Episode 221: The Invasion (2)

Synopsis:

Vaughn studies the circuits which the Doctor gave him, then activates a control on his desk. A panel in the wall behind it slides open to reveal a strange machine...

The Doctor and Jamie are walking away from the IE building when they become aware of a car slowly following behind them. Another then blocks the end of the street.

They decide it would be useless to run and so sit down on the kerb, where the Doctor produces a pack of playing cards.

Back at her studio, Isobel is trying to find out more about her new friends. Zoe is worried that the Doctor and Jamie are still not back yet - knowing how easily they get into trouble.

Vaughn has summoned his head of scientific research - Gregory - to his office, to show him the TARDIS circuits. He gives him a deadline to work out their function and method of manufacture, then orders Packer to provide him photographs of the two recent visitors.

Zoe and Isobel decide to go and find the others at the IE building.

Benton and Tracy have driven the Doctor and Jamie to an RAF base, and they approach a large transporter aircraft which is sitting on the tarmac. Within is a mobile headquarters, and they are pleasantly surprised to find that in charge here is their old acquaintance Lethbridge-Stewart. He is a Brigadier now, and leads a force called the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or UNIT for short. He states that their encounter with the Yeti in the Underground was some four years ago.

UNIT was set up as an investigative, intelligence gathering organisation, and at the moment they are particularly interested in International Electromatics and its CEO Tobias Vaughn. This is why they were monitoring the building and noting everyone who visited. The Brigadier recognised them from photographs sent to him by Benton and Tracy.

He states that whilst they observe people entering, not everyone comes out again...

At that moment, Zoe and Isobel have arrived at the reception area of the IE building and encountered its automated receptionist.

With his photographs of the Doctor and Jamie, Vaughn is consulting with the machine behind the secret panel. It tells him that the pair are known to it from Planet 14 and are regarded as hostile.

Vaughn is intrigued to know how they could be known from an alien planet, and is concerned that the plan for an imminent invasion might be threatened. 

He is interrupted by the security feed from the reception area.

Frustrated by its failure to tell them anything about Professor Watkins or the Doctor and Jamie, Zoe gives the computer an unsolvable mathematical problem. It blows a fuse.

Vaughn watches, bemused, from his office - then sends Packer to fetch the two young women.

They are captured by uniformed security guards.

The Brigadier is showing the Doctor and Jamie images of the people entering the IE building whom he is concerned about. Some are top computer scientists and one is of Major General Rutlidge from the Ministry of Defence, who is UNIT's liaison with the government. Not all the people have vanished. Some have emerged but with changed personalities. Rutlidge, for instance, was in favour of his investigation into IE, but is now opposed to it.

The Doctor and Jamie then recognise another image as that of the lorry driver who gave them a lift at the IE compound. He is a UNIT agent, and has failed to report in.

The Brigadier informs them that IE have cornered the market in computer technology, thanks to the invention of a micro-monolithic circuit which features in all their products. He explains that Vaughn has powerful friends and his options for investigating him are limited, so the Doctor agrees that he and his companions will have to find their own methods of finding Watkins.

The Brigadier gives the Doctor a communications device before they leave, then arranges a lift back to London.

They find Zoe and Isobel absent when they get back to the house, and the Doctor begins to examine the radio which Vaughn had given to Jamie, intrigued by one particular circuit. They then read a message Zoe has left to say they have gone to the IE building to look for them. They hurriedly depart. 

Vaughn is explaining to his latest visitors that he can now use Isobel to make her uncle more co-operative.

Arriving outside the IE building, the Doctor contacts the Brigadier and learns that Zoe and Isobel were seen to enter but haven't come out yet. The Doctor decides to bypass the main entrance and use another at the rear by some railway sidings.

They find themselves in a warehouse area filled with large metal cylinders. They observe a workman carrying one of these effortlessly - but when Jamie tries to lift it he finds it impossibly heavy.

Their arrival has been spotted on security cameras and Vaughn alerts Packer. He must use the girls to trap the Doctor and Jamie.

In the warehouse, they hear the girls cry out. When they rush towards the sound they see Zoe's feather boa sticking out from inside one of the cylinders, which Packer is ordering be loaded onto a freight train.

Jamie attacks him, but more guards appear and they are forced to run - only to find their exit blocked.

Packer approaches them, his pistol drawn...

Data:

Written by Derrick Sherwin (from an idea by Kit Pedler)

Recorded: Friday 27th September 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 9th November 1968

Ratings: 7.1 million / AI 53

VFX: Bill King & Trading Post

Designer: Richard Hunt

Director: Douglas Camfield

Additional Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Robert Sidaway (Captain Turner), James Thornhill (Sergeant Walters), Ian Fairbairn (Gregory)

Critique:

If you read the novelisations, or certain early reference materials, UNIT was set up at the Brigadier's personal instigation because of the incident with the Yeti in the Underground. His proposal for a taskforce designed to deal with future events of this sort was accepted, and he was placed in charge of the British division of UNIT. This may well be the case, but it is never specifically set out that way on screen.

Though described as a military / scientific organisation in Sherwin's notes, there is no evidence of the Brigadier actually employing any scientific staff in this story. There are uniformed troops, such as Captain Jimmy Turner and Sergeant Walters, but he also employs plain clothes agents for undercover work, such as the lorry driver in Episode One. Corporal Benton and Tracy are also seen to be wearing civvies as they mount surveillance on the IE building.

Douglas Camfield was involved in the design of the UNIT uniforms, which were of a mushroom colour. Berets were used as their headgear, which bore the UNIT emblem - the initials printed above a circular grid pattern.

Barry Letts hated these uniforms and changed them to conventional British Army dress at the first opportunity - something which Camfield was unhappy about when he returned to the programme to direct Terror of the Zygons.

Camfield did not agree with Lethbridge-Stewart being promoted to Brigadier as this looked wrong on screen, but was purely down to budgetary constraints. A Colonel, he argued in an interview with the DWAS, would have some 900 men to command, and a Brigadier three times that number - yet all the Brigadier ever seemed to have was about half a dozen or so.

The Ministry of Defence were approached to provide help with this production, which was granted when it was seen that the script showed the military in good light.

Filming for this episode began on Tuesday 3rd September at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. An RAF Hercules transporter 'plane was provided to act as UNIT's mobile HQ, and RAF personnel acted as UNIT groundcrew for the sequence where the Doctor and Jamie are brought to the site in a Jaguar motorcar.

Geoffrey Cheshire, playing Tracy, actually drove the vehicle onto the plane, even though you can't really see the driver on screen. 

On Saturday 7th September, Millbank Tower in Pimlico was used for scenes of the Doctor and Jamie returning to the IE building. These scenes were filmed at the same time as those for Episode One.

Wednesday 11th then saw Troughton and Hines on Heathfield Street and nearby Walmer Road, Notting Hill, for the sequence where the Doctor and Jamie are pursued and trapped by the cars, then sit down to play cards - a visual ad lib as the pair were always playing card games during breaks in rehearsals. Troughton also suggested the idea that they begin walking slowly in unison then quickly gain speed.

The Production Assistant on this story, who would work frequently on the programme up until The Talons of Weng-Chiang, was Chris D'Oyly John. He lived in Acton and identified the nearby Guinness Factory on Western Avenue as a suitable location for many of the scenes requiring IE's industrial premises, both in London and at their rural compound. Part of the factory was no longer in use.

