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William Hartnell
The Gunfighters
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Synopsis


Arriving at the OK Corral
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: Z
Story Number: 25
Episode Numbers:115 - 118
Number of Episodes: 4
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: 1
The Doctor: William Hartnell (The First Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The 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
115A Holiday for The Doctor30 April 196623'48"6.516mm telerecording
116Don't Shoot the Pianist07 May 196623'47"6.616mm telerecording
117Johnny Ringo14 May 196623'52"6.216mm telerecording
118The OK Corral21 May 196623'53"5.716mm 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% Higher (Position = 175 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)59.32% Higher (Position = 202 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 21 out of 29


Archives


 All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.



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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.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
The Doctor has Toothache
The Doctor has Toothache

The TARDIS lands in the 19th Century American frontier town of Tombstone. The Doctor is suffering from toothache, having hurt a tooth on one of Cyril's sweets (see "The Celestial Toymaker"), and so seeks out the local dentist, who turns out to be none other than the notorious Doc Holliday.

Unbeknown to The Doctor and his two travelling companions, Steven Taylor and Dodo, they have arrived at a critical time in history for Tombstone as Doc Holliday is currently engaged in a feud with Pa Clanton and his sons; Ike, Phineas and Billy. They are currently in town in search of Doc Holliday to settle an old score over the death of another brother called Reuben. And they are after revenge at any cost. Lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson are meanwhile doing their best to keep the peace.

Meanwhile, in a nearby stable, with The Doctor in agony from toothache, he and his companions Steven Taylor and Dodo, dressed as cowboys, soon encounter local marshal Wyatt Earp, who offers them his protection and warns them to keep their counsel.

Dodo Dresses for the Part
Dodo Dresses for the Part

The Doctor finds Doc Holliday, and has his tooth removed, while Steven and Dodo book rooms at the local hotel. There they are mocked by the Clantons, who suspect The Doctor they refer to is Holliday himself.

After his visit to Doc Holliday, The Doctor finds himself walking into a trap set by the Clanton Brothers. Luckily The Doctor is rescued by bar singer Kate who persuades Doc Holliday to fire his gun at appropriate moments to con the Clantons into thinking The Doctor is indeed Holliday the sharpshooter. Soon afterward Wyatt Earp and Sheriff Bat Masterson arrive and break up the fracas, taking The Doctor into custody for his own protection.

Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp

Steven however, becomes embroiled in a plot to smuggle The Doctor a gun to help free him from the jailhouse. Dodo though has fallen in with Kate and Doc Holliday, who both plan to leave town and take her with them. When the Clanton’s hired help Seth Harper stumbles across their escape plans, Doc Holliday kills him, and the trio then depart.

Harper's role as aide to the Clantons is soon replaced by a new arrival, Johnny Ringo, who shoots local barman Charlie by way of an introduction to the town of Tombstone. When The Doctor and Steven return to the Last Chance Saloon, in search of Dodo, they encounter the dangerous Johnny Ringo.

It is then they learn of Dodo’s departure so Steven heads out of town to look for Dodo with Johnny Ringo in tow in search of Doc Holliday. Johnny Ringo eventually catches up with Steven, who along with Kate end up being taken by Ringo to the Clanton ranch. Doc Holliday returns to Tombstone with Dodo, and offers his services to deal with the Clantons once and for all.

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo at Gunpoint
The Doctor, Steven and Dodo at Gunpoint

The Doctor, it seems, is powerless to prevent more bloodshed: there will be a gunfight at the O.K. Corral. On the one side are the three Clanton brothers and Johnny Ringo; on the other, Wyatt Earp, Earp's brother Virgil and Doc Holliday. At the end of the gunfight Ringo and the three Clantons are shot dead.

Shortly thereafter, The Doctor, Steven and Dodo manage to slip away in the TARDIS grateful to leave Tombstone alive.

 
The Doctor About to get his Tooth Pulled
The Doctor About to get his Tooth Pulled
The Doctor in Jail
The Doctor in Jail
Billy Clanton
Billy Clanton
The Doctor is the Law
The Doctor is the Law
 
Kate Elder and Doc Holliday
Kate Elder and Doc Holliday
Steven
Steven
Dodo with a Gun
Dodo with a Gun
Riding into the OK Corral
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



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
VHS
The GunfightersNovember 2002BBCV 7277Photo-montagePart of "The First Doctor Box Set" (BBCV 7268)
Audio
CD
The GunfightersFebruary 2007Photo-montageNarrated by Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
Video
DVD
The GunfightersJune 2011BBCDVD 3380Photo-montagePart of the "Earth Story" Box Set Released along with "The Awakening"
Audio
CD
The GunfightersSeptember 2013Photo-montagePart of the "Doctor Who: The TV Episodes: Collection Six" Box Set Narrated by Peter Purves (Steven Taylor)
Audio
CD
The 50th Anniversary CollectionDecember 2013Photo-montageOriginal Television Soundtracks


In Print

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)PublisherAuthorCover ArtRemarks
Novel
Novel
The GunfightersJanuary 1985Target No. 101Donald CottonAndrew SkilleterISBN: 0-426-20195-7
Novel
Novel
Doctor Who Classics: The Myth Makers & The GunfightersAugust 1988Star BooksDonald CottonAndrew SkilleterDouble story release.
ISBN: 0-352-32263-2
CD
CD
The GunfightersFebruary 2013Target No. 101Donald CottonAndrew SkilleterAudio version of the Target Novel read by Shane Rimmer.
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Issue 25
Doctor Who Monthly - ArchiveIssue 82 (Released: November 1983)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 221 (Released: January 1995)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 295 (Released: September 2000)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 454 (Released: Winter 2012/13)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
William Hartnell
The First Doctor

   

Peter Purves
Steven Taylor
 
Jackie Lane
Dodo
   




On Release

VHS Video Cover
VHS Video Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Soundtrack CD Cover
Soundtrack CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
Earth Story Box Set DVD Cover
Earth Story Box Set DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
The TV Episodes: Collection Six CD Cover
The TV Episodes: Collection Six CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
   
The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover
The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

BBC
AUDIO



In Print

Target Book Cover
Target Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Doctor Who Classics Cover
Doctor Who Classics Cover

Star Books
NOVEL
Target Audio CD Cover
Target Audio CD Cover

BBC
CD
   


Magazines

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

CMS
Doctor Who Monthly - Archive: Issue 82
Doctor Who Monthly - Archive: Issue 82

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 221
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 221

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 295
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 295

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 454
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 454

Marvel Comics


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