Today in 1968 Patrick Troughton could briefly be seen acting opposite himself. He was both the Doctor and would-be tyrant Salamander in the sixth and final episode of The Enemy of the World. Director Barry Letts didn't realise that there was a simpler way of filming this, so all we got was the one quick scene (above).
In 1973 Letts was directing again, as Carnival of Monsters Part One was broadcast. The second story of Season 10, this story was actually recorded straight after The Time Monster at the end of the Season 9 block.
Another story which began today was The Armageddon Factor, the final section of the Key to Time season. Its first episode made its debut on this day in 1979.
In 1984, the second instalment of Frontios was first shown.
Today we remember director Douglas Camfield, one of the most significant figures of the classic era. His first involvement with Doctor Who was as assistant to director Waris Hussein on An Unearthly Child. As Hussein had little film experience, he left it to Camfield to manage the work at Ealing, which included the climactic fight between Kal and Za.
His first directing job was the fourth episode of Planet of Giants - The Urge to Live. This story was reduced to a tighter three-parter, and the combined final instalment became Crisis. Camfield was allowed the credit. His next job was one of his personal favourites - The Crusade. This was followed by The Time Meddler, and then he had to face a 12 part Dalek epic - The Daleks' Master Plan.
He then took a lengthy break to work on other projects, not returning to the series until halfway through the Troughton era.
He directed The Web of Fear, which laid the foundations for the UNIT stories.
It was then another epic, this time featuring the Cybermen (the 8-part The Invasion). He used Kevin Stoney as the principal villain once more, having previously used him on Master Plan.
Camfield was approached to take over the producership of the series in 1969 when Derrick Sherwin was moved to another series, but turned it down.
The new producer, Barry Letts, employed him to direct Inferno in Jon Pertwee's first season. After the location filming, during the studio rehearsals, Camfield collapsed. He had been keeping a heart problem secret from everyone, for fear of losing work. Letts was able to complete the story himself, such was Camfield's detailed pre-planning.
His wife, Sheila Dunn, who appears in this story as Petra Williams, forbade him from doing any more Doctor Who as it was so stressful.
He did return for a final pair of stories early on in Tom Baker's reign - Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom.
He also wrote a couple of stories which were not commissioned - one of which would have featured the Foreign Legion and seen Sarah Jane Smith killed off. A lot of Master Plan had been written by Camfield with the story editor Donald Tosh.
Camfield stopped using Dudley Simpson after the two had fallen out at a party held at the composer's home. Camfield claimed Simpson must be earning a lot of money, but he said he wasn't - and Camfield accused him of lying. The two did eventually make up after Camfield had realised he had been in the wrong.
Camfield was obsessed with the military, so was in his element with UNIT stories.
He directed more episodes of the classic series than anyone else, and everyone agrees it was a question of quality as well as quantity. Six of his nine stories were placed in the Top 50 of DWM's 50th Anniversary Poll.
Camfield died on 27th January 1984, aged only 52.
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