Cast and crew moved there after the Notting Hill filming, and scenes shot included the Doctor and Jamie breaking into the IE building via railway sidings to its rear. 

We'll talk about the filming here, and what went on after a (very) liquid lunch, when the location features more prominently in the next episode...

Work on the story for Ian Fairbairn was supposed to have included location filming - a sequence where Professor Watkins is rescued - but this had been dropped, so his first involvement was in this episode.

Also joining the cast was Nicholas Courtney, who got back into the swing of rehearsals with Troughton and Hines by participating in their games during the breaks. One popular game was liar dice, where each person takes a turn to roll 5 dice which are hidden from the others. They make a claim as to how many dice of the same score are present. The others then have to bid against the claim, which may be true or false.

One aspect of rehearsals which Courtney did not like was the "fun runs" which Camfield employed to get rid of any nerves or silliness from his actors - playing out the episodes with silly accents, for instance.

Edward Burnham, playing Professor Watkins, was originally supposed to be introduced in this episode, and the actor was initially contracted to also provide the voice of the Cyber-Director. When the scripts were rewritten to have him not appear until later, this role went instead to Peter Halliday.

A number of photographs were taken near Millbank Tower - high angle shots of a number of people which the Brigadier shows to the Doctor and Jamie. Three of these we get a good look at - a scientist named Gordon Jones, Major General Rutlidge and the lorry driver. There are more on the desk, and these are actually photos of the production team: Sherwin, Camfield, Terrance Dicks and Peter Bryant.

The reception computer prop was rigged with smoke charges for when Zoe confounds it with an ALGOL problem.

The Doctor's request for a pat-a-cake biscuit with his tea was another ad lib from Troughton.

Recording breaks were mainly to allow cast members to move from set to set, though one was used to place stage weights in one of the cylinders so that it would look genuinely heavy when Frazer Hines attempted to lift it.

The warehouseman seen carrying the large cylinder is Gordon St Clair who, as Gordon Stothard, had played a Yeti in The Web of Fear and is better known for playing Grun, the King's Champion, in The Curse of Peladon. Another warehouseman is played by John Lord, who had also been a Yeti.

Wendy Padbury and Sally Faulkner had pre-recorded their screams earlier that day.

Neither would be required to work on the following week's episode, meaning a holiday for Padbury.

The earliest surviving episode from this story, it lets us have some idea of what the missing Episode One looked like - but that's pretty much all it gives us beyond the introduction of the Brigadier and UNIT. Not a lot happens otherwise.

We learn that Vaughn is planning an invasion with some unknown power - but then the story is called The Invasion...

Not only does he have a fairly incompetent henchman in Packer, it also appears that his head scientist isn't terribly good at his job either. Presumably all of IE's innovations have come from the Cybermen - but surely they must have been a major global business already for the Cybermen to have agreed to collaborate with Vaughn.

There is some humour in the episode - such as the scene where Zoe wrecks the computer, which even Vaughn finds amusing. Then there are the little bits of business from Troughton such as the card playing on the street; his rather shocked reaction to the Brigadier giving him a TM-45: "Is that a tank?"; and his child-like request for a pat-a-cake biscuit.

Last week we mentioned that paperwork suggested a date of 1976 for this story, whist both Radio Times and the continuity announcer stated that it was set in 1975. Here, the Brigadier says of the business with the Yeti in the Underground: "Must be four years ago now". This would place the events of The Web of Fear around 1971 - whereas Travers had claimed about 40 years had passed since his first encounter with the Doctor, which was dated to 1935. If we went by that dating, then The Invasion should be taking place around 1979.

Discussion of when this story takes place is important, as it will affect the whole chronology of the Cybermen. Remember, they are only supposed to first be encountered by the human race in December 1986 when Mondas returns in The Tenth Planet. We'll look at this later, once they've made their appearance.

The other issue to consider is this mention of "Planet 14".

Wherever this is, it has been visited by the Doctor, in his second incarnation, and Jamie. It may well refer to some unseen story, but if it's one we've seen then there can only really be one contender - Telos.

The Cybermen, being creatures of pure logic, would never give fancy names to planets they have invaded and taken over. They are much more likely to simply code them with a number - i.e. Planet 14 is the fourteenth planet they have taken over. They only used the name Telos as that is what it was called by its original inhabitants, in the same way they continued to call Mondas by the old name it was known by before they became the Cybermen.

One issue with Planet 14 being Telos is, of course, the dating again. The Tomb of the Cybermen definitely takes place in Earth's future, perhaps 500 years after the events of The Moonbase if Viner is to be believed. Up until Attack of the Cybermen, they certainly do not have time travel capabilities, as in that story the time-ship they do have is stolen from someone else - then blown up before they can really exploit it.

Going back to that missile strike in Episode One, it seems that the Cyber-Director only becomes aware of the Doctor's involvement once it has been shown the photographs of himself and Jamie - so that attack was most likely just some automated defence, probably to prevent some conventional Earth satellite from observing the dark side of the Moon.

Trivia:

• The ratings remain comparatively steady from the previous week, with only slight dips for both figures.
• Robert Sidaway had previously played Avon in The Savages.
• Turner is the first of the Brigadier's "Jimmy's" - a succession of different captains prior to the arrival of Mike Yates.
• Ian Fairbairn is another of Camfield's repertory of actors, though his first appearance in the series was as Questa in The Macra Terror. He will return to the series as technician Bromley in Inferno, and as Dr Chester in The Seeds of Doom.
• Isobel plays The Teddy Bears Picnic on an old gramophone she says she picked up on London's Portobello Road, famous still for its street market. This song was written and performed by Henry Hall and his Orchestra in 1932. The melody predates the song, being written by American composer John Walter Bratton in 1907.
• Pat-a-cake biscuits were manufactured by Peek Freans in the first half of the 20th Century. They lent their name to a popular children's nursery rhyme which begins: "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, bake me a cake as fast as you can...".
• It was during the making of this story that Frazer Hines made his stab at pop stardom, with the song Who's Doctor Who. He had met songwriters Barry Mason and Les Reed through his charity football playing. Their hit songs included Who Knows (Where My Rosemary Grows) for Edison Lighthouse, The Last Waltz for Engelbert Humperdink and Delilah for Tom Jones. 
• Heathfield Street no longer exists, having been turned into car parking and garden spaces for the residents of Portland Road, W11, in the 1970's. The website theundergroundmap.com actually mentions the filming of The Invasion there. The same website claims that Walmer Road is the oldest street in the area, once a footpath known as Greene's Lane.
• Jon Pertwee was a friend of Chris D'Oyly John's parents, and in an interview once said he dreaded the actor telling them about what went on during location shoots - as it was usually his hotel room which was used for parties. His first work on the series had been as an AFM on The Ark.

TARDIS Log: The Daleks

Where and When:

Our first alien planet - Skaro. 

Even Ian and Barbara know that they are no longer on Earth after coming across the Magnedon - a creature the size of a Labrador dog, but with a shell comprising of metal plates and resembling a crocodilian. 

The TARDIS has landed in the middle of a forest, and when the Doctor and his companions emerge they are initially surrounded by a mist, which quickly clears. The trees and plants are unfamiliar, and it is Ian who spots that, despite a breeze, the branches do not stir. It transpires that they have been petrified - and the Doctor thinks not by heat. The soil is ashen.

