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| Classic specially posed image of Mark Eden, Derren Nesbitt and William Hartnell. Restored and colourized by Clayton Hickman. |
One of the most acclaimed stories of William Hartnell's premiere season as
Doctor Who, John Lucarotti's seven-part historical adventure
Marco Polo was a critical and audience triumph
for series producer Verity Lambert, her dedicated script editor David Whitaker and talented directors Waris Hussein and John Crockett, during its transmission from February-March, 1964. It's popularity was especially satisfying to the BBC, discovering that audience figures would stay consistently high throughout the story's run, having been prior worried that there might have been ratings slippage after the show's prior thrilling sci-fi adventure with the Daleks.
Doctor Who was seemingly here to stay with the British viewing public...
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| The original 1964 cover to the Radio Times. |
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| Marco Polo's primary director, Waris Hussein, with the famous Radio Times cover. |
Sixty years on,
Marco Polo is still fondly remembered and applauded by both fans and critics for its solid storytelling, fine acting, and lavish production values. That the entire story is no longer in the BBC Archives, nor been found abroad within the vaults of any of the TV stations it was sold to by BBC Enterprises, is a tragedy indeed, and hurts like a dagger deeply embedded within
Who fans' hearts. Though now likely lost forever (one potential hope - a film print can for its final episode having been found a while back, albeit with its contents missing, in New Zealand), we still have an incredible imagery collection from the story to feast on, alongside the official BBC Audio Soundtrack, where it's wonderous adventure and colourful characters will live forever.
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| Radio Times preview of the adventure from 1964. |
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| Marco Polo at work in his journal (in the episode Rider From Shang-Tu), with accompanying character narration that would become an important and memorable part of the story. |
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| A selection of John Cura's lovely 1965 telesnaps for the story, colourised and restored by Clayton Hickman. |
Enjoy our very special seven-day photo story coverage tribute to this wonderful tale, and feel free to contact us with your memories of the story, if you were lucky enough to see it back during its one and only original transmission...
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