We are now accustomed to there being a female Doctor in the TARDIS, played by Jodie Whittaker, with numerous female writers, producers and directors helping shape the new era of the show. However it wasn't always like this, the BBC was once a more male dominated environment and it was Who that helped bring roles to more women at the BBC...
Verity Lambert made history as the first female producer at the BBC in 1963. As the series' producer of Who she was ridiculed at the time by men thinking that a woman couldn't produce TV, she quickly proved naysayers wrong by delivering one of the most successful shows of the 60s. She was at the forefront of the show when 'Dalekmania' hit in 1964, the Dalek's massive success spawning fan mania comparable to Beatlemania, another craze of the 60s.
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| Verity Lambert on the set of 1965's 'Mission To The Unknown' |
Lambert made decisions that would create the show we know today. The main one making Susan the Doctor's granddaughter. Initially, Sydney Newman, the man who came up with the idea for Who, had the Doctor merely travel with Susan. But Lambert thought it inappropriate that an old man be travelling with a young girl and so, the decision was made to make her his granddaughter. Not only making Susan a three dimensional character, but also adding layers to the Doctors mysterious backstory. Between her departure and the next major female voice, Rona Munroe in 1989, there was a noticeable decline in the characters of the companions. They were only there to scream and ask questions and we knew very little about them beyond that.
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| The First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman in the first ever story 'An Unearthly Child' in November 1963. |
Doctor Who also gave the opportunity for one of the first female directors to work at the BBC - Paddy Russell. Who directed 'The Massacre' in 1966, plus three more stories under Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker respectively. Russell was the only female director of the classic era. This paved the way for more female oriented crews on BBC productions outside of Who into the 70s.
The 1970s were a very male dominated era for the show, with only Russell directing three serials. It was in the 80s that a female presence reemerged; Barbara Clegg became the first female writer in 1983 with 'Enlightenment', a story which was notable for introducing Eternals and bringing Guardians back to the screen for the first time since 1077. It was often seen that a woman couldn't write sci-fi and so whenever a woman did write for the show, it was with a male writing partner. The most famous of these being Pip and Jane Baker, who scripted four stories between 1985 and 1987.
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| The Sixth Doctor in 'The Trial Of A Time Lord - Part 14' written by Pip & Jane Baker |
Andrew Cartmel was responsible for bringing in Rona Munroe to script the final classic story 'Survival' in 1989. This story proved a fan favourite and she was subsequently invited back to write for Peter Capaldi's Doctor in Series 10 in 2017. Munroe also has the distinction of being the only writer to write for both the classic and new series. In total there were only three female writers, one producer and director between 1963 and 1989. This is something the new series would strive to improve when it returned in 2005...
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| The Doctor & Ace walking off in the final shot of Rona Munroe's 'Survival', the final regular story for 16 years. |
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