 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".
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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.
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(Position = 151 out of 159)
(Position = 175 out of 200)
