Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DOCTOR DREW
Lost 4-parter featuring William Hartnell as Time Lord is being remade in cartoon form
LOST Doctor Who episodes starring the first Time Lord William Hartnell are being regenerated in cartoon form.
Galaxy 4 was a four-part story which opened the BBC sci-fi show’s third series in 1965.
Only one episode of the quartet still exists, having been found in a private collection in 2011, but all are being remade in full colour by a team of animators.
The full script survived thanks to a fan recording original audio at the time of the broadcast.
Hartnell, who died in 1975, plays the Doctor and his travelling companions are Steven and Vicki, played by future Blue Peter star Peter Purves, aged 26, and actress Maureen O’brien, then 22.
They encounter the beautiful female Drahvins, who turn out to be evil and the monstrouslooking Rills, who are friendly.
The story also features the Chumblies, which failed to become as popular as the Daleks.
Purves, now 82, has spoken of his dislike of Galaxy 4, which was written for previous companions Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill). He believes his character Steven was feminised because most of Barbara’s lines were transferred to him.
Purves left after one year despite being one of the few people to get on with Hartnell.
He has said: “I was unhappy to leave but the policy had changed and they’d decided that they were not going to keep companions onboard for longer than a year.
“Bill, I got on with like a dream. I loved Jackie, she was splendid, I loved Maureen O’brien.”
The BBC wiped more than 130 episodes in the 60s and 70s after deciding colour TV meant there was no longer any interest in black and white recordings.
Recoveries have been made over the years, with 97 episodes now missing from the first 253.