UK sci-fi hit ‘Doctor Who’ celebrates 60th anniversary

LONDON – Britain celebrates the 60th anniversary of science-fiction series “Doctor Who” Saturday as fans hail a programme that has enthralled generations since it was first broadcast.

Six million people watched the first episode when it was aired at teatime on November 23, 1963, following the adventures of “The Doctor”, a fugitive Time Lord with two hearts from the planet Gallifrey.

The enduring series — the longest-running of its genre in the world — is expected to release a new season next year

In the beginning, not everyone was immediately won over, particularly by the TARDIS, his hybrid spacecraft/time machine mostly in the form of an old-fashioned British police call box that is bigger on the inside.

“A police box with flashing beacon travelling through interstellar space — what claptrap!” said one viewer surveyed by the BBC.

A more prophetic view came from…