8. Peter Cushings Movie Doctor Was Almost Given A Radio Series
After the relative flop of Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150AD, Malcolm Hulke got in contact with Peter Cushings and approached the BBC with the idea of a Doctor Who Radio Series. A script was written by Hulke (who would later go on to write Doctor Who and The Silurians, The Sea Devil and The War Games with Terrence Dicks) entitled A Journey in Time. The story would see The Doctor, accompanied by his granddaughter, end up in the midst of the American Revolution. The script was sent off to the head of sound drama at the BBC, Martin Esslin. Esslin was not enthusiastic about the series as we can see from his reaction to the drama:
As a typical commercial production for unsophisticated listeners in Australia or even some parts of the United States, it stands up quite well. As a piece of science fiction, however, it strikes me as extremely feeble."
Ouch. Hulke then took the drama to independent companies, Stanmark Productions and Watermill Productions and they agreed to make 52 episodes. The pilot episode was recorded but never broadcast. We only know about the story from press material found in 1989. However, recently, Richard Bignell discovered the original script. Maybe (and hopefully) the audio story is hiding somewhere, waiting to be found