Marco Polo (Doctor Who)

004 – *Marco Polo*
004 – Marco Polo
Doctor Who serial
	Marco Polo, Susan, the Doctor, and Ian
Cast
	Doctor William Hartnell – First Doctor;
	Companions William Russell – Ian Chesterton; Jacqueline Hill – Barbara Wright; Carole Ann Ford – Susan Foreman;
	Others Mark Eden – Marco Polo; Derren Nesbitt – Tegana; Zienia Merton – Ping-Cho; Martin Miller – Kublai Khan; Jimmy Gardner – Chenchu; Charles Wade – Malik; Philip Voss – Acomat; Paul Carson – Ling-Tau; Gábor Baraker – Wang-lo; Tutte Lemkow – Kuiju; Claire Davenport – Empress; Leslie Bates – Man at Lop; Michael Guest – Mongol Bandit; Peter Lawrence – Vizier; Basil Tang – Office Foreman;
Production
Directed by	Waris Hussein (1–3, 5–7); John Crockett (4);
Written by	John Lucarotti
Script editor	David Whitaker
Produced by	Verity Lambert
Music by	Tristram Cary
Production code	D
Series	Season 1
Running time	7 episodes, 25 minutes each
Episode(s) missing	All 7 episodes
First broadcast	22 February 1964
Last broadcast	4 April 1964
Chronology
← Preceded by; The Edge of Destruction	Followed by →; The Keys of Marinus
	List of episodes (1963–1989)

Marco Polo is the fourth serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC TV in seven weekly parts from 22 February to 4 April 1964. It was written by John Lucarotti and directed largely by Waris Hussein; John Crockett directed the fourth episode. The story is set in Yuan-era China in the year 1289, where the Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) meet the Italian merchant-explorer Marco Polo (Mark Eden) and Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan (Martin Miller).

Lucarotti—who had previously written works based on Marco Polo's adventures—was suggested to producers by Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman when the show was early in development. Throughout production, the script was rewritten to make the story more personal to Polo. Barry Newbery, the serial's designer, used several historical books for research of the old designs, taking inspiration from 1900 Korean architecture. The serial premiered with nine million viewers, and maintained audience figures throughout its seven-week run. It received generally positive responses from critics and was sold widely overseas, but was erased by the BBC in 1967; the entire serial is missing as a result. The serial received later print adaptations, and soundtrack releases using the surviving audio.