2. The Sacking of Terry Nation
You may be thinking what the hell Im on about. Yes, Terry Nation created the Daleks, but it could have been a very different story. Before writing for Doctor Who, Nation was writing for popular British comic Tony Hancock. He was surprised and somewhat insulted to be approached by the BBC to write for a childrens series and said as much to Hancock who agreed with him. That evening however, Hancock and Nation had a blazing row and Nation was promptly fired. On the train home Nation realized he was out of work and called back the BBC with his tail between his legs and agreed to write 7 episodes, submitted them, took the money and ran. That serial was of course The Daleks which was originally a back up script only coming into play because the production team didnt have anything else to go. The rest is history as the Daleks are still with us. The worry of potentially no Daleks for the 2005 series is a worrying insight into how integral the Daleks had indeed become as they pretty much secured Doctor Whos future back in 1963. For one thing, without the Daleks, 3 out of 4 of Russell T Davies series finales would have been a lot different.
Jonathon Carley
Contributor
My name is Jon, recently graduated media production student. Always on the look out for chances to do what I enjoy and make it count. Writing, filming, animating, editing, radio. My speciality seems to be Doctor Who, years of accumulated knowledge and passion appear to be paying off creatively this being one outlet channel. So thanks for sharing in that with me and offering your support by reading my articles.
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Jonathon