Episode 14: The Roof of the World

 

Synopsis:

The TARDIS has arrived in a frozen mountain pass. Susan and Barbara have gone outside and found a huge footprint in the snow... 

They suspect that it might have been made by a giant, but Ian points out that the sun melting the edges of an ordinary footprint could produce the same effect. Looking around them, Ian and Barbara wonder if they could be in a mountain range somewhere on Earth.

The Doctor storms out of the TARDIS, angered by another technical failure. A circuit has burned out, leaving them with no heat or light and disabling the food machine. It will take some time to repair the 2LO circuit, so the others search for resources to make a fire.

Susan spots someone and they follow him - only to find themselves surrounded by Mongol warriors. They are lead by the warlord Tegana. He accuses them of being evil spirits in the forms of people, sent to lure them to their deaths. He commands his men to kill them but is stopped by the arrival of a western man. He dismisses Tegana's superstitions and invites the travellers to join his caravan. 

Barbara correctly guesses that this is the famed Venetian explorer Marco Polo. 

As well as Tegana, who is on his way to conduct peace negotiations with Kublai Khan on behalf of his master Khan Noghai, Marco is accompanied by a young girl named Ping-Cho. She befriends Susan and tells her that she is on her way to an arranged marriage at Shang-Tu - the destination of the caravan.

In order that the TARDIS is not left behind, Ian is forced to tell Marco that theirs is a special caravan which can fly, but only the Doctor can operate it.

Marco agrees to transport it to their next port of call - Lop - but bars the travellers from entering it, claiming that Tegana and his men are still fearful of it.

Once at Lop, Marco reveals that he intends to make a gift of the TARDIS to Kublai Khan, in the hope that he will then be permitted to go home to Venice.

Tegana also has designs on it, planning to use it against the Khan. But first he will use poison to kill Marco and the others...

Next episode: The Singing Sands.

Data:

Written by: John Lucarotti

Recorded: Friday 31st January 1964 - Lime Grove Studio D.

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 22nd February, 1964.

Ratings: 9.4 million / AI 63

Designer: Barry Newbery

Director: Waris Hussein

Guest cast: Mark Eden (Marco Polo), Derren Nesbitt (Tegana), Zienia Merton (Ping-Cho).

Critique:

John Lucarotti was an old acquaintance of Sydney Newman's from Canada, where he had previously written a radio series on the travels of Marco Polo - the 18 part The Three Journeys of Marco Polo. When approached by David Whitaker about writing for Doctor Who, which was going to include adventures in Earth's history in its mix, this was the obvious subject for Lucarotti to propose. The writer was based in Majorca at the time.

This is the first of what will later be known as the "Celebrity-Historical" stories - wherein the TARDIS travellers not only visit a period of Earth history, but encounter one or more famous names from that particular era.

Marco Emilio Polo (c.1254 - 1324) was born in Venice. With his father, Niccolo, and uncle, Maffeo, he travelled along the Silk Road to China in order to trade for oriental goods like silks and spices. He encountered the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty of China. Kublai Khan appointed him as his emissary on diplomatic missions to neighbouring kingdoms. He visited countries such as Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka in the 24 years he remained in the East. After this time he was permitted to return home, but arrived back to find Venice at war with Genoa. Marco was captured by the Genoese and imprisoned, where he met a man named Rustichello da Pisa. It was to him that Marco recounted his adventures, leading eventually to their publication in 1300 as The Travels of Marco Polo, aka Book of the Marvels of the World. Polo had been released from jail in 1299. When he died in 1324 he was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice.

In recent years some doubts have been raised as to the veracity of the stories, as there are important omissions which Marco should have known about (e.g. the Great Wall). It is now generally felt that the main bulk of the story is true, but that da Pisa embellished parts of it.

For his Doctor Who story, Lucarotti used elements of the Travels, primarily his first journey to Peking. Polo had once escorted a princess to her arranged marriage with an elderly suitor - the nephew of Kublai Khan - and there is a Tartar commander named Tegana mentioned in the book, though he is not as significant as the one presented here.

Niccolo and Maffeo get mentioned in this episode, but do not feature in the story.

A unique aspect of this story is the narration, coupled with graphics of a map showing the caravan's journey. It was originally intended that the TARDIS crew would take turns with Polo to narrate, but this was changed to make it just Marco, reading from his diary.

The script mixed ancient and modern names for places, in order that the viewers could understand things better. Peking was used instead of Khan-balik or Beijing, whilst China was referred to as Cathay (but there is a dialogue exchange between Barbara and Marco which points out that these are two names for the same place).

Barry Newbery designed the caravan's tents based on yurts, which were difficult to light. He reasoned that Imperial way stations on the Silk Road would be of a standard layout and so came up with a single set that could be redressed as the story developed - becoming more ornate as the travellers approached Peking.

Waris Hussein had originally been quite despondent about how he was going to realise this epic story in an antiquated BBC studio like Lime Grove D, but Lambert and others assured him he could do it.

Trivia:

• This is the first episode of a story which is generally known as Marco Polo. One earlier title used was A Journey to Cathay.
• This is the earliest episode of Doctor Who to be absent from the archives. In fact, the entire story is missing, although off screen "telesnaps" exist, as well as the episode's soundtrack - recorded at home by a fan.
• Pre-studio filming at Ealing was conducted w/c 13th January 1964. As with An Unearthly Child, Hussein left Douglas Camfield to handle this as he was more experienced with film work.
• Both Hussein and Camfield invited cast members to their homes for meals during the production of this story.
• '2LO' was the second London radio station which began broadcasting in 1922 from Marconi House. After a few months it was incorporated into the BBC.
• The music for this story was composed by Tristram Cary, who had previously composed the score for The Daleks. For this story he resorted to more conventional instruments.
• Following the huge success of the Daleks, the BBC considered sending Verity Lambert to Birmingham at this time, to set up a new soap opera called Swizzlewick - arguing that as she was unmarried it would be no big wrench for her to move. Lambert refused to go, threatening to resign from the BBC if they persisted with the transfer.
• This was the first story to win a Radio Times cover, issued on the Thursday prior to transmission of The Roof of the World. Plans to have the very first episode, An Unearthly Child, on the cover of the 21st November issue had fallen through at the last minute due to BBC managers getting cold feet about the series. What should have been a positive event for the series did not go down well with William Russell, however. The image chosen was one of William Hartnell with Eden and Nesbitt, rather than the regulars. Russell complained to his agent about this. Donald Wilson responded to the agent that he agreed with the grievance, but that the magazine operated its own policy which he had no control over.

• The same Radio Times issue also included a half page feature on the story to tie in with the opening instalment. The accompanying image did include all of the regulars as well as the three main guest cast.

• William Hartnell taught Zienia Merton the old trick of swearing loudly if you wanted the director to offer a second take.
• Eden and Nesbitt worked together again in 1967 on The Prisoner - both featuring in the episode "It's Your Funeral". Nesbitt was the new Number 2, in an episode about the attempted assassination of his predecessor. Eden was one of Nesbitt's co-conspirators, Number 100. The episode also featured Martin Miller as the bomb-making Watchmaker. Miller would also appear in Marco Polo as Kublai Khan in the sixth and seventh instalments - making this Prisoner episode a real Marco Polo reunion.