Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

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The Gunfighters

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Appreciation

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Story Images

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

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Synopsis

Arriving at the OK Corral

The TARDIS arrives in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881. The Doctor, suffering from toothache, seeks out the local dentist the notorious Doc Holliday. Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo decide to explore the town, and soon find themselves in the Last Chance Saloon…

Tensions are running high between the feuding Clanton family and Doc Holliday, whilst the local lawman, Wyatt Earp, struggles to keep the peace. When legendary gunman Johnny Ringo comes to town, events start to escalate…

Can The Doctor, Steven and Dodo do anything to slop the situation getting any worse? Or will there be a gunfight at the OK Corral?

Source: BBC VHS Video

General Information

Season:

Three

Production Code:

Story Number:

Episode Numbers:

115 - 118

Number of Episodes:

Percentage of Episodes Held:

100%

Working Titles:

"The Gunslingers" and "The Gun-Fighters"

Production Dates:

March - April 1966

Broadcast Started:

30 April 1966

Broadcast Finished:

21 May 1966

Colour Status:

B&W

Studio:

Ealing Television Film Studios, Riverside (Studio 1) and BBC Television Centre (TC4)

Location:

None

Writer:

Donald Cotton

Director:

Rex Tucker

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Story Editor:

Gerry Davis

Editor:

Les Newman

Production Assistants:

Angela Gordon and Tristan de Vere Cole

Assistant Floor Manager:

Tom O'Sullivan

Designer:

Barry Newbery

Costume Designer:

Daphne Dare

Make-Up Designer:

Sonia Markham

Cameraman:

Ken Westbury

Lighting:

George Summers

Incidental Music:

Lynda Baron and Tristram Cary

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Brian Hodgson

Studio Sounds:

Colin Dixon

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Ballad Music By:

Tristram Cary

Ballad Music Sung By:

Lynda Baron

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

William Hartnell (The First Doctor)

Number of Companions:

The Companions:

Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) and Jackie Lane (Dodo)

Additional Cast:

William Hurndall (Ike Clanton), Maurice Good (Phineas Clanton), David Cole (Billy Clanton), Sheena Marshe (Kate), Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper), David Graham (Charlie), John Alderson (Wyatt Earp), Anthony Jacobs (Doc. Holliday), Richard Beale (Bat Masterson), Reed de Rouen (Pa Clanton), Laurence Payne (Johnny Ringo), Martyn Huntley (Warren Earp), Victor Carin (Virgil Earp.)

Setting:

Tombstone, Arizona (1881)

Villain:

The Clanton Brothers

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
115	A Holiday for The Doctor	30 April 1966	23'48"	6.5	16mm telerecording
116	Don't Shoot the Pianist	07 May 1966	23'47"	6.6	16mm telerecording
117	Johnny Ringo	14 May 1966	23'52"	6.2	16mm telerecording
118	The OK Corral	21 May 1966	23'53"	5.7	16mm telerecording

Total Duration

1 Hour 35 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

6.2

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	49.97% (Position = 151 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	55.28% (Position = 175 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	59.32% (Position = 202 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 21 out of 29

Archives

All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.

Notes

This was the final story to feature individual episode titles (until the revival of the show in 2005). From "The Savages" onwards, each story had an overall title divided into numbered episodes. Therefore the caption at the end of the fourth episode read "Next Episode: Dr. Who and the Savages".

"The Gunfighters" is notable for being the only story to contain musical narration, in the form of the "Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" that was written by Tristram Cary, Donald Cotton and Rex Tucker. It was sung by Lynda Baron, who did not appear onscreen. Baron would later appear, however, in the Fifth Doctor story "Enlightenment", in the role of Captain Wrack. Tom McCall and Winifred Taylor were the piano accompaniment for Peter Purves' songs; Jackie Lane did not actually play the piano.

