Following on from his excellent The Long Game, Paul Hayes has written a new book, Pull to Open, retelling the origins of Doctor Who.

While The Long Game told the story of how Doctor Who returning to screens in 2005, Pull to Open, takes us all the way back to 1963 and 1964, which saw the show beginning, and iconic elements like the TARDIS (duh) and the Daleks introduced.

Here’s the blurb:

When Doctor Who began on Saturday November 23 1963, few could have guessed that it marked the start of perhaps the most extraordinary story in the history of BBC television drama. But there had already been another story, equally extraordinary yet unseen, leading up to the transmission of that opening episode – the creation of the series itself.

Pull to Open explores the behind-the-scenes saga of Doctor Who in 1963, when a chain of events at the BBC brought together a disparate group to launch what would become one of British TV’s best-loved and most successful programmes. It’s the story of why these events happened; the BBC creative culture into which Doctor Who was born; how television drama was made in the early 1960s; and an insight into the people who started this epic journey.

Drawing from the BBC’s written archives and new interviews with some of those who were there, including Doctor Who’s first director Waris Hussein and original co-star Carole Ann Ford, Pull to Open is a detailed and comprehensive account of the programme’s path to the screen. Immerse yourself in the world of BBC Television in 1963 and discover how a series which was almost cancelled before a single episode was shown survived to cement its place in the popular culture of a nation.

Foreword by Toby Hadoke.

This 424-page paperback is released on 24th July 2023, but you can pre-order it from Ten Acre Films right now, priced £12.99!