Synopsis:
After eating one of Cyril's sweets, the Doctor has collapsed in agony...
Steven and Dodo fear he has been poisoned, but it transpires that he has been struck down by a terrible toothache.
The TARDIS materialises in a stable-yard and the travellers discover that they have arrived in what they think of as the "Wild West". They are in the town of Tombstone, Arizona, and it is October 1881.
Steven and Dodo don generic cowboy and cowgirl outfits from the TARDIS stores, and give the Doctor an appropriate hat.
As Steven plays around with his pistol, they are confronted by the town's Marshal - Wyatt Earp.
The Doctor quickly introduces them all as being travelling players, hence the costumes of his companions - Mr Steven Regret, Miss Dodo Dupont, and he is Dr. Caligari. He explains his need for a dentist and is directed to a new practice along Main Street.
The Doctor arranges for Steven and Dodo to wait for him in the Last Chance Saloon whilst he sees the dentist.
In the saloon, a group of men are plotting a death. The three Clanton brothers - Ike, Phineas and Billy - have employed a gunslinger named Seth "Snake-Eyes" Harper to help kill the notorious John Henry "Doc" Holliday, in revenge for his killing of their sibling Reuben.
Earp and sheriff Bat Masterson are concerned by Holliday's presence in town, knowing of the feud with the Clantons.
On hearing Steven refer to the Doctor as "Doc", the men assume him to be a friend of their enemy, and learn that he is due to meet them here shortly. They decide to set a trap, and force Steven and Dodo to perform a song for the saloon to stop them from going to warn him.
The Doctor, meanwhile, has discovered that Holliday is the new dentist in town. Offered the choice of whiskey or a rap on the head for pain relief, both of which he declines, the Doctor undergoes a tooth extraction.
Holliday and his girlfriend Kate decide to make use of the Doctor, aware that the Clantons are gunning for him.
They talk him into carrying a pistol and send him on his way to meet his friends - hoping that he will be mistaken for him.
The Doctor makes his way slowly along the street towards the saloon - oblivious of the danger that awaits him there...
Next episode: Don't Shoot The Pianist
Data:Written by: Donald Cotton
Recorded: Friday 15th April 1966 - Television Centre Studio TC4
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 30th April 1966
Ratings: 6.5 million / AI 45
Designer: Barry Newbery
Director: Rex Tucker
Guest cast: John Alderson (Wyatt Earp), Anthony Jacobs (Doc Holliday), Sheena Marshe (Kate), Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper), David Graham (Charlie the Barman), William Hurndall (Ike Clanton), Maurice Good (Phineas Clanton), David Cole (Billy Clanton), Richard Beale (Bat Masterson)
Critique:Bet you didn't know that The Gunfighters, as this story is generally known, is the worst Doctor Who story ever...
That's what "received wisdom" stated throughout the 1970's and well into the '80's. This goes back to what we discussed under the last episode - the opinions of a small group of influential fans, recalling what they had seen on broadcast.
Principal of these individuals, in that he acted as "historian" for the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, was Jeremy Bentham. He was employed to provide factual content for the new Doctor Who Weekly and its Monthly successor, and later acted as a consultant on the first significant non-fiction treatise on the series - Peter Haining's Doctor Who: A Celebration, which was released to tie in with the 20th Anniversary.
Bentham rated The Celestial Toymaker highly, and hated The Gunfighters. The first was brilliant - a lost masterpiece - whilst the latter was utter rubbish, with no redeeming features.
DWW / DWM would go on to perpetuate the myth that the Wild West story achieved the lowest ever ratings, and was directly responsible for Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis dropping the Historicals.
Originally known as "The Gun-Fighters", the choice to do a Western story had been Donald Cotton's - written for his old pal Donald Tosh as a follow-up to his Trojan War-set The Myth Makers.
For research, Cotton contacted an old cabaret friend - Tony Snell - who was touring the States, once the decision had been made to focus on one particular incident in Western history - the celebrated Gunfight at the OK Corral. In the end, Snell's research was set aside as it was decided to concentrate more on what a British TV audience thought a Western should look like.
