MANY a hit show has changed its lead actor. So cheap 60s sci-fi show Doctor Who believed they could replace theirs, and it would be no big deal.
Actor William Hartnell, star of the BBC-produced disposable confection for children, was struggling to remember his lines. So producers relying on the ephemerality of their medium decided to hire someone else. From their notes:
“Pretty sure we’ll get away with this. It’s only kids watching and it’s in black-and-white, so I’d be surprised if they even notice.
“Because it’s all made-up bullshit, we’ve done a thing where we’ve written it into the script – ‘Look! The Doctor’s changed! He’s got different hair now!’ but it’s nonsense. Tens of thousands of people working for decades couldn’t make sense of it.
“Anyway, it’s not like people can go back and check, is it? This is TV not a book. You think we’re keeping these film reels around forever? I burnt nine episodes of The Dalek Master Plan to heat up the office this morning.
“No, I reckon this will quickly be forgotten like the whole show really, and there’s zero chance anyone’s going to be fixating on this in say 2025, post-Dalek invasion.
“One thing’s for sure, this is our last shot. We’ll never get away with being this lazy again.”
And so a legend was created and a succession of cheap British actors took the role and nobody, least of all its handful of fans, was at all bothered.
Next week: to 1805, where Admiral Horatio Nelson decides to live his last moments alive as his authentic gay self.
