R is for... Ravon

Mocked by the Doctor as a "Boy General" Ravon was an overly zealous Kaled military commander on the planet Skaro. The Doctor, with companions Sarah and Harry, had been diverted by the Time Lords to the planet at a time just as the Daleks were being created by the Kaled scientist Davros - his mission to avert their creation or at least ensure they would not pose so great a threat to the entire universe. After a gas attack in the wastelands which lay between the domed cities of the Kaleds and Thals, the Doctor and Harry were captured by Ravon and his men and taken for interrogation to the bunker where Davros and his scientific elite worked.

They later escaped and made their way to the Kaled dome so that the Doctor could try to convince their leadership of the threat which Davros' creations posed. Ravon was present at this meeting, and gave the Doctor information as to how he could get into the Thal city to rescue Sarah and attempt to speak with their leaders.

Ravon perished when the Kaled dome was destroyed by a Thal rocket, after Davros had given them information on how to breach it - prepared to see his own people wiped out rather than allow them to interfere with his Dalek project.

Played by Guy Siner. Appearances: Genesis of the Daleks (1975)

• Siner is best known for playing the camp Lt Gruber, he of the little tank, in wartime comedy 'Allo, 'Allo!. (In 2007 he reprised the role for an Australian stage version, which co-starred Katy Manning).
• He is one of a small number of actors who have appeared in both Doctor Who and the Star Trek TV franchise, having played Malcolm Reed's father in ST: Enterprise.
• He also played a Minbari religious leader in Babylon 5.

R is for... Ravio

One of the last surviving humans at the end of the Cyber-Wars. She had originally been a nurse. The Doctor and her companions met her on a planet which was about to fall to the Cybermen, led by Ashad, who retained emotions and saw himself as the saviour of the Cyber-race who would purge them of the remnants of their previous humanity.

In fleeing the planet in search of a sanctuary world known as "Ko Sharmus", the Doctor's party became separated. Ravio joined Graham and Yaz on a stolen Cybership. They came across a seemingly derelict Cyberman transport ship. It proved to be full of Cyber-Warriors awaiting activation.

Ashad followed, and at one point the group had to disguise themselves as Cyber-Warriors.

It transpired that Ko Sharmus was actually a person, an old man who guarded a space / time barrier known as the Boundary. This led to a place which was free from Cybermen and to where many human refugees had fled. However, the Master diverted it to lead to Gallifrey, which he had recently destroyed.

Embittered by her wartime experiences, Ravio was initially somewhat hostile towards the Doctor's group, but soon warmed to Graham.

After the defeat of the Master and Ashad on the Time Lord homeworld, Ravio and the remaining survivors escaped to present day Earth in a fully-operational TARDIS, which materialised as a house. There they could start a new life.

Played by Julie Graham. Appearances: Ascension of the Cybermen / The Timeless Children (2020)

• This wasn't Graham's first involvement with the world of Doctor Who. In 2010 she had played alien villain Ruby White in Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith - the final story of the fourth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

R is for... Ravensworth, Lord

Lord Ravensworth was a progressive landowner whose estate in North East England included the mining village of Killingworth. He had a passion for science and engineering, and employed George Stephenson. He conceived a plan to convene a meeting which would be attended by as many of the greatest minds of the Industrial Revolution as he could muster, so that they could share ideas.

Unfortunately for him, the rogue Time Lord the Rani was active in the village, posing as the local bathhouse keeper. She was harvesting chemicals from the brains of miners who frequented her establishment, those that promoted sleep. This was in order to pacify the inhabitants of the planet Miasimia Goria which she ruled. She had tampered with their brain chemistry so that they would need less sleep and so work work more - only to find them becoming ungovernable.

Her tampering with the miners led to an outbreak of Luddite-like activity, which distressed Ravensworth as it seemed to affect hard-working, loyal men whom he knew personally. One was the father of Luke Ward, who assisted him and Stephenson.

Purely by coincidence, the Master also visited the region - intent on sabotaging Earth's industrial and scientific progress through an attack on Lord Ravensworth's proposed meeting. He lured the Doctor here so that he could destroy him. The Doctor advised Ravensworth to postpone his meeting until the threat from the two rogue Time Lords had been dealt with.