Susan finds a brittle tulip-like flower, which has retained some colour. She wants to keep a specimen, but Barbara's discovery of the Magnedon causes Ian to crush it in his haste to come to her aid.

The creature is quite dead, however. The Doctor suspects that it had an inner magnetic field and may have used this to draw its prey towards it, if they were also metallic.

Beyond the forest lies a desolate plain, on which sits a large city composed of futuristic buildings.

And beyond that is a mountain.

This city is home to the Daleks - once humanoid but now mutated into small brain-like creatures with vestigial limbs. They inhabit metal casings, created as protective shells which enable them to move around. They can only do so on metal flooring - drawing power through this via static electricity.

They do not inhabit the surface buildings, confining themselves to subterranean levels.

It will be revealed that Skaro was the scene of a devastating nuclear war, involving neutron bombs. The atmosphere is heavily irradiated.

There is another race on Skaro - the Thals. Whilst the Daleks interfered with the evolutionary process by taking to their protective shells, the radiation has allowed the mutation of the Thals to come full circle, and they are now humanoid again - tall, blond and physically perfect. They have developed a drug to counter the radiation.

The war was fought between Thal and Dal - the original name of the Daleks, who were philosophers and teachers.

The Thals were a warrior people, but now live a simple agrarian lifestyle on a plateau many miles from the Dalek city.

They rely on a great rainfall for their crops, and this has failed. (When this disaster befell them is unclear, as the dialogue is contradictory).

They have embarked on an arduous trek under their leader Temmosus to seek help from their old enemies - even though they don't actually know if any have survived. (It is only through Susan that they learn that they have. Despite their life far from here, they must have known about the city and where it was to be located, so may have mounted the odd exploratory expedition to this region).

We only see adult Thals, but dialogue states that there are children present.

The Thals possess history records, which tell of the planet as well as its people. They know that Skaro is the seventh planet of its solar system.

Behind the mountain lies a great lake, which is home to a variety of mutated animals. One looks like an octopus whilst another generates a whirlpool effect before ensnaring its prey.

Surrounding the lake is more forest - though this doesn't appear to have been petrified (shielded by the mountain perhaps).

One of the creatures which inhabits this region resembles a giant caterpillar.

A cave system runs through the mountain from the lake, and the Daleks have used the tunnels to pipe water into the city to generate hydro-electric power.

The Doctor takes some soil samples and tells the Thals that it is not as barren as he first thought, and that life might return within a few generations.

The dating for this story is impossible when you consider only the seven broadcast episodes on their own. 

We can only attempt to work out when The Daleks might be set by looking at the evidence of later Dalek stories.

12 months from now, we'll learn that they are a space-going race by 2164. They are more advanced than the city-bound ones we see here - though they are still reliant on power being beamed to a collection dish on the back of their casings.

The Doctor states in The Dalek Invasion of Earth that these events on Skaro took place in the far distant future - suggesting that they will degenerate and retreat into their old city. This doesn't really fit with the Thal history or what we see here, however.

Everything seems to point to this being the early emergence of the Daleks following the war, encountering the Thals for the first time since that catastrophe.

The big problem is the fact that the Daleks appear to be killed off at the end of the story.

There are two ways around this.

The first is that there is at least one other Dalek colony elsewhere on the planet.

The second - made possible by The Power of the Daleks - is that they have simply been rendered dormant without power. The Daleks in the capsule found on the planet Vulcan are said to have been buried in a mercury swamp for several hundred years - and yet are resurrected when fed power.

For them to be invading Earth in the mid 22nd Century, and if it's the same Daleks, then this story is most likely set in Earth's past, perhaps the 18th or 19th Century.

The TARDIS:

The journey from prehistoric Earth to Skaro lasts only moments. The Doctor asks Susan to check the radiation meter, which is a fixture on the console. It shows normal but, seconds after everyone goes off to freshen up, it climbs quickly into the danger zone. A light flashes, but there is no audible alarm.

The travellers spend the night in the TARDIS before going off to explore the city in the morning - yet no-one spots this flashing light. They even stand around the console when the Doctor operates it, during his act of sabotage - but no-one notices anything.

The alarm must have switched itself off. If so, coupled with the delay in indicating danger, this suggests that the meter is faulty.

Unfortunately, the Doctor broke his handheld meter when he was abducted by Kal in the last story.

Ian suspects that the Doctor doesn't know how to pilot the TARDIS. When asked directly, he claims that if the correct data is known at the start of a journey then the course can be set - but they took off too quickly from the last location to gather this information.

Susan states further that there is a meter fixed to a big bank of computers which can guide the TARDIS, but only if that data is fed in - suggesting some form of 'auto-pilot' function, and the Doctor doesn't have to be at the controls the whole time.

But then she says that the Doctor's inability to navigate the ship is simply down to him being "forgetful".

The Doctor will later think that he might be able to work out their position from the Thal history records, which include a map of local space.

There is an area at the rear of the console room, partitioned off from the rest of the room, which contains a table and chair at which Susan sits to sketch the flower she had found. We see a double inner door leading off this area.

It is in this area that we find the Food Machine.

It is a tall box-like affair with a sloping control panel with buttons and lights at chest level.

The foodstuff requested is created by inputting a code, using clock-like dials, operated as you would the combination lock of a safe. The Doctor gets these codes from a notebook. You then press a central button, lights flash and it emits a noise to let you know when your item is ready. He explains that flavours are made up of component parts, likening it to composing colours from a combination of other ones.

Ian and Barbara select bacon and eggs, and a small item resembling a white Mars Bar - other chocolate bars are available - emerges on a little tray from a slot on the front of the machine, just beneath the control panel.

With one bite you taste the bacon, and another the eggs. Ian jokes his bacon is a little salty, and the Doctor counters that it shouldn't be as it is English.

Presumably he acquired the taste during his five months in London.

The Doctor is determined to explore the city, but Ian and Barbara refuse to let him do this - even alone, as only he knows how to operate the TARDIS (so they assume that Susan can't on her own).

When Susan agrees with the teachers that they leave the planet, the Doctor sabotages the ship.

He ducks down behind the console whilst the others are distracted looking up at the scanner and tampers with a component inside its base.

The power builds up as normal, but the ship fails to dematerialise. 

Susan suggests checking the Fault Locator. This is built into the wall behind a glass frontage, and has a small rectangular viewing port at eye level.

When Susan looks through this we see a device resembling a seismograph, with a rolling strip of paper and a number of inked needles.

From this she identifies the problem as component K7 - which the Doctor knows, without looking it up, to be the fluid link (because he just tampered with it).

This small object comprises four circular discs with a metal rod running through the centre.

It should be filled with mercury, but one end of the rod has come loose and the mercury has run out. 

The Doctor reveals that he doesn't have a supply of this substance on board. This particular fault has never happened before - or so he claims. He will later confirm that there is no mercury on board, having searched through all his spares. Nor does he carry any other fluid links, as the one taken by the Daleks has to be retrieved from the city.

Prisoners in the Dalek city, someone has to return to the TARDIS to fetch the anti-radiation drugs left by the Thal Alydon. Only Susan is fit enough to do this but Ian insists on going, using her key. She explains that the lock has a defence mechanism. Inside are a number of barrels, 21 of them. If the key isn't inserted properly, the entire lock melts.

