1) The target audience for Doctor Who is a mainstream family audience, from ages 10-40+ and consists of a fairly equal amount of both male and female watchers. This is different from 1963 and traditionally, science-fiction fans were male. However, this has changed over time and from 1970-2010 the female science-fiction audience grew by 22%.
2) Personal Identity: This means to personally relate to something, seeing your lifestyle projected on screen. Younger audiences could feel this through Susan, and older audiences could feel this through the teachers, Ian and Barbara, or even the Doctor himself.
Personal Relationships: This means to care for the characters and wanting to find out what happens next to them. Audiences could feel this through Ian and Barbara, wanting to see where they end up next and how they escape, or Susan - where will she be taken to?
Diversion (escapism): This means escapism, to be fully immersed in a piece of media that it entertains you away from your normal life - science-fiction is a classic genre for this. This could be applied to 'An Unearthly Child' during the scenes where Ian and Barbara go to investigate where Susan lives, due to the level of tension and suspense or when the TARDIS takes off, leaving the audience shocked yet captivated by the sudden turn of events.
Surveillance (information/facts): This means to learn information or be educated on things that you didn't know beforehand. Doctor Who does this by educating the audience upon things such as science, history, space and time travel.
3) The episode 'An Unearthly Child' could also provide additional Uses and Gratifications to a modern 2023 audience. This could be by surveillance, as it shows a modern audience what life was like back in the 1960s, and how different people's mannerisms were back then. It could also link to historical events from the 1960s, such as the Space Race or the first takeoff of the Concorde.
4) The 3Vs could be applied to 'An Unearthly Child' with visceral pleasure being when the Doctor caught Ian and Barbara, and takes them inside the TARDIS. It could also be when the TARDIS takes off and they travel through space and time. Vicarious pleasure could again be when they travel through space and time, as we as an audience experience time travel and other dimensions through these characters. Voyeuristic pleasure would be when we see the interior of the TARDIS for the first time, as it is unlike anything we could ever see in real life.
5) Doctor Who has a large fanbase from all around the world. The fans go by the name 'Whovians' and many are very committed to the show. An example of a well-known event put on for these fans include Comic Con, which allows them the chance to dress up in costumes of their favourite characters, possibly meet cast members or befriend other Whovians. There is also a lot of Doctor Who themed merchandise including t-shirts, hats, character figures and more which fans can purchase.
Industries
1) Compared to our modern-day television, 1960s TV was a completely different world. They lacked the amazing graphics and special effects available to us now, however what they did have was considered spectacular back then. In 1963, there were only two TV channels in the UK, which were BBC and ITV.
2) By the time of the release of 'An Unearthly Child', videotape had only been in use for seven years. Because of this, BBC was able to create the space and time travel effects in the episode which at the time were seen as extraordinary.
3) Doctor Who is an incredibly important franchise for the BBC as it's their most iconic franchise. Also, it is watched all over the world through BBC Worldwide and produces a huge income for the BBC. In 2014, a BBC Worldwide Report deduced that Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who were the BBC's biggest exports of the past year. The simulcast of the episode 'The Day of the Doctor' in 2013 saw the episode air at the same time in 98 countries on six continents.
4) BBC makes the most of their most-loved franchise by creating spin-offs of the show, which are a part of the wider Doctor Who universe and build upon it or characters in the original show. Some of these include: K9, Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class. These spin-offs give BBC the opportunity to introduce the franchise to a wide range of audiences whilst simultaneously taking advantage of the original fanbase.
5) The BBC is determined to fully maximise their most successful franchise by releasing a variety of merchandise which relates to the show, in order to earn as much money as possible and make profit from it as many people buy them. Some types of merchandise are as follows: collectable action figures, Funko Pop vinyls, activity books, board games, clothing items, magazines, DVDs and so much more.
