O is for... Osgood (2)

Petronella Osgood became UNIT's Scientific Adviser shortly before a bizarre incident took place at the National Gallery in London. A number of paintings appeared to have had their glass broken from the inside, and several marble statues had been smashed. 

Osgood was a big fan of the Doctor and often wore items of clothing based on his own tastes. On meeting the Doctor at Trafalgar Square she was wearing a scarf similar to the one he had worn in his Fourth incarnation. Left alone with a colleague to investigate the Gallery, Osgood was attacked by Zygons. It transpired that thousands of Zygon refugees had arrived on Earth in Elizabethan times, and had hidden themselves within stasis cubes - used by some races such as the Time Lords to create living three-dimensional art, in which the viewer could physically immerse themselves.

The Zygons had now emerged into the Gallery, with some of their number hiding under sheets, after having first smashed the statues which they were covering.

One of the Zygons then took on her form, but Osgood managed to escape. In their efforts to forge a peaceful alliance between UNIT and Zygon, a trio of Doctors used an amnesiac gas to make both sides forget who they were - human or alien. Osgood was the only person able to know as she required an inhaler for her asthma. As part of the peace process, they elected not to tell anyone which was which.

Osgood remained on the Zygon repatriation scheme, with her duplicate and together they devised the "Osgood Boxes". One was said to contain a virus which would destroy every living Zygon - developed by Harry Sullivan at Porton Down - whilst the other would expose all the disguised Zygons, as the scheme agreed with UNIT involved the aliens living incognito amongst humans.

Some younger sections of Zygon society resented their having to live hidden lives, and a militant group wanted to simply reveal themselves and take over.

The Doctor and Clara were reunited with Osgood when UNIT laid a trap for Missy at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The female incarnation of the Master was working with the Cybermen to unleash an army across the Earth. Missy was captured, but whilst being transported on a UNIT aircraft managed to escape her bonds. She killed Osgood - but it was never known of this was the original human one or the Zygon duplicate.

When the young Zygon militants finally began to take action against their elders, Osgood was abducted by them. Their leader - Bonnie, who had taken on Clara's form - wished to gain control over the Boxes - intending to use the one that would eliminate their human identities. 

The Doctor rescued her, and at one point the pair had to parachute from a crashing aircraft, shot down by Bonnie.

The Doctor refused to say which Box was which, so that Bonnie would be forced to choose. It transpired that the Boxes were fakes - designed simply to maintain the peace as there was an equal chance of killing them all as of exposing their true identities. Realising the futility of her actions, Bonnie elected to take on Osgood's appearance, so that once again there appeared to be two of them - and still no-one would ever know if they were both Zygon, or human and Zygon. 

When the Grand Serpent attempted to assassinate Kate Stewart after taking over UNIT, it was Osgood whom she called on for help.

Played by: Ingrid Oliver. Appearances: The Day of the Doctor (2013), Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014), Invasion of the Zygons / Inversion of the Zygons (2015).

• Oliver auditioned for the role wearing her boyfriend's thick-rimmed spectacles. She was asked to retain them as they fitted the "nerdy" nature of the character.
• As mentioned under "O is for... Osgood (1)", Steven Moffat intended that she would be the daughter of Sergeant Osgood from The Daemons, though he chose not to make this explicit - but spin-off literature has messed this up.
• Oliver first came to fame as one half of the comedy duo Watson & Oliver. The pair had met at school.
• She's the partner of the host of Richard Osman's House of Games. They met when she guested on his celebrity game show.

O is for... Osgood (1)

Sergeant Osgood was a member of UNIT's technical support crew, who was brought by the Brigadier to the village of Devil's End after it was cut off by a mysterious heat barrier. UNIT's Scientific Adviser - the Doctor - was in the village, cut off from any technical resources and so could only offer advice on how to breach the barrier. This involved the building of a dynothermic energy exchanger which would create a tunnel of cooler air through the phenomenon, which should permit UNIT vehicles to pass through. The Doctor had to come out to the barrier site to explain the process and advise on circuitry to Osgood in person as the soldier couldn't understand what he was talking about. 

The Brigadier was concerned at his lack of confidence in completing the device and he did fail on the first attempt, but eventually mastered it. The Doctor wanted the energy exchanger brought into the village so that he could use it to attack the Daemon Azal, but the Brigadier had Osgood bring it through the barrier last, and by this point it had overheated and was running out of control. Osgood stayed with it until the last moment but the Brigadier ordered him to jump to safety before it exploded.

Played by: Alec Linstead. Appearances: The Daemons (1971).

• Steven Moffat indicated that he intended Ingrid Oliver's Osgood, UNIT's Scientific Adviser introduced in The Day of the Doctor, to be the daughter of Sergeant Osgood. He decided not to make this explicit so as not to alienate newer fans unfamiliar with the show's history.
• Spin-off material has spoiled this by naming her father Frank, but giving Sgt Osgood the first name Tom. One audio  story suggests that Sergeant Osgood was her uncle.
• Alec Linstead returned to the series in Robot, where he played Jellicoe.
• A third appearance was as Arthur Stengos in Revelation of the Daleks.

Re-entry Forbidden / Reuse Allowed

Those of you who follow the Talking Pictures TV channel will be aware that they have been showing episodes of Doomwatch on Friday nights at 9pm. We've already seen the two that everyone remembers - The Plastic Eaters, written by the show's creators Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis, and Day of the Rat, written by Terence Dudley. The show has many Doctor Who connections.

This Friday, 7th February, sees the broadcast of Re-entry Forbidden, which was originally shown in March 1970. 

I mention this because the episode shared a set with The Ambassadors of Death. With the advent of colour, the BBC's design departments elected to make some savings by sharing props, costumes and sets across several productions - provided that there was a suitable gap between broadcasts, and minor changes made to disguise their re-use.

Scenic Design spotted that the producers of Doomwatch and Doctor Who were both going to be featuring a space capsule around the same time, and so Barry Letts and Dudley agreed to share the set with the costs split across their respective budgets. 

Thus Doomwatch's "Sunfire" rocket returned a few weeks later as Doctor Who's "Mars Probe 7" / "Recovery 7" - director Michael Ferguson reusing a reused set.

Episode 151: The Moonbase (3)

Synopsis:

A Cyberman has been hiding in plain sight amongst the patients in the sickbay. It clambers down from one of the beds where it had been concealed and aims its weapon at the Doctor and his friends...

A technician named Bob circles around the intruder to attack it with a metal bar, but a second Cyberman appears and shoots him dead.

The first Cyberman contacts its spacecraft by radio, declaring that this stage of their plan is complete. The next stage can begin.

