A Sixties time machine: Doctor Who, Monty Python, The Beatles - first broadcast reactions

LETTY COLTMAN, CHARLOTTE GADD-HENDERSON, JAYIA MATREE and PHOENIX WALKER-HINDS give their instant first impressions of wanderers in the fourth dimension, killing jokes, and a place where nothing is real.

The 1960s is often remembered as a decade of rapid cultural change - revolutionary developments in music and TV, a blossoming of personal freedoms, the civil rights movements. Nothing epitomises that sense of innovation and artistry more than Doctor Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Beatles, whose impact on science fiction drama, comedy and popular music can never be overstated.

So, at C.E.L.L.MATES HQ, we exposed a quartet of BA Creative and Professional Writing Gen Z students to the first ever broadcast episodes of Doctor Who and Monty Python, and the promotional video for The Beatles’ revolutionary ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ single.

Here are their first reactions:

Doctor Who - 'An Unearthly Child': First ever episode, 23 November 1963

A clip of the TARDIS's first broadcast take off

Two teachers – Ian and Barbara - intrigued by the behaviour of their pupil Susan Foreman, track her to a junkyard where they force their way into a police box where she seemingly lives with her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor (played by William Hartnell). It transpires that the police box – bigger on the inside than outside -  is a time machine called the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) and the pair are “wanderers in the fourth dimension”. A few weeks later, the Doctor and his companions took on the Daleks….. Saturday nights would never be the same.

Letty Watching the first ever Doctor Who episode made me re-evaluate my pre-conceptions of 60s TV. I was surprised by the quality of the script, and the effects and sci-fi themes were more developed than I would have thought. Although a few moments (such as the TARDIS ‘shaking’ as it lifts off) exposed the show’s age, overall I really enjoyed the episode. It was also very cool to hear that the theme tune and TARDIS sound effects have been used for the entirety of the show!

Charlotte As a huge fan of the more modern Doctor Who (2005-present), the overall experience of viewing this for the first time was exciting. I got to see how it all started and how the core concepts we know and love today were introduced. I enjoyed the differences between this and today’s Doctor Who. For instance, I loved that the theme carried on into the start of the episode, which in new Who ends at the same time as the opening sequence. The character set up was perhaps more detailed than it is today. Susan Foreman’s (the Doctor’s granddaughter) set up was developed from the point of view of her teachers, showing from their perspective why she was ‘odd’, using multiple flashbacks which we don’t really get in New Who which tends to focus on the here and now with quick conversation about the past rather than flashbacks. The whole episode was dedicated to setting up the characters and has no alien attacks/invasions etc. which we would expect in New Who. Notably when the show restarted in 2005, with Eccleston’s Doctor, we received the information we needed as the problem was dealt with. This is what makes the first episode stand out to me. I was gripped by the story, the characters themselves and their journey to becoming the companions of the first doctor, and not by aliens or the typical endeavours of the Doctor. It was a nice contrast that shows the evolution and growth of the programme Doctor Who and the Doctor himself.

Phoenix The very first episode of Doctor Who, titled 'An Unearthly Child', kept my attention and spiked my curiosity. It is definitely looks like a television programme from the Sixties - the fashion, the hairstyles, and being in black and white. Despite the era in which it was made, the science fiction elements weren’t that dissimilar to some of today’s TV. The episode managed to keep me invested and desperate to understand the logic behind the actions of the two idiots that called themselves teachers.

Jayia I knew the basic premise of Doctor Who and had friends who were obsessed with the show, so it was interesting to witness the start of what has been a very long-running plot. The intro music was iconic, even for me, and you could tell that it was going to be mysterious from the start. The build up to the reveal was great and paced well, better than I expected. The cliff-hanger was good and would encourage viewers to wait for the next episode.

The Beatles - 'Strawberry Fields Forever': Single and promotional film, released 13 February 1967

The Beatles had evolved from their 'lovable mop top' personas, singing catchy pop/rock love songs, to the more studio-based, experimental and psychedelic releases from the mid-60s onwards, marked by the release of their Revolver album in 1966 – often cited as the most influential album of all time.  The John Lennon-penned single ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ (double A-side with ‘Penny Lane’) marked the completion of that transformation. Released on 13 February 1967 (ushering in the so-called ‘summer of love’ that year), it was accompanied by this full colour promotional film which experiments with reverse film effects, jump cuts and extreme close-up shots.

