It’s time for a blast from the past to get through a little more Droughtlander. Now is a great time to check out Classic Doctor Who.
The majority of Outlander fans will know all about Doctor Who, and not just because the show is excellent in its own right. It was this show that the idea of Jamie Fraser first turned up. Diana Gabaldon was watching the companion Jamie in the classic series and Jamie Fraser eventually developed as a character in her own head.
There’s no doubt that Jamie is a great character, too—the Classic Doctor Who character that is. There are some other excellent characters throughout the original run of the series. And we are focused on the original run for this post. There is the revival series, which is also more than worth watching, but it’s all about the older episodes.
What is Classic Doctor Who about?
The classic series is where it all began. We start with William Hartnell’s Doctor and then work through various regenerations. What’s interesting is that the regenerations was never the original plan but the BBC wanted to keep the show going after Hartnell’s exit. So, what better way than regeneration?
Throughout the series, the Doctor and his companions head out on journeys across time and space in the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. On the outside, it looks like a blue police phone box. On the inside, it’s far bigger and better.
The Doctor and his companions head out to save the human race from all sorts of aliens and creatures. Over the years, there have been some great villains with the Daleks as the biggest and favorite of many. Keep watching for how the Daleks developed to ensure they were always dangerous and a major threat to human survival.
Why watch Classic Doctor Who during Droughtlander?
What makes this great for Outlander fans? Well, there is the fact that you’ll get to see the inspiration for Jamie Fraser. Isn’t that enough? Jamie is from 1746 and is played by Frazer Hines. He appears first in “The Highlanders” and his last appearance in is “The Two Doctors,” and he starts his journey with the Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton. There are some great storylines for Jamie, including his escape from the gallows after Culloden.
There are many other reasons to check out the series, though. For those who love the time travel aspect of Outlander, that’s a heavy focus in Doctor Who. We see The Doctor and his companions go to the past and the future, and there have been some memorable episodes set in the past. This is a great chance to learn a little more about history, especially British history.
Some episodes of Classic Doctor Who have been lost forever. There will be some serialized arcs that aren’t complete because of this, but it shows just how much the BBC didn’t think this show would become popular—and it indicates what the BBC thought would happen with TV back in the 1960s. However, those serialized arcs are worth watching.
Classic Doctor Who is available to stream on BritBox, which is part of Amazon Channels.