Ian can't simply keep trying. (Now that he is travelling with people other than just his granddaughter, and they may be with him for some time, the Doctor obviously replaces this set-up at the first opportunity).

The Doctor later uses Susan's key to sabotage the Dalek surveillance system, stating that he can make her a new one easily enough.

(Whilst he can make another key, he can't make a new fluid link it seems. This might be because he lacks the tools or materials, or maybe it's the skill - another possible pointer to the TARDIS not being of his own invention).

The TARDIS has some medical supplies, such as a remedy for headaches, but the Doctor states that there is nothing which might counter radiation sickness. They would need to travel to another planet and hope that a cure might be available there.

The Doctor takes some soil samples away with him, whilst Barbara gains a roll of Thal cloth and Susan one of their cloaks, of the style worn by their females.

The story ends with the Doctor at the console, with the TARDIS power levels building steadily after it has dematerialised from Skaro. The lights suddenly flare, and the room is plunged into darkness as everyone is thrown to the floor.

A word about the console: it has six control panels, but you can't operate it from any one of these on its own. You have to move around the console to operate it effectively, which suggests that it wasn't designed for a single pilot. This does not mean that it requires a crew of six, however - you wouldn't need someone just to operate a single panel - but it may have required at least one other person (a pilot and a navigator or co-pilot perhaps?).

Behind The Scenes:

It was originally intended that Ridley Scott - yes, that one - would design this story. However, when it became known he could only do the pre-filming at Ealing but be unavailable for the studio recordings, Verity Lambert asked that another designer be used for the sake of consistency.

This was Raymond P Cusick. In the end, the sixth episode would be designed by Jeremy Davies.

As the series progresses, designers will pick and choose which parts of the TARDIS set they will use depending on the needs of the director, and what is in the script.

A considerable part of the opening episode takes place inside the TARDIS, so the full size console room set is employed, including the partitioned off area which is to the right of the Fault Locator wall. This is where the food machine prop is also to be found.

The hexagonal floor plate which surrounded the console in the last story is no longer present.

The scene bridging the second and third episodes sees Susan return to the ship to collect the Thal drugs. Here we only see the console and a couple of walls, one of which contains the main doors. Beyond these is part of the forest set.

(It will become a convention of the series that the TARDIS doors will be to the left of the screen, but in the early days it can be seen to the rear of the console or, very occasionally, screen right).

The drugs are resting on a chair with a tasselled covering, just inside the doors. 

At the end of the story we see a shot of the console room from a high vantage point, and it can be seen that only one corner of the set has been used, along with the console itself. The scanner now appears to be positioned above the main doors, judging by where the Doctor and Ian are looking. The console is much closer to the doors.

If you look closely, you can actually see the rear of one of these walls at the back of the Dalek control room set.

A simple lighting effect was used to simulate an explosion, and the overhead lights were then dimmed.

What's Wrong With... The Unquiet Dead

Might be a bit difficult one this. Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) described it on broadcast as one of the most perfect 45 minutes of television he had ever seen.

However, it's the first historical story of the revived series, and a celebrity one to boot - so there has to be some factual issues with the story. Mark Gatiss is very much a fan of Victorian Gothic, and does do his homework, but in order to make a 45 minute drama you have to cut a few factual corners.

The obvious starting point is Charles Dickens in Cardiff on 24th December 1869 as part of one of his celebrated reading tours...

He embarked on one such tour in January 1869, but had to abandon it in April on health grounds. He had begun to include the dramatic murder of Nancy at the hands of Bill Sykes, from Oliver Twist, in his repertoire. This was controversial for two reasons - the shocking nature of the material for those of a nervous disposition (i.e. ladies), and the effect this was having on his health, as he would become both physically and emotionally drained by the experience.

He did not resume his tours until the beginning of 1870, and then he was accompanied by his personal physician and was so frail that the venues had to have special adaptations made to accommodate him.

He did not give a reading in Cardiff on the Christmas Eve of 1869.

The venue - the Taliesin Lodge - is fictitious as well.

Talking of Christmas, the holiday was popularised by Prince Albert and then by Dickens himself - yet there isn't a sign of it anywhere in the city.

Dickens claims that he will be home in time to spend Christmas with his family by catching the early mail coach to London. As the journey by coach in 1870 between Cardiff and London took between 25 - 30 hours, this is unlikely to say the least. He could have gone by train - but then he had a massive problem with these after having been involved in a famous train crash, at Staplehurst in 1865.

We do know a little about his final Christmas, because of the incident with the turkey...

He had been sent a 30lb prize bird, to be delivered by train from Ross-on-Wye. However, the freight carriage carrying it caught fire and his turkey was destroyed.

We see that Dickens has his own coach anyway, presumably hired to serve his needs whilst in the city if local, or perhaps even one which was arranged for his entire trip. But this disappears and is never mentioned again after it takes the writer and the Doctor to the funeral parlour.

The Doctor and Dickens emerge from the theatre only after Rose has been bundled into the hearse. It is glass-sided, but has heavy purple velvet drapes obscuring the interior - so how does the Doctor know his companion is inside it?

Gwyneth is telepathic - we see her read Rose's mind - yet she hasn't sensed any evil intent or duplicity from the Gelth even though she's been in contact with them since she was a child.

And they haven't seen that she might just act against them if she were to learn their true intentions.

Why do they reveal their true evil nature straight away, rather than continue their pretence of being helpless refugees until after they have properly established themselves? The moment they begin to come through, they go from nice blue entities to fiery red devils.

Their plan has other drawbacks. It would appear that they cannot always control the bodies they inhabit, as we know of one other corpse which went AWOL before Mrs Peace goes off to the theatre.

Their plan also seems to depend on someone who knows (a) that they are an alien race and (b) all about the Time War - someone who can convince Gwyneth to allow them to cross over. Bit of a coincidence, the apparent sole Time Lord survivor of the War turning up purely by accident, as the TARDIS was supposed to be going to Naples.

Why should Gwyneth's death stop their invasion - if she's already dead when it begins?

Why require a human conduit at all if the Rift is the thing that matters, and it runs through the whole city and not just Sneed's mortuary? It's strongest at a certain point, under the basement arch, but not exclusive to that spot.

Presumably it is important that they do get physical bodies, as there were an awful lot of other methane sources available in Victorian Britain, places like coal mines and sewers where their presence might not have attracted too much attention until they were safely established.

It's never mentioned, but do they have a means of suspending decomposition? Otherwise their new bodies won't last very long. Even if they go round making new ones by killing people, they'd soon run out.

Everyone acts as if the gas in this story is natural gas, as we have today. In 1869 it would have been town gas - a mix of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide - which was highly toxic and would have incapacitated then killed everyone within seconds in the confined spaces we see here. The Doctor might have a respiratory bypass system, but Rose and Dickens don't.

Finally, a few minor issues. 

There's an anachronistic street light outside the theatre.

Dickens doesn't appear to leave any footprints in the snow - and no-one's breath shows on a winter's night.

Sneed mentions Mrs Peace as having had "a good innings". Deriving from cricket, this only entered common parlance in the 1900's.

(He also refers to the corpses as "stiffs", which sounds like it should be an anachronism but actually entered slang use in the mid 19th Century).

Dickens says "On with the motley" - a theatrical expression, but one which first appeared in the opera Pagliacci in 1892.

