''Doctor Who: Thirty Years in the TARDIS'' is a special 50-minute television documentary celebrating the 30th anniversary of the science-fiction series '' Doctor Who''. It was originally broadcast on Monday, 29 November 1993, on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

( BBC Two in Scotland). The programme was the first BBC-produced, in-depth documentary chronicling ''Doctor Who'' since the earlier ''

Whose Doctor Who "Whose Doctor Who" (a.k.a. 'Whose Dr. Who') is a 60-minute television documentary, (part of the BBC's ''The Lively Arts'' series) which was first transmitted on Sunday, 3 April 1977, on BBC Two, BBC 2. It was produced and directed by Tony Cash; ...

'' was broadcast in April 1977. (A 30-minute, categorized compilation of archive clips was broadcast in 1992 on BBC2 entitled ''Resistance is Useless''.) The show featured many clips from the show's episodes, and interviews with the cast and crew. Several iconic scenes from the show were recreated, with young actor Josh Maguire playing the part of a child imagining himself involved in the settings. The interviewees included

Carole Ann Ford Carole Ann Lillian Ford ( Higgins; born 16 June 1940) is a British actress best known for her roles as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and as Bettina in the 1962 film adaptation of '' The Day of the ...

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...

, Roberta Tovey,

Jennie Linden Jennie Linden (born 8 December 1939) is an English actress. She is best known for her starring role in Ken Russell's film ''Women in Love'' (1969) as well as her starring role in the cult film ''Nightmare'' (1964). Life and career Linden was bo ...

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

's granddaughter Jessica Carney,

Deborah Watling Deborah Patricia Watling (2 January 1948 – 21 July 2017) was an English actress who played the role of Victoria Waterfield, a companion of the Second Doctor in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1967 to 1968. She began her career a ...

Frazer Hines Frazer Simpson Frederick Hines (born 22 September 1944) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and appeared in ''A King in New York'' (1957) with Charlie Chaplin. He later played Jamie McCrimmon in ''Doctor Who'', appearing i ...

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Ea ...

, Jon Pertwee,

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series ''Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside ...

Colin Baker Colin Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor who played Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series '' The Brothers'' from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series ''Docto ...

Nicola Bryant Nicola Jane Bryant (born 11 October 1960)England & Wales Birth ...

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

Sophie Aldred Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series ''D ...

and

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (born 11 March 1947) is a BBC presenter and retired British television executive. He stepped down as Creative Director in December 2015, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the charity Kids Company from 2003 until its colla ...

. The show was never repeated on the BBC, but an expanded version premiered at BAFTA on 5 November 1994 titled ''Even More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS''. It was followed by a 90-minute release on VHS titled ''More Than... Thirty Years in the TARDIS'', which included many interviews and clips not in the broadcast version. In 2013, ''More Than... Thirty Years in the TARDIS'' was released on DVD as part of ''The Legacy Collection'' box set, alongside the uncompleted 1979 ''Doctor Who'' serial '' Shada''. The programme was produced and directed by

Kevin Davies Kevin Cyril Davies (born 26 March 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Chesterfield, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. He managed Southport in the 201 ...

, with Sue Kerr as executive producer. Davies's initial idea for the programme was a part-documentary, part-drama called ''The Legend Begins'', combining interviews with ''Doctor Who'''s creators with dramatised sequences showing how the events took place. It evolved into a proposal called ''Eulogy for the Doctor'', featuring several actors who had appeared as the Doctor's companions, returning to their roles for a drama linking archive clips from the series. Eventually, all of these ideas were scaled down or abandoned in favour of a straightforward documentary format. In 2013, the idea of a drama depicting the origins of ''Doctor Who'' was used for ''

An Adventure in Space and Time ''An Adventure in Space and Time'' is a 2013 British biographical television film, starring David Bradley, Brian Cox, Jessica Raine and Sacha Dhawan. Directed by Terry McDonough, and written by regular ''Doctor Who'' writer Mark Gatiss, it p ...

'', broadcast on BBC Two, commemorating the series's 50th anniversary.

References

Thirty 30 (thirty) is the natural number following 29 and preceding 31. In mathematics 30 is an even, composite, pronic number. With 2, 3, and 5 as its prime factors, it is a regular number and the first sphenic number, the smallest of the form ...

1993 in British television British science fiction television shows BBC television documentaries English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub