"An Unearthly Child"

The first episode has been almost universally acclaimed, and I have to agree with this. From the beautiful establishing shot of the TARDIS at the beginning, it gripped me and didn’t let me go, which brings me to my first observation- how visually dynamic it is. The recollections of what Susan said in class are accomplished by flashbacks which consist of POV shots, something that I don’t recall ever happening later (but maybe I’ll be proved wrong). The shot of Barbara bursting into the TARDIS is done simply but extremely effectively- she almost runs into us in her (and our) surprise. And, of course, the taking off of the TARDIS is a marvellous combination of the ‘howlaround’ effect and shocked faces- we literally don’t know what is happening to them.

Waris Hussein directs with superb skill. His shot choices are perfect and the way he got the performances to gel together from the beginning is amazing. The performances are first-rate- the script doesn’t establish the characters of Ian and Barbara that much, but Russell and Hill easily fill in the gaps- we not only know very quickly what types of people they are, but get to care about them before the end of the episode. And then there’s William Hartnell. Physically, he doesn’t do much in this episode- he doesn’t even appear until half-way through the episode- and yet this strange and sometimes rather scary old man captivates us from the second he appears on screen. His performance is subtle, yet somehow gives the impression of a larger-than-life, hugely intelligent and somehow alien character.

The script for this episode is very taut and almost naturalistic- the only bits that could possibly seem false are the aforementioned recollections of what Susan said in class, but the way they are shot more than compensates for it. However, when there is a need for it, the writing is beautiful, notably in the famous ‘travellers in the fourth dimension’ speech.

I would talk about the set design, but in this episode, there’s only one set that matters, and it’s easy to see why the TARDIS interior changed very little between 1963 and 1989.

Finally, I don’t know how appropriate the word ‘cinematography’ is to something shot with multiple cameras in a TV studio with the director calling the shots in a booth, but the stark black and white photography is stunning. The entirety of the episode seems to take place after dark and the use of shadow is very evocative, which makes the cut from Barbara in the junkyard to Barbara in the brightly lit TARDIS all the more effective.

In summary, this would be an astonishing piece of television even if it wasn’t the first episode of Doctor Who.

NEXT: 100,000 B.C.