The genre had been hugely popular in cinema and on TV since the 1950's in the UK, so people had preconceived ideas of what they should look and sound like.
A similar process was followed by designer Barry Newbery, when he discovered that period houses in Tombstone in the 1880's resembled those which could still be seen in London's East End.
Authenticity was set aside in favour of the look and feel of TV series like Rawhide and The Virginian.
In a nutshell, the Tombstone event revolved around a feud between the Clanton family and "Doc" Holliday. The Clantons were known cattle thieves, and Holliday was a notorious gambler and gunslinger who had killed one of the Clantons.
There were only two Clanton brothers involved in the Gunfight - Ike and Billy - and they joined forces with Billy Claiborne and the McLaury brothers, Frank and Tom. Seth Harper was created for the story to replace these other characters. Kate Fisher and Warren Earp were also fictitious. Holliday's girlfriend was Kate Elder, known as "Long Nose" Kate.
Other people who did exist weren't necessarily involved in the Gunfight. Bat Masterson wasn't present in Tombstone at the time.
Virgil Earp was Marshal, whilst Wyatt and Morgan were simply special policemen, so roles have been rejigged along with personnel.
Wyatt owned a saloon - the Oriental - and whilst Holliday was a dentist, he never opened a practice in Tombstone.
We'll return to the actual events of 26th October, 1881, and compare them with Cotton's version, once we get to the fourth instalment.
Rex Tucker had been Doctor Who's first ever producer - a role foisted on him in 1963 which he never really wanted. His vision for the show would have seen a younger actor take on the role of the Doctor, made up to appear much older. Hugh David - star of Knight Errant and future Doctor Who director - had been his first choice.
Even after he had been allowed to move on, replaced by Verity Lambert, he continued to be associated with the show in that he was earmarked to direct one of the opening stories of the first season.
Even this he had been reluctant about, seeing the series as somewhat beneath his talents.
He managed to avoid this engagement due to the delays in launching the series, but by late 1965 John Wiles had been able to talk him into directing a story for him.
(Ironically, the only reason Tucker is known even slightly today is because of his connection with the series).
Around the time that the final script had been accepted, retitled as "The Gunslingers", both Wiles and Tosh quit the series. Lloyd and Davis were unhappy to inherit the Historicals in general - and "The Gunslingers" in particular. Both men wanted the series to move towards purely science-fiction stories, which they thought the audience preferred, and considered that period-style dramas were handled much better elsewhere within the Corporation.
On joining as director, Tucker arranged to view the 1957 movie of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, directed by Preston Sturges.
Having serious reservations about the idea of making a British Western, the director - with Lloyd's blessing - decided to accentuate the humour. It was Tucker who decided that the song - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon - should be made more prominent. It would comment on the action throughout the serial. A similar song, sung by Frankie Laine, had ran through the Sturges film.
The composer was Tristram Cary, a friend of the director who had been earmarked to provide the Doctor Who theme music back when he had been nominal producer.
To sing it, Tucker decided to give it to his own daughter Jane. However, the ballad was written in the wrong key for her, so it went to actress Lynda Baron instead - but only after Sheena Marshe had a go. Jane Tucker would instead get to feature as a crowd artist on the programme. (Later, she would become known to a generation of children as one third of Rod, Jane and Freddy from Rainbow).
Most of the song was written by Cotton, but Tucker added other verses as the script developed.
Gerry Davis found the script requiring rewrites, but Cotton was proving difficult to get hold of.
Peter Purves is on record as claiming that he felt that Tucker really didn't care much for the regular cast, giving preference to the actors whom he had cast himself.
Tucker attempted to cast Canadian Donald Sutherland in a role (possibly Billy Clanton), but he was unavailable. David Burke (the first of the Granada TV Dr Watsons) was considered for either a Clanton or an Earp, whilst Alan Tilvern (Forester in Planet of Giants) was a possible Seth Harper.
Ewen Solon, Philip Madoc and Derek Newark were also under consideration for roles.
Of those who were cast, Shane Rimmer was Canadian, and well used to American accents from his lengthy association with Gerry Anderson puppet series.
John Alderson had actually featured in Western movies and TV series in the USA, as well as series such as The Man From UNCLE.
