A special drama commissioned for the show's fiftieth anniversary, it shows the origins of Doctor Who, exactly how it came about. It tells the story of the show's conception, the casting, the bold decision of having a female producer, and the rise and fall of lead actor William Hartnell.Hartnell is gloriously brought to life by David Bradley, he manages to create both William Hartnell and his interpretation of the first Doctor. At times the show feels like an homage to Hartnell, and rightly so, the show would have been nothing without him. How wonderful that Bradley will get the chance to play the first Doctor for real.It's a hugely interesting show, especially for fans of Doctor Who like myself, I'm not too sure non fans would get it in quite the same way, there are so many references to the show's early years.A wonderful job is done in recreating the give of the sixties, the costumes are superb, unfortunately some of the more unpleasant attitudes people had back then are also highlighted.I think it shows how lucky we are that the great show is still going on our screens, and fans should support it even though the less successful times, it is a national treasure after all.A superb drama. 10/10

Doctor Who is my favorite TV show ever, so admittedly this film will connect to me far more. It's not necessarily a brilliant piece of TV, but it's a lovely drama with great performances, a compelling underdog story, nice visuals, good dialogue and a truly, truly wonderful ending. David Bradley is a superb actor and despite how brilliantly grotesque he was in Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, he's wonderful here and carries the entire film along. All the other actors do a great job and this is also a nice feminist story of a woman triumphing over workplace sexism to produce one of the most beloved TV shows of them all. It's a highly nostalgic work, and as a documentary of the show's beginning it works very well and gets a lot of information across. As a drama, it hits various compelling emotional peaks (Although a lot of it was probably artistic licence to some degree, but that's understandable in a film of this sort). It loses momentum in the last half-hour as it rushes through the first 3 years of the show and feels more like a highlights montage, but there are still good moments throughout this last section. As for that final scene with the Matt Smith cameo, don't get me started on that because believe me when I say this: I will cry. It's that wonderful. On the whole, a very nice tribute to the show, even if the run-time is too short to cover the subject completely. 8/10

As part of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, along with the various documentaries, clips shows, repeats of episodes, and of course the excellent anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor, there was also this TV made film that told the story of how it all started, from writer Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen). Basically, set in 1963, Canadian producer Sydney Newman (Brian Cox) is the head of the BBC TV drama department and wants to fill the Saturday night tea team slot with a new show that will appeal to both the youth generation and the whole family, and he has in science-fiction with some kind of leading figure of hero taking companions on journeys and adventures through space and time, but with no "bug-eyed monsters". He exchanges his idea with inexperienced young producer Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine), who he chooses to create this show, along with young Indian director Waris Hussein (Sacha Dhawan), and with the writers they scan through the various actors that they are interested in casting as the hero, The Doctor. Grouchy but reliable character actor William Hartnell (Harry Potter's David Bradley) is the man chosen to play The Doctor, and they start filming inside the made up set, the inside of the police phone box, this TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), bigger on the inside than on the outside, and the first adventure, An Unearthly Child, sees the characters going to the stone age. There are technical problems and a low budget to contend with, and the recent assassination of President John F. Kennedy threatens the ratings, but Doctor Who is born to good ratings, but ignoring the "no bug-eyed monsters" warning, the creation of the mutant robotic like creatures, the Daleks, with their iconic catchphrase "Exterminate!", wins the show 10 million viewers, Newman is very happy and the show continues its success. Hartnell enjoys the success he has achieved, immerses and enjoys himself playing The Doctor, and is happy bringing joy to his granddaughter and the various children in Britain, but slowly he shows signs of illness as he forgets his lines and requires reshooting, he asks Newman for less working days in order to recover, but he and the producers have already talked, the show will continue, but he will no longer play The Doctor. The decision is made that The Doctor, being an alien, will regenerate with a new face, and the new younger actor Patrick Troughton (Reece Shearsmith) will replace Hartnell, though reluctant to give up the part, and having been attached to Doctor Who for three years, he wishes Troughton good luck, and the show does indeed continue on, with another nine actors playing The Doctor over fifty years. Also starring Lesley Manville as Heather Hartnell - William's wife, Cara Jenkins as Judith 'Jessica' Carney - Hartnell's granddaughter, Jamie Glover as William Russell (who played Ian Chesterton), Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill (who played Barbara Wright), Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford (who played Susan Foreman), Nicholas Briggs as Peter Hawkins (who voiced the Daleks and Cybermen), Mark Eden as BBC1 Controller Donald Baverstock, and a cameo by Matt Smith as the current Doctor. I saw the photograph of Bradley in the leading role before this special was broadcast, and I was very impressed with how spot on he looked to the first actor of The Doctor, he was very convincing as Hartnell, the other stars playing the people behind the creation of the show and elsewhere was very good too, the story is certainly an interesting one, everything about this was filled with nostalgia and authenticity, it certainly makes you appreciate where Doctor Who started and where it is today because of the performance of William Hartnell and the creators behind the show, there is also an appropriate tribute to Hartnell from the various people who knew him and those who enjoyed his time of The Doctor, this is a really enjoyable docudrama. Very good!

Mark Gatiss always wanted to tell the story about the origins of Doctor Who and although this is a well worn tale for die hard fans, for the casual viewer this is based in a time when the television industry was a lot different.A Canadian Head of Drama with pizazz having an idea, a Jewish female producer being the first female producer at BBC drama and an Indian Muslim tasked with directing the first episode. Maybe this was a series designed to fail rather than last half a century.David Bradley well known for playing the curmudgeonly Filch in the Harry Potter films plays the curmudgeonly William Hartnell, an actor well known for playing army types and small time hoods before he got the keys for the TARDIS and enchanted children of all ages.We have recreation in colour of some of the well known scenes from early Doctor Who, some of these episodes now lost in time.The drama had to be distilled in 90 minutes so a lot of the story had to be left out. Hartnell could be difficult to work with and had abrasive relationships with some of his producers. The writer managed to get cameos from past actors from the early series and used scenes and lines from previous episodes such as Tennant's final line before he regenerated 'I don't want to go' which was reused here when Hartnell discovers he is to be replaced by another actor.