The Cybermen inform the Doctor that they know of him. They notify Hobson that he will be required as he is in command here. They tell him that his missing men are not dead. They will be returned, but have been "altered". Seeing that Jamie has not been given their Neurotrope X, they are about to administer it when Polly mentions his head wound. This renders him useless for their plans so they leave him alone.

Ben and Polly are ordered to remain in the sickbay, whilst Hobson and the Doctor must accompany the Cybermen to the control room.

In the saucer-like Cybership, Dr Evans, Franz and Ralph have been mentally conditioned to obey the Cybermen. They move like automatons as they are given instructions. Once satisfied of their control, large metal helmets are placed over their heads, for transportation across the lunar surface to the base.

Benoit and Nils are shocked by the arrival of the Cybermen in the control room. They explain that they are going to use the Gravitron to devastate the Earth, as the planet poses a threat to them. They wish to exploit its resources. They have been breaking into the base through a hatch they made in the base's dome - the cause of the brief pressure drops. This brought them into the storeroom, where they could easily contaminate the sugar supply with their artificial virus.

As Jamie begins to recover, Ben and Polly discuss their previous encounter with the Cybermen in search of a weapon to use against them. Unlike Snowcap Base, the Moonbase does not have removeable nuclear fuel rods, as they recall how the Cybermen were susceptible to high radiation levels. As Polly examines her fingernails she has a sudden thought, asking Ben what their chest units are made of. He thinks some form of plastic, and she explains that nail varnish remover is a solvent which acts on plastics. They will make up a quantity of a similar substance using the sickbay chemical stores.

In the command centre, the mentally conditioned men arrive and are ordered to take up positions within the Gravitron control room. 

The Doctor sidles up to the Cyberman communications device and alters the frequency, to see what effect it has. He realises that the men are being controlled by sonic impulses.

He wonders why the Cybermen need the humans to operate the Gravitron and runs through a number of possibilities. It becomes clear that the Cybermen must be susceptible to intense gravitational fields.

As their tampering begins to affect Earth's weather, Hobson's superiors attempt to contact him. Hobson explains that if they do not respond then a relief rocket will be despatched.

In the sickbay, Jamie has recovered enough to insist that he accompany Ben on their attack on the Cybermen using "Polly's Cocktail" of solvents. This has been decanted into a couple of fire extinguishers so that it can be used as a weapon.

Polly insists on following them and they head for the control room.

The Doctor disrupts the sonic control as his companions burst into the room, firing the solvent directly at the Cybermen's chest units. "Polly's Cocktail" is effective, and they are destroyed as the units dissolve. The controlled humans collapse.

Benoit goes outside to find out what happened to the two technicians sent out to check the antenna. He discovers their empty spacesuits. He is attacked by a Cyberman who attempts to shoot him, but its weapon fails to work in a vacuum. He flees but the Cyberman relentlessly gives chase. Seeing this via telescope, Ben dons a spacesuit and goes outside to help, taking a glass bottle full of the solvent with him - knowing an aerosol will not work. Before the Cyberman can seize Benoit, Ben launches the bottle which smashes into its chest unit, destroying it.

Their subterfuge exposed, the Cybermen decide that they must invade the Moonbase and take it by force. They begin to file out of their ship.

Nils detects radio interference nearby and Hobson scans the horizon in that direction. He sees a squad of Cybermen marching towards them...

Data:

Written by Kit Pedler

Recorded: Saturday 18th February 1967 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 25th February 1967

Ratings: 8.2 million / AI 53

Designer: Colin Shaw

Director: Morris Barry

Additional cast: Edward Phillips (Bob), Keith Goodman, Reg Whitehead (Cybermen), Peter Hawkins (Cybermen Voices).

Critique:

In his script for Episode 3, Pedler described the Cyberweapon as a slim metal rod, with a thicker rod, white in colour, at the end which illuminated when activated. The sound was that of a metallic rattle (which Gerry Davis used in his novelisation of the story). The victim - Bob - collapsed after smoke began to rise from the openings in his uniform. This effect had previously been employed in The Tenth Planet.

For the attack on the Cybermen using "Polly's Cocktail" Pedler, ever the scientist, explained exactly what was going on in technical terms - describing how the bottle flung by Ben would travel as if in slow motion due to low gravity, how low pressure would cause the chest to emit vapour like a cloud of steam, and how the Cyberman should scream soundlessly. These scenes were intended for studio but Morris Barry realised that they were best completed on film since the action had to be slowed down and involved messy effects.

Pedler hoped that the budget would run to several Cybermen as he had a grand vision for the cliffhanger. Oddly, he specified that the Cybermen should march in unison, but not in step - unusual for a robotic race. They should be armed with new weapons resembling oxy-acetylene torches.

For the second story in a row we have a "thinks" track, where one or more actors record dialogue earlier in the day which is then played onto the set later to indicate something which they are thinking about. In this case it's the Doctor, wondering why the Cybermen aren't operating the Gravitron themselves.

The TARDIS crew had all wondered about their next destination at the start of The Underwater Menace.

Cyberman dialogue is odd, to say the least. After challenging the word "revenge", claiming they are unfamiliar with the concept, the lead Cyberman is first rude and then sarcastic.

Describing their scheme, it claims "Only stupid Earth brains like yours would have been fooled", before mocking Hobson with "Clever, clever, clever" when the penny drops about the pressure fluctuations.

Last time we spoke about sexism in the story. Here Polly is the one who devises the weapon to destroy the Cybermen (ironically based on her cosmetics), only for Ben and Jamie to refuse to allow her to take part in their attack.

Ben actually describes what they are about to do as "men's work". As it is, she refuses to stay behind and follows them anyway.

Back in The Tenth Planet Ben had shown a degree of scientific knowledge which went beyond that expected of a young Able Seaman. Then, it was because he had to pick up some dialogue intended for the sick William Hartnell. However, we don't have that issue here, yet he seems to know a lot about nuclear reactors again and he's very quick to realise that the aerosol won't work outside the base.

Filming for this episode took place at Ealing on Wednesday 18th January, when Andre Maranne joined John Wills and Peter Greene, playing Cybermen. This was for the scene in which Benoit is attacked then pursued across the lunar surface. Jack and John Lovell, who had produced the Cyberman helmets and chest units, also provided adapted chest units that would appear to dissolve on cue. Fire extinguisher foam was pumped through the unit as the actor writhed on the ground, whilst pre-damaged units were then affixed to the costume.

We'll discuss the filming of the massed ranks of Cybermen on the Moon next time, as that's the episode in which most of these scenes appear. In this episode we simply see a group of Cybermen emerge from their saucer, and the episode closes on shots of their marching feet - highlighting the fact that they are wearing lace-up boots.

Friday 17th of February saw director John Davies visiting Ealing to film shots of a giant crab-like claw. He was the director of The Macra Terror which was to follow, and the shots were to be shown on the TARDIS scanner at the end of Barry's fourth and final episode.

From this episode for the next few weeks Daphne Dare took over as Costume Designer, as Sandra Reid was still unwell. Dare had previously worked on The Daleks through to The Smugglers.

Joining the production was Peter Hawkins, once again providing Cyberman voices as he had done on The Tenth Planet. That time he had worked alongside Roy Skelton, but for this story he worked alone.

He employed a dental palate such as that used by people who had lost their voice box, which had a small microphone attached. The vibration from this device gave Hawkins headaches and nausea.

One new set was the Cyberman conversion unit on their saucer (image above). A new prop was a large helmet which covered the head and shoulders of the converted humans. Only a close-up of their control panel on the wall had been seen previously.

A camera flare was superimposed over the shooting of Edward Phillips, playing the unfortunate Bob. You'll recognise him in Episode 2 from his distinctive thick black NHS spectacles.

There were three planned recording breaks - the first after the melting chest units, to replace the Cybermen actors with empty costumes. The other two were to allow Maranne and then Michael Craze to change into spacesuits.

Amongst the music cues employed by Barry, one from The Daleks' Master Plan, by Tristram Cary, was used for the shooting of Bob.

One establishing shot of the Cyberman saucer on the Moon's surface was a still photograph from Ealing filming.

As noted in "Trivia" below, this episode ran to more than 26 minutes, and this was after cuts. One of these was a significant piece of dialogue whose deletion would lead to many arguments in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, in relation of the true origins of the Cybermen. One of the very first issues of the old Weekly incarnation had claimed that they came from Telos, ignoring what was stated in The Tenth Planet. In this episode, when Benoit points out that their planet - Mondas - blew up in 1986, the Cyberman replies:

"We were the first space travellers from Mondas. We left before it was destroyed. We have come from the planet Telos." 

It then goes on to state: "We have returned to take the power you used to destroy Mondas". In other words, they want the Earth's energy. This also goes to explain the dramatic change in their appearance - these being an explorer class of Cybermen who must be physically hardier than those who remained at home on Mondas.

This was the final episode of the series to be recorded regularly at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. From the following week, the series would be demoted to its original home at Lime Grove...

Trivia:

• The ratings see a dip of around half a million, but the appreciation figure rises to an impressive (for the time) 53. As we've often noted, sometimes fewer people watch, but those who do really enjoy what they've seen.
• This is the longest episode of this serial, clocking in at over 26 minutes (26' 11").
• The Assistant Floor Manager of this story is the future director of The Leisure Hive, Lovett Bickford.
• A couple of obvious questions arise from this episode. Surely space-going Cyberman explorers would know by now that their weapons don't work in a vacuum; and why do they remove the spacesuits of the technicians on the lunar surface if they want to keep them alive?
• Ironically, the order to wipe the original video recordings of The Moonbase was issued the day following the first Moon landing, on 21st July 1969. 
• TV Comic had, in 1965, predicted the first manned lunar landing to 20th July in the strip "Moon Landing", but was exactly one year to the day out.

The Art of... The Moonbase

The Moonbase was the basis for the first ever Cyberman novelisation which is why the book, when published by Target in paperback in February 1975, was simply titled Doctor Who and the Cybermen. As the first one, author Gerry Davis took the opportunity to include a "Creation of the Cybermen" foreward, and made a few changes whilst he was at it. Having introduced the Cyber-Leader in his recent TV submission - Revenge of the Cybermen - Davis includes one here, with black helmet markings. He caused no end of problems by claiming that the creatures originated on Telos - leading to many letters by confused readers to DWM's "Data Matrix Bank" back in the 1980's.

He does then go on to mention the destruction of Mondas, and places it in 1986 which is what it said on screen. However, when he later novelised The Tenth Planet he set it in 2000...

Artist Chris Achilleos was given the wrong reference images and so used a striking portrait of the wrong type of Cyberman. This one is from The Invasion. It's a case of serendipity for me, as this is probably my favourite Target novelisation cover.

The Troughton portrait originates from the Radio Times photoshoot for The Three Doctors.

The novelisation had 8 internal illustrations by Alan Willow.

This particular cover was reused for a reprint in 2011, but an earlier reissue was given a new cover by Bill Donohoe:

This was published in July 1981. Donohoe gives us more accurate Cybermen but... There's something not quite right about their faces. Like Willow he takes the baggy costume look too far. They were more streamlined than this.

More rather odd looking Cybermen, in the foreground at least, on the BBC audio soundtrack which was issued in April 2001. The Doctor / companion images actually derive from the story - a photograph of them in the TARDIS from the first episode. This does mean that we see Ben and Polly in outfits which they only wore for a single scene of The Moonbase. Frazer Hines provides the narration, despite only really featuring in two of the episodes and missing out on the cover.

The surviving episodes 2 and 4 appeared on the Cybermen: The Early Years VHS compilation in July 1992 and later on the Lost In Time DVD set.

The missing episodes were animated in 2014 for a DVD release of its own. The cover art is by Lee Binding. The Cyberman derives from a photoshoot for DWM. Unlike more recent efforts, the animation was very faithful to the broadcast material, making use of telesnaps.

Achilleos' cover was used for the audiobook of Davis' novelisation, read by Anneke Wills.

Finally, Alister Pearson took the opportunity to correct the Cyberman design for a version of Achilleos' cover. This was in the Autumn of 2023 for a DWAS event at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, where three of the four episodes were originally recorded. This was the third "Time & Riverside" event and featured the two surviving episodes with guest Q&A panels in between.

Technically, Pearson is just as wrong as his predecessor, in that he's taken an image from a later Cyberman story. However, this one is from Tomb of the Cybermen, which at least used a nearly identical design.

DWM Chronicles Return?

Just when it looked like DWM had discontinued the "Chronicles" publications, which take an in depth look at one particular year in the history of Doctor Who, they announce in the latest issue that 13th February sees the publication of the next edition. This one covers 1970 and Season 7 - Jon Pertwee's first year in the role and Caroline John's year as companion, as well as the arrival of Barry Letts as producer.

Presumably this ties in with the imminent release of Season 7 on Blu-ray.

This is the second consecutive Chronicle covering the Pertwee era, and we've had a very long wait since the 1971 one.

Blog update

Apologies for the shortage of posts this week but between work and flat hunting I've had little time of late. A move will get rid of a lengthy commute, which will give me more time in the evenings to annoy you with my musings. Next up will be a look at the Art of The Moonbase, followed by the regular Sunday episode post.

Thank you for your patience.

Inspirations: The Crimson Horror

It helps to know what interests Mark Gatiss when considering the inspirations behind this story. 

He loves Dickens, and Victoriana in general. He loves horror movies - especially the old Universal Monsters and Hammer Horrors. He loves classic supernatural fiction, of the likes of M R James, Bram Stoker and E F Benson. He loves the Gothic. He loves Sherlock Holmes. And he's a big Pertwee era fan.

In recent years he has been the instigator of the annual "A Ghost Story for Christmas" strand on the BBC. He has presented a pair of documentaries for BBC Four on the horror movie genre - a general one and a specifically European one. He has presented another BBC Four documentary on Dracula.

He adapted Dickens' A Christmas Carol for the stage a couple of years ago, in which he played the part of Jacob Marley's ghost.

He and Steven Moffat sang the praises of the Third Doctor era in a special documentary for one of the Collection Blu-ray sets.

And of course his very first contribution to the series was 2005's The Unquiet Dead, which was inspired by a lot of the above.

Why the mention of the Pertwee era? Think about another story set in a small industrial community, in which people turn up dead with their skin a bright shade of a colour it most certainly ought not to be...

Gatiss toyed with the idea of calling this "The Red Death", in tribute to The Green Death (and possibly as a nod to Poe, Vincent Price and Roger Corman).

It's this which then led to the final title of The Crimson Horror - the word "Horror" having often been used to describe a particularly lurid and bloodthirsty event by the popular press. Newspapers in 1888 had referred to the "Whitechapel Horror" in relation to the Jack the Ripper killings. The Penny Dreadfuls - cheap mass produced books which generally dealt with shocking material - knew that the word on the cover would attract readers of a more morbid fascination.

In The Wedding of River Song Gatiss had played, under a pseudonym, the character of Gantok. The alias he used was Rondo Haxton - a tribute to the actor Rondo Hatton who appeared in a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes film as the "Hoxton Creeper". Hatton featured in a couple of horror films as well, in one of which he reprised the "Creeper". Madam Vastra, of the Paternoster Gang, is a consulting detective akin to Sherlock Holmes - the subject of Gatiss & Moffat's big TV hit.

Gatiss also toyed with the idea of making this Celebrity Historical by having the Doctor meet Arthur Conan Doyle. He had studied medicine and qualified as an ophthalmic surgeon - which led to the idea of people seeing the image of the last thing they saw on the eye. This is known as an optogram. It's generally regarded as folk myth though a 19th Century scientist discovered that there is a chemical in the eye which can act like developing solution used by photographers. The Doctor had talked about this in The Ark in Space.

The Holmes story The Adventure of the Gold Pince-Nez mentions "the repulsive tale of the red leech" - one of those unwritten tales, like the Giant rat of Sumatra.

The ghoulish mortuary attendant is clearly based on the one played by Roy Hudd in The Blood Beast Terror (1968). It's the film Peter Cushing once described as his worst, and features Doctor Who alumni Wanda Ventham and Kevin Stoney amongst its cast.

The way Matt Smith plays the "rouged" Doctor, and the friendship which forms between him and Ada is surely inspired by the Frankenstein Monster. You'll recall that he makes friends with a blind hermit, and she even calls the Doctor her "monster".

We ought to repeat the "Red Death" thing, as The Masque of the Red Death is regarded as the best of the Vincent Price / Roger Corman AIP horrors, based (loosely) on one of Edgar Allen Poe's most famous works.

Gatiss' interests overlap so much with those of Robert Holmes (dark deeds in Victorian times, based on horror films / book). It's noticeable that the two most (only?) popular Gatiss Doctor Who stories are the ones which delve into these genres. The rest, for me, are pretty poor. 

(If you come back, Mark, stick to Holmesian territory - be it Sherlock or Robert...).

An earlier idea Gatiss had for a story was titled "Mother's Ruin" - a nickname for gin, which used to be drunk like water in Georgian and early Victorian times (because it was cheap and usually healthier than the water supply). There were riots when taxes were increased and prices rose. Hogarth produced a famous engraving called "Gin Alley", which showed many of the hazards of drunkenness amongst the lower classes, like a woman dropping her baby and hardly noticing.

This led to thoughts of the Victorian Temperance Movement, which was to manifest itself in Mrs Gillyflower's moral crusade.

The Salvation Army, founded by William Booth in July 1865, would appear to be another influence here.

(It should be noted that the hymn - Jerusalem - sung in the episode at the gathering is anachronistic. That musical arrangement of Blake's words came later).

Getting Dame Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachel Stirling together to play Gillyflower mere et fille arose from Gatiss acting in a play with the former Avenger.

It should be noted that, once again, Jenny is presented in a very Emma Peel manner when it comes to a fight.

Mr Sweet was named after Gatiss' friend Matthew Sweet - he of the excellent in-depth interviews on the Blu-ray sets.

The model village "Sweetville" was inspired by Saltaire, near Bradford in Yorkshire. This was founded in 1851 by industrialist Titus Salt - and salt just happens to be what Mrs Gillyflower feeds to her parasite friend.

One of the best jokes in modern Doctor Who is the little boy by the name of Thomas Thomas giving precise directions to Strax - Tom-Tom being a GPS sat-nav system. I laughed.

The Doctor mentions once having to get a gobby Australian to Heathrow Airport - a reference to Tegan Jovanka. At one point he says "Brave heart, Clara".

Finally, Clara gets home to find that the kids have managed to find lots of photographs of her from earlier stories. That's definitely one for the "What's Wrong With..." post for this story.

Next time: If you thought that Gareth Roberts was the author of the worst ever Cyberman story, think again. Neil Gaiman (if we're still allowed to mention him) proves that he is just as capable of writing garbage as the next person...

Episode 150: The Moonbase (2)

Synopsis:

A delirious Jamie is confronted by a tall robotic figure which he believes to be the 'Phantom Piper' of his clan's legends...

The Cyberman considers him for a moment then moves to another bed and picks up its occupant - carrying him into the storeroom. Polly arrives back just in time to see it vanish through the door, and lets out a scream.

The Doctor and Ben arrive seconds later, with Hobson and a couple of technicians. She describes what she saw, stating that she believes the figure to have been a Cyberman.

The storeroom is empty.

Hobson sends his men - Sam and Jules - to search for the missing patient then questions Polly further. Ben reminds her that the Cybermen were all wiped out when Mondas was destroyed, and Hobson explains that everyone knows that there used to be Cybermen, but they no longer exist.

He then points out that all of their problems seem to have started around the time that the Doctor and his friends turned up on the Moon.

The Doctor offers to help investigate the mystery illness, and Hobson gives him 24 hours to provide results or depart - whether Jamie is recovered or not.

The Doctor then begins his investigation, asking his companions to start collecting samples from all over the base.

In the control room, the technicians are struggling to keep a hurricane in check. Their equipment simply isn't co-ordinating. The head of Weather Control on Earth, Rinberg, radios to complain. He refuses to allow Hobson to shut down the Gravitron so that a thorough check can be made on all its components.

Hobson orders that everything be checked, short of shutting the device down.

As everyone runs around, the Doctor slips in and begins removing items for study, trying to keep out of the way - not always successfully.

Ben leaves Polly alone in the sickbay when he goes to ask Hobson for some medical supplies. The Cyberman reappears and stuns her with an electric shock before approaching Jamie. Seeing that he is delirious, it stuns him as well then abducts another comatose patient.

The Doctor arrives seconds later, as Polly revives. 

Once again the storeroom is empty, but Benoit has been alerted to another brief pressure drop in the protective dome.

The fault with the Gravitron is finally traced to an antenna out on the lunar surface. Technicians Jules and Franz are sent outside to inspect it. Hobson is now positive that the Doctor and his companions sabotaged it before they came into the base, and he sets off to confront them - just as Ben arrives to inform him another patient has disappeared. 

In the sickbay, the Doctor bluffs that he is close to finding a solution to the illness to buy them extra time. Polly makes some coffee and shares it with Hobson and his technicians in the corridor outside.

The Doctor witnesses first-hand one of the men falling ill, and the answer suddenly presents itself. The stricken man had taken sugar in his coffee. Not everyone does - hence the seemingly random manner in which the illness strikes.

Examining a sample of sugar he detects the presence of a neurotropic virus. He tells Hobson that this is artificial in nature. The Cybermen are on the Moon.

Outside, Franz and Jules are studying the antenna when they are attacked by Cybermen and clubbed down.

The Doctor has a sudden thought, and demands to know if the sickbay was searched. Hobson tells him that it wasn't, as there was always someone in here. A quick count reveals one extra patient, and so the Doctor begins to usher everyone out of the room. 

A blanket is thrown aside to reveal a Cyberman, who climbs down from the bed and aims its weapon at them...

Data:

Written by: Kit Pedler

Recorded: Saturday 11th February 1967 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 18th February 1967

Ratings: 8.9 million / AI 49

Designer: Colin Shaw

Director: Morris Barry

Additional cast: Denis McCarthy (Voice of Controller Rinberg), Barry Ashton (Franz), John (Arnold Chazen), John Wills & Peter Greene (Cybermen)

Critique:

As we mentioned last time, the Cybermen might have proven successful on their debut, but there were definite issues with the costumes. You can see on the DVD the clear sticky tape holding the handles onto the helmet, and the chest unit was clumsy and heavy. Having a plastic suit over a cloth one led to overheating problems for the performers under studio lights. It was also extremely difficult to cut holes in the jersey material to make the face without it tearing apart. The manner in which the Cybermen had spoken had been unique and very creepy, but relied on the actor and voice artist synchronising perfectly, which didn't always happen. There was a general feeling that the costumes looked cumbersome, with a thrown-together, homemade feel.

Knowing that the creatures were going to be used again, and likely in more than one story, Innes Lloyd requested a redesign to make the costumes more robotic. Costume Designer Sandra Reid came up with three alternative designs which were then presented to Lloyd and Morris Barry, who would be directing the story. The one which Reid herself favoured, and which remained closest in concept to the original Mondasian version, is the one which was selected. The main elements she wished to retain were the chest unit, hydraulic supports for the limbs and skull-like features. The helmet was reduced to a more compact form - meaning that the distinctive "handlebars" either side of the head were retained.

The main body of the costume was a silver vinyl jumpsuit, which had its opening at the rear. Three-fingered hands were incorporated into the suit, rather than using separate gloves. Reid's team had great difficulty making these outfits due to the thickness of the vinyl, and we would later see that the seams could be prone to tearing.

On the feet were army surplus boots, retaining their laces and spray-painted silver. The chest unit was greatly reduced in size and weight, whilst still retaining its accordion-like shape. These were constructed from aluminium and had internal lights fitted. A new weapon, consisting of a small rod with a light at the tip, was also produced, and this could be clipped onto the base of the chest unit.

For the hydraulic limb supports, thick ridged piping - normally used on vacuum cleaners - was added along the arms and legs, with practice golf-balls attached at the joints. Smaller piping was used at the top and bottom of the chest unit.

These units, and the new Cyberman helmets, were subcontracted to Jack and John Lovell - father and son freelance prop builders.

They were designed specifically to have a skull-like appearance, and the head-lamp of the first design was now incorporated into the more compact helmet. The handlebars were of clear perspex, and silver tape was added around eyes and mouth. The helmets, made of fibreglass, were cast in two halves - front and back - and attached with small hooks. A small light was installed in the lamp.

A total of 11 costumes were produced for the story.

Filming for this episode included lunar surface scenes. The attack on Franz and Jules by a pair of Cybermen was filmed at Ealing on Wednesday 18th January. One of the Cybermen - John Wills - also acted under the name John Maxim and as such was credited when he played the Frankenstein Monster in 1965's The Chase.

Another shot showed the technicians' empty spacesuits lying on the ground.

Into the studio, and it was Wills who played the lone Cyberman seen in this episode. 

The instalment opened with a shot of Frazer Hines struggling to get up. Recording breaks were required for setting up the electric spark effect, superimposed over shots of the Cyberman pointing at Hines and at Anneke Wills.

Franz and Jules (Victor Pemberton) are seen leaving the base via an airlock. This was a conical two-level set. After checking each other's suits they mount a pair of ladders, and exit onto the Moon's surface through separate doors.

Another recording break allowed Arnold Chazen to be made up with the virus black lines.

Stock footage from a 1963 BBC school's science programme was used when the Doctor studies the virus under a microscope. 

Closing credits run over a shot of the Cyberman after it rises from the sickbay bed. It should be noted that the bed wobbles a great deal as Wills climbs off it. In a real sickbay setting these would be much more stable or even fixed to the floor.

Following issues the previous week, the desks for the control areas had now been finished with surface detail.

This episode was never lost. It was always retained in the BBC's Film & Videotape Library and has been available for fans to watch, over and over again, ever since its inclusion on the 1992 VHS release Cybermen: The Early Years.

As such, some of its scenes and dialogue have become (in)famous. Whenever a quote is sought which sums up the Second Doctor, they invariably opt for the "dark corners" speech. 

Ben asks why they do not just leave the Moon, since Hobson and company have made it clear they aren't welcome.

The Doctor responds: "Because there is evil here, and we must stay".

Asked to elaborate, the Doctor tells his companions:

"Evil is what I meant. There are some corners of the Universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything that we believe in. They must be fought...".

The First Doctor had been first and foremost the scientist and explorer, often eager to slip back to the TARDIS at the first sign of danger. This attitude relaxed considerably once his granddaughter Susan no longer travelled with him, and he was more likely to stick around to challenge injustice - not having her to worry about.

In this episode, the Doctor makes it explicit that fighting the monsters is very much part of his role. He is still an adventurer, but now seems to be travelling more with purpose. This will become explicit during his trial by the Time Lords at the close of his tenure in the TARDIS.

One scene from Episode 2 is also held up as an example of the early series' sexism. It's the scene in which the Doctor asks Polly to make some coffee, whilst he does the important scientific stuff. It's hard to argue against this, but it needs to be looked at in context. 

Anneke Wills specifically set out to have Polly a "screamer" - a more feminine companion far removed from the Sara Kingdom / Avengers mould. It's therefore perfectly in keeping with her character to be content to help out with the odd domestic chore. The Doctor is extremely busy trying to find the cure for a deadly disease, and he's about to be thrown off the Moon with this vital work unfinished. He needs to buy some time, and needs a diversion, and he's only got Polly to help him do this. Deflecting people's attention with food and drink is something people would certainly do under these circumstances.

He asks her to make the coffee in an almost resigned fashion, as he's at a loss what to do next. He certainly doesn't order her to do anything, or give the impression that this is all he thinks' she's fit for.

And let's not forget that it is her coffee-making which directly leads to the solution to the problem.

There's some more overt sexism in the next episode, so we'll return to this subject again. (It'll be with us in relation to companions until the late 1980's).

Coincidentally, Ann Lawrence - the TV critic of the Morning Star - whilst praising the overall quality of the story, wished for a lot less screaming from Anneke Wills: "Her screams all all too predictable".

One other scene discussed by fans is the Doctor's mention of his medical background. He tells Polly that he studied Medicine at Glasgow University under Lister in 1888. Not only does this contradict the First Doctor's assertion that he is not a medical doctor but his story doesn't add up.

Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912) was a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative healthcare. After graduating in London he was encouraged to spend time working in Scotland - at Edinburgh specifically. Surgeons in England were regarded as little more than the manual labourers of medicine, and a role not fit for gentlemen, whereas it was highly regarded in Scotland. The country led the way in the study of surgical techniques. Lister remained in Edinburgh from 1853 - 1860, then transferred over to Glasgow. He was there from 1860 - 1869, before returning to Edinburgh until 1877. Thereafter, he moved back to London.

The Doctor is clearly incorrect in his remembrance of events. Either he has got his dates wrong or the venue, as Lister wasn't even in Scotland in 1888. It ought to be noted that the Doctor has trouble recalling his time at University. Asked if he is a medical doctor he replies:

"Yes, I think I was once, Polly. I think I took a degree once in Glasgow. 1888 I think. Lister...".

That's three 'think's'. Anyone devising a timeline for the Doctor should be very wary of fixing this event in his chronology.

One final issue with this episode we should note is the source of the virus. If a workplace was struck down by a mystery illness, food and drink would have been amongst the very first things you would have examined. Even with their medic, Dr Evans, incapacitated on day one, it is really surprising that Hobson and Benoit did not check the sugar supply - or why it took so long (and another man's potential death) for the Doctor to realise the source. You would certainly look at a foodstuff before an item of footwear in the search for an apparently infectious disease.

Trivia:

• The ratings see a huge upswing in audience numbers of almost a million additional viewers. These were the best ratings in over a year. Competition on the ITV network included the still-popular Batman series, dated comedy Just Jimmy, and future guest star Ken Dodd's Doddy's Magic Box.
• As with his The Tenth Planet scripts, Pedler gave some of the Cybermen monosyllabic names in his drafts. The lead Cybermen in this story was called "Kron".
• The Lovells' first involvement with Doctor Who came with supplying weaponry for Marco Polo, after which they provided the masks for the Voord in The Keys of Marinus. Other creatures they were responsible for, prior to The Moonbase, were the Fungoids and Mire Beasts in The Chase, the Rills in Galaxy 4, and Monoids in The Ark, before tackling parts of the Mondasian Cybermen.
• The draft script had Hobson claim that the Cybermen were destroyed "centuries ago", which would not fit the final televised date. We know that The Tenth Planet was set in December 1986, so The Moonbase couldn't possibly be set in 2070 if they hadn't changed this.
• Arnold Chazen is the father of actress Debbie Chazen, who would later appear in the series herself when she played Foon in Voyage of the Damned.
• The Daleks were still around. One featured on Blue Peter on the 16th February edition, in an item about trick photography.
• The two Cyberman costume images above are my own, taken at the DWAS Moonbase event at Riverside in August 2023. It is a refurbished costume which featured in the actual production, whether at Riverside Studios or only at Ealing is not recorded.

What's Wrong With... The King's Demons

As with Time-Flight, we have to ask why the Master is wearing a disguise when he can't possibly know that anyone who might recognise him is going to turn up.

No-one in 1215 England knows him, so why such an elaborate disguise - holographic mask and silly accent? All he had to do was put on a suitable period costume and he could have dispensed with the rest.

Why use this mask technology, when good old rubber ones have worked well enough in the past?

Ainley's attempt at a French accent is not always easy to understand. One can't help but be reminded of the French knights in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

When the Doctor himself draws attention to the "small time villainy" of the Master then you know you're in trouble. It wasn't that long ago that he was blackmailing the entire universe, and in his earlier guise he was working alongside Daleks and making deals with the Devil.

Interfering with Magna Carta ("Did she die in vain?!") wouldn't necessarily lead to anything which the Master could exploit and benefit from.

Why bother with Kamelion at all? It doesn't have a personality of its own, so the Master would have to be in constant control over it to achieve anything with it. Why not simply take on the role himself and cut out the middle (robot) man?

He's an accomplished hypnotist, so why not just hypnotise the real King John and get him to do what he wants? At some point he's going to have to deal with the real one anyway.

The Doctor challenges Sir Gilles to a duel. The scene plays as if he's then shocked to discover that this is the disguised Master - which means that the Doctor deliberately provoked mortal combat with someone.

Sir Ranulf switches allegiance far too easily. He simply accepts whatever anyone tells him - even if it's someone who he was happy to see executed 20 minutes ago. He changes his opinion of the Doctor four times, and this is only two episodes long.

The Iron Maiden is totally anachronistic. You'll see it has a ruff around its "face" - meaning that this design could only have originated in the Elizabethan or Jacobean eras.

Finally, why was Kamelion taken onto the TARDIS at the conclusion of the story? The producer and script editor already knew that the prop did not work properly and it was causing serious delays in studio, so why did they persist with it? If they knew they weren't going to use it, and didn't want it left with the Master, then why not simply have it destroyed at the conclusion?

It can look like anyone, so if they were going to take it forward then they could have got anyone in to play Kamelion, using just a static head and shoulders shot of the prop to show it transforming into the actor.

Worlds of Wonder Exhibition: Next Stop USA

The excellent Worlds of Wonder Exhibition, previously in Liverpool and Edinburgh, and currently in New Zealand, is heading for the United States next - to the San Diego ComicCon Museum to be exact. It will open there in March 2025. Since I visited it in Edinburgh, 60th Anniversary and Series 14 items have been added.

Story 300: The Power of the Doctor

In which the Doctor picks up a distress signal emanating from a spacecraft resembling a terrestrial bullet-train... 

The TARDIS is unable to materialise within the craft so it must hover above and the Doctor, Yaz and Dan must abseil down, wearing spacesuits. They come under attack by Cybermen, who have invaded the craft in search of a particular item of cargo. They are led by CyberMasters, previously created by the Master. Dan is almost killed when his visor cracks. The cargo proves to be what appears to be a small child, but the Doctor identifies it as a powerful sentient energy source known as a Qurunx. The Cybermen seize their prize and teleport away. Dan announces that he is leaving the TARDIS, having come so close to death. The Doctor takes him back to Liverpool, then she is confronted by a holographic message from a renegade Dalek. It claims to have turned its back on its own kind as they are a corruption of their original Kaled origins, and it warns of a plot to destroy the human race.

She then seeks out the Qurunx and traces the Cybermen to the year 1916. She is surprised to see that a new planet has appeared in close orbit to Earth. 

The TARDIS lands on this moon-like planetoid, and they discover that it has been artificially enhanced by the Cybermen. nearby is another TARDIS, also looking like a Police Box, which is connected to the planet - as is the Qurunx. It has been harnessed as a power source.

In St Petersburg, Russia, in 1916, the Master is posing as Rasputin. He hypnotises the Tsar's family into leaving the Winter Palace in his care.

On the CyberMoon, the Doctor and Yaz come under attack by Cybermen and CyberMasters and are forced to flee. Back in the TARDIS, they receive a summons from Kate Stewart of UNIT.

Arriving at UNIT's new central London HQ, the Doctor is reunited with former companions Tegan Jovanka and Ace. Ace had been investigating a number of paintings which had been altered to feature the Master's image, in his Rasputin guise, whilst Tegan had received a cryptic message from the Doctor's former self - a tiny Cyberman model.

Kate explains that a number of geophysicists have vanished, all experts in volcanoes. They trace the Master to a conference in Naples. The Doctor and Yaz travel there by TARDIS. He has killed the missing experts but is easily captured and brought to London where he is locked up.

meanwhile, a spaceship crashlands on the CyberMoon. Its pilot is the Doctor's friend Vinder, who had been tracking the Qurunx. He sees the Police Box nearby and assumes it is the Doctor's.

The Doctor then goes to meet the renegade Dalek - intrigued by what might link them with both the Master and the Cybermen.

The rendezvous proves to be a tunnel beneath an active volcano in Bolivia, South America. As the Doctor meets her contact, Yaz discovers that there are many Daleks close by, operating massive machinery.

At UNIT HQ Ace discovers that it was the Master who sent Tegan the tiny Cyberman figure. It is really a miniaturised Passenger form. It grows to full size and a cloned Ashad emerges with an army of Cybermen. He frees the Master as Ace, Tegan and UNIT battle the Cybermen.

In the volcano, the Doctor discovers that she has walked into a trap. The Daleks had allowed the renegade to bring her here so that they could capture her. The renegade is destroyed and she is ensnared within its empty casing before being transported to the Winter Palace in 1916.

There she learns that the "Rasputin" Master intends to carry out a forced regeneration, using the power of the CyberMoon. He will become her.

Ace plans to escape from UNIT HQ by jumping from the roof of the building using a parachute. Tegan heads for the basement, whilst Kate is captured by Ashad, who intends on converting her and the surviving UNIT personnel. Tegan is to self-destruct the building, with the Cybermen contained within.

The Master-Doctor forces Yaz to become his companion as he steals the TARDIS. He will wreak havoc across the universe in the Doctor's name - starting with halting an interplanetary war by destroying both worlds. He has donned an outfit which is a mash-up of some of the Doctor's earlier styles.

The comatose Doctor finds herself in a bizarre dreamscape which is crumbling away, and she is confronted by images of some of her former incarnations. The landscape is crumbling away, indicative of her mind being slowly compressed by the forced regeneration. Soon her old self will be gone, subsumed by the new Master-Doctor personality. She must fight to preserve this.

Holographic representations of the Doctor have been triggered by the TARDIS. One is seen by Yaz whilst Tegan sees it in the form of the Fifth Doctor.

Yaz takes the TARDIS to the CyberMoon where she rescues Vinder. They then rescue Ace after Ashad destroys her parachute. She lands safely in the ship.

Yaz then drops Ace off at the Bolivian volcano, to put a stop to the Dalek drilling operations. The Master has been working jointly with them and the Cybermen on a scheme to trigger all of the planet's volcanos simultaneously, wiping out all life on Earth - the "Master's Dalek Plan".

Ace meets a Holo-Doctor in the form of the Seventh Doctor, before encountering Graham O'Brien in the tunnels. He had been investigating Dalek activity.

Together they set about sabotaging the drilling operations.

Yaz arrives at the Winter Palace with Vinder and another Holo-Doctor, in the form of the "Fugitive" Doctor. Together they overpower the Master-Doctor and force him back into the forced regeneration mechanism after killing the CyberMasters. Harnessing the energy of their subsequent regenerations, they are able to reverse the process.

Kate and Tegan are able to escape UNIT before seconds before the building implodes, destroying the Cybermen. They are collected by the TARDIS, and the Doctor has her assembled friends assist her in freezing the volcanoes which have already erupted.

She then takes Vinder to the CyberMoon and repairs his spaceship so that he can head home.

She then sets about freeing the Qurunx but is attacked by the dying Master. The energy of the energy being lashes out uncontrollably and strikes the Doctor, fatally wounding her. As the Qurunx breaks free, the planetoid begins to break up.

The Doctor and Yaz make one final journey together, whilst Graham sets up a support group in London. He is joined by Kate, Ace and Tegan, as well as Dan, Jo Jones, Melanie Bush, and Ian Chesterton. The group exists so that they can share their experiences of travelling or working with the Doctor, when others would refuse to believe their stories.

The Doctor takes Yaz home after their trip, as she wishes to be alone when the time comes to regenerate.

This takes place on an isolated rocky promontory. The Doctor is shocked when, instead of an entirely new body and personality, they find themself once more in the form of their tenth incarnation...

The Power of the Doctor was written by Chris Chibnall, and first broadcast on Sunday 23rd October 2022.

It was written especially to mark the centenary of the BBC, and marked the final contributions to the series (to date) of Chibnall as chief writer / showrunner, and Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.

