Synopsis:
The Doctor, Susan and David are sheltering in the plague cemetery, unaware that a pair of Robomen are placing a powerful bomb only a few feet away...
They notice it a few moments later - just as the Doctor passes out from the effects of the robotising process. David uses the acid from one of Dortmun's bombs to break into the casing then removes the timer.
At the museum, Barbara and Jenny decide to use one of the vehicles to travel up to Bedfordshire, hoping to find their friends. A council dustcart has some fuel in it, left over from some previous parade. They realise that as soon as they start the engine, it will attract the Daleks - but they have little choice.
Susan and David leave the unconscious Doctor under cover then go on a scouting mission to the sewer system, planning on using them to get across the city unseen. The Daleks will soon know that their bomb has failed in this district.
They take to the sewers, and Susan notices spent bullets. David explains that some animals which escaped from the zoo thrive in this environment - such as alligators.
Ian and Larry witness the vast mining operations taking place. They are discovered by a Roboman who questions why they are not with their work party. A man named Wells arrives and provides them with a cover story. The Roboman also queries this, and they are forced to knock him out. Wells has them both hide in the cabin of an earth mover, arranging to come and find them that night.
Barbara and Jenny drive out of the museum and head north. They encounter a Dalek roadblock, but Barbara elects to drive right through it - destroying a number of Daleks. A saucer is alerted and moves to intercept them. They leap out of the vehicle just before it is destroyed, leaving them to walk the rest of their way to Bedfordshire.
Susan almost falls into the sewer when a ladder breaks - just as an alligator approaches. It is shot by Tyler, who appears above them at a manhole cover. He tells them that they have been heading the wrong way anyway. He will help them fetch the Doctor and travel with them.
That evening, Ian and Larry are confronted by a man with a gun. Wells arrives and tells them that this is Ashton - a black marketeer who has ways of slipping in and out of the camp unnoticed. He trades food and medicines for jewellery and other valuables. They hear a strange roaring sound close by. Wells and Ashton inform them that this is the Slyther - pet of the Black Dalek. It is a carnivorous creature, left to roam the mine workings at night, deterring escape. The Slyther's cries suddenly sound much closer, and the creature then forces its way into the vehicle. Ashton is killed whilst the others flee.
Ian and Larry find themselves trapped on the edge of a deep mine shaft, with the Slyther bearing down on them...
Next episode: The Waking Ally
Written by: Terry Nation
Recorded: Friday 9th October 1964 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:40pm, Saturday 12th December 1964
Ratings: 11.9 million / AI 59
Designer: Spencer Chapman
Director: Richard Martin
Additional cast: Nicholas Smith (Wells), Patrick O'Connell (Ashton), Martyn Huntley (Roboman), Nick Evans (Slyther).
Critique:
The main consequence of Hartnell's injury the previous week was his absence from this instalment. The Doctor is seen only very briefly from the back at the start of the episode, then collapses - face unseen.
Hartnell's lawyer had threatened to sue the BBC for negligence, but they denied liability. They agreed to pay for him to get an X-Ray and to have a week's leave on full pay.
Edmund Warwick, who had portrayed the mad botanist Darrius in The Screaming Jungle was taken out of rehearsals for another production (another sci-fi project called State of Anxiety, part of the R3 anthology series) to play the Doctor briefly at the start of this episode, dressed in Hartnell's costume and seen from the back before falling face down.
Hartnell's absence caused some interesting rewrites, most noticeable being David's sudden scientific knowledge. However, pouring acid over it then hitting it with a crowbar is probably not the most advisable way of defusing a bomb...
On Sunday 23rd August, after the team had filmed at Westminster and in Kensington, they moved further north and west to Wembley. This was the location for the Dalek roadblock action. In 1964 a number of buildings still stood in Wembley which had been constructed for the 1924/25 British Empire Exhibition. The locations used were the Palace of Industry (Dortmun's death in Day of Reckoning), Engineers Way and Third Way. It was on the latter avenue that the Daleks were driven into by the lorry.
The lion statue on the plinth, visible in the background in the image above, was saved from the demolition of the HM Government Pavilion. It can now be seen on the southern approach to the very bridge which the Daleks famously crossed in the previous episode.
In his draft scripts, Nation had some added dangers in the sewer sequences - a number of big-eyed albino people with fangs who attacked Susan and David. This got cut back to an obviously juvenile alligator, which apparently kept biting its handler. Had the albino people been included, it would have implied that the Dalek invasion had been going on for a very much longer time period, for humans to have physically adapted to their new surroundings in this way.
This instalment introduces the Slyther. This creature is said to be a pet of the Black Guardian, used as a guard to roam the mine workings at night, eating anyone breaking the curfew. Its origins are never explained, and we don't see it again. Fandom has claimed it as a native of Skaro, perhaps the result of genetic engineering.
The draft script had several Slythers, which Nation described as huge black jellyfish creatures.
It is a basic sack-like costume, with a few tendrils or tentacles, having a plant-like aspect overall. Inside was actor Nick Evans, who had been operating Daleks in the second and third episodes. Such was the interest in the programme at this time, the first flush of what would become "Dalekmania", that Evans was interviewed by the press about this new monster (see below). We'll see a bit more of Evans - including his face - later in this season.
Verity Lambert was unhappy with the design of the Slyther, and asked for changes to be made for the following week's instalment.
During the afternoon rehearsals a couple of men came into the studio and started taking measurements of the Roboman helmets. No-one on the floor knew who they were or what they were doing. It later transpired that they had been sent to take the measurements when the helmets were being considered for merchandising.
We are now into Nation's "pretentious-episode-title phase". Back in Season One, his titles tended to be brief and to the point - The Ambush was about an ambush, The Expedition about an expedition, The Sea of Death about an acid sea and so on. Now we get The End of Tomorrow. From now on many of his titles will have no connection whatsoever to the contents of the episode - at least none that we can work out. When they brought him back in the 1970's he was still giving episodes pretentious titles.
- This episode had a working title of "The Abyss".
- Audience figures - both viewer numbers and appreciation index - remain consistent with the previous instalment.
- Nicholas Smith would go on to achieve sitcom fame as Mr Rumbelow in Are You Being Served?
- Patrick O'Connell became well-known in the 1970's as one of The Brothers, the haulage firm drama which made a star of Colin Baker.
- Martyn Huntley had previously featured in The Sensorites as one of the ragged humans in the city aqueduct. He is credited as "First Human", so presumably is the chap whom the Commander calls "Number One". He will be back as one of the Earp brothers in The Gunfighters.
- The dustcart was a 1958 model used by Ealing Council. As Verity Lambert noted on the story's DVD commentary, someone had scratched off the bottom horizontal of the 'E', making it look like it belonged to "Faling Council". Presumably the design team wanted to avoid using any real organisations in the programme.
- Nick Evans found himself the subject of press attention thanks to his role as the Slyther - such as this from the Daily Mail:
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