Actor William Hartnell felt trapped by a succession of hard-man roles while wannabe producer Verity Lambert was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. Both of them were to find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama. Allied with a team of unusual but brilliant people, they went on to create the longest running science fiction series ever made.
As a story about how the past became the present (which makes us, in relation to its characters, people of the future), it is very much in line with its subject, and has been made with much the same mix of enchantment and suspense.
– Robert Lloyd,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Jan 2014
fresh:
Gatiss has written several Doctor Who scripts, and it's striking to see how he adapts the story behind the story into a vintage Who tale: A tale of misfits triumphing over long odds.
– Darren Franich,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Jan 2014
fresh:
It captures the chaos and experimental vibe that dominated early TV production.
– Hank Stuever,
Washington Post,
3 Dec 2013
rotten:
Adventure aims for poignant but more often lands on solemn or maudlin.