Episode 17: The Wall of Lies

 

Synopsis:

Exploring the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes in search of the missing Barbara, Susan sees the eyes of one of the painted masks move...

Ian and Marco arrive in the Cave and the Doctor points out that he has discovered a secret chamber. Susan had spotted the mask being used as spyholes. They find a hidden door and enter the chamber, just in time to save Barbara from being killed by a Mongol warrior.

Back at the way-station Tegana warns Marco that he should not trust anything which the Doctor and his companions should say. They and Ping-Cho are trying to turn Marco against him. Marco elects to believe the warlord over the travellers, and orders Ping-Cho to spend less time with them. She can no longer share a tent with Susan.

The Doctor informs his companions that he has almost completed the repairs to the 2LO circuit. One more night should do it.

Tegana discovers that the Doctor is holding a second key to the TARDIS, after overhearing Susan speaking to Ping-Cho.

A few days later the caravan arrives at the next way-station - Sinju. This lies close to the Bamboo Forest, and Tegana plots with Acomat to attack the caravan whilst it passes through it.

The warlord spots the Doctor sneaking into the TARDIS that night and warns Marco. He is furious to learn about the other key and confiscates it, ordering the travellers to be kept under guard from now on.

The Doctor realises that the only way they can get the keys back is to force Marco to comply.

One evening, as the caravan is passing through the Bamboo Forest, they decide the time is right to take Marco hostage.

Emerging from their tent, Ian is shocked to find that their guard has been murdered...

Next episode: Rider From Shang-Tu.

Data:

Written by: John Lucarotti

Recorded: Friday 21st February 1964 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 14th March 1964

Ratings: 9.9 million / AI 60

Designer: Barry Newbery

Director: John Crockett

Critique:

Unlike the other six instalments of this adventure, we do not have any of the telesnap images taken directly from the TV screen. This is due to the temporary change of director. The images I'm using here derive from other episodes, which is why they are more generic shots of the main cast members.

With Waris Hussein indisposed, John Crockett was given the task of directing this single instalment. He had previously been a designer. Verity Lambert had earlier employed Frank Cox and Richard Martin to direct parts of stories, as a means of testing them out on the series with a view of giving them a full story later on.

A gentleman named Alberto Giovanni Cura of Clapham was a keen musician and photographer. He anglicised his name to Albert John Cura at the beginning of World War II, Italy having allied itself with Germany. The BBC stopped broadcasting during the war, returning in the summer of 1946. The following year, Cura wrote to the BBC offering his photographic service, using a camera of his own design. 

In the days of live TV, when very little was saved, actors and directors had no way of capturing their work for posterity. You could save a programme only by setting up a camera to film a screen showing that programme. This is how the first two episodes of The Quatermass Experiment survived, but the process had its drawbacks. An insect landed on the screen being filmed during Quatermass' second episode, and remained there for several minutes.

What Cura offered was a sheet of small photographs with a number of larger images - the quantity of which varied depending on the production. This would give the purchaser a visual record of their work.

Below are the snaps for The Roof of the World, the first episode of Marco Polo, numbering 72 images. The opening titles are included, as are key personnel at the end - especially the director credit.

It took until 1951 for Cura's service to be accepted as there had been all manner of issues regarding copyright with the BBC. Producers began to budget for Cura's telesnaps. 

However, the service was optional, and not every director or actor wanted the images. 

Waris Hussein did - but John Crockett did not. This is why we don't have images for The Wall of Lies.

On the last day of rehearsals Story Editor David Whitaker and John Lucarotti added an extra six minutes of material, much of it involving Ian and Marco. On the same day the series finally made it onto the cover of the Radio Times, to tie in with the broadcast of the opening episode of this story. 

Together these angered William Russell, who lodged a formal complaint through his agent. He was unhappy that he and the other regulars were not represented on the RT cover, and about the substantial last minute additions to the script. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Russell had come to accept that he was not the lead on the series - that was Hartnell - but he was the second lead and deserved to get a better share of the action, and to be better treated.

Trivia:

• This episode saw a rise in audience viewing figures of half a million over the previous three instalments. However, the Audience Appreciation Index fell by 2 points.
• John Crockett's direction on this episode led to him being offered The Aztecs a few weeks later.
• He enjoyed his time directing this story and wrote to the production team with some ideas for other historical stories. These included several which, coincidentally, did eventually see production. His ideas were: the Peasants' Revolt, Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Highlanders), Viking raids (The Time Meddler), Sir Francis Drake and the Armada (David Whitaker almost wrote such a story), Sir Walter Raleigh and the founding of the American colonies, Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre (The Chase and The Shakespeare Code), the Romans in Britain (The Pandorica Opens), Richard I and the Crusades (The Crusades), the Pharaoh Akhenaton, the Medici of Florence, Wild West wagon trains, and Cornish smugglers (The Smugglers).
• This episode was the only one of the story to have material which had been recorded cut for timing. This was a scene between the Doctor, Ian and Barbara, discussing their suspicions about Tegana, following their return from the Cave.