Doctor Who
War Games

The War Games is one of the most significant stories in the history of Doctor Who. It presented its writers, Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, with a unique set of challenges. For the first time, the Doctor was apparently involved in a significant historical event within living memory, namely the First World War.

This serious and sensitive subject was treated with characteristic intelligence by the two scriptwriters. The War Games stands out as a powerful and mature anti-war story, its sympathies resting firmly with the common soldier, regardless of nationality.

Of course, this wasn't the only issue Dicks and Hulke had to deal with. Production problems meant the serial had to last ten episodes. This was a long stretch even by the more leisurely-paced standards of sixties television.

Moreover, the story needed to end with a lead-in to Doctor Who's new, earth-bound format of the early seventies. Their solution - the capture, trail and exile of the Doctor - brought to an end the first phase of the Doctor Who saga. For the time being at least, the Doctor's travelling days were over...