10 Secrets We Learned From Doctor Who Season 17 Boxed Set
8. Douglas Adams Loved An Unearthly Child
In an archival interview clip, Douglas Adams is asked by Terry Wogan about the poor state of Doctor Who at that current moment. Adams, rather wonderfully, springs to the show's defence. He talks of how, when he was script editor, he had gone right back to the very beginning and watched An Unearthly Child. Preparing himself to be indulgent of a more 'primitive' television landscape, he was immediately transfixed by how brilliant the opening episode actually is.
Talking of the mood and the intrigue, Adams makes an interesting point - did we lose something when Doctor Who moved into colour? The darkness of the black and white cinematography lent the show a certain tone. Spookiness, horror and intrigue which was lost in the colour and bright lights of modern television production. Watching the show in the 1980s it's easy to see just what he's talking about. It's why, impressive as it is technically, fan colourisations of black and white Doctor Who feels sacrilegious.
What's lovely about the clip is that it shows the affection that Adams clearly has for the show, even though it's looked on as an embarrassment by others in the BBC.