The Doctor Falls Bradley was filmed as part of the filming of the Christmas Special in June 2017. David Bradley appears at the episode's conclusion as the First Doctor. Bradley portrayed William Hartnell, the First Doctor's actor, in the docudrama "An Adventure in Space and Time" and appeared as the villain Solomon in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", as well as voicing the character of Shansheeth Blue in "Death of the Doctor" in the "Doctor Who" spin-off series "The Sarah Jane Adventures". The episode was watched by 3.75 million viewers overnight. Compared to other programmes that aired on the same night, "Doctor Who" fared
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.