In the history of science fiction, the 1970s tend to be thought of as the decade in which Star Wars changed everything. But, in terms of sci-fi TV — especially British sci-fi TV — the 1970s were a golden age of low budgets and big ideas. This was a heyday of Doctor Who, with both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker starring as the Third and Fourth Doctors, respectively. The decade began with Doctor Who going from black-and-white to being fully in color in 1970 and ended in 1979 with writer Douglas Adams publishing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the same week that his famous Who episode “City of Death” first aired.