Played by: Terence Alexander. Appearances: The Mark of the Rani (1985)

• Based on a real historical figure - Thomas Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth and 6th Baronet (1775 - 1855). He employed Stephenson at Killingworth in 1804 and encouraged him in his work on developing steam powered transport so that his coal could be more easily carried from the pits to the ports on the River Tyne. His grand-niece was Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.
• Alexander had a hugely successful career as a character actor in film and television spanning five decades, but is best known for playing Charlie Hungerford - father-in-law to Bergerac.
• He played multiple guest characters in series such as The Avengers and The Persuaders!
• As Major Rupert Rutland-Smith, he was one of The League of Gentlemen (1960) - the movie which gave the comedy troupe their name.
• Amongst the many other actors considered for the role in The Mark of the Rani were Peter Cushing, Patrick Stewart and Michael Gough.

R is for... Ravens

 

Corvus Corax - the raven - has played a significant role in the lives of the Doctor and his companions on several occasions.

Leonard de Vries, who owned Boscombe Hall in the south west of England, had a pet raven. He was the leader of a Druidic sect which worshipped the Celtic witch-goddess Cailleach. The bird was one of her symbols and they acted as her eyes and ears. Romana was troubled by the sight of the bird as it perched on the roof of the TARDIS.

Alien criminal Cesair of Diplos, posing as local Vivien Fey, had taken on the role of the Cailleach whilst donning a bird-like costume.

The Tower of London is famed for its raven population, and legend states that England will fall should they ever leave (which is why the ones kept there have their wings clipped). Kate Stewart of UNIT revealed to the Doctor that they were actually artificial, running on batteries.

Quantum Shades were creatures which could kill anyone at a designated time and space location, and so could be used as assassins or executioners. The immortal Ashildr, now known simply as Me, used one in the form of a raven to enforce the rules of the London Trap Street of which she was mayor. These were small pockets of space / time cut off from the rest of the universe which could be used as refuges for various alien species.

The intended victim was marked with a chronolock - a tattoo which counted down the minutes until their death. Once branded in this way, the only way someone could escape their fate was if another person willingly took it on themself. A young man named Rigsy, who was a friend to the Doctor and Clara Oswald, found himself marked after being accused of murdering an inhabitant of the Trap Street. Clara decided to take his chronolock due to her over-confidence that the Doctor would save her.

However, the whole set up had been a trap for him and he was powerless to stop it killing his companion. On attacking, the Shade would assume the form of smoke and pass through the body, killing the victim.

Appearances: The Stones of Blood (1978), Face the Raven (2015).

• Ravens feature in a number of mythologies. Odin had a pair named Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) which flew across the world every day to spy on his behalf.
• In Native American tradition, the raven is seen as both a creator spirit and a trickster. They brought the sun, moon and stars to humanity.
• The Celts believed that Morrigan, the goddess of war and death, transformed herself into a raven to fly over battlefields, and the sight of a raven before battle could indicate a warrior's fate.
• Greek god Apollo was angered when a white raven delivered bad news, so he scorched its feathers and so all ravens are now black.
• The Japanese have a legend of a three-legged raven, Yatagarasu, which symbolises the sun.
• And a raven was the first bird which Noah is said to have sent out from the Ark to see if the flood had abated.
• Some of these legends refer to ravens and crows equally. The crow features prominently in The Eaters of Light (2017), and its call is even supposed to echo the name 'Kar', a young woman who sacrificed herself alongside some Roman soldiers to imprison the monsters in another dimension.

R is for... Ravagers

A pair of ancient beings who acted as agents for the entity Time - a sentient force which waged an eternal battle against Space. They were brother and sister - Swarm and Azure.

The Division - a secretive Gallifreyan organisation which once actively intervened in the affairs of other planets and species - created the Temple of Atropos, on a planet called Time, as a means to capture and imprison them. Creatures known as the Mouri dwelt in the temple, where they were able to control the flow of Time.

Swarm was held captive on a barren planetoid, whilst Azure was transformed into a human woman and placed on Earth with her memories of her true self suppressed.

Swarm was able to escape and regenerate into a younger version of himself, and he freed his sister. Together, they were responsible for an anti-matter force known as the Flux, which they exploited to destroy the universe in revenge against the Division, as well as acting to free Time by sabotaging the Temple.

The leader of the Division, Tecteun, decided to travel to a neighbouring universe and allow the Flux to do its work. She was based on a vessel which was travelling through the void between the universes, and captured the Doctor in the hope that she would join her - claiming that this other universe might even be where she had originally come from. 

Swarm and Azure arrived and killed Tecteun. They could harvest the lifeforce of physical beings for their regeneration, and could disintegrate people and objects with their touch.

Other powers included telepathy and the ability to teleport across both time and space.

