Blog Pause

Due to a family bereavement I won't be posting for a few days.

Daleks @ Peterborough

To be honest there are only a handful of Daleks from "Nu-Who" in the exhibition - a red New Paradigm one, the standard bronze model, and black Dalek Sec - so this latest post concentrates on the Daleks seen in the series 1963 - 1988, along with some related characters and models.

Just to give an idea of the layout, the exhibition sees you enter a room in which some Time Lords face the Silurian / Sea Devil group I showed you previously. They are lined up either side of a TARDIS console. Beyond this is the Cyberman section, with classic era models facing the newer ones.

You then move into another room in which there are lots of masks, models and costumes.

This then leads into a very big room, half of which contains Daleks, and the other half contains miscellaneous monsters from both eras of the programme.

Our first group of Daleks all made their debut in the Hartnell era - the city-based model seen in their very first story, the distinctive "Saucer Commander" from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and then the standard Dalek with the vertical slats, which was first seen in the closing moments of The Space Museum, and ran through to a cameo in the final episode of The War Games.

Unusual to see that someone has made a Saucer Commander as it only features in a single episode, but I suppose the uniqueness was the attraction. I love the way they have included the little repair job to the middle ring beneath the dome. This ring got broken during the production of the story and they added a little piece of wood to act as a support, purely as a temporary measure. However, it was never replaced, and you will be able to spot this repair in various episodes throughout the 1960's. It was even included on the Eaglemoss figurine.

Before we move on to another unique Dalek, some models...

This little lot all come from The Daleks' Master Plan and represent the spacecraft of the alliance members, or Planetarians / Universal Council. The silver one, bottom left is the Dalek pursuit ship, whilst Mavic Chen's Spar 7-40 is third from left on top row.

That other unique Dalek is one of the highlights of the exhibition, and worth the £5 entry fee alone in my opinion...

It's a very impressive reproduction of the Emperor, from The Evil of the Daleks. It fills a whole corner of the room as they've provided it with a suitable backdrop, rather than just have it free-standing. As anyone who owns the Eaglemoss figurine knows, it simply doesn't look right in isolation.

the smaller lights surrounding the dome turn off and on in sequence.

Standing next to it is the first of our Dalek related characters - an Ogron, as first seen in Day of the Daleks, and then again in Frontier in Space.

For some reason these guys seem to be popular to recreate for fan-made video productions, and I'm afraid they don't always look that great. Here, I think they may have gone a bit overboard with the hairy arms... I think the problem here is also the fact that they've used a standard mannequin for display, so the head doesn't look bullish enough. For their TV appearances they sometimes had to split the masks at the back as the extras (often people overly familiar with the criminal justice system) were such big, bulky guys.

We next get a couple of 1970's Daleks, who flank the original version of Davros...

The Daleks either side of Davros are the silver / black model from Death to the Daleks, and the standard gunmetal grey version which first appeared in Day of the Daleks, and which also featured alongside their creator in Genesis of the Daleks. Two of my favourite colour schemes.

The final set of Daleks hail from the 1980's - from Resurrection and Revelation. We also get one of Lytton's troopers from the former story.

Next batch - some miscellaneous old skool monsters...

P is for... Parry

Professor Parry was an archaeologist from Earth who mounted an expedition to find the tombs of the Cybermen on the planet Telos. This had become their home following the destruction of Mondas. After plaguing the galaxy, the Cybermen had vanished several hundred years ago, and it was believed they had died out. Parry wanted to find their city in order to study it. The expedition was being backed by a pair named Kaftan and Klieg, who had ulterior motives for financing it. Eric Klieg was a member of the Brotherhood of Logicians, who sought to establish a pact with the Cybermen. Also in the party were Kaftan's manservant Toberman, and fellow archaeologists Viner and Haydon.

They had travelled to Telos in a chartered spaceship, commanded by Captain Hopper.

Kaftan and Klieg had elected to fund Parry's expedition as they regarded him as disorganised and a little scatter-brained, despite his dedication - someone who would not have looked into their background too closely.

He was forced to watch as first Haydon then Viner were killed - the first accidentally by a Cyberman weapons test and the latter murdered by Klieg. He had wanted to scrap the expedition after the first death, but Hopper reported that their spaceship had been sabotaged so they would need to stay. 

He then discovered that the Cybermen were not extinct - merely dormant and awaiting revival.

Once the Cybermen had been defeated, Parry was the only surviving member of the expedition, returning home to Earth with Hopper and his crew.

Played by: Aubrey Richards. Appearances: The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967).

• Richards (1920 - 2000) had a long career in British television. including roles in The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, Doomwatch and I, Claudius. He also featured in a number of Welsh dramas, including two versions of Under Milk Wood, 14 years apart.

P is for... Parks, Rosa

Rosa Parks was a seamstress from the town of Montgomery, Alabama, who in 1955 was targeted by a racist criminal from the future. Krasko intended to change history by ensuring that Rosa's protest against racial segregation on the town's bus services did not take place.  The subsequent bus boycott resulting from her arrest was a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights movement.

The Doctor and her companions had to sabotage Krasko's efforts and ensure that history was allowed to run its course, without alerting Rosa to what was going on.

She numbered Martin Luther King among her friends.

By riding the bus on the fateful evening - 1st December - to ensure her safety, Graham O'Brien inadvertently helped trigger events. It was for him that Rosa was expected to give up her seat. On refusing to do so she was arrested, and history remained on track.

Played by: Vinette Robinson. Appearances: Rosa (2018)

• Robinson had previously played doomed medic Abi Lerner in 2007's 42.
• Parks (1913 - 2005) was given the Congressional Gold Medal by President Clinton in 1999 in recognition of her work in advancing the rights of black people in the USA. She had been active in the cause since 1943. After her arrest, she and her husband had found themselves unemployed and so moved to Detroit in 1957, where she remained active in civil rights and anti-apartheid work.
• She has a railway station in Paris named after her, and the Doctor tells her companions that she has also given her name to an asteroid.

P is for... Parker, Henry

Henry Parker was a reclusive millionaire who collected objects of extra-terrestrial origins. Dying of heart failure, he was obsessed with one item in particular - the Pulse - as he felt that it was keeping him alive. When operated, it caused a massive radiation spike which was detected by the Torchwood team in Cardiff. Fearing an explosion they planned to break into his mansion and retrieve the source, which they suspected might be a weapon.

Amongst Parker's security arrangements were heat sensors, so Owen Harper was selected to infiltrate his home. Owen had recently been brought back to life by the Resurrection Glove and did not have any body heat.

The old man revealed to Parker that he knew a lot about Torchwood, as he had been keeping them under observation - whilst they had dismissed him as a harmless eccentric.

Owen was able to deactivate the Pulse before it could become dangerous, and Parker passed away. Owen believed that it had been his faith in the object which had actually sustained him, rather than any special properties it had.

Played by: Richard Briers. Appearances: TW 2.8: A Day in the Death (2008)

• Briers had previously played the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers.
• His wife Ann Davies had played Jenny in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
• Nephew of comic actor Terry-Thomas, Briers is best known for comedic performances - finding fame in the BBC sitcom The Good Life - though he had a late career in more dramatic roles thanks to Kenneth Branagh.

P is for... Paris

Paris was the middle son of Priam, King of Troy. He was a huge disappointment to his father, who thought him vain, cowardly and not a little dim. His judgement on these matters was sound. It was Paris who had run off with Helen, wife of Menelaus - the event which had triggered the decade-long siege of the city by the Greeks, who were commanded by Agamemnon.

Priam insisted that his second eldest go out and find Achilles and engage him in mortal combat, in revenge for his killing of Hector, his heir. Paris couldn't get out of this, but ensured that Achilles would not hear his challenge. He met instead the Greek warrior Diomede - really the Doctor's companion Steven. He was surprised when Steven surrendered so readily (he wished to be captured in order to rescue Vicki from Troy), and was easily flattered by him.

He also came across a gigantic wooden horse, which he assumed to be a parting gift from the Greeks, who had withdrawn overnight. He had it brought into the city, despite the protestations of his sister Cassandra, who was a prophetess.

That night Greek soldiers led by Odysseus - who was accompanied by the Doctor - emerged from the horse and opened the gates for the besieging army. Paris was killed by Odysseus, along with his father.

Played by: Barrie Ingham. Appearances: The Myth Makers (1965).

