First-ever ‘Doctor Who’ script fetches $8,400 at auction

The original script from the first-ever “Doctor Who” episode has fetched $8,400 at auction — 50 years after it was thrown out by the show’s first lead actor and rescued from a dumpster.

The 43-page document covers the first adventure of the cult TV character in an episode titled “An Unearthly Child — Doctor Who and the Tribe of Gum.”

The stained and slightly battered typewritten document belonged to actor William Hartnell, the original Time Lord.

It was found in a dumpster at the late actor’s cottage in Mayfield, East Sussex, by a developer who gave it to his grandson.

On Thursday, the unique piece of TV memorabilia was snapped up by a UK-based private bidder when it went under the hammer.

Chris Aston, from Aston’s Auctioneers, said more than 300 people bid for the item online as fans from around the world battled to get their hands on the script.

He added: “It’s probably generated the most interest we’ve ever seen. We have never had so many views on an item before on social media. It was really exciting.”

“It’s unique, you can’t get any rarer. It’s the only copy that survived in more than 50 years.”

“It’s fantastic — it’s a piece of TV history from a cult TV series.”

The 23-minute episode first aired on the BBC on Nov. 23, 1963 — just a day after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas.

Written by Anthony Coburn, it even introduces the iconic Tardis and the Doctor’s first companion, Susan Foreman, a 15-year-old girl played by Carole Anne Ford.

In the episode, the teenager is followed home by her teachers, who are dazzled by her brilliant knowledge of science.

While there, they discover her mysterious grandfather — the Doctor — and follow the schoolgirl inside the Tardis.

Fearing they will give his secret away, the Time Lord kidnaps them and takes them back to the Stone Age, where they are forced to fight for their lives.

Just 4.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the first episode, as TV programming focused on Kennedy’s assassination.

The owner of the script, who declined to be identified, unveiled his treasure on the BBC’s “Antiques Roadshow” in December last year, saying: “William Hartnell had just moved out and this was being thrown out.”

“My grandfather gave me it because I was a ‘Doctor Who’ fan.”

Antiques expert Chris Yeo told him: “It’s the DNA of ‘Doctor Who,’ the genesis of the program, which makes it very important.”