Doctor Who (1970)

Concept and creative process

The casting of Jon Pertwee as the new Doctor Who and the recent introduction of colour television meant a new title sequence was required. A colour electronic camera did not give the same 'Howlround' effect as the monochrome image orthicon camera used on the first two 'Doctor Who' titles, so we resorted to shooting in black and white and added the colour optically at the final stage. Colour was added to the footage by Pete Govey using a process known as Bi-Pack. A 35mm camera was loaded with two rolls of film, a positive image of the black and white 'Howlround' effects and an unexposed colour negative. Colour was added by backlit coloured gels softened with tracing paper.