How Hammer Horror Led To Doctor Who’s Most Popular Episodes

Approaching the end of the Jon Pertwee era, and heading into the series with Tom Baker in 1974, allowed the new producer of Doctor Who, Philip Hinchcliffe, to take the show in a new direction that could help to differentiate not only each actor's Doctor, but also the genres of the show. The series had always paralleled itself with what was popular of the era. For example the 1st and 2nd Doctor eras valued history and science fiction during the era of the Space Age, and the 3rd Doctor era of the early 1970s took inspiration from action and espionage tropes.

Where children had been drawn to the whimsy of modern technology and creatures, and adults had been drawn into the Bond-esque charm of the Pertwee era, Hinchcliffe realised he needed to capitalise on a demographic that hadn’t yet been targeted by the production – young adults. It just so happened that Hollywood was making leaps and bounds within this exact demographic with an increased popularity of graphic and intense imagery within Horror Movies.

Even though the Horror industry had long been a successful genre for Hollywood, with hits like Hitchcock’s Psycho already a cult classic, the nature of horror at the time tended to be more reliant on the psychological, relying on nightmare scenarios to scare its audience. It was only during this decade that the intensity of movies such as The Exorcist and Jaws would shock the industry, becoming instant successes largely due to the water-cooler nature of both. T

The Exorcist dared to challenge religious belief and fear of The Devil, and was known to cause cinema goers to pass out due to the disturbed imagery and profanity. Jaws on the other hand became an instant summer thriller, largely because of its ability to challenge the unknown through it’s unique photography and perspectives on monster features. It would even coin the term ‘blockbuster’ from the chaos that the queues caused for blocks surrounding the cinemas.

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