Synopsis:
Ian finds himself trapped inside the bomb casing as the Daleks position it over the shaft, ready to send it hurtling into the depths of the Earth...
He frantically tries to sabotage it, pulling randomly at the various wires. The bomb halts a few metres down, and Robomen are ordered to haul it back up to the launch area.
Ian manages to open a hatch on the underside of the bomb and starts to climb out, but is spotted by the Daleks. They fire and burn the rope he is hanging from, causing him to slide down the shaft. He comes to a stop, stunned, at a point where the shaft turns and there is a hatch through to another part of the complex.
Barbara and Jenny are brought into the Dalek control room. They see that the Daleks have a device though which they issue orders to the Robomen. To cause a distraction, Barbara makes up a complicated plot - an imminent attack on the mine workings using characters from history. She then attempts to order the Robomen to turn on the Daleks but is prevented from doing so. She and Jenny are left clamped to a wall. They will be left here to die in the explosion of the Dalek bomb.
Ian wakes and explores the area beyond the hatch. He finds several lengths of shoring timber, and decides to use these to block the bomb's path down the shaft.
The Black Dalek drops their bomb, unaware that it has been stopped close to the surface, then retreats to their saucer which will hover over the area.
The Doctor sends Susan and David to destroy the power generating cable which surrounds the mine, then he and Tyler enter the command centre now that the Daleks have withdrawn. They free Barbara and Jenny. The Doctor uses their scanner to observe Susan and David. This change to their equipment prompts a Dalek to come and investigate, but as the power cable is broken, it overheats and dies. Barbara tells the Doctor about the Roboman control device, and he uses it to order them to turn on the Daleks. Robomen and slave-workers rise up against their alien oppressors.
Ian arrives and explains about his sabotage in the shaft.
Everyone flees the mine workings as the bomb detonates. The blast wipes out the Dalek command centre - and takes out the saucer hovering overhead. All that is left is a new volcano, in the heart of England.
Back in London, Wells helps to clear the rubble from the TARDIS.
Aware of their feelings for each other, the Doctor formulates a scheme to force the issue between Susan and David. Ian and Barbara realise what he is about to do - and that they must take a step back.
The Doctor closes and double-locks the doors. He asks Susan to step back so that he can see her, then tells her that it is time that she settled down and lived her own life. With David she can do that. Promising to return and visit her one day, he dematerialises the TARDIS. David explains to her that the Doctor had to take action, as they would never have willingly parted from each other. Susan discards her TARDIS key in the rubble...
Next episode: The Powerful Enemy
Written by: Terry Nation
Recorded: Friday 23rd October 1964 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:55pm, Saturday 26th December 1964
Ratings: 12.4 million / AI 60
Designer: Spencer Chapman
Director: Richard Martin
It is very noticeable that the character of Jenny simply vanishes after the explosion at the mine workings. Everyone else gets to appear at the "walk down" at the end - even the minor character of Wells. This is a throwback to the original plans for the new companion. One of the complications here was yet another potential cancellation crisis. The BBC would not commit beyond the end of 1964. There would have been little point introducing a new regular were the series about to end.
Plan A had been for Susan's replacement to have developed out of this story. She would have been a teenage resistance fighter of Anglo-Indian descent, named Saida. The actor Verity Lambert had in mind would have been Pamela Franklin (who had been one of the child stars of The Innocents). She was due to have disappeared towards the end of the story - only to turn up as a stowaway on the TARDIS.
When the production team opted to go with Plan B - introducing the new companion in a two-part story to immediately follow this one, thanks to a renewed commitment towards the series by the BBC - Saida's role in events was given to the character of Jenny, which is why she just disappears before the ending.
Ann Davies would go on to become a very good friend of Jacqueline Hill. They had children of similar age and enrolled in adult education together before Hill returned to acting. Reid also helped care for Hill in her final illness. Her husband, Richard Briers, would finally appear in the series in 1987 as the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers, as well as an episode of Torchwood's second series.
A particular highlight of this episode is Barbara's attempt to fool the Daleks into believing they are under attack, using her knowledge of history. When the Black Dalek points out that they already control India, she switches it to "Red Indians" and brings in the Boston Tea Party. Hannibal is coming over the Southern Alps with his elephants, and the Seventh Cavalry are also involved. It's a lovely sequence. This story has given all the regulars something to get their teeth into - even Hartnell who has missed a week.
