Inspirations: The Lazarus Experiment

 

The main inspiration for this story is apparent in the title... 

A man begins to mutate following a big scientific experiment and goes on a killing spree, leaving his victims drained of their life-force. He is finally tracked down to a major London church where he is killed.

The scientific experiment in 1953's The Quatermass Experiment (later filmed by Hammer in 1955 as The Quatermass Xperiment, to tap into the new X-rating which had replaced "H" for Horror) was the first manned mission into space. The sole surviving astronaut - Victor Caroon - starts to turn into a bloodthirsty vegetable monster, which is finally tracked down to Westminster Abbey. As it sits on some metal scaffolding, electrical cables are attached and it is fried.

Here, Professor Lazarus' great experiment is a rejuvenation process. Unfortunately, it reactivates long dormant genes which cause him to mutate into a monster which sucks the life-force from his victims. He seeks sanctuary in Southwark Cathedral where the Doctor uses acoustics to cause him to fall to his death.

Writer Stephen Greenhorn took the basic structure of the earlier BBC serial for his Doctor Who story, referencing it in the title.

He did have some other inspirations in mind - namely certain Marvel villains. He was thinking of the Green Goblin and Dr Octopus from the Spider-Man comics, and who had featured in the first two Sam Raimi / Toby Maguire movies. Both were well-meaning scientists who experimented on themselves, only to be transformed into evil villains. When it comes to any scientist changing personality after self-experimentation, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde obviously comes to mind.

Another influence was The Fly - first filmed in 1958, then remade in 1986. In this a scientist enters a pod-like device and ends up monstrously altered.

To guest star in this story as Professor Lazarus we have Mark Gatiss. He was best known for being one third of the on-screen talent of the League of Gentlemen comedy group. Before this, he had been one of the first batch of writers to be approached by Virgin Publishing to write for their new range of Doctor Who 'New Adventures' novels.

Target had begun the range back in 1973 with the reprint of three Hartnell stories. The releases had quickly caught up with the televised stories, coinciding with the final season on TV. (In 1990 only Planet of Giants and The Space Pirates remained to be published of the older stories - not counting those where permissions hadn't been granted such as the works of Douglas Adams, Eric Saward and David Whitaker's Dalek stories). The Target imprint was taken over by Virgin, who discovered that they had little else to do with it but reprints. As fans had been asking for new material for a while, the BBC and Virgin finally agreed this.

Mark Gatiss' first contribution was Nightshade - which just happened to be inspired by the Quatermass serials of the 1950's. One of the guest characters was an actor who had portrayed "Professor Nightshade" on television - a figure based on Quatermass.

Gatiss would later write an audio for Big Finish which had amongst its cast his friend David Tennant. The two were acting together in a live remake of the first Quatermass story when Tennant found out about his casting as the Tenth Doctor.

Gatiss had already written for Series 1 in 2005 (The Unquiet Dead) so his appearance in this story made him the second person to have both written and acted in a Doctor Who story - the other being Glyn Jones (writer of The Space Museum and Krans, in The Sontaran Experiment).

Doctor Who references had been included within the League of Gentlemen's repertoire - not least the potholing tour guide who mentions that the programme had been recorded in his cave system back in the 1970's, when they were full of Cybermen. This is a reference to the Wookey Hole filming of Revenge of the Cybermen.

One of Gatiss' regular characters was the hapless vet, who accidentally killed his animals in various horrible ways. He was based on Peter Davison's Tristan Farnon character from All Creatures Great and Small.

For this Gatiss wore a blond wig, and when it came to playing the younger version of Prof. Lazarus Gatiss suggested bringing this bit of costume in from home, rather than have another specially made up. He was paid for the use of it.

The script was changed to have Lazarus growing up above a butcher's shop rather than a bookshop - a nod to his Hilary Briss butcher character in The League of Gentlemen.

The biblical character of Lazarus appears in John 11 - 12. He was the brother of Martha (no relation) and Mary and is the man who was brought back from the dead by Jesus. This has led to his name being used in other contexts - such as the Lazarus Effect describing the recovery of a terminally ill person. The Lazarus Sign is some physical movement in a person believed to be brain-dead.

More relevant to this story is the Lazarus Species or Taxon - one believed to have become extinct but is subsequently found to be still living (such as with the Coelacanth). The Professor's body mutates when a mix of long-dormant genes are activated - showing as various animal life-forms which the human race might have evolved into but didn't.

In 2006 scientists discovered a desert-dwelling microbe which can resurrect itself after it dies, thanks to a genetic repair mechanism. It is known as the Lazarus Microbe.

Sharp eyed viewers will have recognised the Genetic Manipulation Device capsule as a reused prop - the lift from The Impossible Planet.

The Doctor turning the organ's volume up to 11 is a reference to This is Spinal Tap, the mockumentary about an English heavy metal band.

It had been hoped that the ending might have been filmed in St Paul's Cathedral, but there had been a recent suicide from the Whispering Gallery and the cathedral authorities declined their assistance.

The Doctor mentions reversing the polarity of the Genetic Manipulation Device - paraphrasing Jon Pertwee's famous phrase (which he actually only ever used once during his tenure as the Doctor, in The Sea Devils).

As far as the season story arc goes, Lazarus and Lady Thaw mention Harold Saxon funding his work, and we also see a mysterious man sowing seeds of suspicion about the Doctor to Martha's mother.

Next time: a story inspired by 24, called 42...