"What the dickens" has nothing to do with Charles. It's an old name for the Devil.

The funeral parlour is in Llandaff - it says so on the side of the hearse. That's more than 5 miles from Cardiff Bay where Torchwood claims the Rift to be centred.

Episode 220: The Invasion (1)

NB: This episode no longer exists in the archives and there are no telesnaps available, so representative images are used.

Synopsis:

The TARDIS comes back together again in space, with the Doctor and his companions in the same positions they were in just before it broke apart...

The Doctor operates the scanner to learn where they are, and they see that they are orbiting the dark side of the Moon. A flash of light is visible, and they are shocked to find a missile rushing towards them. They are stuck in space, however, as the landing circuit has jammed.

The Doctor makes an emergency landing seconds before the missile hits. As his companions wonder who would have shot at them, the Doctor thinks it may have been someone who already knows who they are...

This time the scanner reveals a herd of cows.

The Doctor decides to get the visual stabiliser circuit looked at as well, but when he removes it from the console the TARDIS is rendered invisible and they have trouble finding their way outside.

As they are in 20th Century England, the Doctor decides to seek out his old friend Professor Travers who may be able to assist with repairs to the faulty circuits. They will make for London to find him, and set off across the fields.

After a while they come to a road and flag down a passing lorry. The driver, who seems unusually tense, is surprised to see them but offers them a lift out of what he describes as "the compound".

He explains that this whole area belongs to a company called International Electromatics.

He insists they get out by a security fence and they make off into the nearby woods. As soon as they have gone, a motorcycle patrol arrives from the direction he has just come. The riders wear sinister black uniforms.

Their leader demands identification, then insists he return with them.

When he refuses, he is shot dead.

The Doctor and his companions are unaware of this incident and have found themselves on another stretch of road beyond the compound, where they are able to get another lift in a car.

They soon arrive at Travers' home, but are dismayed to find he is not there. Instead they find a young woman named Isobel, niece of a scientist friend of the professor. She is a model and would-be fashion photographer. She explains that Travers and his daughter are on a visit to the USA and have let the house to her uncle, Professor Watkins. She is concerned about him, as he hasn't been seen since visiting the London offices of International Electromatics some days ago. She has tried to contact him through them, with no success.

After their encounter with the lorry driver, the Doctor is suspicious about this company and tries telephoning them - only to encounter an unhelpful automated answering system. He decides to pay them a visit in person instead, with Jamie, whilst Zoe remains at the house with Isobel. Lacking the funds to pay for her own models, she ropes Zoe into posing for her.

The Doctor and Jamie soon come to the IE offices and find the reception area deserted save for a computer. It was this which had failed to answer his questions on the phone, and proves equally unhelpful now.

They decide to look for another way in and scout around the back of the building, unaware that they are being observed by security cameras - and by a couple of men seated in a car parked nearby. They are Benton and Tracy, and they report their observations to their headquarters.

In his penthouse office, the Doctor and Jamie are being watched by Tobias Vaughn, Managing Director of International Electromatics. He sees them make for a lift, and operates a device which floods the corridor with gas. He then sends his chief of security, Packer, to deal with them.

He changes his mind, however, and orders that they be brought to his office.

Benton, meanwhile, reports to Tracy that their HQ wants the pair found and brought there as a priority.

Vaughn acts the perfect host, intrigued to know what they want with Professor Watkins, who he claims is working on a special project for him and cannot be disturbed.

Jamie mentions the TARDIS circuits which need repairing - much to the Doctor's annoyance - and Vaughn is immediately interested. He offers to have his scientists look at them. He is quite insistent, and the Doctor grudgingly hands them over.

Jamie is intrigued by a small device on the desk, and Vaughn explains that it is a miniaturised transistor radio manufactured by his company. He gives it to him as a gift, then concludes the meeting.

Packer escorts them to the main entrance, making it clear they would not be welcomed back.

The Doctor is suspicious of Vaughn, pointing out that he had a very low blink rate - suggesting something not quite human about him.

Alone in his office, Vaughn examines the circuits more closely then operates a switch.

The wall behind his desk slides open to reveal a strange, alien machine...

Data: 

Written by Derrick Sherwin (from an idea by Kit Pedler)

Recorded: Friday 20th September 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 2nd November 1968

Ratings: 7.3 million / AI 55

VFX: Bill King / Trading Post

Designer: Richard Hunt

Director: Douglas Camfield

Guest cast: Kevin Stoney (Tobias Vaughn), Peter Halliday (Packer), Sally Faulkner (Isobel), John Levene (Benton), Geoffrey Cheshire (Tracy), Murray Evans (Lorry Driver), Walter Randall (IE Patrolman)

Critique:

Knowing how popular they were, producer Peter Bryant requested a fifth Cyberman story from Kit Pedler whilst The Wheel in Space was still in production. The plan once again was that he would come up with the general storyline, which would then be written up by David Whitaker. However, Whitaker was busy on another project so Gerry Davis was approached to collaborate with Pedler for the first time since Tomb of the Cybermen. He too proved unavailable - so the task fell to the current story editor, Derick Sherwin, who was just about to move on to produce a series of his own - or so he thought. His assistant, Terrance Dicks would take his place for the opening story of the sixth recording block.

Disliking stories about "jellies in space", Sherwin wanted to bring the series down to Earth - inspired by the Quatermass serials of the 1950's. He discussed this with Bryant who agreed that it would reduce costume and design costs, as well as opening the programme up to more location-based action. Potentially, it might prove to be a template for the following year's season, and so came to be considered as a sort of pilot.

Both men had been particularly impressed with The Web of Fear, and sought to emulate its feel. As such, its director Douglas Camfield was engaged.

The plan was to bring back the characters of Professor Travers, his daughter Anne, possibly, and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart from the Yeti sequel.

As with all three of the Quatermass serials, the Doctor would be allied with the military through the Colonel. This was good news for Patrick Troughton as he realised that this set-up would take some of the strain off of him.

Pedler's initial idea was that the Cybermen would attempt an invasion of contemporary Earth by allying themselves with a sinister global electronics firm. Cybermats were to feature once more as part of their scheme. Sherwin then took the basic idea and began writing his scripts. Pedler was unhappy at being treated merely as a "thinktank", and wanted more creative input - but Sherwin decided to keep his involvement to a minimum.

Permission to use Prof. Travers and Lethbridge-Stewart was sought from writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln in May, which was granted.

The story began life as a six-parter. Reading it through, Bryant realised that there was very little involvement for Travers - not enough to justify rehiring Jack Watling. Another scientist would be created to fill this role - Professor Watkins. He would have a niece named Isobel, who - if popular - might become the new companion for the seventh season.

Sherwin then tried to also replace Lethbridge-Stewart, to save on rehiring Nicholas Courtney. This was run past the BBC copyright department but they responded that any new army officer fulfilling a similar role would be so close to Lethbridge-Stewart that Haisman and Lincoln could justifiably make a claim against them for a fee. 

Courtney would therefore be brought back, but now his character would be promoted to Brigadier and put in charge of a new military outfit which specialised in countering alien threats - the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or simply UNIT.

In the first draft of this episode, Watkins was said to work at the Cavendish Laboratories, a genuine research establishment in Chelmsford.

The feather boa which Zoe dons to model for Isobel was specified in the script as it would provide a plot point later.

