How Do Peter Cushing's Doctor Who Movies Differ From the TV Series? (2025)

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How Do Peter Cushing's Doctor Who Movies Differ From the TV Series? (1)

By Joshua M. Patton

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How Do Peter Cushing's Doctor Who Movies Differ From the TV Series? (2)

Quick Links

  • The Creation of Doctor Who and the Daleks on the BBC

  • How Dr. Who and the Daleks Starring Peter Cushing Came to Be

  • Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Doesn't Feature Dr. Who In the Title

  • The Legacy of the Peter Cushing Dr. Who Films

After the series debut in 1963 on the BBC, Doctor Who wasn't an instant sensation until the second serial introduced the Daleks. At the time, the producers and BBC executives responsible for the show couldn't have imagined it would still be going strong 60 years later. While movies often made the transition to television, it was practically unheard of for a TV show to become a feature film. However, because of the popularity of the Doctor and the Daleks, a pair of Doctor Who films starring Peter Cushing were commissioned. There was no telling in the early days how long Doctor Who would go on. In fact, the show almost ended before it even really began. The first episode, "An Unearthly Child" debuted on the BBC mere hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

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Reportedly at the urging of producer Verity Lambert, then-head of drama at the BBC, Sydney Newman, agreed to rebroadcast the first serial before the second, known today as "The Daleks," premiered. With their electronic voices and unique design, the mechanically encased aliens became popular in the United Kingdom. They were so popular that producers Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg of Amicus Films licensed the character of "Doctor Who" and the Daleks from the BBC and writer Terry Nation for the sum of 500 pounds. These films have no canonical or narrative connection to the Doctor Who series, though many elements and story details are shared between the two. Yet, it's not the similarities with Peter Cushing's Doctor Who films that are interesting, but the differences.

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The Creation of Doctor Who and the Daleks on the BBC

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Dramatized in the television film An Adventure in Space and Time, the creation of Doctor Who is a saga in its own right. The BBC faced true competition for the first time with ITV, and in response they poached the Canadian-born Newman as their head of drama. He came up with the loose idea for Doctor Who, giving the series' pilot to his former assistant Verity Lambert and new director Waris Hussein. Through trial-and-error -- including a scrapped pilot episode -- the pair helped create television history with William Hartnell leading the cast of adventurers on the show.

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Meanwhile, comedy writer Terry Nation either quit or was fired, depending on the account, from his position as a writer for comedian Tony Hancock. While not particularly interested in science fiction, he accepted a job writing scripts for Doctor Who, specifically the seven-part serial known as "The Daleks." The story was about a warlike race that survived a nuclear holocaust, encasing themselves in terrifying metal bodies. BBC designer Raymond Cusick was tasked with creating the look of the creatures, while BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend Brian Hodgson came up with the distinctive voice.

According to the Channel 5 documentary, Doctor Who: 60 Years of Secrets and Scandals, it was Nation's agent, Beryl Vertue, who solidified the writer's control over his alien creations. Nation was a freelancer, but Vertue crossed out the traditional clause in the contract that said his creations were owned by the BBC. When the Daleks became popular, the BBC and Nation eventually agreed on 50 percent ownership. This means that even in the modern series, Terry Nation's estate has the final say on whether the Daleks can appear in Doctor Who or not.

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How Dr. Who and the Daleks Starring Peter Cushing Came to Be

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Amicus films was a main competitor for the classic studio Hammer Films, which began to release family-friendly movies during the holidays. Noting how popular the Daleks were, Subotsky and Rosenberg optioned the rights to bring the Daleks, in color, to the screen. Terry Nation's scripts for Doctor Who were used, but in the Dalekmania documentary, Nation said he'd "moved on" to another project. Thus the show's script editor, David Whitaker, was largely responsible for adapting the seven-part story into one that could work as a feature film. The Daleks themselves were redesigned slightly. They were given a larger, more imposing look from base to dome. Also, the iconic plunger arm was replaced with a claw, which is what Nation originally wanted for them.

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Instead of a Time Lord for Gallifrey called "the Doctor," Peter Cushing played a human inventor and "Dr. Who" was his name. Instead of the TARDIS, Dr. Who just calls the machine Tardis. There is no explanation given why it looks like a police box. The characters of Ian Chesterton and Barbara were included in the film. However, rather than schoolteachers, Barbara was Dr. Who's granddaughter and Ian was her boyfriend. Carole Ann Ford played Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter in the series. The character was reimagined for the film as a little girl, played by Roberta Tovey. Ian Chesterton was far more scientific-minded and heroic in the television show, with Roy Castle's version of the character playing the comic relief.

