Would Doctor Who be a success if it made it's debut on ITV rather than BBC?

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Mulett

21-09-2016

I think, personally, that Doctor Who is as much a peculiarity for the BBC as it would have been for ITV.

I don't think we can easily say it would have been endlessly cancelled and rebooted because that's what happened to other ITV shows that were similar.

Ad breaks aside, it may well have followed a similar course in ITV as it did on the BBC.

We'll never know, but I don't personally think we can necessarily compare Doctor Who to other ITV shows from the 60s onwards any more than we can compare it to other BBC shows.

GDK

21-09-2016

Originally Posted by Daniel Dare:
“I too collect original TV themes on vinyl and CD.
I have the original Quiller theme on the BBC Detective Themes album, I managed to rip it via my turnatable and although my vinyl album is practically in mint condition, I still digitalised it and remastered the track using an Adobe audio program. It's a great theme by Denton & Cook (who also did my favourite version of the Tomorrow's World theme back in the early 1980s, the 'Oxygene' type one).
I also have the original Survivors theme on CD too, although for the moment I can't remember which CD it is on?! I'll have a rummage sometime and check which..”

[Off Topic]

I know of the BBC Detective Themes album but, as far as I've been able to find out, it was never released on CD. The Quiller theme actually had a release on 45 single too. Recently I managed to "source" the Quiller theme from YouTube. It was a vinyl "rip". Denton and Cook also did the theme for an early 80s series, "Angels" (a drama series about nurses) which I also like and remember watching.

I'd love to get hold of the Tomorrow's World special holographic CD which has all four themes. It was a special prize to celebrate the 1000th edition in 1991 and only a few were ever made. Johnny Dankworth released a recording of his original theme, which I've edited to match the original theme for my purposes.

I'd love to know the album or CD the original (1970s) Survivors theme appears on. I've been after that for ages and I've been thinking of "ripping" it from my Survivors DVD set.

[/Off Topic]

pferreira

02-10-2016

Originally Posted by POTD:
“Agreed, it would have remained a much loved ITC Cult show from the 60s

I imagine if still interested in the "sector", ITV would have come up with a replacement show”

The Tomorrow People was quite popular so not sure if they'd want Doctor Who as well.

adammarc_98

09-10-2016

The only serial on ITV that has lasted over 50 years is Coronation Street, which is a completely different kettle of fish compared to DW. I can imagine the series would've lasted until William Hartnell decided to depart, before becoming a cult classic in the same vein as the Tomorrow People or Avengers from the same time period.

Michael_Eve

09-10-2016

Originally Posted by adammarc_98:
“The only serial on ITV that has lasted over 50 years is Coronation Street, which is a completely different kettle of fish compared to DW. I can imagine the series would've lasted until William Hartnell decided to depart, before becoming a cult classic in the same vein as the Tomorrow People or Avengers from the same time period.”

Yeah, go along with that. If you look at ITV's Sci Fi/Fantasy output, I can only think of The Tomorrow People that had a really decent continuous run. The Avengers sort of slowly morphed into fantasy as it went along so get your point there, but generally speaking, not a great track record longevity wise.

ITC seemed to move on after 1 series, really. Suppose there's the quality/quantity debate (17 episodes of The Prisoner; Masterpiece.) but always thought it was a bit of a shame that they didn't stick with other personal faves like UFO and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) a bit longer. UFO sticks out particularly, as it went from good to flipping fantastic during it's run IMO...and then it was gone.

eta Then again, I suppose Who is the exception generally on British TV in this genre!

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