First ever Doctor Who script sells for £6k in Dudley auction
An original script from the first ever episode Doctor Who episode has sold for more than £6000 at auction.
'Doctor Who and the Tribe of Gum' fetched £6200 when it went under the hammer at Aston's Auctioneers in Dudley on Thursday.
The stained and slightly battered type-written script belonged to actor William Hartnell, the original Time Lord, and covers the first episode, An Unearthly Child, of the first adventure of the long-running BBC children's TV series.
WATCH: Find out more about the script
It had a guide price of between £5000 and £7000 and was sold as part of a film and music memorabilia auction.
It was found in a skip at the late actor's cottage in Mayfield, East Sussex, by a developer who gave it to his grandson.
Chris Aston, from Aston's Auctioneers, said: "It's fantastic - it's a piece of TV history from a cult TV series.
"It's unique, you can't get any rarer.
He added: "It's the only copy that survived in more than 50 years."
More than 300 people bid for the item online as fans from around the world battled to get their hands on the item.
Chris says the item is possibly the most popular the auction house has ever sold.
"It's probably generated he most interest," he said.
"We have never has so many views on an item before on social media. It was really exciting."
The winning bidder was a private collector based in the UK.
The black-and-white episode, by Anthony Coburn, was first broadcast on November 23, 1963, and introduces William Hartnell as the first Doctor. Carole Ann Ford plays his 15-year-old companion, Susan Foreman.
Her unusual behaviour becomes the focus of concern by two of her schoolteachers, played by Jacqueline Hill and William Russell, who are puzzled by her brilliance at science while she is unable to understand money. They decide to follow her home – to a junk yard containing a blue Police Call Box.
There they confront her mysterious grandfather, the Doctor, and enter the police box on hearing Susan's voice. Inside they are amazed to find a large room. The Doctor, fearing they will give away the secret of his time machine, kidnaps them and takes them back to the Stone Age, where they have to fight for their lives.
Hartnell's first line, on page 24 of the script, is "What are you doing here?"
The document is 43 pages long and features blue pencil annotation's by Hartnell.
Antiques Roadshow featured the script in an episode on 31 December in which Chris Yeo described it as "the DNA of Doctor Who" and the "genesis of the programme".
A full set of six original camera scripts from the 1968 Dr Who episode 'Fury From the Deep' also sold for £1300.
These were originally from the collection of the late Victor Pemberton who wrote the story and signed each of the scripts.
