BBC paperwork from 1973 reveals that the producer’s remit involved soothing the nation’s heartache and defending the series from accusations of irresponsibility.

By CHRIS BENTLEY

The vast majority of the paperwork generated by the Doctor Who production office in the early 1970s related to the day-to-day business of developing and recording four or five multi-episode serials every 12 months. This, in itself, was clearly a full-time job for producer Barry Letts, but a significant amount of the documentation preserved in the BBC archive demonstrates that Letts’ duties frequently extended much further.

The Radio Times for 30 December 1972-5 January 1973 promoted Doctor Who on its cover.

The Radio Times listing for The Three Doctors Episode One.

The small illustrations that accompanied the Radio Times listings for Season 10 were drawn by Frank Bellamy.

Even in 1973, BBC producers were required to work closely with the editors, writers and designers of the BBC listings magazine Radio Times, not only providing basic information about their programmes each week but also assisting with feature articles and responding to viewers’ correspondence.

During its tenth anniversary year, Doctor Who received more Radio Times coverage than usual, including two cover features in the same year for the first time since 1964. Promoting The Three Doctors on the front of the first Radio Times of 1973 should have been a no-brainer. Yet, according to an 11 October 1972 memo that Letts received from BBC Head of Drama Serials Ronald Marsh, Doctor Who initially faced opposition in the Radio Times office from Cilla Black’s popular Saturday night variety show Cilla, which would be returning for a new series on the same day. The problem had evidently been resolved by the following Wednesday, when the TARDIS prop was erected on Clapham Common for a Radio Times cover shoot with actors Katy Manning (Jo), Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan).