San Diego News

It has finally been confirmed, at Comic-Con San Diego, that The War Between The Land And The Sea will begin filming in September, and does indeed feature UNIT and Sea Devils (probably - not mentioned by name).

Two of the UNIT regulars are appearing (Jemma Redgrave & Alexander Devrient), along with two actors who have been in the series before, in quite prominent roles - Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. He was Midshipman Frame, and she Martha's sister. They may well be playing new characters as there's no mention of their previous roles.

Also shown was a lengthy prologue to Joy to the World, the next Christmas Special. This featured the Doctor attempting to deliver food, turning up at wrong places and times (including Manchester in WWII and Mount Everest in 1953) before he finally arrives in a London hotel in the present day. Guest artist Nicola Coughlan has just checked in, and been confronted by a Silurian when the Doctor arrives.

Unlike previous years when Comic-Con material was embargoed, you should be able to find this on the official YouTube channel and elsewhere.

Ysanne Churchman (1925 - 2024)

It has been reported today that actress Ysanne Churchman has passed away at the age of 99. 

She was well known to Doctor Who fans as the voice of the hermaphrodite hexapod Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon (1972), Monster of Peladon (1974), and reprised for a cameo in Empress of Mars (2017).

The costume was operated by Stuart Fell, and the pair collaborated to bring the popular character to life.

Churchman also provided the voice of Lupton's power hungry Eight-Leg in 1974's Planet of the Spiders. 

Primarily a radio performer, the actress came to national fame as Grace Archer in the long-running rural drama The Archers. In 1955, her character was killed off in a fire on the evening that ITV launched in the UK - a deliberate move to sabotage the new channel's ratings.

Other voice work included the puppet show Space Patrol (currently being repeated on Talking Pictures), and TV appearances included cult sci-fi show The Flipside of Dominick Hide and its sequel, and Nigel Kneale's Beasts.

RIP.

What's Wrong With... Kinda

For several years the authorship of this story was questioned by some sections of fandom. In the pre-internet era, little was known about Christopher Bailey. Rumours abounded that the writer was a pseudonym for someone well known who did not wish to be associated with the series. This ranged from playwright Tom Stoppard to pop queen Kate Bush.

Bailey employs a lot of imagery and concepts from Christianity and Buddhism, some of which led to confusion with many viewers. VHS recorders were becoming cheaper and therefore more accessible by the time Season 19 arrived, but many households still did not have them - so there was no opportunity to wind back and review scenes. 

It is doubtful any significant proportion of viewers had studied Buddhism - so the names of the characters in the black void, and what they represented, would have been totally meaningless to the audience.

Quite who these people are is still open to debate. Are they the missing crewmembers? If not, what did happen to them and why are they never mentioned again?

Or are they supposed to be representations of the Doctor, Adric and Nyssa, with the strange object beside them representing the TARDIS?

This is the most common assumption. Two of them are playing chess after all, as we saw Tegan's friends playing draughts earlier.

The painted studio floor is all too obvious for the forests of Deva Loka - and we actually see that some of the vegetation grows in plant pots.

The studio is over-lit - the curse of the programme for much of its classic era - so any chance of engendering mood and atmosphere is lost. We don't even have any sequences set at night.

The Kinda know that the dreaming of an unshared mind can allow the Mara to re-enter this world, so why do they allow the glade of the wind chimes to still exist? Shouldn't it have been dismantled - or at the very least guarded in some way? At one point we actually see some of the tribe come across the sleeping Tegan, but they just look at her for a bit then wander away. If this poses such a danger, why not wake her up?

By failing to take any action they allow this whole chain of events to take place. If it's all to do with fate and "the wheel of time" - so predestined to happen - this isn't made clear.

Was showing a lot of 1980's alarm clocks really the best way to represent the "wheel of time" concept on screen?

Deva Loka is known to the colonial force as S14 - i.e. the 14th planet explored by Commander Sanders. As with the various bosses of bases-under-siege in the Troughton era, we have to wonder how he managed to achieve his position or to retain it.

Adric mentions that the malfunctioning Total Survival Suit might be responsible for the missing crew members. Sanders agrees - and then sets off alone into the jungle in it. No thought of getting it checked out.

As with Sanders' suitability to hold a senior role in the party, so with Hindle. Apparently some background of how he came to have his mental health issues was included in the script, but dropped for the actual programme. A TV show can only be judged by what actually appears on screen.

As with Ghost Light yet to come, if it has to be explained in an interview after the event then there's been a pretty serious problem with the script-editing. (Christopher Bidmead's decision to quit after one season did lead to this being a bit chaotic, script-wise, behind the scenes, with the involvement of three different script editors on some stories of Season 19 - Bidmead, Anthony Root and Eric Saward).

The final episode underran, necessitating Eric Saward devising an additional scene which was recorded during the making of Earthshock. It's just Tegan and Adric arguing in the base airlock.

Keep an eye on Adrian Mills when Aris' wooden framework is attacked by the real TSS. He's clearly worried about the fact that the fire hasn't quite gone out.

The Mara would have worked a lot better as an unseen force for evil, manifesting only through its possession of others. The decision to have it materialise as a huge, pink, plastic-looking snake is an obvious error of judgement. Preferably it should never have been seen at all, but if it had to be included then something with the look and colouring of a real snake would have been (slightly) better.

The climax is all about evil being unable to face itself - but the snake is never seen to be at the same level of the mirrors. It's looking right over everyone's head, and if it had only shrunk itself it could have escaped through one of the many gaps in the mirrors.

As a psychic force, capable of possessing people, why did it take on this giant snake form in the first place?

Story 296: Revolution of the Daleks

In which the Doctor languishes in prison on a remote asteroid, 79 billion miles out in space... 

Back on Earth, Graham and Ryan have been returning to their old lives, whilst Yaz remains obsessed with seeking a means to find her - making use of the TARDIS which had brought them home from Gallifrey as a base.

Shortly after the lone Reconnaissance Scout Dalek had been destroyed at GCHQ in 2019, its remains had been hijacked so that they could be reverse engineered. The man behind this scheme is millionaire businessman Jack Robertson. He is a friend of politician Jo Patterson, the Technology Minister who has designs on leading her party. Robertson presents his Defence Drones to her at a secret location, and she sees how effectively they deal with a staged civil disturbance. They are in fact purely robotic versions of the GCHQ Dalek. They are solar powered, and run on artificial intelligence, equipped with non-lethal weaponry such as tear gas and water cannons. It was Patterson who informed Robertson of the wrecked Recon Scout's transportation arrangements, enabling him to stage the hijack. He promises to have an army of Drones ready in 12 months - just in time for her to use to help win the next General Election.

Patterson goes on to win the election and commissions the Defence Drones from Robertson. Graham and Ryan have discovered footage of them being tested and identified them as Dalek-based. They notify Yaz. Robertson leaves a meeting with his technical expert, Leo Rugazzi, and is confronted by the Doctor's companions - whom he recalls from the spider incident in Sheffield. His security team chase them off. 79 billion miles away, the Doctor discovers that she has a familiar fellow inmate - Captain Jack Harkness. He had learned of her imprisonment and has allowed himself to be arrested so that he can aid her escape. The attempt succeeds and they teleport to where the TARDIS is waiting.

They materialise in Graham's house, where Yaz is upset with the Doctor for abandoning them for so long. They are shown the material relating to Robertson and Defence Drones. The Doctor and Jack will take action.

Leo informs Robertson that he found some organic material in the wrecked casing, and shows him a Dalek mutant which he has grown from it. Robertson is disgusted and orders it incinerated. However, as Leo attempts to do this, it escapes and latches on to him - mentally dominating him.

The Doctor confronts Robertson and he shows her that the Drones are entirely robotic machines, under computerised control. In Osaka, Leo discovers that the Dalek mutant has been working behind the scenes to create a whole army of its kind. When asked bout the Japanese facility, Robertson is confused and explains that he doesn't have anything in that country. Jack and Yaz travel there and discover the mutant cloning farm.

At Downing Street, PM Patterson rolls out the Defence Drones to the general public and they begin taking up positions at strategic locations around London.

The Doctor brings Robertson to the Osaka factory in the TARDIS, and find Yaz and Jack planting explosives to destroy the Daleks. Leo confronts them, revealing his Dalek master. 

The Doctor suddenly notices that the lighting has changed as they have been speaking - distracted by Leo. The mutants have been brought to life by ultra-violet light. before the facility can be blown up, they teleport away and into the waiting Drone shells. No longer needed, Leo is killed.

The new army of Daleks begin exterminating everyone - beginning with Patterson.

The Doctor is at a loss initially as to how she can stop the Daleks, but then comes up with a highly risky strategy - using fire to fight fire. She allows the Recon Scout Dalek's initial message to its own kind to be projected through the temporal vortex to a Dalek Death Squad saucer. This will bring them to Earth.

She is gambling on the new arrivals to reject the new army as they are not pure Dalek.

The Death Squad will hopefully exterminate the newcomers - but needs a second plan to deal with the victors. Otherwise she has simply replaced one invasion force with another.

The two Dalek forces confront each other and, as expected, begin to battle each other. Robertson, always seeking to ensure he is on the winning side, decides to offer his services to the Death Squad, and they transport him to their spaceship. He is going to tell them about the Doctor's presence on Earth to get on their side.

The original Dalek grown from the Recon Scout DNA attempts to ally itself with the Death Squad, but they refuse to accept it due to its lack of genetic purity. They destroy it, ending the new army. Captain Jack transports himself with Graham and Ryan to the saucer with explosives using his Vortex Manipulator. They abduct Robertson.

The Doctor, meanwhile, materialises the TARDIS above London and intentionally draws attention to herself. She then allows the Dalek force to invade her ship.

However, she proves to be a hologram. This isn't her TARDIS at all, but the other one which had brought her companions to Earth. It has been disguised as a Police Box, and its dimensional controls have been sabotaged. The entire Dalek force is trapped within as it collapses in on itself. Jack and the others transport themselves off of the saucer seconds before it explodes.

A short time later, the Doctor and her companions witness Robertson on TV, manipulating recent events to make himself out a hero and hoping that this will help his Presidential hopes. Jack has left to seek out his Torchwood colleagues. As the Doctor is about to set off, Ryan announces that he has decided to remain behind - feeling he has missed too much of day to life with his friends. Graham elects to stay with him, now that they have a healthier relationship which he does not wish to lose.

Revolution of the Daleks was written by Chris Chibnall, and was first broadcast on New Year's Day 2021. It acts as a direct sequel to the 2019 Special Resolution, and sees the departure of Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole as regulars Graham and Ryan.

Walsh had an extremely busy career, involved in a number of prime time TV shows including The Chase, whilst Cole had the offer to make a series in the US.

Whilst Ryan's departure had been set up earlier in Series 12, Graham's departure comes out of the blue. Indeed, the character is clearly intending to travel on with the Doctor is quite surprised when his grandson makes his announcement. The impression is that he is bounced into making his own decision, and his heart isn't truly into it. As such, it's a disappointing way to write out what has inarguably been the best companion figure of the Thirteenth Doctor's run. The funniest companion, and the better actor of the trio.

We are now left solely with the frankly underwhelming Yaz, who has been the least well developed of the companions. It's very annoying to see her angry with the Doctor when we know that she has been stuck in prison and can hardly be blamed for not getting in touch.

Another annoyance is the latest example of this Doctor's impotence. If Jack hadn't shown up, she'd still be stuck in jail. No previous Doctor would ever have spent that much time locked up. The Doctor should be seen to get round any sort of obstacle, quickly, using their wits and ingenuity.

Yaz won't be travelling on her own with the Doctor, however, as we are granted a brief coda after the episode which introduces Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop as a character named Dan.

The Special also sees the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, in what has been his final appearance to date. Soon after, a scandal broke relating to his outré behaviour on set during his initial run on the series and on other shows - leading to him being widely "cancelled". Despite his sexually inappropriate behaviour taking place over years, beginning a decade earlier, allegations about him only surfaced in May 2021 off the back of those regarding one-time co-star Noel Clarke.

A similar fate has befallen the actor who returns as Jack Robertson - Chris Noth - last seen in Arachnids in the UK. Despite being a very broad cartoonish parody of Donald Trump - one reason for the story to be so lowly regarded - Chibnall wanted to bring the character back. A number of women have made allegations of sexual assault against him, the first in December 2021. However, no criminal charges have ever been brought, but his career is very much dead at the moment.

The main guest artist for the story is Harriet Walter, who plays politician Jo Patterson. She is one of Britain's most accomplished actors: made Dame of the British Empire in 2011 for services to her art, member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, star of film, TV and theatre, her career goes back to 1974.

She has performed a number of traditionally male Shakespeare roles, including Henry V and Prospero.

More recent TV work includes Ted Lasso, Succession and Killing Eve. She also featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Leo is played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Prior to getting the role he had appeared opposite Andrew Garfield in the National Theatre revival of AIDS era drama Angels in America. An early TV role for him was as a regular in Misfits.

Sharon D Clarke makes a final cameo as Grace in the closing moments of the episode as Graham and Ryan are seen to go back to where it all began - Ryan practicing his bicycle-riding.

It was always assumed that the unique Dalek design from Resolution could never be used again, being such a one-off, but Chibnall manages it by having new copies made, based on the Recon Scout.

Overall, it's not a bad episode. Always nice to see Daleks en masse, and Captain Jack getting more to do than the mere cameo he had in Fugitive of the Judoon. Even Robertson is more bearable this time round. Only those initial annoyances - and Graham's departure - mentioned above let it down.

Things you might like to know:

• The draft script was pretty close to the finished version. The Defence Drones made their debut in Russia before being brought to the UK by the politician who is already PM, and the threat was more global. The Daleks exterminated most of the world's leaders before being stopped. Graham and Ryan left the TARDIS specifically to help rebuild the Earth after the damage caused by the Daleks.
• To conceal the involvement of the Daleks, the Drones were called "Bobs" in paperwork, with the Death Squad ones called "Nigels".
• Cameo appearances by monsters in the prison include a Weeping Angel, P'ting, Silent, Sycorax, Skithra, Gathering Coil, Thijarian and a Cyberman.
• Filming was able to take place on the Clifton Suspension Bridge near Bristol as it had been temporarily closed for maintenance work.
• Graham and Ryan appear to see Grace's image in the sunlight - but the sun is clearly seen to be behind them when this happens.
• One of the prison escape scenes has obviously been flipped, as the black stripe on the outfits worn by the Doctor and Jack swap sides.
• A few plot queries exist, such as the odds on the driver just happening to stop at the roadside burger van where the hijackers are waiting. What if he had stopped earlier because he had to use the loo? Were agents placed at every potential stop on the route? Also, how does the Dalek mutant, isolated in a tank, manage to set up the whole Osaka facility? If it had been shown that Leo was taken over much earlier and done all this then that might have made more sense.
• Also - whatever happened to the future refugees who travelled back from Gallifrey in that TARDIS? They're simply forgotten about.
• The episode debuted on the BBC i-Player 10 minutes before the TV broadcast.
• It was originally intended that this festive special would move back to Christmas Day, but it was felt to be too dark and violent for that slot.
• Guest star Harriet Walter is a niece of Christopher Lee.

Episode 126: The War Machines (4)

Synopsis:

The War Machine leaves the warehouse as the soldiers retreat, their weapons useless. Everyone runs for cover - apart from the Doctor. He stands his ground as the Machine bears down on him...

It moves to within a few feet of him, then comes to a halt.

The Doctor explains that this is basically a mobile computer, and the attack by the soldiers led to it being activated too soon. It could not have been programmed properly yet.

The army are now able to enter the warehouse and capture Major Green and his men. His mental conditioning broken, he has no memory of recent events. 

The Doctor drops a key which Ben picks up. Distracted by all the activity, he forgets to return it.

News of the incident is soon being reported on TV and radio, with the general public warned that more attacks are expected.

The Doctor is introduced by Sir Charles to his Minister, and informs him of the reason the War Machine failed.

At the Post Office Tower, Professor Brett is in contact with a technician at one of the other construction sites in Battersea. Here Machine No.9 is ready for testing.

Ben is concerned that Polly has not been found at the warehouse. The Doctor has examined the captured Machine and is able to tell Sir Charles and the Minister that there are another eleven War Machines yet to be found, within a 20 - 30 mile radius and all programmed to attack at noon that day.

War Machine No.9 is being put through its paces when it suddenly goes out of control and kills its technician.

It is soon reported that it is loose on the streets, killing and destroying all in its path.

It appears to be heading across the river into West London.

Polly has presented herself at Brett's office for punishment, but the scientist is too busy dealing with this latest malfunction.

The Doctor comes up with a plan to capture the rogue Machine, using a series of electromagnetic fields. Studying a map of the Kensington district, he identifies a place where a trap can be set.

In a cul-de-sac by Cornwall Gardens, three sides of the trap are set up - resembling a boxing ring. Once the War Machine is in position between them, the fourth side will be completed and the power switched on. Ben volunteers to do this.

The plan succeeds, and the Machine is deactivated.

The Doctor announces that he is going to reprogramme it, and send it against WOTAN. It heads for the Post Office Tower - with the Doctor following in a taxi with Sir Charles and the Minister. Realising Polly is there, Ben has gone on ahead to warn her.

He arrives moments before the War Machine and drags her to safety as it fires upon the computer. Professor Krimpton tries to intervene and save WOTAN, but is killed. The computer is wrecked.

When the Doctor and the others arrive, it is to find WOTAN destroyed and Brett unable to remember anything of the last couple of days.

The next day, Ben and Polly hurry to Fitzroy Square to meet the Doctor, whom they see standing next to a Police Box. They inform him that Dodo has recovered and decided to remain in London, which clearly annoys him. Thanking them for the message, he is eager for them to get on their way. 

As they move off, they are suspicious at the way he is lingering by the box then see him open the door and enter. Polly suddenly remembers the key Ben picked up and they go back - despite Ben's worries about missing his transport back to barracks. They unlock the door and enter - and the TARDIS dematerialises seconds later...

Next time: The Smugglers

Data:

Written by Ian Stuart Black

Recorded: Friday 1st July 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 16th July 1966

Ratings: 5.5 million / AI 39

Designer: Raymond London

Director: Michael Ferguson

Additional cast: George Cross (Minister), Kenneth Kendall (Newsreader), Edward Colliver (Technician), John Slavid (Man in Telephone Box), Carl Conway (US Journalist), Dwight Whylie (Radio Announcer)

Critique:

The original storyline would have seen new male companion Rich depart in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Dodo at the conclusion.

Dodo's departure is one of the worst in the history of the programme. She gets ditched halfway through her final story, and it all happens off screen. The Doctor hears about it at the same time as we, the audience, do.

Those actresses who simply failed to return for their next season - Caroline John and Mary Tamm - could be argued to have less satisfying departures. In the case of Liz Shaw, her absence fits the narrative. Time has passed, and she has left UNIT and moved back to academia. Romana I's absence is explained by regeneration. She's a Time Lord, so why not? Well, there really has to be a very good reason for regeneration, and Destiny of the Daleks fails to provide this.

The other famously bad one is Leela's. leaving to get married is a cliché, but narratively acceptable in normal circumstances. But Leela leaves to wed someone she's only just met, and who is hardly of the warrior class, to live in a stultifyingly boring technocratic society. Leaving to go with Nesbin would have just about made better sense.

The cliff-hanger resolution was to have seen the War Machine blow up due to incomplete programming, rather than simply grinding to a halt. This may be why, in the finished version, the Doctor reprogrammes the second War Machine, rather than the one already captured earlier at Covent Garden - in the draft this was destroyed.

The Sir Charles character - Sir Robert - wanted to attack all the mobile computers, which the Doctor had identified as converging on Central London in a circle. He wanted to concentrate on attacking the central computer at the Post Office Tower. Sir Robert was to have kept the military back whilst the Doctor used remote control to send the War Machine to attack WOTAN. Rich had arrived at the Tower earlier to rescue Dodo and been captured by Brett and Krimpton.

In the later camera script, the capture of the Battersea Machine was to have been done in studio. Location footage was to have shown more of the aftermath of the Machine's activities, such as burning motor cars. War Machine No.9 was to have been seen physically tearing WOTAN apart, rather than simply shooting it.

This episode contained a great deal of the location filming which had taken place on Sunday 22nd May (the War Machine on the rampage), and Thursday 26th May (the War Machine capture sequence).

On the first day, scenes were shot on Berners Mews (the couple running away), Maple Street (the arrival of the Machine at the GPO Tower), Charlotte Place (the telephone box scene), and Gresse Street (the Machine knocking through the dustbins).

The high shot of the telephone box attack was achieved by filming from an upper floor of the Duke of York pub.

Most of the publicity shots featuring War machine No.9 were taken during the Thursday location filming in South Kensington. The Machine was pictured with children (see below) and a woman walking a dog.

The main location was Cornwall Gardens and the adjoining Walk. William Hartnell was collected from Bertorelli's restaurant where he was having lunch and taken to the location, after a brief stop at Television Centre for him to get into costume. 

Of the guest cast only William Mervyn (Sir Charles) and Frank Jarvis (Corporal) were required for the scenes of the capture of the War Machine. High shots of the action were obtained from the window of 50F Cornwall gardens, owned by a Mrs Lessing.

The day before the Kensington filming, Wednesday 29th May, Michael Craze provided a vocal recording at Lime Grove Studio R. This was to provide the voice of the police radio car announcement about the War Machine threat.

Joining the cast was Kenneth Kendall who had been a newsreader with the BBC until going freelance in 1961. He had done some acting work and possessed an Equity Card. Kendall had covered a similar role in episodes of Adam Adamant, Mogul and A For Andromeda. He had also presented TV programmes such as Songs of Praise and quiz shows. He would later become even better known for hosting Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice.

He was recorded on a small news desk set, the material then being shown on a TV in a pub sequence. For another shot of the public listening to broadcast warnings, extras simply stood in front of a photographic blow-up of a radio shop façade.

The same technique was used for the US correspondent, to save on creating a set for one brief scene.

Dwight Whylie was a genuine radio announcer, and his involvement had been requested by Innes Lloyd in early June. He presented the BBC Light programme's Breakfast Special.

Unusually, the episode was recorded out of sequence. First before the cameras were all the War Machine shots, including the opening at Covent Garden and the activation of No.9 at Battersea. It was necessary to swap the numbers during a recording break, as the Covent Garden Machine was No.3.

As well as shots against photographic blow-ups, back projection was also employed - such as when we see the War Machine travelling towards the Tower and the Doctor's group in their following vehicle.

A shot of an empty Great Queen Street in Holborn was also used to illustrate the deserted city.

The final recording break of the evening was to set up the closing scene at the TARDIS.

As far as viewers were concerned, Doctor Who's third season drew to a close with this episode. From a production point of view, however, once again a story from this block was to be held over to launch the next season. As location filming had already taken place for The Smugglers, the BBC was able to show a trailer for the story alongside the announcement that the programme would return in the Autumn.

Season 3 had been a time of great change and experimentation, having seen three producers and two story editors. Peter Purves had provided some consistency in the TARDIS with William Hartnell, but there had been a revolving door of female companion figures - Vicki, Katarina, Sara, Dodo and now Polly. 

The programme had dipped its toe into more fantastical realms with The Celestial Toymaker, but the Daleks had very much dominated, thanks to the 12 week epic The Daleks' Master Plan. We had lots of other strong sci-fi stories, but the writing was on the wall for the Historicals, which were clearly losing popularity as far as the production office was concerned.

Season 4 would continue the experimental trend - including the biggest gamble of them all...

Trivia:

• The ratings see the story end on its highest audience figure, but the appreciation index drops below 40 once again. The AI has fallen by 10 points over the course of the story. With summer's arrival and the start of the 1966 World Cup - hosted by England - you would have expected the viewing figure to fall instead. An action-packed finale would normally see a higher audience score.
• The episode was transmitted earlier than usual as the BBC were broadcasting the Royal Tournament that evening. It took the slot normally occupied by Juke Box Jury.
• The BBC commissioned one of their Audience Research Reports for this episode. Of the 149 respondents, around half claimed to have no interest in the series. The ending was deemed anti-climactic and the War Machines regarded as a poor alternative to the Daleks. One lady thought they looked like something her young sons could have made. Many found the idea of a computer taking people over "preposterous". On the positive side, it was still popular with children and people liked the contemporary setting, which made the story more realistic.
• Two weeks later, the story featured on Junior Points of View which also plugged the second Peter Cushing Dalek movie. The programme was still deemed to be frightening to some children, though one wanted to see the return of the Chumblies - not seen since the very start of the season.
• Television Today on 21st July thought The War Machines "one of the better ones" and highlighted the strong supporting cast. Craze and Wills were also praised as the new companions.
• When you watch this story on DVD or streaming service you might be forgiven for thinking that it's one of those stories which exists in its entirety in the archive. This is not the case, however. Some censor-driven cuts were made and not all of the missing material has never resurfaced. Small sections of other episodes are used to plug the gaps.
• Gerald Taylor is credited only as "Voice of WOTAN" on this episode. In the previous instalments he was simply "WOTAN".
• John Slavid - the man in the telephone box - had previously played an officer in The Massacre.

Inspirations: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

This was one of those stories where the title came first - inspired by the 2006 movie Snakes on a Plane - and the story was then built around it.

The writer handed this brief was Chris Chibnall, who had been responsible for the first two seasons of Torchwood and had written 42 under the RTD regime. For Moffat he had written the two part Silurian story for the previous series, and most recently had been the writer on the five mini-episodes which comprised Pond Life. Having been a lead writer on Torchwood, and run his own series - Camelot and Law & Order UK - he was given a pair of episodes to work on for this series, whilst Moffat was busy juggling Sherlock and Doctor Who.

As well as the title coming from a movie, the story also owed its origins to a discussion between the producers and the VFX company about what they might be able to achieve for the programme. 

The technology to create convincing dinosaurs on a TV budget had been proven a while back, with the landmark series Walking With Dinosaurs. This had led to shows like ITV's Primeval becoming possible, which had a heavy reliance on the creatures in a range of settings.

To make the story as exciting as possible, the spaceship of the title would be on a collision course with Earth - adding additional peril. At the same time, the producer - Marcus Wilson - suggested the use of some large, expensive robot costumes which had only ever been seen on the CBBC series Mission: 2110. Their exposure had, therefore, been limited, and it was felt that they could be included somewhere in the story.

When it came to populating the story with additional characters, Chibnall decided on two things - a look at Rory's family background, and the idea of the Doctor putting together an eclectic gang from his various travels to assist him. The latter had already proved successful in A Good Man Goes To War, which brought together what would later become known as the Paternoster Gang.

The Big Bang had shown Amy's parents, but we hadn't seen anyone from Rory's family. It was decided to incorporate his father into this gang. 

The gang would therefore have a mix of contemporary and historical people - both fictional and factual.

The latter was represented by Queen Nefertiti (c.1370 - c.1330 BC). She had famously vanished from history, her burial place still undiscovered, so any story could be made up about her. She also had a distinctive appearance. thanks to the antique famous bust in the Neues Museum in Berlin.

The fictional figure from the past was a big game hunter named John Riddell. He was based on similar characters from a host of old adventure series set in Africa (such as the Tarzan movies), and Alan Quatermain of H Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines (1885). One particular forebear is the character John Roxton, as played by Michael Rennie in George Pal's 1960 adaptation of The Lost World - another big game hunter confronted by dinosaurs.

This character was added later as he was originally going to be a cowboy, named Buffalo Jones. This idea was dropped when it was decided that a full-blown Western was going to be one of this series' stories.

The villain of the piece - Solomon - was inspired by the Somali pirates who were in the news plaguing shipping in the Indian Ocean, and subject of the 2013 Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips.

Having reintroduced the Silurians to the series, Chibnall saw that it made sense to have them involved. As well as building subterranean shelters to avoid the expected disaster in prehistoric times, first mentioned in The Silurians, some had built a space ark to preserve more of their larger wildlife.

However, this went against established history for the creatures, who had never shown any space-going abilities. You have to ask why they simply didn't relocate their entire civilisation to another planet.

To play the lone representative, seen in ancient recordings, actor Richard Hope was cast. He had previously portrayed Malokeh in The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, and The Wedding of River Song. Here he plays a character named Bleytal. This continued the trend that Silurians have genetic groupings where multi-generational members are identical in appearance.

(Malokeh's name had been derived from that of their creator, Malcolm Hulke).

At one point the Doctor claims to be a Sagittarian. This is the astrological star sign which covers 23rd November - birthdate of the series.

Next time: The Good, The Bad and the Cyborg...

N is for... Nimrod

A member of the Neanderthal race which became extinct around 40,000 years ago when superseded by Homo Sapiens. Nimrod had been captured by an alien entity known as Light, who visited the Earth in prehistoric times as part of an expedition to catalogue all of its lifeforms.

Held in suspended animation as the last example of his kind, he was later woken up by Josiah Samuel Smith in the early 1880's and employed by him as butler. Smith was a member of Light's crew, who had rapidly evolved into a Victorian gentleman. He had taken over the expedition, intent on reaching the ultimate evolutionary goal of becoming head of the British Empire.

Light was left to oversleep within their spacecraft. Nimrod continued to worship the entity. The Doctor befriended him by offering him the gift of a fang from a cave bear, which was a totem for his tribe.

After Smith's scheme had been thwarted, and the awakened Light destroyed, Nimrod elected to travel across the universe in the space ship, accompanied by Victorian explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper and Control, another of the original crew. 

Played by: Carl Forgione. Appearances: Ghost Light (1989).

• Forgione (1944 - 1998) had previously appeared in the series as Land, one of Lupton's circle in Planet of the Spiders.
• Neanderthals were named after the discovery of remains in the Neander Valley, in what is now Germany, in 1856.
• Smith has named his butler after the biblical figure Nimrod, a great grandson of Noah who was famed as a mighty hunter and King of Shinar.

N is for... Nimons

A race of huge bull-headed bipedal creatures, the Nimons were intergalactic parasites. One of their number would insinuate themselves with a victim planet by offering its people whatever they most wanted - wealth or domination over others. Tributes would be called for as payment - energy crystals composed of radioactive hymetusite and a number of young people upon whom the Nimons fed, draining them of their life-force. 

The crystals would be used to power a transportation system that would be used to allow the rest of their race to invade in force. Artificial black holes would be created which their egg-shaped travel pods could pass through.

Once a planet had been drained of all life and resources the process would begin again as one of their kind would travel on to the next target world. They described this as "The Great Circle Of Life".

The planet Skonnos sought to regain its old military might and its leader Soldeed entered into a bargain with the lone Nimon. Tributes were sought from the planet Aneth, an old enemy of Skonnos which they had previously conquered. The final batch of young people were forced into the Nimon's lair, accompanied by Romana, taking the hymetusite with them. She used one of their travel pods to visit Crinoth - the ravaged planet which the aliens were about to abandon.

More of the Nimons arrived on Skonnos, and Soldeed realised too late that he had been tricked. He triggered a chain reactor in the lair's nuclear reactor as he died. The Doctor was able to trap the main force of Nimons on the dying Crinoth, whilst the creatures already on Skonnos perished as their base exploded.

Played by: Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St.John Harker. Voiced by: Clifford Norgate. Appearances: The Horns of Nimon (1979/80).

• The Nimons - and the story as a whole - were inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.
• Dancers were cast, but found their movements severely limited due to the heavy headpieces and tall platform shoes (mimicking hooves) which they had to wear.
• It was originally intended that the heads were actually helmets, with their real head within. This was cut for budget reasons.
• The Minotaur in The God Complex was said to be a cousin of the Nimons.
• Clifford Norgate also provided vocals on The Leisure Hive.
• The plural is Nimons, as is evident from dialogue. Many fans think it to be simply Nimon, but this is due to there only being a single individual for much of the story - "the Nimon" / "Lord Nimon".

N is for... Nilson

A senior crewmember of Sea Base 4 which, in the year 2084, provided defence for one of the two great power blocs which were in conflict at the time. However, Nilson was actually an agent for the opposing bloc, as was Dr Solow whose responsibilities included the mental conditioning of the base's Synch-Operator. This individual had an electronic implant in their skull, which allowed them to interface directly with the computerised missile launch systems. This was an inexperienced young crewman named Maddox.

Nilson and Solow reprocessed him to sabotage the computers, and kill anyone who tried to stop him. They would then steal the processing software and pass to their own people.

Their actions coincided with an assault on the base by a combined Silurian and Sea Devil force. They planned to use its missiles to trigger a conflict in which both blocs would destroy themselves - allowing them to retake the planet.

Nilson attempted to flee the base, taking Tegan Jovanka with him as hostage. The Doctor used an ultra-violet light emitter to blind him, and he stumbled into the path of a Sea Devil warrior who shot him dead.

Played by: Ian McCulloch. Appearances: Warriors of the Deep (1984).

• McCulloch played Greg Preston, one of the regulars on Terry Nation's series Survivors.
• He is also well known for several appearances in Italian horror films, such as Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters (aka Zombi 2) and Zombie Holocaust.
• He had previously been considered for one of the Concorde crew in Time-Flight.
• He is the brother of Andrew McCulloch, who co-wrote Meglos.

N is for... Nightmare Man

A sadistic alien entity which manifested itself as a sinister clown-like, white-faced man. He was really a member of the Vishklar race, who originated in an alternate dimension. He began attacking Sarah Jane Smith's adopted son Luke, who normally did not dream. Through him he intended to escape into this dimension to attack others through their dreams, provoking nightmares.

Luke found himself trapped in a long dark corridor lined with countless doors, within each of which was another nightmare. Clyde and Rani were also attacked. He found himself working in a run-down burger bar, one of whose customers was a bag lady - Sarah. Would-be journalist Rani found herself presenting the TV news, and struggling to do so in front of millions. 

Sarah attempted to trick him into adding her to his nightmares, so that she could help Luke. The Nightmare Man disabled K-9 and Mr Smith to prevent them helping her.

He was defeated when Luke, Clyde and Rani stood up to him, no longer afraid of him. This left him powerless, and he ended up trapped inside a nightmare of his own - being told by Sarah how wonderful Luke was, over and over.

Played by: Julian Bleach. Appearances: SJA 4.1 The Nightmare Man (2010).

• The third of Bleach's Whoniverse roles, after Davros and The Ghostmaker.
• The character has similarities in appearance to Bleach's Shockheaded Peter theatrical performance.
• Deleted dialogue from this story, which was reinstated for the novelisation, revealed that Luke was gay.
• People becoming trapped within nightmares is an old horror trope - the best known example being the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Doctor Who itself will revisit this idea in Can You Hear Me?

N is for... Nightingale, Larry

Larry was the brother of Kathy Nightingale, who was a close friend of Sally Sparrow. She first met him when he stayed overnight with his sister - going to the toilet in the middle of the night whilst naked.

Larry worked at Banto's video store. He had become obsessed with a number of very strange DVD easter eggs, found on a number of seemingly random discs. These featured a man in a brown suit speaking - but only half of the conversation was recorded. Without the other half, it seemed impossible to work out what was being discussed. Larry was part of an internet group which was dedicated to these extras.

Kathy vanished after a visit to an abandoned house called Wester Drumlins, and Sally discovered that she had been sent back in time to 1920. Investigating, she was able to tell Larry that the 17 discs which contained the mysterious man - the Doctor - were those already owned by her. An encounter with a police officer, who was also sent back through time, revealed that he had arranged for them to be placed on the discs.

It transpired that the missing half of the conversation was actually Sally's responses to the easter eggs, which she and Larry conducted one night at Wester Drumlins. Weeping Angels fed on potential temporal energy by sending their victims back through time. They had captured the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor and Martha stranded in 1969 where they met the police officer. They arranged for Sally in the present day to reunite the Doctor with the TARDIS and defeat the Angels - setting up the whole chain of events.

Larry took over the DVD shop, working alongside Sally.

Played by: Finlay Robertson. Appearances: Blink (2007).

What's Wrong With... Four To Doomsday

If you go back and read the letters pages of Doctor Who Monthly, as it was at the time, then you'll know that problems began with this story's title. Several people wrote in to ask what it referred to. 

Of course, it can be seen in two different ways simultaneously - it's four days until Monarch's ship arrives at Earth, and he plans to wipe out all organic life there; and it can also refer to the fact that there are four occupants in the TARDIS, and they are also headed towards potential doom should Monarch succeed.

Behind the scenes, this was Peter Davison's first production as Doctor - and you can tell he hasn't quite got to grips with how he intends to play the part.

As for the story...

The timescale for Monarch's visits to Earth don't tie up. It's stated that each visit sees his vessel doubling its speed, but the human civilisations represented don't mirror this fact. The key dates - derived from Bigon's dialogue - would be 35500 BC, 15500 BC, 5500 BC, and 500 BC approx. The Aboriginals might fit with the first date, and the Athenians with the last, but the Mayans and Chinese don't fit with either of the middle dates.

One of the reasons for the length of journey is supposed to be down to the Urbankans not yet mastering faster-than-light travel. And yet the series is filled with less technologically advanced races who appear to have such propulsion.

The Doctor claims that the TARDIS has only missed Earth by a short margin, but if Monarch's ship is travelling as fast as claimed then four days out would place it still a very long distance from the planet.

Why does he keep going backwards and forwards anyway? He has no interest in the human race - he's going to wipe it out - and only wants the natural resources. Why not simply take these on an earlier visit when there isn't going to be the technology (weaponry in particular) which might pose a threat to him?

