The year is 1963, and BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman has brought together a small group of people to launch the programme that will become Doctor Who. Verity Lambert is a neophyte producer who finds herself clashing with the old boys' club at the BBC. Waris Hussein is a British-Indian director struggling against racism both overt and implicit. The programme's star, William Hartnell, is a veteran actor who comes to see Doctor Who as his opportunity to shatter years of typecasting, but is fighting his own battle with his deteriorating health. Against all odds, they will help forge a legacy worthy of eternity.

After first earning notices as a member of the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe, Mark Gatiss had begun both acting and writing for television. He added executive producer to his resume in 2010, on both Sherlock and the telefilm The First Men In The Moon. Gatiss was also a lifelong fan of Doctor Who. His first published book was 1992's Nightshade for the Doctor Who: The New Adventures range from Virgin Publishing. He went on to write a plethora of Doctor Who novels for Virgin and BBC Books, as well as audio plays for Big Finish Productions. When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Gatiss was one of the initial group of scriptwriters; The Unquiet Dead became the first of his virtually annual contributions to the series. He lent his acting talents to the programme on occasion as well, most notably as Professor Lazarus in 2007's The Lazarus Experiment.

Early in his television career, Gatiss became interested in developing a TV movie which would chronicle the early days of Doctor Who. This period of the show's history had been well-documented in Doctor Who Magazine articles by researchers such as Marcus Hearn and Andrew Pixley, as well as books like Doctor Who: The Sixties and Doctor Who: The Handbook: The First Doctor by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker. However, Gatiss felt that the human story of the cast and crew who were responsible for Doctor Who's earliest seasons was equally compelling -- thinking particularly of the tragic developments which saw ill health force original star William Hartnell to relinquish the role which had reinvigorated his acting career.

Mark Gatiss originally hoped that a Doctor Who docudrama could be made to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2003

Gatiss originally hoped that such a film could be made in time to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who in 2003. At that point, however, the programme had been largely off the air since 1989, and the BBC had seen little potential in Gatiss' idea. Over the next few years, Doctor Who enjoyed a massive popular renaissance, and Gatiss revived the concept as a way to help bridge the transition from Tenth Doctor David Tennant to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith in 2010. Ultimately, however, it was agreed that Gatiss' project was most appropriate as part of the celebration of fifty years of Doctor Who in 2013. In early 2012, An Adventure In Space And Time was commissioned by BBC Two's Controller of Programmes, Janice Hadlow, and the BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, Ben Stephenson. The docudrama's title was inspired by the description of Doctor Who which had been utilised by the Radio Times throughout the Sixties.

Gatiss quickly identified David Bradley as the man he wanted to portray Hartnell. He was perhaps best known for his recurring role as Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch in movies starting with 2001's Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, and he had recently played the villainous Solomon in the 2012 Doctor Who story Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. Bradley had also voiced an alien Shansheeth in Death Of The Doctor, a 2010 serial for the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. Gatiss offered Bradley the lead role in An Adventure In Space And Time while they watched Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant together on June 3rd; Bradley soon accepted.

In the early stages of writing An Adventure In Space And Time, Gatiss struggled to narrow his focus to a degree which would balance the goals of informing and entertaining audiences, while also providing depth to his characters. Gatiss always knew that he wanted to confine himself to the three years that Hartnell had played the Doctor, but initially he tried to incorporate many of the side stories of those early days, such as Terry Nation's creation of the Daleks and Raymond P Cusick's struggle to obtain appropriate recognition for their design. Eventually, Gatiss decided to concentrate on three main characters: Hartnell, Verity Lambert (producer for the show's first two years) and Waris Hussein (director of half of the first twenty episodes). A sizeable role would also be reserved for Sydney Newman, the BBC Head of Drama who had instigated the creation of Doctor Who in the first place. This approach resulted in the conflation or omission of some of the individuals involved in Doctor Who's origins; for example, original story editor David Whitaker was present in Gatiss' initial drafts, but his role was eventually combined with associate producer Mervyn Pinfield.