He and Rimmer were the only cast members comfortable with the accents - as can be heard in the finished serial.
Pre-filming took place at Ealing between 28th - 31st March, 1966. None of these scenes could feature the Doctor as William Hartnell was on a two-week holiday at the time.
Scenes filmed included use of firearms, stunt falls, and shots of the main street, with horses - primarily for the first and fourth episodes.
Purves had a bad time on the story. As well as his feelings about the director, he hated the song and was unsettled with his imminent departure, after Lloyd had made it clear he did not rate him much as an actor. This knock to his confidence would contribute to his year of unemployment following the next story.
Lane, however, really enjoyed the story due to its humour, and Tucker claimed that he got on very well with Hartnell for the same reason, and also because he was more comfortable with more experienced directors.
As Billy Hartnell, the star's earliest acting career had been in comedic roles, and he always upped his performance when he got to demonstrate his comedic skills.
Due to double-booking that week, the production moved from its regular space of Riverside Studio 1 to Television Centre's studio TC4.
Tucker avoided a TARDIS materialisation in studio be relying on sound effects only.
Hartnell ad-libbed the mispronunciations of Wyatt's surname.
The Doctor claims to be teetotal in this episode, despite him having been seen to drink alcohol in previous stories. He also appears to have a gun collection in the TARDIS, which does not fit at all with his usual expressions of distaste for violence. (However, he did once seem impressed with a Sensorite weapon, describing it as a handy little thing, and he has often given mixed messages on this subject).
It's just possible that he's referring to the gun as part of the overall cowboy outfit and this is part of the collection he's referring to - a collection of costumes. The gear worn by Steven and Dodo are not realistic period outfits, only "stage" versions.
There were a total of seven recording breaks planned for the evening - the first two allowing for the costume change for Purves and Lane, and for dismantling the stable-yard set and getting rid of the TARDIS prop.
Camera angles hid the fact that Lane was not playing the piano. Pianist Tom McCall played the music on another instrument just off camera.
No guns were fired in studio, with sound effects only being used.
Trivia:- The ratings do see a fall from The Celestial Toymaker, but are higher than two of the episodes of The Ark and three of The Massacre - so we can already see that talk of this story having the poorest viewing figures is unfair.
- It should also be noted that we were moving into the better weather at the end of April, which always saw viewing figures dip. Competition in some ITV regions included Thunderbirds, The Addams Family, Lost in Space, and "proper" Western series Bonanza. Only London offered weak competition.
- In an interview with the Daily Mirror, just before this opening episode aired, William Hartnell claimed that the idea for a Western had actually been his.
- It was originally intended that Steven would play the piano and Dodo would sing the Ballad, but it was found that Lane couldn't sing a note whilst Purves had performed on the stage of the London Palladium.
- The Doctor names himself after the villainous lead in German Expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920).
- The Doctor is told that Tombstone does not have a theatre. This is incorrect, however, as the town had the Schieffelin Hall, which opened four months before the Gunfight.
- Anthony Jacobs arranged for his young son Matthew to visit the set. He would one day write the final script for 1996's Doctor Who - The Movie.
- It was actor Maurice Good who decided to give his character a stutter. Good had quite a sci-fi / horror CV, appearing in the film version of Quatermass and the Pit, The Skull, Trog, and They Came From Beyond Space.
- Lynda Baron would finally get to feature in the show in her own right in 1983's Enlightenment, returning in 2011's Closing Time.
- She found the song very difficult to master, and they actually ran out of time recording it due to the number of retakes.
- David Graham was best known for Dalek voices but, like Rimmer, had also essayed many American accents in Anderson productions.
- Richard Beale had recently voiced the invisible Refusians in The Ark and was another old friend of the director's. John Alderson, who normally resided in Hollywood, stayed with him during production of this story. Beale will be back in The Green Death as the Ecology Minister, after having voiced the Macra.
- The BBC staff magazine Ariel covering April / May featured the Ealing filming.
- Radio Times opted to include an image from the concluding part of the story when it introduced the new story. (From this week onwards, Innes Lloyd required RT to print cast lists in order of appearance, rather than by seniority / prominence as before).
