It was November 23rd of the year 1963 that Doctor Who first premiered on the BBC. And the many years since then have wrought their changes, writes the BBC:

Events on screen and off have shaped the character’s personality, their face changing to reflect Britain itself, and every version building on what has gone before. To truly understand Who, you have to know your history…

[T]he series was originally intended to teach children history as much as thrill them… [T]he Daleks were shouty miniaturised tanks, terrifying to a nation that had lived through World War 2… Scripts by the likes of Douglas Adams (who wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) leaned into the show’s inherent strangeness… Interestingly, the new specials and series involve Marvel-owner Disney, who will stream it outside the UK and Ireland, in turn helping boost the budget.

The article handily summarizes the last 60 years. (“Perhaps the most shocking revelation of [2010 showrunner Steven Moffat’s] tenure was a hitherto unseen, past version of the Doctor, played by John Hurt. Other writers would take this idea and run with it…”) The article ends with the words, “Only time will tell.”

And elsewhere another BBC article notes that today “the TARDIS is set to return to BBC One and iPlayer.”

With David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate reprising her role as Donna Noble the popular duo will make their spectacular return to mark the show’s 60th anniversary with three special episodes running each Saturday from the 25th November…

Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker [is] set to cause all kinds of mayhem. It’s going to be an unmissable cosmic adventure, all before Ncuti Gatwa gets the keys to the TARDIS over the festive season.

Thanks to Alain Williams (Slashdot reader #2,972) for sharing the article.