Synopsis:
The TARDIS materialises on an Australian beach, and the Doctor immediately strips to his long-johns and takes to the water as a bemused Jamie and Victoria look on. After his brief dip, the Doctor notices a small hovercraft standing on the shoreline nearby. The three men operating it, Anton, Rod and Curly, are observing him closely, for they are sure they know exactly who he is...
Concerned by their attention, the Doctor returns to his companions. The hovercraft speeds towards them and so they take to the sand dunes. Anton has contacted a woman named Astrid Ferrier to report their sightings. She is stationed in a nearby office and urges them to stand down until she has consulted with their boss, Giles Kent - but Anton refuses to heed her advice. They plan on killing their target.
Astrid takes to a helicopter and rushes to the area.
Jamie is able to knock out Curly with a punch as they are hunted through the dunes.
Astrid arrives in time to rescue the Doctor and his companions, but the helicopter fuel tank has been hit by bullets and she fears it may explode any moment. She has a cottage along the coast and takes them there, but Anton and his men follow close behind. The Doctor notes that it is the year 2018 from documentation in the craft.
At the cottage, the Doctor notices that Astrid has been wounded and so gives medical aid. He learns from her that he closely resembles a man who is regarded as a saviour by many, but who is feared by others to be a would-be dictator. She wishes him to meet Kent who can explain more, in the hope he can help them - even though it will be of great risk to himself.
They are interrupted by the arrival of the hovercraft. Rod is accidentally killed by his own friends in the confusion whilst Astrid leads the others out the back door of the cottage.
Anton decides to take the helicopter to hunt them. Shortly after he and Curly have taken off, the craft explodes in mid-air.
Astrid takes the Doctor and his companions back to the office, which is Kent's base. He is astounded by the similarity of the Doctor to Ramon Salamander, the alleged would-be tyrant. He plays them a recording of a speech by Salamander at the UN General Assembly. He talks of his Sun-Catcher device, which focuses the sun's rays on parts of the Earth's surface and so allows crops to grow in otherwise inhospitable regions. As far as the Doctor can see, there is nothing sinister about him. Indeed, he appears to be a benefactor of the human race. Kent still claims he is a danger - and the Doctor is the person he needs to get the proof that will expose and discredit him.
Kent explains that he was once a senior member of the World Zones Authority, but Salamander had him replaced by a man named Donald Bruce when he started investigating his actions. Bruce is now his Head of Security. Since then a number of Salamander's political opponents have met with fatal accidents. Now only a man named Alexander Denes, of the Central European Zone, is brave enough to openly defy him.
Kent wants to know if the Doctor could impersonate Salamander and so infiltrate his organisation and find the evidence against him. The Doctor recognises his accent, from the Yucatan region of Mexico, and explains that with enough time he could no doubt copy him.
Word then comes through that Bruce has arrived at the building. The Doctor will be forced to carry out his impersonation immediately, and he realises that Kent has deliberately brought Bruce here to force his hand. He slips into another room as Bruce enters with security guards. He has come to investigate the deaths of the men at Astrid's cottage. He recognises Jamie and Victoria as having been seen with Astrid, and knows that there was another man with them. He demands to know who this was and where they now are.
The door to the adjoining room suddenly opens and Bruce is shocked to see his leader standing there, asking why he has come...
Data:
Written by David Whitaker
Recorded: Saturday 2nd December 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5.25pm, Saturday 23rd December 1967
Ratings: 6.8 million / AI 50
Designer: Christopher Pemsel
Director: Barry Letts
Guest cast: Bill Kerr (Giles Kent), Mary Peach (Astrid Ferrier), Colin Douglas (Donald Bruce), Henry Stamper (Anton), Rhys McConnochie (Rod), Simon Cain (Curly)
David Whitaker had last contributed to the series with a pair of Dalek stories, but those creations of Terry Nation's were now absent from the programme. Peter Bryant was in the process of taking over from Innes Lloyd as producer on Doctor Who, and the pair had decided to concentrate on science-fiction / monster stories this year now that the historical adventures had been dropped.
Whitaker was asked to provide a new six-episode storyline, but it was agreed that his would be the exception to the monster rule. What he came up with was a political thriller, but one set in the near future so that there could still be science-fiction trappings. These would prove to be mostly references to things off-screen. We hear of rocket planes getting people from one continent to another in a couple of hours but never see any, and the talk of Salamander's Mark VII Sun-Catcher remains just that.
With no monster or alien, the big draw for viewers this time would be the fact that the villain would be the Doctor's double.
