, Channel 4 is launched
• 1984, Sky satellite channel is launched
• 75% of the BBC’s funding comes from the licence fee (currently set at £131.50)
• The remaining income comes from commercial activities such as:
• Worldwide sales of its programmes
• Publications such as Radio Times,Top Gear, Good Food, etc

8. BBC and Doctor Who
• Travelling in their time and space machine, the TARDIS, the Doctor and co. began
their adventures on November 23rd 1963 by voyaging 100,000 years into Earth’s
past to help some slightly dim cavemen discover fire.
• William Hartnell - Wanderer in the 4th Dimension
• Patrick Troughton - The cosmic Hobo
• Jon Pertwee - The Stranded Scientist
• Tom Baker - The Bohemian Wanderer
• Peter Davison - A younger Doctor
• Colin Baker - Trials of a TV show
• Sylvester Mcoy - Time’s Champion
• Paul McGann - The Movie Doc
• Christopher Ecleston - Fear of a typecast
• David Tennant - the Lonesome God

9. The Doc’s other Companion - The BBC
• Doctor Who was originally intended to be an
educational series, with the TARDIS taking the form
of an object from that particular episode's time
period (a column in Ancient Greece, a sarcophagus
in Egypt, etc).When the show's budget was
calculated, however, it was discovered that it was
prohibitively expensive to re-dress the TARDIS
model for each episode; instead, the TARDIS's
"Chameleon Circuit" was said to be malfunctioning,
giving the prop its characteristic 'police-box'
appearance.

10. Doctor Who/public service
• Why is Doctor Who successful? Then and
Now?
• Science Fiction in the 1960’s and 1970’s
• The ‘new’ Doctor Who comeback.
• The appeal and the Fans.

11. Flagship
• Doctor Who is one the BBC’s flagship
programmes.
• How has the BBC used this?

12. BBC developments
• Torchwood
• Sarah Jane Adventures
• BBC3 - Audience and Channels
• Website
• I - Player
• Interactivity

13. • How is Doctor Who financed and
Controlled?
• How has Doctor Who and it’s Institution
changed and developed over time.

14. Preferred Readings?
• Were there any preferred readings or
‘representational’ storylines in Doc Who?
• Science Fiction operates as a modern myth.
• Moralizing social functions and conditions
• A careful structuring of heroes, villains and
discourses.

15. Preferred Readings
• The Doctor typically defeats a totalitarian
scientific antagonist and replaces him or her with
a liberal humane democratic scientist - justice and
freedom bought to the classes.
• Dunn suggests that the popular appeal for ‘social
control and protection’ shows - responded to ‘an
audience need for psychological compensation for
institutional instability, a growing crisis of
legitimation, and a widespread sense of
powerlessness.

16. Readings and Audience
• Can a preferred reading give you a clue of
who an audience might be? Or, a reason
why a social group might watch something
or not watch something?
• What is the stereotypical audience of
Doctor Who?

17. Science Fiction Audiences
• “In our audience research with highly
academic (selected high school) 14 year old
male fans of Doctor Who, we found that the
series was ‘most entertaining’ when it drew
on their school knowledge of History.”
• “For all the girls then, both those who liked
and disliked the show, it was important to
separate ‘reality’ (as portrayed in the ‘better’
soap operas) from ‘fantasy’ and the problem
of a mixed ‘fact/fantasy’ genre clearly
worried them.”

18. The Doctor
• Doctor Who is most prized because he
uses his brains all the time, tries to think up
ways of approaching situations as opposed
to resorting to calvary or his ‘badge’.
• It is this innovative intellectualism that ties
together the show’s english gentlemen-
amateurs with the subject positions of this
audience group of progressive

19. Fandom
• Among followers and fans, this achieving of a
unified interpretive position is a significant
part of their pleasure, in the programme, so
it is important to consider it. A unified
interpretive position is what makes fans a
cultural unit, an interpretive community.
• How do Doctor Who fans show they are
fans?

20. Audience
• Why do fans like Doctor Who? Break this
down into certain ‘groups’.
• What do the audience get from Doctor
Who?
• Why do you think Doctor Who is so
popular amongst a varying age group of fans?
• How has the ‘Institution’ influenced and
encouraged the programmes popularity and
the audiences