Indeed, the Moon would hold most of what he is after on Earth. He is primarily after silicon, which he should have been able to get elsewhere a lot quicker and easier.

The androids go crazy when they indulge in any sort of organised activity. So how can they dance?

Monarch has no interest in the cultures of Earth, so why have the recreationals in the first place? What is the point of providing entertainment to robots?

(And on screen, these recreationals are boring and repetitive. A nice idea, which then gets used as padding).

Why does the Chinese dragon suit - product of an ancient Imperial era - have the name of a London kung-fu club printed inside it?

How can Tegan possibly know an Aboriginal language that's tens of thousands of years old? It can't be the TARDIS translation system in action - otherwise everyone would be able to understand them.

(So why can't it translate?).

If everyone on board is an android, where did all the food come from? We later discover that Monarch is still partially organic, but surely he doesn't need as much food as this.

Also, why do his ministers and the intelligent android leaders not twig that he can't be fully robotic (there's oxygen as well as food laid on the ship) and so see through his hypocrisy?

And why have these ethnic leaders on board in the first place? All Monarch needs are robotic drones to do the work.

The script has Adric claiming to know things about the Doctor that we haven't ever witnessed - the writer seeming to think they have travelled together a lot more than they actually had. If this really was the case - with various unseen adventures - then surely the boy would have known that the Doctor would oppose Monarch, and that it is wrong to side with him. 

The idiotic, unlikeable Adric really starts here.

Why does Tegan try to pilot the TARDIS? She knows that she will be safe enough inside with the doors locked, and she knows that it rarely goes where it's supposed to go. She's only been in the ship for a matter of hours at this stage, and can't know anything about how it actually works - so what is she doing dematerialising? She must know that she is actually abandoning her friends.

Why does the TARDIS come to a halt in the vicinity of the spaceship, instead of, say, Skaro or in Medieval France? If this is the work of the TARDIS itself, why did it even allow Tegan to operate it in the first place?

Going back to Doctor Who Monthly's letters pages, there was much debate about the space-walk which the Doctor undertakes to retrieve the TARDIS. Most letters pointed out how stupid this was, quoting the science, whilst others took to its defence.

There's an effort to get round the lack of oxygen in space, but nothing is mentioned about the sub-zero temperatures. Even if the Doctor had some hitherto unmentioned ability to generate internal heat, this wouldn't extend to his cricket ball. This would have shattered against the side of the TARDIS, rather than bounce off it.

Episode 125: The War Machines (3)

Synopsis:

Investigating the warehouse at Covent Garden, Ben witnesses the first of the War Machines in operation. He is soon detected, and watches helplessly as it moves towards him...

Ben is surprised to see Polly here - even more so when she locks the doors to prevent him escaping. He notices too late her emotionless expression. 

He is captured by Major Green.

The Doctor argues with Sir Charles about what action should be taken next, the civil servant insisting that C-Day go ahead as planned and anything else should be a matter for the police.

Ben is about to be killed when Polly intervenes, stating that WOTAN has instructed that labour is needed for the completion of the War Machines. Ben is to be put to work.

At the Post Office Tower, Brett and Krimpton finalise WOTAN's plans. The War Machines must be ready to launch a coordinated assault on London at noon the following day. The order for the attack will come from WOTAN itself.

Ben makes an escape attempt whilst everyone is busy. He is spotted by Polly alone, but she is conflicted about what she should do. She fails to stop him, or to alert the others.

He arrives at the home of Sir Charles and tells the Doctor about what he has seen at the warehouse. 

Polly, meanwhile, is questioned by Green, who orders her to report back to WOTAN for punishment.

Sir Charles refuses to believe Ben's story but when the Doctor begins to convince him, he once again decides that the issue should be dealt with by police. He then agrees to telephone his Minister, who elects to call in the army.

The Doctor, Ben and Sir Charles meet an army unit at Covent Garden. They set up a forward base outside the warehouse, and clear the area of civilians. Electronic activity is detected within the building, and Ben warns of a stock of explosives - as well as the War Machine.

Their presence is detected by Green, who puts everyone on alert.

The army move in and attack - only to discover that their weapons are useless. Guns fail to fire, and grenades will not detonate. The Sergeant reports back to his Captain what has happened, and the decision is made to retreat. The War Machine has left the warehouse and moves inexorably towards them.

Everyone dashes for cover - apart from the Doctor.

He stands his ground as the War Machine bears down on him...

Data:

Written by Ian Stuart Black

Recorded: Friday 24th June 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:35pm, Saturday 9th July 1966

Ratings: 5.3 million / AI 44

Designer: Raymond London

Director: Michael Ferguson

Additional cast: John Rolfe (Captain), John Boyd-Brent (Sergeant), Frank Jarvis (Corporal), Robin Dawson (Soldier)

Critique:

Fans always talk about the Quatermass serials when discussing the changes brought in by Derrick Sherwin in the late 1960's. This mainly concerned the contemporary setting, and the Doctor's interactions with the military.

Seen as a new direction for the series, it had actually been pioneered here in the third and fourth episodes of The War Machines.

Nigel Kneale's serials - The Quatermass Experiment (1953), Quatermass II (1955) and Quatermass and the Pit (1958) - saw the scientist hero contest alien threats, joining forces with the army at some point in each. Other British sci-fi movies had seen a similar set-up - even if the threat wasn't necessarily from outer space. These included The Giant Behemoth, X the Unknown, and The Strange World of Planet X. 

American films of the genre had almost always combined scientist and military in neutralising the enemy. (Generally, in British films there is some conflict between the scientist hero and the military. Quatermass especially butts heads with authority figures. This is less so in US movies).

It was therefore inevitable that Doctor Who would tackle a story in a similar vein - especially as Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis wanted to modernise the series with contemporary companions and more realistic science.

The original storyline for this episode had a somewhat different ending. Instead of the hero shot of the Doctor standing up to the War Machine, he actually told the army that they were helpless against it and should retreat.

Earlier, Rich - as Ben was then named - was put on trial by WOTAN itself, but saved by the hypnotised Dodo. 

Sir Charles telephoning his Minister was a late addition, and the battle sequence was expanded.

The filming for Episode 3 took place at Ealing through the week commencing 23rd May, covering the main warehouse set, with sunken area, and its exterior. The outdoor scenes featuring the soldiers and the War Machine were filmed on the studio backlot.

Film trims exist of these scenes - overhead shots showing Gerald Taylor and his fellow operator hurriedly exiting the War Machine prop from the rear due to the proximity of fire effects.