It also sees the end of Yazmin Khan as a companion, Mandip Gill having been the only actor to portray a companion character for the entire run of a particular Doctor. (Frazer Hines had appeared in all but one of Patrick Troughton's stories).

Also bowing out, for now at least, are Sacha Dhawan as the Master, Bradley Walsh as Graham and John Bishop as Dan.

Another event of significance is the return of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor - the first time a lead actor has returned to the role other than for multi-Doctor stories.

Nods to the past include cameo appearances by David Bradley as the First Doctor, Peter Davison as the Fifth, Colin Baker as the Sixth, Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh, Paul McGann as the Eighth and Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor. Whilst the earlier four don Time Lord robes, McGann wears an outfit related to his Big Finish outings.

Martin features in a Winter Palace scene in holo-form, whilst the others feature in the mindscape when the Doctor undergoes her forced regeneration. Davison and McCoy also get to interact with their former companions in holographic form.

We also have the Master-Doctor's costume, which is an amalgam of previous Doctor's outfits.

As well as Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred reprising Tegan and Ace, the support group scene features Katy Manning, Bonnie Langford and the late William Russell. The latter's appearance earned him a world record for the longest gap between appearances by an actor in the same role. Bonnie would shortly be lined up to return to the series as a member of UNIT, whilst Manning had recorded material in character as Jo for the Third Doctor Blu-ray box-sets.

Sadly Russell was suffering from dementia and John Bishop spent the day looking after him. This was his final acting role.

Earlier in the story we saw Jacob Anderson as Vinder, and Patrick O'Kane returns as a clone of Ashad.

With so many returning characters and actors, there isn't actually any room for guest artists.

Appearing only briefly we have Richard Dempsey and Anna Andresen as Nicholas and Alexandra - a reminder of one of Tom Baker's most prominent roles. He played Rasputin in the 1971 movie Nicholas and Alexandra - and the Master takes on this role here.

Tom was invited to cameo, but proved unavailable. It's previously been claimed by him that he felt he wasn't properly looked after when he played the Curator for the 50th.

At one point the Master dances to the 1978 Boney-M song Rasputin - just for the fun of it.

The official word was that Chibnall had left the series under his own volition - having only agreed to three years in charge, and he had agreed with Whittaker that they should depart together.

The only problem with this is that no-one believes it.

Whittaker no doubt did only commit to three years, and she wanted to have a child and do other work, including a return to theatre. She was already pregnant during filming.

The idea that Chibnall - a life-long fan of the series - would turn down the chance to recast the Doctor with another actor, or miss out on the opportunity to run the show for its 60th Anniversary, is hard to believe. he only contributed two full (shorter) series during his tenure, with one longer season-long story. That he might have run out of ideas is another thing not to be believed.

Ratings were declining and fans and critics alike were unhappy with his time on the show, and it's my belief that this was taken note of by the BBC. The impression is that RTD was already lined up and was brought back specifically to save the show.

Chibnall later said he did not know at the time who would replace him, or even if the show was going to continue.

For his final throw of the dice, Chibnall seems to have thrown in a lot if of ideas / imagery he may have brought to a further series. A lot of what happens here seems superfluous to the plot, and you wonder why it was included. For instance, the whole Rasputin / Winter Palace thing. There's absolutely no point to any of this, other than to add some colour and to allow the whole Boney-M homage. Is the Master merely impersonating Rasputin (and where, then, is the real one?) or is Chibnall saying that Rasputin was the Master (despite him being a historical figure whose life and death are well-documented)?

Vinder's inclusion is also unnecessary, so presumably just there to squeeze in someone from Flux (and if so, why not the more distinctive - and popular - Karvanista?). Is this another hangover from John Barrowman's cancellation? Poor Dan gets dropped 10 minutes in - a disappointing end to a character who was shaping up to be the new Graham.

The story has a running time to fill, and you want it to be epic as its' the BBC's hundredth birthday, and there's a regeneration - but perhaps there's just too much crammed in.

Overall, it looks great but is overstuffed. A simplified storyline might have made a better impression. Sadly, the things people will remember most about it are the things which had nothing to do with Chibnall - the Doctor and companions cameos and the return of David Tennant...

Things you might like to know:

• We aren't told at this point how Mel happens to be back on contemporary Earth, having last been seen flying through space with Sabalom Glitz in what appeared to be the far future.
• This is the very first occasion that Mel's surname is actually confirmed on screen.
• There's an empty chair at the support group, which many fans thought to be a little tribute to Lis Sladen. However, it was actually intended for Anneke Wills, reprising Polly, but she pulled out at the last minute when she heard it was only a cameo.
• "The Master's Dalek Plan" is obviously an in-joke on The Daleks' Master Plan - the 12 part epic from 1965-66. Big Finish had beaten Chibnall to it by three years.
• The Dalek drilling operation closely resembles a DWM comic strip in which UNIT fought Quarks and Dominators in a similar set-up - "The Fires Down Below" in Issue 64.
• Ace gets to smash up a Dalek with her baseball bat - just as she did in Remembrance of the Daleks.
• Ace now runs the A Compassionate Earth charity - as established in The Sarah Jane Adventures and again in the Season 24 Blu-ray trailer. These trailers endeavour to be canon.
• The circumstances of her departure from the TARDIS have never been mentioned on screen, but we hear in this story that there was some unspecified schism between her and the Doctor.
• This is the third time that the Master has tried to steal the Doctor's body - the first being in The Keeper of Traken and the second in the 1996 Movie.
• The Master has so far featured in the final televised stories of the Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth and now the Thirteenth Doctors, as well as a cameo in the Fifth's. They were also in what was originally to have been the Twelfth's, until Moffat was forced to write another Christmas Special, and both the Master and Missy were indirectly responsible for that regeneration. (And if you want to believe the recent colourised The War Games then he was in the Second's last story as well).
• The Master's TARDIS is said to be a Type 75.
• At one point the Master-Doctor plays The Skye Boat Song on the Second Doctor's recorder - as Troughton had done in The Web of Fear.
• The regeneration location is Lulworth Cove in Dorset, where The Curse of Fenric was filmed. The owners were not at all happy as they feared fans would want to visit the spot, despite it being extremely dangerous and situated on the protected Jurassic Coast. Of course the actual filming of the regeneration took place in two different Cardiff studios 6 months apart, under different directors.
• Chibnall had originally hoped to have Doctors Ten through Twelve for the mindscape scene, but thought that they might be brought back by his replacement and so went for surviving Classic Series Doctors. Capaldi had ruled out any return for the foreseeable future anyway, and RTD already had plans for Tennant.
• RTD did not want the Doctor to be seen in Whittaker's outfit as he didn't want to mock drag culture.
• Tennant came up with the "I know these teeth" line himself.