Happy 60th anniversary of a certain BBC science-fiction program to everyone but Stef Coburn. In honour of Doctor Who‘s anniversary, let me present to you possibly the greatest behind the scenes photo ever taken for that show:
William Hartnell, out of costume, apparently demonstrating to someone very much in costume how he gets a million years to the gallon from the TARDIS. I had no idea who the cowboy was and a quick replay of “The Gunfighters”—the comedy western serial which had to have been the logical source for the picture, right?—turned up no one I could see with that combination of sideburns and moustache… which, apparently, is because this picture isn’t actually from that story; Clayton Hickman says it was actually taken just before the recording of “The Feast of Steven”, the infamous Christmas episode of “The Daleks’ Master Plan”, and the cowboy is one William Hall, the film critic for the London Evening News (the belt apparently did turn up in “The Gunfighters” a few months late). How William Hall came to be an extra on Doctor Who, exactly where and how he appeared in that episode (presumably the old Hollywood film set scene?), and why he was already in costume before recording but Hartnell wasn’t are further mysteries I would now love to see answered…
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