Trivia / Doctor Who S3 E8 "The Gunfighters"

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• Accent Depundent: The serial plays off "Doctor Holliday" and "the Doctor's holiday" in order to fuel some of the misunderstandings that power the plot. The British English use of the word 'holiday' means taking a trip somewhere, or time off. In American English, a 'holiday' refers to special dates like Christmas or New Year and time off would usually be called a 'vacation'. Possibly justified as the only British English speakers in the story are the Doctor and his companions, explaining why the Americans begin to assume the Doctor is Doc Holliday.
• Actor-Inspired Element: It was William Hartnell who suggested a western story.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The Doctor at no point in this serial said "Stetsons are cool", let alone "If I say 'stetsons are cool' ever again... well... just feel free to shoot it off my head." The myth was invented only after "The Impossible Astronaut".
• Creator Backlash: Peter Purves did not like the story or working with director Rex Tucker, who had turned Donald Cotton’s script into a full-blown comedy, possibly out of revenge for how silly the show had gotten while he was gone.
• Fake American: Nearly the entire cast. There was an attempt to get American actors, but it didn’t work out.
• Falsely Advertised Accuracy: Script Editor Donald Tosh once went on record as claiming that the story, set around the 1881 Gunfight at the OK Corral, was historically accurate. Even though it gets such minor details as who was killed during the shootout and who was there wrong, along with making up fictional family members for the real-life participants.
• Genre-Killer: Innes Lloyd was able to rid Who of historical serials thanks to this story’s terrible ratings and reception. Only two more ("The Smugglers" and "The Highlanders" would be made in the series run before the format went away, becoming a bizzare early part of the series.
• Real-Life Relative: Rex Tucker's daughter Jane appears briefly in the Lynch Mob scene.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Philip Madoc and Patrick Troughton were considered for Johnny Ringo. Troughton would, of course, replace William Hartnell as the Doctor.
  • Carol Cleveland was considered for Kate.
• Working Title: The Wild West and The Gunslingers.
• You Sound Familiar: David Graham (Charley the Bartender) was one of the two main voice actors for the Daleks throughout The '60s.

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