TV Sorry, I couldn't come up with a better title for this post. You probably clicked expecting something about the "you could do a lot better" sketch or Ray or "that's you that is" but this is actually about Doctor Who again. I was thinking about the exhibitions in Cardiff and London and thought inserting the name of the late censorious nonagenarian would be funny before realising it suggested something else which is how we ended up in this opening paragraph length disclaimer.
This Saturday's instalment of BBC Radio 4's Archive on 4 strand is Disgusted, Mary Whitehouse in which Samira Ahmed talks about the life and work of the person who's complaint about Doctor Who led to them physically vandalising and transmission tape after spending months reading through her diaries at the Bodleian Library (not all heroes wear capes).
On his blog, in a post with with a much better title than this, one of the producers Simon Gurrier talks about the production and in greater depth about Whitehouse's enmity with the Time Lord and the extent to which her criticism had some foundation:
"Right from the beginning of Doctor Who, there had been questions about how suitable it was for children. Opinion on this was “strongly divided” at the executive meeting of the BBC’s Television Programme Planning Committee on 4 December 1963 - after just two episodes of the series had been broadcast. The following week it looked like the programme might be moved to a later time in the schedule, though this was over-ruled by Head of Drama (and co-creator of Doctor Who) Sydney Newman."
Whitehouse will be voiced in the documentary by Lisa "Bernice Summerfield" Bowerman if you need any more incentive to tune in.
No comments:
Post a Comment