In early drafts, flashbacks examined William Hartnell's difficult early life

Early drafts of An Adventure In Time And Space also bounced around in time. Flashbacks would have examined Hartnell's difficult early life and included a glimpse of his mother Lucy, who gave birth to him out of wedlock. There would have been flash-forwards to the present day as well, in which Hartnell's granddaughter Judy -- now an adult -- explored the Old Mill Cottage where her grandparents had lived. This reflected Judy's role as a key source of information for the script: under her professional name, Jessica Carney, she had written a 1996 biography of her grandfather called Who's There?: The Life And Career Of William Hartnell.

Gatiss considered playing up Hussein's role by depicting him as the director of all of Hartnell's early episodes, before eventually deciding to include one of his contemporaries, Richard Martin, as well. For a time, Gatiss intended to end An Adventure In Space And Time with footage which recreated the photocall which brought Hartnell and his successors -- Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee -- together. This reunion had served to promote 1972's The Three Doctors, which also proved to be Hartnell's final television performance before his death in 1975. However, it became clear that the telefilm's budget would not facilitate the dramatisation of this event.

In addition to various printed works and the interviews he conducted with many of Hartnell's contemporaries, Gatiss drew heavily upon an interview with the actor which had been conducted for the news programme Points West in January 1967, just a few months after his departure from Doctor Who. Recovered in 2009 by researcher Richard Bignell, it offered a rare glimpse of Hartnell as himself, rather than in character. Gatiss briefly considered making this interview the framing device for An Adventure In Space And Time, before returning to his original notion of Hartnell looking back from the perspective of his last day on Doctor Who. Bradley also felt that this clip was invaluable to help him find his way into Hartnell's character.

One element that Gatiss was eager to include in his script was the recreation of scenes from Hartnell-era Doctor Who adventures. Not only would this add a splash of colour to the docudrama, but it would also afford the opportunity to dramatise moments which no longer existed in the BBC archives. For example, one ultimately-unused idea was to restage the death of companion Sara Kingdom, played by Jean Marsh, who aged to death in the closing moments of The Daleks' Master Plan. In 1965, this effect was accomplished by replacing Marsh with an older actress. It occurred to Gatiss that Marsh could now play the aged Sara, with another performer standing in as her younger self. Unfortunately, this was another instance where budgetary limitations forced Gatiss to scale back his ambitions.

Director Terry McDonough's childhood love of early Doctor Who lured him back to the UK for An Adventure In Space And Time

Joining Gatiss as executive producers of An Adventure In Space And Time were his Doctor Who counterparts, Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner; Gatiss and Moffat also collaborated as showrunners on Sherlock. Appointed as producer was Matt Strevens. Originally a story editor on EastEnders and then The Bill, Strevens had been promoted to producer on the latter, before moving on to Raw, Skins and Misfits. The director would be Terry McDonough, who had gotten his start in British television but had spent recent years working in the United States. Nonetheless, McDonough's childhood love of early Doctor Who lured him back to the United Kingdom for An Adventure In Space And Time.

Sharing top billing with Bradley was Jessica Raine, who had recently shot to stardom with her lead role in the historical drama Call The Midwife, and would now portray Verity Lambert. Raine had also recorded an appearance in the Doctor Who story Hide, which would be broadcast during 2013. The other star of An Adventure In Space And Time was Sacha Dhawan, playing Waris Hussein. An actor since his youth, Dhawan had been part of the original cast of the play The History Boys, and had reprised his role for the subsequent film. On television, he had appeared in shows such as Being Human and the American sitcom Outsourced.

