Christopher Barry helped Doctor Who make a change of leading actor something worth watching. We recommend his work for its atmosphere and care with performers, though the programme's slower stretches give us too much time to inspect the scenery.
Fi1m perspective
The sets in Doctor Who (1963) can look theatrical and still give the actors somewhere convincing to be afraid. Christopher Barry's contribution deserves revisiting for its atmosphere and his care with performers, especially when the programme had a new Doctor to introduce. We value that practical skill. The qualification is the series' stubborn pacing: leave us looking at an unpersuasive costume for too long and we start examining the costume.
Barry directed the first Dalek story, The Daleks (1963), establishing an important part of the programme's appeal. His work with Patrick Troughton on The Power of the Daleks (1966), the Second Doctor's first story, matters more to our view of him. The Doctor's changing temperament is one of the reasons we keep returning, and Barry worked closely with Troughton to make that introduction succeed. With Robot (1974), the Fourth Doctor's first story, he again took charge when the audience had to accept somebody new.
The Daemons (1971) points to another strength, the atmosphere Barry could create through location filming. Within the series, production designers Peter Brachacki and Barry Newbery supplied clear shapes and playable spaces, giving actors something solid to work against. We found Doctor Who unsettling even when the surroundings failed to convince us, because Dudley Simpson's music sustained the unease the image could not always carry.
His later television work extended to Nicholas Nickleby (1977), All Creatures Great and Small (1978–80) and The Tripods (1984), moving between period drama and science fiction. On Doctor Who, The Creature from the Pit (1979) was affected by problems with its monster design, a reminder that an experienced director cannot make every creature persuasive. Our liking for Barry does not require us to forgive every awkward image. For a way into his work, follow Troughton's arrival in The Power of the Daleks.
Biography
Christopher Barry was a British television director. Born in London in 1925, he trained at Ealing Studios as an assistant director before joining the BBC as a production assistant in 1955. He studied at the University of Cambridge and Blundell's School.
Barry directed episodes of Doctor Who (1963) across 16 years, from 1963 to 1979, including the first Dalek serial and stories featuring the first four Doctors. His other credits include All Creatures Great and Small (1978), Z-Cars, Poldark, The Onedin Line and science-fiction series such as Moonbase 3 (1973) and The Tripods (1984). He also directed the Doctor Who spin-off Downtime (1995).
He died in Oxfordshire in 2014.
