On This Day... 11th May

 

The Wheel In Space arrived at its third instalment today in 1968, one of only two episodes of this story which still survive.

For Jon Pertwee's final story Berry Letts decided to indulge his star one last time. In a way he was also indulging himself as he had elected to direct the story, which he had also co-written. Over the previous five years they had noticed a number of interesting modes of transport whilst out filming on location which they thought would look good in the programme, and Pertwee had introduced the "Alien" to the show - the futuristic car generally known as the Whomobile. The result of all this was broadcast today in 1974 - Part Two of Planet of the Spiders. Most of the episode is taken up with a lengthy chase sequence involving Bessie, the Whomobile, a gyrocopter, a mini-hovercraft and a speedboat.

In the 50th Anniversary year a new design of Cyberman debuted in Nightmare In Silver. The redesign was the best thing about this story, which proved that even Neil Gaiman could write rubbish.

Gaiman has often been compared to the late great Douglas Adams. We remember him today on the anniversary of his death, in 2001 aged only 49.

Adams' first brush with fame came when John Cleese stepped down from Monty Python, and Graham Chapman was looking for a new writing partner. Adams contributed to the Pythons' final season. He attempted to get a Doctor Who story commissioned whilst Robert Holmes was Script Editor, one of his ideas being the basis for his future book about the Krikitmen. Holmes' replacement, Anthony Read, gave him his chance, just as his radio serial The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was being picked up by the BBC. The Doctor Who story he wrote was The Pirate Planet, which featured in Season 16.

When Read stepped down, he proposed Adams as his replacement. He fulfilled this role for the whole of Season 17, for which he contributed City of Death (unplanned) and Shada (planned, but never completed). He left the Script Editor role as Hitchhikers had really taken off, requiring him to come up with a second series, a novelisation, a TV adaptation and an LP version.

He suffered a fatal heart attack following a gym session whilst in the USA, where he was attempting to get a movie adaptation of Hitchhikers off the ground.