Doctor Who, 'An Unearthly Child': media language and representation — AQA GCSE Media Studies 8572
AQA GCSE Media Studies · 8572
Doctor Who, 'An Unearthly Child': media language and representation
Doctor Who
What you need to know
'An Unearthly Child' (1963): the first episode of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, in which two teachers, Ian and Barbara, follow a puzzling pupil, Susan, to a junkyard and find her grandfather, the Doctor, and the TARDIS.
Media language: black-and-white studio production, camerawork, sound and music, the TARDIS set, and how the episode builds enigmas and only slowly reveals its science fiction.
Representation: gender, age, class and ethnicity in 1963, and how they compare with His Dark Materials.
The 2025 Paper 2 exam screened an extract from this episode.
Refer to specific scenes in your own words, quoting no more than a few words of dialogue.
