Doctor Who @ 40 Weekend - Part One

UKTV celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who with an epic marathon on the weekend of Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd November 2003. Classic stories, archive documentaries, the 1999 Comic Relief special 'The Curse of Fatal Death' and no less than fifteen brand new featurettes dominated a whole 24 hours of the UK Gold schedule. So, let's get started and take a look at some clips, shall we? Although I'll warn you, if you don't like the novelty single Doctorin' The Tardis, you're really gonna hate the intros to each of these videos...

1963 - The Year of Doctor Who

In this first short produced by Free@LastTV, K-9 (voiced by John Leeson) looks back at the year 1963, and the birth of a television legend. With contributions from actors Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Sophie Aldred, producers Verity Lambert and Barry Letts, and fans Dick Fiddy, Kim Newman, Steve Berry, Hilton Fitzsimmons, Nev Fountain, Mark Campbell and Andrew Beech.

William Hartnell (1963-66)

Verity Lambert, Carole Ann Ford and Peter Purves talk about the earliest days of Doctor Who and working with the late, great William Hartnell. Also features contributions from fans David J Howe, Gary Russell, Dick Fiddy, Clayton Hickman, Dale Who and Mark Campbell. Shown prior to a screening of The Time Meddler (Sunday 23rd November 2003, 7.15-9.15am), as voted for by fans on the UKTV website. And if you're wondering why a Dalek story didn't win, well that's because they weren't available for broadcast (Terry Nation's estate had withdrawn permission for any of his Doctor Who stories to be screened). Party poopers.

Patrick Troughton (1966-69)

Wendy Padbury, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Stephen Thorne, Louise Jameson, Nicholas Courtney, Nicola Bryant, Michael Kilgarriff, Nicholas Briggs, Terrance Dicks, Arabella Weir, Gary Russell, Dick Fiddy, Mark Campbell, Antony Wainer and Clayton Hickman all share their memories of the man whose magical performances as the Second Doctor ensured the continuing success of the series. The Tomb of the Cybermen was the most-requested story from his era, screened early on Saturday 22nd November 2003 from 7.15-9.15am.

See you back here on Saturday 12th November 2011 for more segments from UK Gold's Doctor Who @ 40 weekend. Stay fresh.