Most prominent amongst the supporting players was Brian Cox, whose career in television stretched back to the days when the BBC's Head of Drama was the man he would be portraying: Sydney Newman. In addition to small-screen credits like Deadwood and the Theatre 625 installment The Year Of The Sex Olympics, Cox had also appeared on the silver screen in the likes of The Ring and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and he had originated the role of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter. Cox had a prior Doctor Who connection as well, having provided the voice of the Elder Ood for The End Of Time in 2009. The role of Hussein's fellow Doctor Who director, Richard Martin, went to Gatiss' husband, Ian Hallard. Martin would be seen directing the Daleks -- whose original voice artiste, Peter Hawkins, would be played by his modern-day counterpart, Nicholas Briggs. Also in the cast was Mark Eden as Donald Baverstock, the BBC's Controller of Programmes. Eden had played the title role in the 1964 Doctor Who serial Marco Polo, which would be represented in An Adventure In Space And Time.

A major location for the telefilm was BBC Television Centre in White City, London. The production team had originally assumed that these premises would have to be replicated elsewhere but, because the Corporation was in the process of relocating, the building was now largely abandoned. As such, the team working on An Adventure In Space And Time had a great deal of freedom to redress Television Centre to echo its Sixties appearance. Production began there on February 3rd, 2013, when the opportunity was also taken to record scenes set in the BBC Club and the corridors of Maida Vale -- where the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was headquartered -- and Riverside Studios.

Original series star Carole Ann Ford played the mother calling her children home to watch Doctor Who

On February 4th, Wimbledon Common in Wimbledon stood in for Barnes Common -- a location suggested by the novelisation of 1963's The Daleks, where it was the site of the first meeting between the Doctor and schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. The policeman, Reg, was named in honour of Reg Cranfield, who played the officer seen walking along Totter's Lane in the opening moments of 100,000 BC, the very first Doctor Who story. Work on the 5th initially took McDonough's team to Wilton Way in Hackney for the party in Lambert's flat. Next, original series star Carole Ann Ford made a cameo appearance on Elwin Street near Shoreditch, where she played the mother calling her children home to watch Doctor Who. The family watching television was also recorded in an Elwin Street residence.

The only filming outside London took place on February 6th and 7th, at a private address in Chipstead, Surrey which posed as the Hartnells' Old Mill Cottage. On the 8th, the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley was used for scenes in the Chinese restaurant, as well as the dressing rooms. Then it was back to Television Centre from February 11th to 15th, with particular emphasis on material in Lambert's and Newman's offices. Also shot on the 15th was the series of photocalls which introduced the various iterations of the Hartnell-era TARDIS team. In addition to Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Jamie Glover as William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), this footage featured Anna-Lisa Drew as Maureen O'Brien (Vicki), Edmund Short as Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), Sophie Holt as Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet), Ellie Spicer as Anneke Wills (Polly), and Robin Varley as Michael Craze (Ben Jackson). Work on February 17th began in Westminster, with a recreation of the Daleks' iconic crossing of Westminster Bridge from their second appearance, 1964's The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. The rest of the day was spent back at Television Centre for sequences in the reception area and the scene dock -- as well as Sydney Newman's arrival by automobile, during which William Russell himself made an appearance as a security guard.

Then it was off to Wimbledon Film & Television Studios in Colliers Wood, which would be the production home for An Adventure In Space And Time. Appropriately, most of the material recorded there involved restaging scenes at Lime Grove Studios and Riverside Studios, Doctor Who's own production homes during the Hartnell era. February 18th and 19th dealt with elements from 100,000 BC, including an elaborate replica of the original TARDIS console room. Action in the studio gallery was a focus on the 20th and 21st, although both days also captured more of 100,000 BC, together with segments of The Daleks on the 20th and The Dalek Invasion Of Earth on the 21st. Additional moments from The Daleks were reprised on February 22nd, alongside footage in the Television Centre news studio. After the weekend, February 25th saw McDonough's team revisiting parts of 1964's Inside The Spaceship and The Reign Of Terror, and 1966's The Tenth Planet, followed the next day by The Dalek Invasion Of Earth and 1966's The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve. 1965's The Web Planet was reenacted on the 27th, together with sequences which took place on the outskirts of the studio.