The metal clamps used to hold Barbara and Jenny to the wall just after this scene failed to work, so both had to hold them in place themselves.
Unfortunately, for the Daleks (and for the viewers), it's death by stock footage. The movie version has Daleks being sucked down into the bowels of the Earth, then we see the Dalek saucer dragged down to crash into the mine workings. For many people, this was their main image of this story, before it got its VHS release. What we get here is a montage of stock footage of old newsreel volcanic eruption images, and cast members describing things that have happened off screen. After six weeks, it is really rather disappointing.
Whilst little development had gone into the circumstances of Susan's departure - with Carole Ann Ford and Peter Fraser having to improvise and ad lib some romance between their characters - this was not the case with the departure scene itself. Ford and William Hartnell were invited to spend a weekend with Terry Nation and his wife at his country home in Kent to discuss the sequence.
Hartnell is given one of his finest speeches, worth quoting in full:
Doctor: During all the years that I have been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me.
Susan: Oh grandfather, I belong with you!
Doctor: Not any longer, Susan. You are still my grandchild, and always will be, but now you're a woman too.
I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David you'll be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do.
Believe me my dear, your future lies with David, and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties.
Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.
Goodbye Susan. Goodbye my dear".
However, there were actually a couple of other lines which Hartnell omitted. The same thing had happened with his last big solo speech - at the conclusion to The Edge of Destruction. The missing lines here were:
Doctor: "Work hard both of you. Be gentle with her David and show her that life on Earth with love and understanding can be a great adventure.
And remember, love is the greatest jewel of all."
Hartnell's speech was reused to introduce The Five Doctors in 1983, and featured again in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time.
Carole Ann Ford went straight into panto on leaving Doctor Who. Unfortunately she found herself badly type-cast and took on voice-coaching work to supplement her income - something she still does today. She reprised the role of Susan in 1983, in The Five Doctors, where she was paired with the First Doctor as essayed by Richard Hurndall. Later, she returned to the role of Susan in a number of Big Finish audios - some set during her time on the TARDIS and some following on from this story.
Changes were taking place behind the scenes as well as in front of the cameras. This is the final episode to have David Whitaker credited as Story Editor. He had already been employed by his successor - Dennis Spooner - to write the following two-parter which would introduce the new companion.
- This episode was broadcast 15 minutes late due to Boxing Day sports coverage.
- As it's Boxing Day most people are staying at home, so the viewing figures rise by a million and the AI goes up 2 points.
- The draft title for this episode was "Earth Rebels".
- Because of the Winter Olympics making use of technical facilities, recording for this episode was moved to a later slot of 9:00 - 10:15pm on 23rd October (it was usually 8:30 - 9:45pm at this time). There were concerns that 75 minutes would not be long enough and, due to the complexity of this episode, recording overran by some 17 minutes. A major reset of the studio to get rid of the bomb room alone took up 20 minutes. Other problems included a 5 minute camera failure and a sound failure of similar duration.
- Take note of the corridor as the slave workers storm the Dalek control room. You can see the "It is forbidden to dump bodies..." poster and the TARDIS landing site, waiting for the recording of the final scenes.
- On completion of the filming, the two Barnardos Daleks were returned to the charity, on the proviso they could be borrowed back again, whilst four Daleks, including the Supreme, were put into storage at Ealing. A third Dalek story had already been planned.
- As with the first Dalek story, Aaru bought the rights to turn this into a 90 minute movie starring Peter Cushing. Released in 1966, as "Dalekmania" was already waning, it was clear what the main selling point was, as it was titled Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150AD. No mention of "Dr Who" and he hardly features on the main poster image.
- On her last day in studio, Carole Ann Ford brought in her 8mm cine-camera and took some colour footage. Unfortunately she reused the film by mistake, leaving it double-exposed. We can see director Richard Martin in the top image, and a smiling William Hartnell, sans wig, in the lower one.
- The 1964 Radio Times Christmas issue carried an article based loosely on Lewis Carroll's Alice, comparing the BBC with his Wonderland. One particular encounter dancer Barbara Lord had was with William Hartnell's Doctor and a bizarre drinks party including a pair of Daleks, one of which was the Black Dalek. A handful of colour images had been taken for the first Dalek story, retained by Ray Cusick, so this was the first time the general public would have seen their colour schemes.
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