Vaughn used a device in the form of a pen to open the wall to reveal the alien machine. This was later named the Cyber-Director, and Sherwin went into some detail about what it ought to look like. It is basically a brain-case contained within a frame, with cables going off to various machines which surround it. The walls were to be covered in glowing hexagonal patterns. The main thing was that it shouldn't look too obviously like Cyberman technology.

The IE reception and Vaughn's office were to be cold, clinical spaces.

Benton and Tracy were to have been spying on the IE building from a neighbouring rooftop.

Sherwin carried out extensive rewrites on 8th August, from the point where the travellers flag down the lorry to their arrival at Travers' house, as well as the Doctor's initial meeting with Vaughn.

Character notes described the action as taking place "about the year 1976 AD". Radio Times went with 1975 - which was also the date given by the BBC continuity announcer just before the broadcast of this opening instalment.

A near future setting was what the production team intended, so that they could include items like computers and videophones as everyday items.

Vaughn was to be a "Charles Gray" type figure - the actor who had played Mocata in The Devil Rides Out, and who would go on to play Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. Isobel was inspired by Susannah York's character in the recent comedy spy thriller Sebastian.

Bobbie Bartlett took over costume design from this story whilst Sylvia James stayed on as make-up supervisor. Designer Richard Hunt had worked on Galaxy 4 and The Smugglers, as well as collaborating with Ray Cusick on Mission to the Unknown.

Bill King and his Trading Post company would handle visual effects.

As Camfield disliked using Dudley Simpson, the incidental music was composed by Don Harper, who was also a jazz musician.

Unaware of the ill-feeling the director had towards the composer - the result of a misunderstanding between the pair - Harper actually approached fellow Australian Simpson for advice on how to score a Doctor Who story.

To play Tobias Vaughn, the principal villain of the piece, Camfield looked to Kevin Stoney. He had played what is arguably the best villain the series had seen to date - Mavic Chen, in the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, which he had directed.

In my opinion, he's the best villain actor of the entire classic era, getting two great roles spanning 19 episodes.

His henchman, Packer, would be played by Peter Halliday, who had starred in A For Andromeda and its sequel, The Andromeda Breakthrough.

Promoted from playing monsters in the series was John Levene who, as Sergeant Benton, would go on to become a series regular during the Pertwee era. He had played a Cyberman at Ealing in The Moonbase, and a Yeti in The Web of Fear, where his friendship with Camfield first began. He had initially been considered only to play a Cyberman.

During the summer break, Patrick Troughton had spent three weeks in France with his second family, and the next three weeks in the UK with his first. He had contacted Peter Bryant in August to confirm that this would be his last season on the show as he was keen to move on to other projects.

Filming got underway on Friday 30th August with model work at Ealing, which included the missile attack in this episode, involving models of the TARDIS and the Moon.

A new production model was used for the sixth year to avoid location filming overlapping with studio recording on episodes, which had entailed the regulars being taken out of rehearsals or missing days off. Each story would now get a week's filming, either for location or for model work, before studio rehearsals commenced. This had been raised with Shaun Sutton late in 1967 by Troughton and Barry Letts, and agreed.

Location work for this episode was due to commence on Wednesday 4th September, but was brought forward a day when helicopter scenes for a later episode had to be cancelled - the aircraft not turning up.

The location was a farm in Gloucestershire - Williamstrip Farm at Coln St Adwyns. This was for the sequence of the TARDIS arrival.

A split screen effect was used for the Doctor and companions emerging from the invisible ship, with half the lens masked off, the film rolled back and re-exposed with the other side masked off.

As well as the regulars, Sally Faulkner was present to have photographs taken which would be used as set dressing in her studio.

The following day saw scenes involving the lorry and the sequence at the compound security gate filmed - on Hatherop Road should you wish to find it. This was Walter Randall's only work on the story.

Saturday 7th September saw production move to Millbank Tower, on the Thames near to the Tate Gallery in Pimlico. This would be used as the IE building.

On Wednesday 11th, the sequence with the Doctor and his companions being dropped off close to Travers' home was filmed - on Princedale Road in Notting Hill. The helpful driver was Douglas Camfield. The actual property used for Travers' house was in St James' Gardens in Kensington.

Rehearsals got underway at St Helen's Church Hall on Monday 16th September.

Publicity images were taken of the three regulars on the TARDIS set during the afternoon of recording.

The episode opened with a reuse of the model TARDIS breaking up from The Mind Robber (1), reversed as it had been at the conclusion of that story. Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury assumed the same positions they had been in for that opening episode, and an electronic interference effect was used to defocus the picture, with the camera looking at each of the trio individually in turn. (One further clue as to when the Land of Fiction 'dream' may have begun is the costumes Hines and Padbury are wearing - those they changed into only after the Doctor had already used the emergency unit).

One of the recording breaks allowed Padbury to change into the clothes she had to wear to model for Isobel, which she would retain for most of the story.

The voice of the IE computer was that of Sheila Dunn - Camfield's wife. She had previously played Hollywood actress Blossom Lefevre in The Feast of Steven for her husband, and would return to play Petra Williams in Inferno.

Dry ice was used to indicate the gas which temporarily disables the Doctor and Jamie.

One wall panel swivelled up behind Vaughn's desk, pivoting at the bottom right corner, to reveal the Cyber-Director. This was based on the Cyber-Planner prop seen in The Wheel in Space, but extended with a large metal and glass framework and additional components which included the use of plastic tumblers from Woolworths.

The office was also dressed with a set of wall panels facing Vaughn's desk, featuring three circular apertures in which TV monitors were placed - each showing the same image.

A short piece of stock music was used for the radio gifted to Jamie, whilst electronic background music played behind some scenes in Vaughn's office - used previously in an episode of Out of the Unknown, and in the first episode of The Macra Terror.

The closing credits ran over a shot of the Cyber-Director. Opening credits ran over the title sequence.

"You are working on Doctor Who, the most technically complex show on British television, and therefore the world".

So said Douglas Camfield at the start of production. This will be his second biggest project for the series but, unlike the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, this one has a continuity about it - being set in only a few real and recognisable locations and with a core cast of characters. Like The Web of Fear, it will also appeal to his love of all things military, having served in the army himself for a time - though we don't get to see any of that this week.

The closest we've come to an episode like this one so far is The Enemy of the World. No sign (yet) of any significant alien involvement - though there's something lurking on the dark side of the Moon. Just human protagonists, in what is shaping up to be a contemporary thriller involving a would-be super-villain - an industrialist rather than a political figure like Salamander.

In this it has obvious James Bond trappings, just like that earlier Troughton story. As with the major Bond villains, Vaughn has his loyal henchman to do the dirty work and he commands his own personal army.

The compound, though, with its sinister uniformed guards is reminiscent of Winnerden Flats, where an alien presence established itself in the second Quatermass serial.

The lorry driver describes it in similar terms, with the locals either forced out or gone over to working for the secretive company which provides housing and other amenities in order to maintain it as a private, enclosed area. (They have their own cows but not chickens, apparently, as the lorry driver was hauling eggs...).

As mentioned, the Quatermass serials are an acknowledged inspiration for this story - and the intended future for the series.