We had seen two earlier "evil" versions of the Doctor in the series - the android copy created by the Daleks in The Chase, and the Abbot of Amboise in The Massacre - both during William Hartnell's tenure. In the latter case the Doctor and the cleric never encountered each other, and in the former Hartnell swapped the android role with Edmund Warwick from scene to scene. Here, Troughton would play both the Doctor and Salamander - named for the reptile which thrives in hot climates - and the actor was naturally concerned about this, already complaining about his workload on the series. Each episode was therefore carefully planned to facilitate his dual role, in terms of costume and make-up changes, so that they would be kept to the absolute minimum.
An obvious inspiration for the story was the popularity at the time of what we now call the "spy-fi" genre, exemplified by the James Bond movies. Bond-mania had built steadily with the first two films but had really taken off with the third in the franchise - 1964's Goldfinger. This had led to a number of copycat films and TV series, such as The Man From UNCLE and the Flint and Matt Helm films.
The Enemy of the World is the closest that classic era Doctor Who will come to the world of James Bond. The ingredients are all there: a super-villain, a strong female companion figure, an underground lair, high-tech gadgets, world domination and international jet-setting.
It was originally intended that the opening episode would be set not in Australia but in Central Europe, where the story will move to in the next couple of instalments. The character Curly was originally going to be called Otto whilst Rod was to be named Tibor, until incoming director Barry Letts decided on a change.
Letts was an old friend of Troughton, the two having worked together as actors, and the star was pleased to have an actors' director onboard (as opposed to a more technical one). Letts had also worked with Frazer Hines before.
Letts had attempted to write for Doctor Who in the past, but his story ideas had been rejected by Gerry Davis. One of these, about humanoid alien beings which would metamorphose into another form, would form the basis of 1972's The Mutants.
The director was horrified to find only the script for the first episode in anything like a completed form when he joined the production, and had to work closely with Derrick Sherwin to pull this into shape. The other five episodes existed only in draft form. Sherwin had joined the series as assistant story editor to Bryant, and had trailed him on The Ice Warriors. He would then take over Bryant's role once he became producer after this story. Sherwin in turn had approached a colleague from his Crossroads days to become his assistant - Terrance Dicks. Dicks would agree to a three month contract early in 1968.
In Whitaker's original opening script, the setting was a large holiday camp, but Letts realised this would be impractical to mount and so changed it to a deserted beach.
Filming got underway on Sunday 5th November, lasting until Wednesday 8th. The location chosen was Climping Beach at Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Their first time working together as actor and director, Troughton was initially somewhat wary of Letts now that he was no longer an equal, but quickly settled once he saw him in action.
The regulars had recorded the third episode of The Ice Warriors the day before and so were working on what should have been their day off. Troughton and Letts would discuss the production schedule on the show over the next few weeks and the director would come up with some ideas which he thought would help - little knowing that he would one day be able to actually introduce them, though by then it would be too late to help Troughton.
Also present on location were Mary Peach, already an established film star, and the three actors who would play the hovercraft crew. Peach had already threatened to pull out of the production as the character of Astrid disappeared after the fourth episode, and so Letts ensured that she was given a role to play in the last third of the story to retain her.
The idea that the Doctor should strip down to his long-johns came from Troughton himself. The script simply had him paddling in the sea.
A Hillier UH-12 helicopter was hired for filming, given a fake registration of AST-018. Also hired was a prototype four seater hovercraft, after Letts approached its maker KR Morgan, an ex-Royal Navy man who had developed it.
The Sunday was the only day on which the regulars would be available so all their scenes were filmed, including the arrival of the TARDIS, the Doctor's impromptu swim, and the pursuit into the sand dunes. Also filmed was the arrival of the Doctor and companions at Astrid's cottage - really just two scenery flats erected on location next to the local golf course.
The helicopter was of course standing on the ground when the regulars and Peach were filmed sitting inside it.
The rest of the hovercraft and helicopter scenes were filmed over the next three days. For Jamie's attack on Curly, Hines was no longer present so only an extra's arm was seen in shot.
At one point Morgan injured his leg when the hovercraft jammed heavily into the sand.
As well as appearing on screen, the helicopter was used for capturing aerial shots and there was almost a serious incident when the weight distribution inside the cockpit threatened to roll it over. After this, Letts travelled in the craft as well to balance the weight.
Some shots of the TARDIS crew running in the distance were achieved using doubles. Regular fight arranger Peter Diamond doubled for Troughton, whilst Sarah Lisemore - daughter of production assistant Martin Lisemore - doubled for Victoria. Jamie's double was Richard Halifax.
Photos of Peach posing with the helicopter were taken on Wednesday 8th November.
