Doctor Who history: Beyond the console room - the stories that explored the TARDIS
By James Aggas
Early travels
For example, in the first episode of The Daleks - only the second ever serial - the show already begins answering a few basic questions about TARDIS travel. What do the crew eat between journeys? Where do they sleep? The glimpses of the food machine and the crew’s bedrooms are simple ones, but they also help to add just a little more depth to the ship.
These glimpses are expanded on even further in the following serial, The Edge of Destruction. That’s the title on the DVD and novelization, but it’s also known by another name: Inside the Spaceship. While basic, it’s also very fitting, as it provides an extended look inside the TARDIS across two episodes.
Admittedly, like many of Doctor Who's production decisions over the years, this was mainly done for budgetary reasons. But like the best of those decisions, it worked extremely well. The Edge of Destruction is a nice, short little character study for the newly formed team, one that includes even the ship itself as a key member.
While we do get a few more glimpses of other rooms, for the rest of the Hartnell era - and indeed, the whole of the sixties - we never get anything quite as in-depth as The Edge of Destruction. In fact, after Jon Pertwee’s mainly Earth-bound seasons, our next good look beyond the console room is in Tom Baker’s era.