The look of the guards is reminiscent of the French riot police who would have been a familiar sight to UK viewers who had watched the news of the Parisian student demonstrations earlier that year - as well as the Firemen from the 1966 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

It should be remembered that most people planned their evening's TV viewing on a daily basis through listings in the newspaper in 1968. Only readers of the Radio Times (see below) would have known that this was going to be another Cyberman story.

William Hartnell always raised his game when confronted by an exceedingly good actor, and Troughton obviously relishes the opportunity to act opposite a strong performer. In this story he'll have plenty of those with Stoney, and shortly with Nicholas Courtney.

He had been told about this story after completing Fury From The Deep, and was really looking forward to it. He was very disappointed, however, to learn that Jack Watling would no longer be participating.

Jamie will get quite a bit to do in the first half of this story, before Zoe takes over later. Here, it is he who goes with the Doctor to the IE building and meets Vaughn and Packer - the latter of whom takes an instant dislike for the boy and will spend a lot of the next few weeks hoping to beat him up.

You do have to wonder how Vaughn ever got to be so successful when he surrounds himself with people like Packer (brutal, but a bit thick). (And just wait until you meet Vaughn's supposed top research scientist...).

Surrounding yourself with idiots might make you look great in comparison, but men like Packer do have a job to do - and we'll soon see that they aren't really up to it. (There are obvious current parallels...).

In some ways this story might resonate more today than it did back in 1968 - an IT billionaire who has a great deal of power beyond his business interests. The Silicon Valley / AI entrepreneur folks of today don't have to hypnotise people to get what they want, however. Just throw their millions in a certain direction...

The idea that Isobel Watkins may have been considered as a potential companion is interesting, to say the least. She is actually rather an annoying character who feels like a bit of a throw back to earlier in the decade. She's much more like the "dolly bird" stereotype which Polly was intended to be.

How serious Bryant and Sherwin were about her returning in Season 7 depends on when Wendy Padbury confirmed her departure from the show. She has stated that she was invited to stay on, but decided to leave with Troughton and Hines. They also created Dr Liz Shaw as the next companion - a scientist more in Zoe's vein than Isobel's.

Rumour has it that a copy of this episode exists in private hands - it is one of two episodes from the serial which are lost to the archives - as Nicholas Courtney mentioned in an interview being shown a copy at his home by a fan, though it didn't have a soundtrack. As the soundtrack does exist, and so could be reunited with the visuals, it would seem that the episode ought to have been returned to the BBC by now. The fact that it hasn't has led most fans to believe that Courtney was mistaken in the particular episode he was shown, and may have meant the first episode in which he features. Either that, or there's a silent VHS copy out there somewhere.

Trivia:

• The ratings for the new story get off to a good start, including the audience appreciation figure.
• In London and the South East, ITV replaced Joe 90 with Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants, which would prove hugely successful and impact Doctor Who's ratings.
• The series had been off the air for two consecutive Saturdays following The Mind Robber (5), due to coverage of the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. There was now a seven week gap between recording and broadcast - a far cry from when Troughton first started.
• With the episode missing, we don't know how the Doctor knows that they are in 20th Century England. The location may be evident from the landscape, but he mentions that Travers could be a baby or a schoolboy - so doesn't actually know the time period.
• This is the first of seven Troughton episodes which are both missing from the archives and lacking in telesnaps - two from this story, as mentioned, and five from The Space Pirates. You have to go right back to The Dancing Floor, third instalment of The Celestial Toymaker for a similar situation - but that had many photographs taken during camera rehearsals, some in colour. The final story for which telesnaps exist, as far as we know, was The Wheel in Space. As John Cura took his images right up until just before he died, in April 1969, he may well have taken some of these missing episodes - just not found a buyer. After his death his widow offered his archive to the BBC, but they rejected it and it is believed it was subsequently destroyed.
• Other than the whole section in the compound involving the lorry driver, we at least know what this episode looked like as locations such as Vaughn's office and Isobel's studio appear in other episodes.
• At a programme review meeting in early November, concern was raised by the BBC's controller of television programmes, Ian Atkins, about the sequence of the killing of the lorry driver, who is shot - twice. He felt this was "nasty and gratuitous", especially in such a realistic setting, and this sort of violence had no place in an "institution" like Doctor Who. He asked for the violence in the show to be closely monitored.
• One young viewer wrote into Junior Points of View to query Isobel's use of "two quid" - i.e. £2 - if the story was set in 1975, as she was sure the UK would have gone decimal by then. Of course, we did go decimal, but people still call the Pound a quid today.
• As well as Lethbridge-Stewart, Travers, and possibly his daughter Anne, from The Web of Fear, Driver Evans was also considered for a return in this story. However, it was felt that his cowardly nature might upset Welsh viewers.
• This is the first of several roles in the series for Peter Halliday. He provided voices for both the Silurians and the commander of the Alien Ambassadors in Season 7, before taking on the role of Pletrac in Carnival of Monsters. He returned to play Captain Tancredi's bodyguard in City of Death, and his final role was as the blind clergyman in Remembrance of the Daleks. He will also provide the Cyberman voices for this story.
• Walter Randall, seen briefly here as the IE Patrolman, had previously played Tonila in The Aztecs, El Akir in The Crusade, and Hyksos in The Daleks' Master Plan - the latter two roles for Douglas Camfield. He will go on to feature as Slocum in Inferno (Camfield again) and an overseer in Planet of the Spiders.
• Geoffrey Cheshire had played the Viking leader in The Time Meddler and Garge in The Daleks' Master Plan. He also played a Roboman in the film Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150AD.
• Douglas Camfield will revisit an invisible TARDIS in Terror of the Zygons - in a deleted scene that was due to introduce the Doctor and his companions into the first episode. Variable lighting conditions due to the weather on location led to its deletion, but it is available on the DVD and Blu-ray as an option.
• Camfield would also reuse Millbank Tower for the Zygon story - now posing as Stanbridge House, scene of the energy conference threatened by the Skarasen. Built in 1963, it was briefly the UK's tallest building - until superseded the following year by the Post Office Tower (WOTAN's base of operations).
• The Doctor's suspicions about Vaughn arise from his blink rate, which he says is less than once every 10 - 15 seconds, which is the norm for humans. That would work out at between 4 and 6 a minute. However, blink rate varies depending on activity. Resting, it is 14 - 20 times per minute, and when talking it rises to 26 or more. If Vaughn is blinking less than 6 times per minute during a conversation, then he really is reacting in an inhuman manner.
• Radio Times carried a photograph of a Cyberman near St Paul's Cathedral along with the day's programme listings - despite the fact that the aliens' involvement in the story would be held back until the end of Episode 4...

R is for... Rassilon

The founder of Time Lord society. A scientist, engineer and later politician, it was he who had harnessed the nucleus of a Black Hole to provide the power source for Gallifrey's initial experiments in time travel. This Black Hole had been the result of an artificially created supernova - detonated by fellow engineer Omega. He had apparently perished in the process, and it was Rassilon who would become known as the first and greatest of the Time Lords - the premier Lord President of the High Council.

He invented a number of objects which would bear his name - some ceremonial and some practical. These included items used in the inaugurations of future Presidents, such as the Sash and Coronet. The President also bore a sceptre-like device known as the Great Key, but the real key was actually the controlling mechanism for a powerful weapon and it was entrusted to the Chancellor.

The Sash was actually designed as a protection against the energies of the captured Black Hole nucleus, whist the Coronet gave its wearer the power to control the minds of others.