The notion of commissioning original songs for Doctor Who would resume when the show was revived in 2005, beginning with "Song for Ten" in "The Christmas Invasion ".

Second Doctor Patrick Troughton was one of the actors considered for the role of Johnny Ringo. Famed actor Donald Sutherland was also considered for a role in this story.

Doc Holliday was played by Anthony Jacobs, whose son Matthew visited the set during production of this story. Thirty years later, Matthew Jacobs wrote the script for the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie" starring Paul McGann .

Thunderbirds voice artistes David 'Brains' Graham and Shane 'Scott Tracy' Rimmer appear as Charlie the barman and Seth Harper respectively. Graham had also provided Dalek voices for a number of earlier Doctor Who stories.

This story remains to this day a much-maligned story. While not the lowest-rated Doctor Who story of all time, or even the lowest-rated First Doctor story, "The Gunfighters" did open a sustained period of significantly lower ratings for the program that would last almost the entirety of the remainder of the First Doctor's era. Beginning with "The O.K. Corral" - the very same episode that received the lowest Audience Appreciation figures of any Doctor Who episode - no Hartnell episode would top 6 million viewers until Episode 2 of his final story, "The Tenth Planet".

This story would be Donald Cotton's last contribution to Doctor Who. After helping to create Adam Adamant Lives!, Cotton mainly confined his attention to writing and performing for the stage, although he would also become a prolific novelist and columnist. In the Eighties, Cotton novelised both his Doctor Who stories as well as "The Romans".

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first attempt at a musical in the show.

The first time an original song has been written for the show. This being "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon".

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Rex Tucker.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The final story to feature individual episode titles (until the revival of the show in 2005).

Writer Donald Cotton's last contribution to the show.

Story Images

Show Text

The Doctor has Toothache

Dodo Dresses for the Part

Wyatt Earp

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo at Gunpoint

The Doctor About to get his Tooth Pulled

The Doctor in Jail

Billy Clanton

The Doctor is the Law

Kate Elder and Doc Holliday

Steven

Dodo with a Gun

Riding into the OK Corral

Quote of the Story

'You can't walk into the middle of a Western town and say you've come from outer space! Good gracious me. You would be arrested on a vagrancy charge!'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	The Gunfighters	November 2002	BBCV 7277	Photo-montage	Part of "The First Doctor Box Set" (BBCV 7268)
CD	The Gunfighters	February 2007		Photo-montage	Narrated by Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
DVD	The Gunfighters	June 2011	BBCDVD 3380	Photo-montage	Part of the "Earth Story" Box Set Released along with "The Awakening"
CD	The Gunfighters	September 2013		Photo-montage	Part of the "Doctor Who: The TV Episodes: Collection Six" Box Set Narrated by Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
CD	The 50th Anniversary Collection	December 2013		Photo-montage	Original Television Soundtracks

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	The Gunfighters	January 1985	Target No. 101	Donald Cotton	Andrew Skilleter	ISBN: 0-426-20195-7
Novel	Doctor Who Classics: The Myth Makers & The Gunfighters	August 1988	Star Books	Donald Cotton	Andrew Skilleter	Double story release. ISBN: 0-352-32263-2
CD	The Gunfighters	February 2013	Target No. 101	Donald Cotton	Andrew Skilleter	Audio version of the Target Novel read by Shane Rimmer.

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 25
Doctor Who Monthly - Archive	Issue 82 (Released: November 1983)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 221 (Released: January 1995)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 295 (Released: September 2000)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 454 (Released: Winter 2012/13)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The First Doctor

Steven Taylor

Dodo

On Release

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Soundtrack CD Cover

AUDIO

Earth Story Box Set DVD Cover

VIDEO

The TV Episodes: Collection Six CD Cover

AUDIO

The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

AUDIO

In Print

Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Doctor Who Classics Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 25

Doctor Who Monthly - Archive: Issue 82

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 221

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 295

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 454

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
First Doctor

Season 3

References

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