DOCTOR WHO DOUBLE FEATURE
TCM, 9:30 p.m. ET
The British TV series Doctor Who has been around so long, its scheduled premiere episode famously fell on the same day as the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy: Nov. 22, 1963. Yet two years into its TV run in England, Doctor Who was popular enough that a movie franchise was launched, starring a different and more recognizable genre actor in the title role for the big screen. For the first entry, 1965’s Dr. Who and the Daleks, the Doctor was played by Peter Cushing, who already had played another Doctor, Van Helsing, in a series of Hammer horror Dracula films. Cushing returned as the Doctor in a follow-up film the next year, and so did the mutant, murderous robots – but this time, the robots got top billing in 1966’s Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Both films are shown tonight on TCM, beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.