David Farnor | On 17, Oct 2023

This November, the BBC is dialling up the Doctor Who to way past 11 to celebrate the show’s 60th anniversary – but the very first chapter of the sci-fi series will be missing from the celebrations.

Before the 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant hit our screens, viewers will have the opportunity to travel back in time with any of the Doctors through the show’s 60-year history. This will include an archive of Classic Doctor Who for the first time on BBC iPlayer – the show’s full back catalogue of Classic Who is available on BritBox UK and ITVX – including First Doctor William Hartnell’s first encounter with the Daleks, the first episodes made for colour TV with Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, and fan favourites from Fourth Doctor Tom Baker’s iconic run, such as City of Death and The Brain of Morbius. Also included is the 1996 TV movie with Paul McGann, featuring him taking over from Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy.

But one story that will be missing the Beeb’s collection more than 800 episodes? The debut story that began the whole thing in the first place. An Unearthly Child, a fourt-part serial, was written for the BBC back in 1963 by Anthony Coburn, a staff writer who wrote other Doctor Who stories that were never aired. Now, Coburn’s son, Stef Coburn, has refused the rights to An Unearthly Child, following a previous legal battle between Coburn and the BBC – which unfolded 10 years ago around the show’s 50th anniversary.

The deal I offered the BBC, which my solicitor (an IP lawyer of international repute) described as a "solid & not off the scale counter-proposal", was PRESENTED, ostensibly, as a STARTING POINT for negotiations. Believing they would not even bother trying, I was NOT disappointed.

— Stef Anthony Coburn 🗣 (@Stef_Coburn) October 16, 2023

Coburn challenges the BBC’s use of ideas that were in Stef’s script for the series, even though the BBC has copyrights in place for the TARDIS and its police box design. Coburn has said that the BBC refused a deal to license the story, describing the deal on social media as a “solid & not off the scale counter-proposal”. Coburn has also been extremely vocal on social media about the direction of Doctor Who in general, including a negative reaction to the casting of Ncuti Gatwa as the latest Time Lord incarnation.

The legal dispute, then, may be more personal than it is professional, although it does raise the interesting matter of rights and licensing at a time when the industry has been striking to get fairer deals from Hollywood – particularly around residuals and the rights of writers and performers during the new streaming age. Indeed, Stef Coburn’s rights to the four episodes stems from a deal that was standard at the time but whose model didn’t anticipate any of the repeats or on-demanding viewing that are now commonplace on our screens. It’s interesting to note, then, that the BritBox and ITVX collections still do contain An Unearthly Child. While there may be further drama in the future when that deal eventually expires, at least fans looking to celebrate the 60th anniversary with a dive through the archives can still go back to the very beginning.

For more on Classic Doctor Who, see our beginner’s guide to the show’s archives here.

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