Swarm revealed that he knew the Doctor's true history, which was contained within a fob watch. The Doctor later obtained this - but chose not to open it.

Time was eventually released, but because the Doctor had stopped the Flux, the entity destroyed Swarm and Azure. They accepted their fate as they deemed this an ascension from the spatial plane to become purely creatures of time.

Played by: Sam Spruell (Swarm), Rochenda Sandall (Azure), Matthew Needham (Old Swarm).

Appearances: Flux / Series 13 (2021) - The Halloween Apocalypse, War of the Sontarans, Once Upon Time, Survivors of the Flux, The Vanquishers.

• It was originally intended that the Ravagers (also known as the Ravages) would be adolescents, who slowly grew older until they resembled the Old Swarm. They could only communicate telepathically due to their underdeveloped features, becoming more crystalline as they matured. Masks were even made for them, and some scenes filmed on the Temple set - but these were then cut.
• The Older Swarm is played by an actor seven years younger than the one who plays the regenerated version.
• Sam Spruell's biggest screen appearance to date was as the brother of the witch-queen in Snow White & The Huntsman (2012), but more recently he has featured in GoT spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. He is currently working on the second season of Alien: Earth.
• Rochenda Sandall has appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and the hugely popular crime drama Line of Duty. She was also a regular on the ecological sci-fi series The Rig.
• Matthew Needham plays Lord Larys in House of the Dragon. His first movie role was a minor one in folk horror The Ritual in 2017, and he has also featured in an episode of Sherlock.

Episode 226: The Invasion (7)

Synopsis:

As a strange alien tone sounds across the city, people fall into a catatonic state whilst Cybermen begin to emerge from the sewer system and march unopposed through the streets of London...

At Professor Watkins' home, the Doctor has also been affected due to his depolariser falling off. His friends quickly recover it and he revives. 

Captain Turner radios to UNIT HQ.

Reports have come in of Cybermen appearing everywhere. The Brigadier informs them that he will be sending a jeep to collect them all as they will be safer at the HQ.

In his office, Vaughn is consulting with the Cyber-Director. It announces that the main invasion fleet will now move in, and the radio homing beacon at the IE compound must be activated.

Vaughn informs it that his organisation will now take over, with the Cybermen already on Earth to remain under his control. 

The Cybermen see this as opposition to them, but he argues that he is more familiar with the way things work on Earth. They counter that all humans are now under their control and he begins to lose his temper, revealing his personal ambitions. He manages to end the meeting with an agreement from them to continue as he had advised.

However, as soon as he terminates the discussion he summons Packer and orders him to fetch Watkins, who they know to be at his home. His machine must go into mass production immediately. They do not expect any resistance from UNIT.

Sergeant Walters pulls up in front of Watkins' house - but closely followed by an IE vehicle.

Watkins is shot in the leg as they flee, and then Jamie is hit and wounded.

Turner calls the Brigadier who arranges for a helicopter to pick them up.

Packer reports to Vaughn what has happened - guessing correctly that it was through the Doctor that UNIT evaded the Cyber-control signal. He argues that the Doctor should have been killed when they first had the chance, and worries that without the Cerebratron Mentor they are powerless against the Cybermen. Suppressing his anger, Vaughn simply claims that he has the Doctor and his friends where he wants them, but orders that the radio beacon be activated. The full Cyberman invasion force must be brought in as soon as possible.

The UNIT transporter is now in flight.

The Doctor argues that their first priority is to destroy the Cyber-control signal, as there will be thousands of Cybermen approaching from space and Earth must be able to defend itself. The Brigadier points out that they would need a missile to achieve this as it is being beamed from space - then recalls that the Russians had a manned rocket about to launch. A warhead could be fitted to this instead of an astronaut capsule.

Captain Turner will travel to Russia with depolarisers to organise this.

The second priority is the destruction of the homing beacon at the IE compound, to prevent more Cybermen landing. 

The Brigadier orders the aircraft to take him to Henlow Downs missile base. They may be able to destroy the Cyberships as they approach. The aircraft lands at an airfield where Turner has arranged for a supersonic craft to take him on to Russia. 

The Doctor suggests that the Brigadier take Zoe with him to the missile base, as her computational skills may prove very useful. He, meanwhile, plans to go and see Vaughn...

The Doctor drives off in a UNIT jeep, with the Brigadier ordering a helicopter to tail him and remain close by should he need it. 

The Doctor soon reports that he is going to enter the IE building via the sewer network, assuming that it is now empty of Cybermen.

