Thursday, April 28, 2022

Doctor Who Magazine #577

There's another "Sufficient Data" infographic at the back of the new Doctor Who Magazine, written by me and illustrated by Ben Morris. This one is based on episodes of Doctor Who first broadcast at Easter.

A lot of attention has been given to Doctor Who Christmas specials, but to date 14 episodes have first been broadcast on Christmas Day, while 20 have premiered on Holy Saturday (the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday):

  1. 28 March 1964 - Mighty Kublai Khan
  2. 17 April 1965 - The Warlords
  3. 9 April 1966 - The Hall of Dolls
  4. 25 March 1967 - The Macra Terror Episode 3
  5. 13 April 1968 - Fury from the Deep Episode 5
  6. 5 April 1969 - "The Space Pirates" Episode 5
  7. 28 March 1970 - Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 2
  8. 10 April 1971 - Colony in Space Episode One
  9. 1 April 1972 - The Sea Devils Episode Six
  10. 21 April 1973 - Planet of the Daleks Episode Three
  11. 13 April 1974 - The Monster of Peladon Part Four
  12. 29 March 1975 - Genesis of the Daleks Part Four
  13. 26 March 2005 - Rose*
  14. 15 April 2006 - New Earth*
  15. 7 April 2007 - The Shakespeare Code
  16. 11 April 2009 - Planet of the Dead
  17. 3 April 2010 - The Eleventh Hour*
  18. 23 April 2011 - The Impossible Astronaut*
  19. 30 March 2013 - The Bells of Saint John*
  20. 15 April 2017 - The Pilot*

Six of those (marked with an asterisk) were the first of a new series, using Easter as part of the launch. Planet of the Dead (2009) and this year's Legend of the Sea Devils were special, one-off episodes for the Easter weekend. 

Legend of the Sea Devils is the first episode of Doctor Who to debut on Easter Sunday itself. And the 1993 repeat on BBC Two of Revelation of the Daleks Part Four is the only episode of Doctor Who broadcast on terrestrial TV on Good Friday.

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