Filming continued at Ealing on Friday 10th and Monday 13th November, when the shots of Salamander's speech to the UN were recorded. Troughton had hoped to make Salamander look very different from the Doctor but, as the whole point of the story would be his impersonation of him, this could not be achieved. He based the look of Salamander on old photographs of his theatrical performances, selecting images from a 1950's production of Hamlet he had performed in the US.
The costume designer was Martin Baugh once again. He elected to base Astrid's outfit on a mix of Regency / Napoleonic design, with a hint of Highwayman. Debbie Watling was given an ensemble mirroring Jamie's - with a short kilt and round-necked sweater, topped off with a tartan beret.
There is no individual VFX designer credited on this story.
Rehearsals began with a small amount of friction between star and director, as Letts attempted to restrict the amount of extra-curricular activities which Troughton enjoyed during these sessions - namely card games with Hines and the guest artists.
Joining the cast was Colin Douglas, playing Donald Bruce, and Bill Kerr, playing Giles Kent. Kerr was best known for his work with Tony Hancock in radio's Hancock's Half Hour.
Whilst Troughton enjoyed working with the Australian, it was a less than happy time for Douglas, who regarded Doctor Who as a children's programme which was beneath his talents. He actually stated this to Watling, adding that he would never come back - "and don't want to be asked" (but see below...).
Mary Peach brought her children to the studio to meet Troughton as they were often frightened by the programme.
Two recording breaks were planned, the second to allow Troughton to change into his Salamander disguise. This involved donning a neutral black outfit and darker make-up, with his hair parted and eyebrows slightly fluffed up.
The set for Kent's office had a back projection screen on which Salamander's speech could be shown, as well as maps of the Cape Arid region of Australia for Astrid to view near the start of the episode. Also shown were a number of images of the people whom the would-be dictator had allegedly had killed. There had been more dialogue about these victims but this had been cut before recording.
The desk also had a small monitor on which Astrid could see her boss when he ordered her to stop Anton and his crew from attacking what they thought to be Salamander.
The only other set used this week was Astrid's cottage, which would only feature in this episode.
Stock footage included shots of the UN building in New York and scenes of the main assembly chamber, cut into Salamander's speech. The helicopter's destruction was going to be achieved on location by hanging a small explosive charge from the craft, but this proved unsatisfactory. Instead, some 35mm footage from Pinewood Studios was used - appropriately enough a visual effects off-cut from the making of the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love.
Letts opted to save some money by dispensing with a new musical score, choosing instead to use classical pieces by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok (appropriate to the original setting for the first half of the story).
Despite the speech appearance, Troughton was only credited as "Dr Who" for this episode.
Letts experienced problems during the editing of the episode, losing valuable time as the tape had been reversed. There would be a knock-on effect to later episodes, leading to the director having to give up his New Year's Day to complete the work.
Thanks to the 2013 return of this episode, we can now appreciate it a great deal better. Previously we were denied the comic sight of Troughton stripping down to his underwear and diving into the sea, followed by extended action scenes which audio and telesnaps failed to really capture the excitement of. Other little things were missed, such as the setting for the story. It had usually been set much further into the future by fans, thanks to some of that technology we hear about, but clearly on screen we got to see that the helicopter's registration expires in December 2018, so a late 2017 or early 2018 setting.
Nearly all of the location filming went into this episode, Letts and Sherwin clearly wishing to get the story off to a flying start. Indeed, some of the changes they made to this instalment were to add more action as Whitaker's scripts were deemed too dialogue-heavy.
Despite all the rushing around, there is still an opportunity for a quiet character moment as the Doctor and Astrid chat in the cottage as he tends to her wound. She tries to find out a little more about him, based on Jamie calling him "Doctor" - trying to discover just what discipline he is a doctor of.
The Second Doctor will often seem at ease with more mature women, as we'll later see with Anne Travers and Gemma Corwin.
- The ratings see a drop of more than half a million on the previous story. However, this can be explained by festive events once again - this being the last Saturday before Christmas.
- As mentioned last time, there was a short trailer for the new story broadcast immediately after the final episode of The Ice Warriors, comprising part of the scene of the Doctor and his companions watching the speech.
- This episode was the first to be recorded for transmission on the 625-line broadcasting system being adopted by the BBC. Paperwork erroneously states that this began with the third episode, and is the reason why that instalment was retained in the archives. Up to this point the series had been recorded for broadcast on 405 lines.
- Despite describing this as the worst job he had ever done, Colin Douglas would return to the series, as lighthouse keeper Reuben in Horror of Fang Rock.
- Radio Times covered the opening instalment with a brief synopsis of the story set-up, and an image of guest star Mary Peach:
- In some regions Radio Times also had a feature about the costuming for the story. This gave a date of 2017 for the setting.
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