The Doctor (Doctor Who) Big Finish Productions. Matt Smith made a brief "imagined" cameo seen only by actor William Hartnell (portrayed by David Bradley), in the movie dramatising the early years of Doctor Who "An Adventure in Space and Time". In early production documents, the Doctor was said to be 650 years old, although this was never stated on screen. By the time the Doctor did cite his age ("Let me see, in human terms, 400, yes, 450 years" in the serial "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967); he kept a 500-year diary), he had already regenerated to a younger form. The intention at
An Adventure in Space and Time Who" in 1993, filmmaker Kevin Davies pitched an idea called "The Legend Begins" to the BBC. "The Legend Begins" would have mixed documentary interviews with those responsible for the creation of "Doctor Who" with a dramatised strand showing the programme's beginnings. Eventually, the dramatisation idea was abandoned in favour of a standard documentary format looking at the entire history of "Doctor Who", which was eventually broadcast on BBC1 as "" in November 1993. Ten years later, for the fortieth anniversary, writer and executive producer Mark Gatiss pitched the idea for the film to BBC Four, unaware of Davies's previous attempt.