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Additionally, in the TV series Barbara and Susan have surnames, Wright and Foreman respectively. In the Amicus film, they don't. The other major differences in the story are all down to budget. The sets are larger, more detailed and colorful. Most of the Daleks were blue and gray like the ones in the series, though television viewers never saw that. In Dr. Who and the Daleks, the two lead Daleks are Black and Red. Lastly, the Thals -- the alien race on Skaro fighting the Daleks -- are made to look more alien with a grayish, purple skin color and bright blond hair.

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Doesn't Feature Dr. Who In the Title

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According to Dalekmania, the Amicus producers asked Roberta Tovey if she'd be willing to reprise her role for a second film. They'd asked Cushing to play Dr. Who again, and he said he'd only do it if she came back. Ian and Barbara, however, are replaced by two new characters. Louise, played by Jill Curzon, was Dr. Who's niece and already in Tardis at the start of the film. Ian was replaced by a police officer who accidentally ran to Tardis, thinking it was a normal police box. He was played by Bernard Cribbins, Wilfred Mott from the modern Doctor Who series.

Like the first film, this one is adapted from the second Dalek serial "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" with a number of significant changes. Dr. Who's role is significantly reduced because Peter Cushing apparently fell ill during the filming, hence why the name doesn't appear in the title. The movie was bigger than the first one and the serial. For example, London is devastated by the Dalek invasion in the movie, whereas the show didn't have the budget for such sets. Tertiary characters like Slyther or Larry Madison also aren't present. An entire subplot about hiding from the Daleks in the sewers is also missing. The climax of the film is also markedly different. In the television serial, the Doctor and his companions trick the Robomen to rebelling against their Dalek masters.

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In the film, Dr. Who literally shouts "Look!" to distract the Daleks and rushes to their control panel. He gives the Robomen an "order that cannot be countermanded" from the microphone used to give them commands. Similarly, instead of using the Dalek's own bomb to destroy them, the Earth's "magnetic field" draws the Dalek ship into the Earth's core. Lastly, the character of David, played by Ray Brooks, is present in the film. However, because Susan was a child, the story where Ford's Susan falls in love with David and leaves her grandfather is abandoned as well.

The Legacy of the Peter Cushing Dr. Who Films

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Dr. Who and the Daleks debuted in 1964, right after the "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" serial finished airing. Thus, it was the height of "Dalekmania," and the film earned high enough returns to finish in the top ten-grossing films in the UK. The second film had higher production and marketing budgets, but didn't fare as well. Subotsky reportedly wanted to make one Dalek movie per year, but his third film never materialized.

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In Dalekmania, he reportedly wanted to try again in the 1980s with a film called Dr. Who's Greatest Adventure, which would've involved dinosaurs. Similarly, Tovey expressed interest in playing Susan as an adult, still traveling around the universe in Tardis. Peter Cushing did not mention the films in his autobiography. In an interview republished in 2009, he remembered them fondly and said he was even offered the role of the Doctor but turned it down to stay in film -- a move he said he regretted.

During Steven Moffat's era of Doctor Who, he wanted to include posters of the films in "The Day of the Doctor," but couldn't secure the copyright. In the novelization, Kate Stewart tells Clara Oswald the films were made in that universe. She said Peter Cushing was "great friends" with the Doctor, who let the actor wear his waistcoat for the movie. While Moffat's redesign of the TARDIS was meant to look like Cushing's Tardis, the modern series included the police box doors in the TARDIS interior, previously only done in the Dr. Who movies.

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How Do Peter Cushing's Doctor Who Movies Differ From the TV Series? (7)
Doctor Who

The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor and his companions from planet Earth.

Created by
Sydney Newman
First TV Show
Doctor Who

Latest TV Show
Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant

First Episode Air Date
November 23, 1963

Latest Episode
Wild Blue Yonder (2023)
TV Show(s)
Doctor Who , Doctor Who: Pond Life , Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka , Doctor Who: The Matt Smith Collection , Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant , Doctor Who: The Peter Capaldi Collection , Doctor Who: The Jodie Whitaker Collection , Doctor Who: The Christopher Eccleston & David Tennant Collection

Summary

Doctor Who, the longest-running sci-fi series in the world, takes viewers on a whirlwind journey through time and space with the enigmatic Doctor, a centuries-old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. In their iconic blue box, the TARDIS, which can disguise itself as an ordinary police box, the Doctor travels with ever-changing companions facing off against alien threats, unraveling cosmic mysteries, and rewriting the laws of physics across the universe.

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