Jayia I know who the Beatles are and I enjoy their music. I learned more about the group from a recent university trip to Liverpool, so it was nice to see the music video of this single. The video was silly at times with uses of reversing the footage, but I felt like they were  experimenting with composition and whatnot. It also gave out a youthful vibe with just a group of men enjoying playing around a tree. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ isn’t my favourite song from The Beatles, but I do appreciate that it was one of the songs that boosted their fame.

Letty ‘Strawberry Field Forever’ was definitely a weird music video, but it was good weird. The psychedelic use of colours, the unusual outfits (by my standards, at least), and the experimental shots, like reversing some of the footage, gave it this whimsical strangeness that I ended up enjoying. It made me reflect on modern music, as I definitely miss British popstars and musicians, as much of the mainstream music these days seems to be dominated by the USA.

Phoenix I was already knowledgeable of the Beatles, and while I am not their biggest fan, there are a few songs which I will happily regularly listen to. With the Sixties bringing with it a brand-new age of colour television, it was obvious in the music video why, like many others, the colours seemed exaggerated, which was a bit off-putting. But the video was surprisingly good quality with intriguing camera techniques and included a distracting moustache worn by Paul McCartney.

Charlotte Overall, I found it quite interesting. The start was possibly aiming for comedy but felt a bit odd. The whole thing was edited well - especially with it being recorded in 1967 - with reversed film and clean cuts to different images/sections of the video. The section where the images were orange was a little bit too bright (it hurt my eyes a bit) and added to my overall confusion with the experience. The ending of the video was nice with the Beatles walking into the sunset (a little brighter than reality but it looked really nice). The video epitomises the view of the 60s being about hippies etc with the surrealistic style and psychedelic images.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - 'Whither Canada': Season 1, Episode 1, first broadcast 5 October 1969

British TV viewers were first exposed to Monty Python’s surreal brand of sketch show humour just under three months before the start of the Seventies. The Beatles were on the verge of splitting up and Doctor Who was about to start its seventh year with its first full colour programme and a third iteration of the Doctor (John Pertwee following Patrick Troughton). Often with no punchlines and with ingenious segues from one sketch to the next, Monty Python's first episode is entitled ‘Whither Canada’ for no reason at all! It included an interview with Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson, the “funniest joke in the world” which killed anyone exposed to its punchline, the introduction of the six-man Monty Python team in drag as the screeching ladies with handbags and Terry Gilliam’s absurd animations. Silly walks, dead parrots and looking on the bright side of life have become embedded in the British psyche as has sit-com Fawlty Towers, written and performed by Python team member John Cleese.

Charlotte I will admit, I have seen this show before but had forgotten most of the sketches (with the exception of “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition”!). So when I watched the first episode with my classmates, I may as well have been watching it for the first time. Right from the opening titles, we are introduced to their distinctive humour, with an extended shot of a bearded, scruffy man [Michael Palin - ed] running to the shore from the sea towards the camera. This raises questions as to why he is there and what is going to happen next. The answer is the word ‘its’ and then the opening titles. The sketches themselves are amusing, with a running theme of ‘dead pigs’ throughout the episode. Each sketch is completely irrelevant and unconnected from the last, but they have almost seamless transitions from one to the other and are just as funny. The recurring gags about pigs being killed included pigs being marked off a board or little models being pushed about on a map on a World War 2 tactical table. Most of the sketches in the episode related to themes and formats we recognise today such as classrooms, live interviews, the news and World War 2. The episode ended in a full circle moment as the man from the start ran back into the sea. This made the episode feel complete but also added to the randomness of the whole thing.

Phoenix The first episode of Monty Python, titled 'Whither Canada', was hectic and completely ridiculous. That isn’t to say it was bad. While some jokes flew right over my head, and others I simply found unfunny and others were simply from a different time, there were still some which genuinely made me laugh. It is obvious that Monty Python has influenced many of today’s sketch shows. The setup, costume and general style remind me of shows like Saturday Night Live. I would watch more episodes of Monty Python, especially to see John Cleese who was my favourite part of it.

Jayia Definitely an acquired taste in humour but I enjoyed it more than I expected. Some jokes may not hit the mark today, but I still laughed at much of it. I enjoyed that it kind of didn’t wait for the audience to catch up with getting the skits and jokes, moving on quickly from one sketch to the next like an unprepared slideshow. Some skits didn’t even seem to have an ending especially the ‘funniest joke that’ll kill you’ one, which was new to me but every entertaining.

Letty I would say this was my least favourite of the three, but I did still enjoy it. Some of the humour would not transfer to a modern and younger audience, and a lot of references went over my head. But there were skits that did get a giggle out of me, and I could really see that Monty Python is a pin-point for British TV humour.

Reviewed by BA Creative and Professional Writing students at University of Chester, UK: