Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 102

98

JPo£ular_CuUureJR^

Blake's 7, the Monty Python series and movies, Blackadder, The
Prisoner, and later Red Dwarf. (Many of these programs have
fannish followings of their own.) Though MUM has ceased producing
videos, they completed nine between 1986 (when rumblings about
Doctor Who cancellation began) and 1990.

A Brief History of D octor W ho
Doctor Who, which aired its first episode, "An Unearthly
Child," in 1963, owes its longevity to its clever writing and lowbudget camp. The show did not take off in Britain until its second
story, "The Daleks" (December 1963-February 1964) introduced its
most famous villainous aliens: the emotioiUess Daleks. This episode
"turned Doctor Who into an overnight success [in Britain] with over 8
million viewers" (Lofficier, The Programmes 16). Doctor Who's
premise is simple: a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey,
the Doctor, travels in time and space in his time machine, the
TARDIS (an acronym for "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space"),
often accompanied by several companions. When injured. Time Lords
have the ability to regenerate into a new form, which has resulted in
seven actors having played the title role for television. The program
has traditionally relied on clever writing