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described them) carrying forward from story to story.
    Newman’s interest in science fiction was fundamental to his thoughts on filling the Saturday scheduling gap, but the BBC had already been actively investigating the possibility of developing a series of literary science-fiction adaptations since early 1962. Always on the lookout for material to adapt, especially literary material, the BBC had an in-house ‘survey group’ that monitored film, radio and theatre productions for material that might be of use to television. Donald Wilson, then running the BBC’s script department, and Head of Light Entertainment Eric Maschwitz commissioned a report on literary science fiction that might be suitable for television adaptation. The report, compiled by drama script editors Donald Bull and Alice Frick, was submitted in April 1962. The pair had read and evaluated a selection of then-current science-fiction novels and short-story anthologies, and had met with some authors, including Brian Aldiss. The report labelled the genre as particularly American and ideas-based rather than rooted in character. Various sub-genres were identified, from simple thriller plots, to technology-driven narratives and ‘big ideas’ like cosmic threats to mankind and cosmic disasters. Interestingly, one of the sub-genres identified was described as ‘satire, comic or horrific, extrapolating current social trends and techniques’, a description that could be applied to much of Doctor Who ’s output over the next 45 years. This was key to Newman’s belief that science fiction was a worthwhile genre.
    Previous significant science-fiction ventures by the BBC had included the 1950s Quatermass serials ( Quatermass, Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit ) by Nigel Kneale and the two Andromeda serials ( A For Andromeda in 1961 and The Andromeda Breakthrough , broadcast in 1962); these both fell into the ‘cosmic threat to mankind’ sub-genre the BBC report had identified. The report suggested that ideas-driven narratives were not enough; to succeed, a new television drama would have to attach the ‘magic’ of its science-fiction content to ‘a current human situation’. Also, ‘identification must be offered with identifiable human beings’. This remit would be closely followed into the twenty-first-century version of the show.
    Frick and her drama-department colleague John Braybon were asked to investigate the subject matter further in a second report itemising specific literary science-fiction titles the BBC could adapt. By July 1962, the pair had devised some rules for TV science fiction that might appeal to the BBC and had some definite suggestions of stories to be adapted. The ‘rules’ were simple: no bug-eyed monsters; no ‘tin robot’ central characters; no ‘large and elaborate’ settings, such as spaceship interiors or alien planets. They must feature ‘genuine characterisation’ and rely on the audience having to ‘suspend disbelief on one fact only’. Frick and Braybon settled on stories dealing with telepaths or time travel as being most suited to adaptation to television on an inevitably limited BBC budget. They described the time-travel concept as ‘particularly attractive as a series, since individual plots can easily be tackled by a variety of scriptwriters. It’s the Z-Cars of science fiction’.
    The stories listed in this second report that were considered suitable for adapting were time-travel adventure Guardians of Time by Poul Anderson, alien-invasion drama Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell, immortality tale Eternity Lost by Clifford Simak, trick story Pictures Don’t Lie by Catherine McLean (aliens invade in tiny ships and drown in a puddle, later satirised by Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ), a Frankenstein-type tale No Woman Born by CL Moore, the humorous The Cerebrative Psittacoid by H Nearing Jr and a story of adventure and exploration, The Ruum by Arthur Forges.
    Sydney