On February 28th, Lambert said goodbye to her star on the TARDIS set, and her farewell party was recorded. This scene provided an opportunity to include a number of additional cameos, including Jean Marsh, Anneke Wills, story editor Donald Tosh, director Michael Ferguson, vision mixer Clive Doig, and Mervyn Pinfield's son Mike. Work then continued with the regeneration scene from The Tenth Planet. Here, Gatiss' League of Gentlemen colleague Reece Shearsmith played Patrick Troughton -- a role which Gatiss had first suggested to him when he was originally mulling the project more than a decade earlier. Although the flash-forward to The Three Doctors had been dropped, Gatiss himself dressed up as Jon Pertwee on this day and he, Shearsmith and Bradley recreated the iconic Radio Times cover photo of the first three Doctors.

Matt Smith's contribution to the project was filmed at Roath Lock Studios on March 25th, 2013

McDonough spent March 1st wrapping up various odds and ends, including the sequence in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the footage of Lee Harvey Oswald, and Bradley's half of the effects shot in which Hartnell saw a vision of Matt Smith. The latter was recorded in a manner which would ensure that it could be updated for repeat transmissions in later years, with subsequent stars of Doctor Who replacing Smith; this was done for the first time in 2023, when it was the turn of Ncuti Gatwa, the Fifteenth Doctor, to appear in front of Hartnell. Cast and crew also boarded a Routemaster bus for Lambert seeing the children play-acting as Daleks. With principal photography concluded, an establishing shot to represent the building which housed the celebrated producer's flat was captured at Chesil Court in Chelsea on March 6th. Lastly, Smith's contribution to the project was filmed at Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff, Wales on March 25th.

An Adventure In Space And Time was one of the highlights of the festivities which surrounded Doctor Who's fiftieth birthday. It aired on November 21st -- just two days before the anniversary special itself, The Day Of The Doctor. Immediately after the broadcast concluded, BBC Two aired a five-minute tribute to the man behind the First Doctor entitled William Hartnell: The Original, directed by Ian Smith. BBC Four then screened the entirety of 100,000 BC.

A final treat from the production of An Adventure In Space And Time was unveiled the following month, when the BBC released one last recreation of a classic Doctor Who scene. At the end of the seventh episode of The Daleks' Master Plan -- broadcast on December 25th, 1965 -- Hartnell had turned towards the camera, raised a glass, and wished “a Merry Christmas to all of you at home.” This episode was destroyed in 1967 as part of the BBC's purge of recordings which were deemed to have exhausted their commercial potential. Now, however, the heartfelt toast to the First Doctor's beloved fans could be enjoyed once more.

But the impact of An Adventure In Space And Time would continue to be felt. In 2017, Moffat found himself unexpectedly responsible for that year's Doctor Who Christmas special. He and Peter Capaldi, who was playing the Twelfth Doctor, had intended to leave the programme together in the season finale, The Doctor Falls. However, Moffat's successor, Chris Chibnall, had decided against launching the Thirteenth Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, in a one-off special. Moffat and Capaldi instead agreed to remain on Doctor Who for one more story, and Moffat began developing a narrative which would see the Twelfth Doctor encounter his original incarnation. With Hartnell having passed away in 1975, Capaldi suggested that Bradley should be offered the part of the First Doctor. And so it was that The Doctor Falls marked just the first of several television appearances by Bradley in the role.

Furthermore, 2017 also saw the launch of a range of audio dramas from Big Finish Productions under the banner of The First Doctor Adventures. The series reunited Bradley, Grant, Glover and Powell to play their versions of the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara in brand-new stories. So it was that An Adventure In Space And Time helped to demonstrate that the past is never dead... it's not even past.

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #38, Autumn 2014, “An Adventure In Space And Time” by Andrew Pixley, Panini UK Ltd.