Vaughn and Packer are meeting in the office when an alarm sounds. The Doctor appears on the internal camera system, announcing his arrival to the bemused Vaughn.

The Doctor keeps his UNIT radio switched on so that they will be able to listen in.

The Brigadier and Zoe arrive at Henlow Downs where they begin reviving the ground crew, who are commanded by Major Branwell.

The Doctor is trying to reason with Vaughn, pointing out that the Cybermen will destroy all life on Earth. Vaughn, however, sees this as merely a delaying tactic and is trying to second-guess what UNIT are up to. He has ordered the radio homing beacon to be aligned, and assumes that this is what UNIT will target. They will be too late as far as he is concerned. He refuses to put a stop to what has taken years to plan, with success within his grasp.

Zoe learns from Branwell and Sergeant Peters that the radar at the base will only pick up the Cyberships when they are practically on top of them.

The Cyberships begin to appear on radar - far more than Henlow Downs has missiles to intercept.

Zoe asks for the countdown to be paused - which the Brigadier authorises against the complaints from the Major - then makes some rapid calculations. She shows Branwell and Peters how their few missiles could be used to set off a chain reaction that would wipe out the entire fleet.

The missiles are launched...

The Cyber-Director reports to Vaughn that the fleet is being destroyed, and he is accused to betraying the Cybermen. They will now take over the invasion. 

When Vaughn tries to argue with it, he is sent reeling by an energy pulse generated by the machine, which announces that a Cyber-Megatron bomb will be delivered. This will kill every living being on the planet.

"Is this what you wanted?" demands the Doctor of Vaughn. "To be the ruler of a dead world?"...

Data:

Written by Derrick Sherwin (from a story by Kit Pedler)

Recorded: Friday 1st November 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 14th December 1968

Ratings: 7.2 million / AI 55

VFX: Bill King & Trading Post

Designer: Richard Hunt

Director: Douglas Camfield

Additional cast: Clifford Earl (Major Branwell), Norman Hartley (Sergeant Peters)

Critique:

Before we look at the making-of, let's get some negatives out of the way first. It comes as a bit of a disappointment, after the big invasion set piece at the conclusion to Episode 6, that the Cybermen do not feature in this episode at all, save for the reprise at the start.

Then there is the model work. They are great models, but the filming of their destruction is far from satisfying. They are simply shot at by fireworks, some of which clearly miss their target, and the sequence fails to match what Zoe has so cleverly organised for the missiles.

Lastly, there's the overuse of rather ropey stock footage employed for the missile launches. This is made even worse when the whole story is watched in one sitting as the exact same material is used in the final episode as well. Some is even repeated within this episode.

The draft script for this episode once again described the Cyberships as looking exactly as they had done in The Wheel in Space - cylindrical and covered in a pattern of hexagons.

Sherwin specifically recommended stock footage of Nike-Zeus missiles, presumably because he already knew about this material in the library.

Early rewrites to the scenes set at Watkins' home were carried out in early August. This included the wounding of both the professor and Jamie. The former was not needed for the remainder of the story, whilst Frazer Hines would be having a holiday during the week of recording of the eighth instalment.

(As this incident takes place so early in the episode, it's a pity Camfield couldn't have recorded it during the making of the previous episode and so free Hines, and Burnham, from both episodes. Presumably it would have meant an extra set - the hallway - and he may have lacked the time in studio anyway).

Earlier in the story, Watkins' front door had been recorded in studio, based on an actual location used on film. This was at No.18 St. James' Gardens in Kensington, filmed on Wednesday 11th September.

The only other filming for this episode was the model work, undertaken at Ealing on Friday 30th August.

There were two different types of Cybership model. One comprised a pair of drums with a glowing globe between, representing warships, whilst another type was covered in rectangular pods, suggesting transporter ships. These had been built by Bill King's company.

They were filmed sitting on tables covered in black cloth and with black drapes behind. The camera tracked past the stationery models to suggest movement. The attack on the ships was achieved by firing small explosive charges at them, which proved less than successful.

I'll have a separate "Afterlife" post about these Cybership models, as they turn up in some unexpected places over the next couple of years.

No Cybermen were required in studio on Friday 1st November, when recording began with two scenes set in Watkins' home, after which recording followed story order. 

One of the recording breaks was to allow extras wearing UNIT uniforms on the transporter aircraft set to change into conventional army attire to become Henlow Downs ground staff.

The Doctor flipping a coin to decide which direction to go in the sewers was a visual ad-lib from Troughton. His POV of the empty tunnels came from still images of the full sewer set taken during the making of the previous episode.