In its earliest days, Gallifrey was an interventionist power. Rassilon led campaigns against a race of giant vampires, devising Bow Ships as a weapon against them, and the spider-like Racnoss.

Whilst he went on to become a much loved, almost legendary figure, there were rumours that he abused his power. Another of his creations was the Time Scoop, and this was used to abduct alien beings to fight barbaric games, held in a region known as the Death Zone. He would come to be buried in the Dark Tower at the centre of this region - and it was even said that the other Time Lords had actually deposed him because of his tyranny and imprisoned him there.

Whilst Rassilon had died physically, his life force persisted. On his body was his ring, which it was claimed could bestow upon its wearer immortality. 

Future President Borusa discovered the Time Scoop and - wishing to become President Eternal - used it to hijack various incarnations of the Doctor to clear a path to the Dark Tower for him. 

An image of Rassilon appeared above his funeral bier, which could interact with Borusa and the assembled Doctors.

He granted Borusa his wish - but this was to turn him to living stone, imprisoned for all eternity on the bier.

During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords resurrected Rassilon to lead them against the Daleks. This was in a younger incarnation, and he was as much a warrior as a scientist and politician. He armed himself with another of his artefacts - a death-dealing gauntlet - and wore armour under his robes.

With defeat on the horizon, he devised an elaborate plan. The Time Lords would ascend to a higher plane of existence, relinquishing their physical forms. Gallifrey remained locked within the Time War, so a bridgehead would be formed with Earth. Here were the last remaining Time Lords out with the time lock - the Doctor and the Master. A secret message was hidden within the Master's mind - a drumming sound composed of four notes, the heartbeat of a Time Lord. He would grow up with this sound in his head, and it would eventually drive him insane. On the last day of the war, just before the Daleks could destroy Gallifrey, Rassilon despatched a physical link to Earth - a gemstone from his staff which the Master would recognise as it was native to their planet. He could then use this to create the bridgehead that would draw Gallifrey out of the time lock and into normal Time / Space - putting the Earth at risk due to its proximity.

The Doctor was able to convince the Master that Rassilon's scheme would spell disaster - helped by the fact that the Lord President showed only arrogant contempt for the Time Lord who had just helped free Gallifrey. The Master fought Rassilon, and forced him back into the time lock, along with Gallifrey.

The planet was not destroyed, however. The combined TARDISes of twelve of the Doctors were able to save the planet by depositing it in a pocket of time at the end of the Universe. 

Rassilon continued to rule. He became obsessed by an ancient legend that stated that Gallifrey would be destroyed by something known only as "the Hybrid". He suspected that the Doctor knew what this was, and so entered into a bargain with the immortal Me to trap him. He would be imprisoned within his own Confession Dial - an object which Time Lords used to store their last will and testament.

After billions of years in a recurring nightmare world, the Doctor was finally able to break free and found himself on Gallifrey. He sought revenge more for the death of companion Clara Oswald - killed during the effort to ensnare him - than for his captivity.

Rassilon sent troops to capture him, but they remembered his actions during the Time War and refused to arrest him. The High Council were then sent to try diplomacy - but the Doctor rejected this. Eventually, Rassilon went to confront the Doctor personally, accompanied by a squad of troops who were ordered to kill him when he refused again to comply.

They rebelled, and Rassilon's power was broken. The Doctor forced him, and the rest of the High Council, into exile.

Played by Richard Mathews, Timothy Dalton, Donald Sumpter. 

Appearances: The Five Doctors (1983), The End of Time (2009/10), Hell Bent (2015).

• Rassilon is first mentioned in The Deadly Assassin, so is the creation of Robert Holmes - though he didn't appear on screen until the 20th Anniversary story, written by Terrance Dicks.
• In his novelisation of The Five Doctors, Dicks stated that Rassilon still lived, but on another plane of existence.
• Spin-off material has a triumvirate leading Gallifrey in its earliest days - Rassilon, Omega and "the Other", who may or may not be the Doctor, but probably is. Though never stated on screen, behind the scenes it was intended that the trio of Time Lords seen briefly in The Timeless Children are they.
• Richard Mathews was a character actor who appeared in the TV classic Children of the Stones and The Satanic Rites of Dracula in a career that spanned almost half a century (1948 - 1993).
• It had originally been hoped that Rassilon would be played by Charles Gray in The Five Doctors - Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and Mocata in The Devil Rides Out.
• Timothy Dalton will be best remembered as the fourth official James Bond, playing 007 in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. He was unavailable to reprise Rassilon in Hell Bent due to working in Dublin on Penny Dreadful.
• Donald Sumpter had previously played Enrico Casali in The Wheel in Space, and Submarine Commander Ridgeway in The Sea Devils. He also played the alchemist Erasmus Darkling in The Eternity Trap, one of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• On audio, Rassilon has also been played by Don Warrington (Rise of the Cybermen and Death in Paradise), Terrance Hardiman (The Beast Below and The Demon Headmaster), and Richard Armitage (Robin Hood and The Hobbit trilogy).

R is for... Ransome, Thea

A scientist employed by industrialist Dr Fendelman, who sought to study the human race's earliest origins. During an expedition to central Africa, a skull had been unearthed which analysis showed to be millions of years older than the date currently accepted for the appearance of the human ancestor. 

The skull was brought back to a secluded mansion near the village of Fetchborough, which Fendelman had recently bought to use as a research centre. Along with Thea, he also employed scientists Adam Colby and Max Stael. With the latter, he was conducting secret experiments with a time scanner. He hoped that this would let him see into the distant past, but it was highly unstable.

With the humourless Stael busy with Fendelman, Thea bonded with Adam. 

She began to suffer blackouts, during which she was drawn to the skull. It had a crack in the shape of a pentagram at its crown - a feature which Thea also had.

At one point she collapsed, and several small slug-like creatures appeared briefly on her body. The Doctor recognised these as embryonic Fendahleen which, when fully grown, comprised a gestalt creature with a humanoid core - the Fendahl. 

This creature devoured the life force and if left unchecked would destroy every living thing. The Time Lords thought they had trapped and destroyed it on the fifth planet of the Solar System, blowing up the entire planet and confining the remains within a time loop. However, the core had escaped to prehistoric Earth, wiping out life on Mars on its way there.

The skull from Africa was all that was left of it - and Thea was fated to become the new core.

She was abducted by Stael, who secretly led a local coven devoted to the Fendahl.

Thea was transformed into a golden skinned being who could turn people into Fendahleen.

The Doctor used the time scanner to set up a controlled implosion which destroyed the new Fendahl, then dumped the skull into a supernova to prevent it from ever being resurrected again.

Played by Wanda Ventham. Appearances: Image of the Fendahl (1977)

• Second of three appearances for Ventham in the series. She had previously played Jean Rock in The Faceless Ones, which also featured Donald Pickering. The pair were reunited in 1987 for Time and the Rani.
• She was also considered for the roles of Todd in Kinda, Dr Solow or Lt. Preston in Warriors of the Deep, Jane Hampden in The Awakening, and Queen Katryca in The Mysterious Planet.
• Another notable sci-fi role was as Colonel Virginia Lake in Gerry Anderson's UFO.
• Horror roles include The Blood Beast Terror (1968) and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974).
• She is the mother of actor Benedict Cumberbatch, and featured in Sherlock as the consulting detective's mother.