Doctor Who... IN COLOUR!

[Anthony Williams]

Obviously, Season 7 was the dawn of Doctor Who in glorious colour! I know that a number of people here on PS who were around to see Season 7 didn't yet have colour televisions. However, we've all seen these stories in colour since then.

So, the question that I have to ask is - just how much of a difference does colour make to Doctor Who? Do you think that it benefits the show and makes it more watchable? Or did it simply mean that they could get away with less in terms of dodgy sets etc.?

[Stephen Morgan]

1970 was a huge leap forward for the series and the advent of colour made a huge difference, mind you it brought with it CSO, and some of the effects of that are sometimes hugely noticeable.
You could say b/w is more atmospheric in terms of shadow and lighting, (I much prefer the b/w episodes of The Saint to the colour episodes for that very reason) colour shows were lit differently, and if shot on film gives something a totally different dynamic (Spearhead From Space).
Myself I didn't see a colour episode of Who until mid season 11 in 1974, but, in 1970, you could immediately tell the difference in the quality of the show. I still haven't seen everything in colour, hopefully the DVD releases of Mind of Evil and Ambassadors of Death will rectify that.

[Si Hunt]

I think it hugely enhances the show. It's not like Doctor Who ever strived to make artistic use of monochrome, except maybe in Episode 1 of "The Mind Robber". It was at one point trendy to say that "Mind of Evil" was better in black and white but I say Boo I Say Boo! It will look ten times better in gloriously, bright, vivacious colour!

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

I actually think that Mind of Evil will be an excellent test-case. It's the only Pertwee story to which no full episode is available in colour. So, it will be wonderful to see whether it does look "ten times better in gloriously, bright, vivacious colour!" (as Si says), or whether a full colour version disappoints. Personally, I really hope that Si is right

In all, I think that some B&W episodes looked fantastic in their natural B&W. However, there are some which I think would've looked equally fantastic in colour - Marco Polo and The Aztecs immediately spring to mind for the latter.

However, B&W did allow them to hide all manner of sins. That fake TARDIS wall used during the Troughton and early Pertwee eras, for example, looked just about passable in B&W. When we see it in colour in Colony in Space, it just looks atrocious and VERY obviously fake. Likewise, CSO came along with the colour era, and isn't always used to the best effect.

[Si Hunt]

Like Pertwee, I usually am right, and when I'm not, at least I'm the most dapperly dressed person in the room.

Si.

[SiHart]

The irony is that most people who watched it in 1970 would only have seen it in black and white anyway!

My family didn't go colour until early 1981. I saw S17 and S18 aside from a few odd episodes at other family member's houses in black and white!