Doctor Who hit television screens at a key period in British television history. It launched on Saturday November 23, 1963, at 5.15pm, being somewhat overshadowed by the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy the previous day.
Set firmly within the BBC’s public service broadcasting ethos of informing, educating and entertaining, Doctor Who quickly became a mainstay of Saturday-evening viewing. By 1965, it was drawing in around 10 million viewers.
Throughout its history, Doctor Who has tapped into political, social and moral issues of the day – sometimes explicitly, other times more subtly. During the 1970s, when the Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, there were a number of examples of this.
