BBC Confirm Genesis of "Doctor Who" Drama

The main players: Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara), Verity Lambert (Prodcuer), William Russell (Ian), and William Hartnell (The Doctor).

There have been rumblings for sometime that Who writer Mark Gatiss has been writing a drama about the conception of Doctor Who to mark the show's 50th anniversary. This has now been officially confirmed by the BBC. The 90 minute drama will air on BBC 2 and is titled An Adventure in Space and Time and will tell the story of the genesis of the BBC sci-fi show in the early 1960s. The drama will cover the programme's first broadcast on 23 November 1963 with the four-part adventure An Unearthly Child and also William Hartnell's rise to fame.

Gatiss said:

"This is the story of how an unlikely set of brilliant people created a true Television original. And how an actor - William Hartnell - stereotyped in hard-man roles became a hero to millions of children. I've wanted to tell this story this for more years than I can remember! To make it happen for 'Doctor Who's 50th birthday is quite simply a dream come true".

Steven Moffat, Executive Producer, said:

“The story of Doctor Who is the story of television - so it's fitting in the anniversary year that we make our most important journey back in time to see how the TARDIS was launched.”

Also sure to feature: Warris Hussein (Director).

And Sidney Newman (Creator)

Further details about the production, including the casting, will be confirmed next year but I'm sure speculation will be rife.

The original cast in An Unearthly Child.