The big new set this week was the command centre at Henlow Downs. This was dominated by a large illuminated display which showed the launch status of its eight missiles.

The stock footage of the missiles came from Visnews and from the Ministry of Technology. As this material was silent, Brian Hodgson provided radiophonic sounds to overscore the images.

A bright lighting effect was used to indicate the attack on Vaughn from the Cyber-Director.

The closing credits began to roll over a close-up of the shocked Vaughn.

We've talked about some of the negatives, so what are the positives - for it is actually a very good episode. It's an especially good episode for Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier, who up until now has been pretty much confined to his aircraft headquarters. He finally gets out and about and has a lot more to do.

The Brigadier as we know him from the Pertwee era isn't quite there yet, but he's starting to develop.

There's a lovely little exchange between him and Zoe where she complains that a helicopter won't be of much use to the Doctor down in the sewers. He isn't at all concerned, and simply asks her if she fancies a cup of tea. The look on Padbury's face is priceless. (This sequence, as well as one from the missile control room, was used to illustrate the somewhat sexist nature of the series in its early days, in the documentary (More Than) 30 Years in the TARDIS).

With Hines starting his holiday early - Jamie being injured and no longer playing any part in proceedings - this is very much Zoe's turn to shine. She changed back into her iconic glittery catsuit in the last episode, and here she is seen coming up with the plan to use a limited number of missiles to take out the entire Cyberman invasion fleet. The scene is let down just a bit by the soldiers ogling her derriere as she goes from display to display taking notes of the readings.

The episode ends with a couple of great scenes between the Doctor and Vaughn, initially dancing around each other until the would-be dictator sees his dream of conquest suddenly torn away from him.

The Doctor has only sneaked into the IE building to avoid the Cybermen. As soon as he's in, he announces his presence. They may oppose each other, but the Doctor and Vaughn clearly have some mutual admiration for each other, as can be seen by the way in which the pair sit and chat in the office.

You do have to wonder about the Cyber-Megatron bomb business. If the Cybermen were never interested in enslaving or converting the population of Earth - that was only ever Vaughn's intention - and they simply want the planet's mineral wealth, then why did they enter into this arrangement with him and invade in the first place?

Trivia:

• The ratings see a sizeable improvement this week, despite the new competition from Gerry Anderson's Joe 90 in some ITV regions, plus the fact that many people would be out Christmas shopping or attending events in the run-up to the festive period.
• Amongst the Henlow Downs personnel is background artist Reg Cranfield. He had been the very first person to ever appear in Doctor Who - the policeman who checks the junkyard gates in the broadcast version of An Unearthly Child. Previous appearances included walk-ons in The Massacre, The Gunfighters and The Underwater Menace, and he would later feature in The Silurians, The Mutants and The Green Death. His final Doctor Who role was as a Time Lord in The Deadly Assassin.
• Clifford Earl had played the desk sergeant in The Feast of Steven. He was often called upon to play policemen of one rank or another - a staggering 42 times according to his IMDb listing.
• Like Earl, Norman Hartley had been employed on the series previously by Douglas Camfield - playing the Viking raider Ulf in The Time Meddler.

Inspirations: Empress of Mars

It's a Mark Gatiss story - so expect a lot of literary and movie references...

He originally intended his next episode to be a sequel to Sleep No More, but that had been very poorly received. 

Had he written it, it would have been set on Earth in the present day, with the same sleep compression technology being introduced into the world's financial sector - so more of a prequel actually.

Deciding that he would step back from the series along with the departing Steven Moffat, and knowing that the next showrunner might want to do his own thing, with his own writers, he also realised that this might well be his final story for Doctor Who - at least for a while.

Whilst in Morocco with Moffat writing Sherlock, he asked if he could write the story he had always wanted to do.

It had been Gatiss who single-handedly got the Ice Warriors back into the series, when Moffat had been resistant - thinking them clichéd lumbering big green monsters. Still reluctant, Moffat only agreed to the story if Gatiss did something new with them, which is how he came up with the concept of an "Ice Queen".

Gatiss wanted to see them on their own planet - Mars - where he could expand their mythology.

However, his first idea had been to set this story on Peladon, as this was the time of the "Brexit" referendum - The Curse of Peladon having been inspired by the UK joining the European community, so sort of full circle for Britain in Europe.

After receiving a text message from Ian McNeice, enquiring if he could feature in the series again, Gatiss initially considered setting the new story during Churchill's time.