Michael Craze and Anneke Wills took time out of rehearsals on Thursday 23rd June to pose for publicity shots around Riverside Studios. They were pictured in costume, and efforts were made to make the height difference between the pair less noticeable (Wills was five inches taller than her co-star).

The previous Sunday had seen the three regulars filming location work on The Smugglers in Cornwall.

A small section of the warehouse set was erected at Riverside, and the War Machine prop featured in the TV studio for the first time. The battle sequence had several film inserts which had to be edited in.

One recording break allowed Craze to move from the warehouse set to Sir Charles' study, and another allowed everyone to move to the warehouse exterior set.

The episode closed with the camera moving in for a close-up on Hartnell, with a spotlight trained on him - as it had done with Craze at the cliff-hanger to the previous instalment.

Having spent some time filming with Hartnell, Craze and Wills had come to realise that the star held political views and social attitudes which were quite incompatible with their own. He was also becoming increasingly dispirited by the frequent changes in companion co-stars, nostalgic for the early days when he had a stable group of fellow performers - as well as a stable production team.

Craze and Wills had hoped to develop their characters through discussion between themselves and with Hartnell, but he was uncomfortable with this style of acting - used to simply going off and learning his part in isolation and sticking rigidly to this. Craze in particular found Hartnell difficult to warm to.

Neither co-star was aware of Hartnell's worsening health issues.

Trivia:

• After a noticeable dip last week, the ratings bounce back to the same level as the first episode. The appreciation figure fails to mirror this rise, however, and will drop even further next week.
• This episode had an amended title sequence, with the text flashing up as white on a black background, instead of black on white.
• John Rolfe made a further two appearances in Doctor Who. In The Moonbase he was crewmember Sam Beckett, and he played Fell in The Green Death. He had acted opposite Hartnell on stage in the 1950's, and featured with Patrick Troughton in a BBC adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop in 1962.
• Future light entertainment star Mike Yarwood, whose comedy impressions became a fixture of the BBC's Saturday evening schedules in the 1970's, was due to feature in this episode as a soldier. However, he was taken ill during the morning of studio recording and a taxi had to be booked to get him to hospital.
• William Hartnell's First Doctor is often depicted wearing his black Astrakhan hat. In reality, he only ever wore this on three occasions, this being one of them. (He wears a white version in The Web Planet due to the visual effects being used). The other two stories to feature this particular headgear just happen to be his very first story, and his last.
• Oliver Arkinstall-Jones' alternative retro movie-style poster for the story:

The Art of... The War Machines

Ian Stuart Black novelised his own story for Target in February 1989. The cover art is courtesy of Alister Pearson and Graham Way. Pearson painted the main images of Doctor, Tower, War Machine and WOTAN, whilst Way added the blue concentric rings which symbolised the computer's hypnotic influence.

Black had WOTAN tap Ian Chesterton's phone line to explain how it came to know so much, by way of explaining some plot holes in the broadcast story. He also stretched the Norse / Wagnerian imagery by having one of the War Machines named as Valk - from Valkyrie, the daughters of Wotan.

In 2016, for convention attendees, Pearson revisited this artwork to add an image of Dodo below Hartnell's head, just to the right of the Tower. The Doctor portrait derives from a publicity image taken during the rehearsals for An Unearthly Child. The artist has excluded the spectacles which Hartnell was wearing in the source photograph. The War Machine comes from the standard publicity shot of the prop on location near the Post Office Tower.

It is used on the photomontage cover for the VHS release, which arrived in June 1997. In the later stages of the VHS releases, the covers had settled on this design of cover.

The Hartnell portrait comes from The Celestial Toymaker, whilst Ben and Polly feature from one of their introductory publicity shots. It and the War Machine photograph feature on the back cover as well.

Unusually, this video came with bonus material. It begins with the June 1966 Blue Peter item, in which Christopher Trace examined War Machine No.9 in studio, and after the final episode we had credits for the restoration of the story, also covered in notes on a fold-out section of the VHS sleeve. We also got to see material trimmed from the film footage - showing the operators hastily vacate the Machine after the battle with the soldiers at Covent Garden, as fire threatens the prop.

The DVD cover was the work of Clayton Hickman, former editor of DWM and who does a lot of photo restoration / colourising these days. Once again we have the standard War Machine publicity image, whilst the Hartnell shot comes once again from An Unearthly Child. Hartnell only wore the black Astrakhan hat in three stories, and that was the only one where close-up publicity shots were taken of him wearing it. 

The other War Machine image derives from press shots taken on the streets of West London, where the prop interacted with children, police officers and dog walkers.

The DVD was released in August 2008 in the UK, with the US version following that November.

Despite the story existing in its entirety in the archives, The War Machines was also released as a soundtrack by BBC Audiobooks. We have the usual garish photomontage cover, with that War Machine photograph employed multiple times. The images of the Doctor, Ben and Polly actually come from a single publicity image taken for Episode One of The Smugglers, of the trio in the TARDIS.

The Post Office Tower is shown at a very odd close-up angle, so you'd hardly register it as the Tower at first glance. And, just in case you didn't know this story's location, we have silhouettes of Big Ben and the dome of St Paul's.

Anneke Wills narrates and provides a bonus interview. It was released in August 2007.

The novelisation was adapted for audiobook treatment, using the Pearson / Way artwork, in March 2019. It's one of those releases where the reader has nothing to do with the actual episodes - in this case Michael Cochrane, who played Lord Cranleigh in Black Orchid, and Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light.

Doctor Who Magazine only rarely ever gave a cover over to a single story, unless it was a photographic one. A handful of stories got rather nice artwork covers when the publication got round to covering them in the Archives section. Issue 185 in April 1992 featured The War Machines on its cover.

This was the work of Alister Pearson once again. The Hartnell portrait comes from a publicity shot from The Savages.

If you were paying close attention to the interviews in the recent finale instalment of Doctor Who: Unleashed, you might have seen the above image hanging on the wall of one of the interviewees. It comes from company Hero Collector and can be purchased as an art print. It's done in a distressed pulp-paperback style.

And finally, 2013 saw the release of Sounds From The Inferno on vinyl. This was produced by Hysterion on 7" vinyl for Record Store Day and purports to feature music by John Smith and the Common Men. It is actually music by Johnny Hawksworth, who was responsible for the library tracks used in the Inferno Club scenes in The War Machines. It was limited to only 1000 copies.