2. Doctor Emu And The Deadly Dustbins (1976)
Long before Mickey Smith got eaten by a wheelie bin, a previous incarnation of the Doctor - one all feathered and furred - saved the Earth from an invasion of deadly dustbins. Not once, but twice. Emus Broadcasting Company was a short lived variant of Rod Hull and Emus various shows but it was one of the most loved. Before the days of satellite TV and dedicated childrens channels, kids growing up in the 70s had an hour and a half of dedicated programmes on terrestrial TV, between the afternoon play and the news. But when EBC came on the screen, although it was all contrived, it really did feel like this was the childrens channel. This was exactly the kind of schedule that a child would want. Forget Blue Peter and Newsround, in EBC the children took over the airwaves and, of course, a variant of Doctor Who had to feature. It was a time during which Doctor Who toys were few and far between and cosplaying really did involve using upturned washing baskets or pimping dustbins. It was a time when there were no indoor play areas and where the local dump became the unofficial playground and theatre of the imagination. As such, having Doctor Emu confront the deadly dustbins was something that children could quite madly identify with. There were no longer any blue police telephone boxes but there were smelly red phone boxes every few roads away. The child fan could watch EBC and then attempt to relive the adventure to the annoyance of the young person wanting to make an illicit call to his girlfriend or the shopper wanting to book a taxi home. That's what it's all about, right?