The Ice Warriors had simply been somewhat stereotypical alien invaders to begin with, until creator Brian Hayles chose to shake them up by showing them in a good light - still as noble warriors but now peacefully involved in the diplomatic manoeuvres of the Galactic Federation. He then had them revert to villains for their final appearance in the classic series, though stressing that Azaxyr's was a militaristic breakaway faction.

Gatiss brought them back in Cold War, a story very much influenced by their very first appearance.

That episode, however, had hinted at their wider culture, which had also been expanded upon in spin-off material.

Had Hayles been able to write the second Ice Warrior story he wanted - "Lords of the Red Planet" - then he would have shown a lot more of their origins and social structure. However, Terrance Dicks had pretty much rewritten it to become The Seeds of Death.

The design for the Empress' helmet, more domed and with the open mouth area, derives from the so-called "Ice Lords", played by Alan Bennion in a trio of classic era stories. They're never called this on screen, though Ssorg does refer to his superior as Lord Izlyr at one point in The Curse of Peladon. It's a name from fandom which has sort of stuck.

Ice Warrior 'Friday' derives his name from the character Man Friday in Daniel Defoe's The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) - named by the title character after being rescued by him on that day of the week. The novel was supposedly inspired by the real life castaway Alexander Selkirk, who survived four years stranded on an island off Chile.

Beyond the Ice Warriors, there are two obvious inspirations for this episode - both with a Victorian setting.

The first is H.G. Wells' The First Men on the Moon, which was first published in 1901 but had been serialised the year before. In this Victorian explorers - a scientist named Cavor and his businessman neighbour, Bedford - travel to the Moon. Bedford has money troubles and participates in the expedition as he believes that the Moon's mineral resources can be exploited. Once there, they find the satellite to be inhabited by the Selenites. It was filmed in 1964, with visual effects by Ray Harryhausen.

Mark Gatiss had played Cavor in a 2010 BBC version, which he himself had adapted.

The imagery of futurism combined with Victorian heavy engineering would later come to be known as "Steampunk" - a literary and fashion movement which envisaged certain scientific advances taking place a century earlier than they did in reality. The phrase was coined in 1987, first associated with Japanese manga and anime, but the genre can be traced back to the likes of Wells and Jules Verne.

The Doctor Who Christmas Special A Christmas Carol has very definite steampunk design elements, but it can be seen in the series as far back as Pyramids of Mars.

The other big inspiration is the film Zulu, also 1964, which revolved around the Battle of Rorke's Drift, fought in January 1879. Some 150 British soldiers defended a mission station from a Zulu army, numbering in the thousands, over a two day period. 11 Victoria Crosses were later awarded. The soldiers in Empress of Mars wear the same uniforms (those of the 24th Regiment of Foot and the Royal Engineers), as it is stated that they too have come from the African continent after finding Friday there. (Friday is the third Ice Warrior to have crash-landed on Earth - so I don't think much of their piloting skills...).

Gatiss also claimed to have been inspired by Victorian adventurers in Journey to the Centre of the Earth (filmed in 1959), and the movie adaptation of At The Earth's Core (1976), which featured a very Dr. Who-like performance by Peter Cushing.

Another obvious inspiration would be Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, who features in a whole series of stories, the first of which was A Princess of Mars (serialised in 1912), which presumably inspired the episode's title. Queen Victoria was also known as Empress of India during her reign, so the Empress of the title could refer to her as well as Iraxxa.

The Ice Warriors having Hives on their homeworld came from a throwaway line in Gatiss' own Robot of Sherwood.

The imagery of the Warriors emerging from these was inspired by Tomb of the Cybermen.

The portrait of Queen Victoria in the army camp depicts Pauline Collins as the monarch rather than an image of the real Victoria, she having played her in Tooth and Claw.

The character of Captain Catchpole was derived from Harry Flashman, the school bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays - written by Thomas Hughes in 1857. He later appeared as an adult in a series of novels by George MacDonald Fraser. Gatiss was specifically thinking of Flashman as he appears in Flashman and the Tiger (1999).

Gatiss found Godsacre's name on a tombstone in a Dorset graveyard. He is said to have "danced the Newgate jig" - a reference to the fact that criminals were publicly hanged at Newgate Prison from the late 18th Century until 1868.

Jackdaw was inspired by Dickens' Bill Sykes (Oliver Twist) and Vincey got his name from a character in H Rider Haggard's She.

Next time: Stone the crows! There's Romans, in the gloamin'...