• No proper photographs of Ingham as Paris are known to exist, so this piece is illustrated by an image from a Loose Cannon reconstruction of the story.
• Ingham played the Thal Alydon in Dr Who and the Daleks.
• He was also considered for the role of Arthur Terrall in The Evil of the Daleks.
• In 1967 he played the title role in the film A Challenge For Robin Hood.
• He spent the last years of his life in the US, having featured regularly in Broadway musicals, as well as appearing in TV series such as Murder She Wrote. Hart to Hart and The A-Team.
• He also guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Up The Long Ladder"), one of only a handful of actors to have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.
• Priam is supposed to have had a lot more than 3 sons - 50 of them.
• Homer presents Paris as cowardly and no great fighter. He also has him fire the arrow which kills Achilles, and he is mortally wounded by Philoctetes, rather than killed by Odysseus.

P is for... Panna

Elderly matriarch of the Kinda tribe of the planet Deva Loka. Blind, she was constantly attended by a young woman named Karuna. Only female Kinda had the power of speech. 

The Doctor met them both after encountering a party of humans who had come to assess the planet for colonisation. One of their number - Hindle - had suffered a mental breakdown and threatened to destroy their base, which would wipe out the whole area. The Doctor and a scientist named Todd escaped the base and met Karuna, who took them to a nearby cave to see Panna. The old woman was able to show them how the society here passed through a repeated cycle of destruction and rebirth, and this was about to happen again due to the re-emergence of an ancient evil force known as the Mara, which manifested itself in the form of a snake and could possess people.

The strain of showing them mental images was too much, and Panna died. However, her consciousness survived by passing into Karuna.

Played by: Mary Morris. Appearances: Kinda (1982)

• Morris, who died in 1988, lived in Switzerland and drove from there to the UK to appear in the programme.
• She played scientist Professor Madeleine Dawney in A For Andromeda and its sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough.
• She also played the only female No.2 in The Prisoner - in the episode "Dance of the Dead".
• Another appearance with Peter Davison, in his detective series Campion, was screened posthumously.

Inspirations: Time Heist

This one is relatively straightforward. The writer, Steve Thompson, thought that a bank robbery involving time travel might make for a good storyline, and Steven Moffat agreed. It transpired that he had been thinking along the same lines, but was just waiting to develop the idea.

The heist would be made more complicated by the fact that, as well as the usual forms of security, this bank would employ telepaths who could detect guilty thoughts as soon as you walked through the door - so anyone planning to rob the place would be spotted immediately before they even had a chance to carry out any crime.

The telepaths idea would become a specific creature - the Teller - which not only detected guilt but could do something nasty about it. Thompson specifically wanted a real physical effects creature as he knew from previous stories he'd written that CGI used up too much of the budget.

Films and TV series about bank robberies have been around since the media were created, and have featured in many genres of story-telling. It's such an adaptable plot structure. A lot of Westerns revolve around bank or train robberies, as do comedies, science fiction films, and even swashbucklers like the Robin Hood movies that would see elaborate plans made to steal from the rich.

Indeed, quite often the robbers have been the heroes of the movie, despite engaging in criminal activity. Generally, in these cases, the people being robbed are usually presented as deserving to be robbed - either because they're so rich they won't miss it, or because they are even bigger criminals than our gang.

Classic heist movies are too many to mention, but a few I'd recommend are the original Oceans 11 (1960), where it's a luxury liner that's being targeted; The League of Gentlemen (also 1960) in which the gang are all British ex-servicemen who have fallen on hard times since leaving the army; The Killing (1956), in which it's a race track that is to be robbed, or The Italian Job (1969).

In terms of comedies, you can't do better than the Ealing movies The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955).

(Golden rule: always watch the originals, not the lacklustre remakes).

Often with these films, especially pre-1960's, it was felt that criminals shouldn't be seen to get away with it, no matter how personable they come across, so they can end up either with the heist going wrong or the gang members end up in handcuffs - assuming they don't wind up dead.

Another inspiration is the close cousin of the heist story - the con artist tale. The BBC TV series Hustle showed a loveable gang pull off seemingly impossible jobs - always against someone who thoroughly deserves it - and we have to wait to a flashback sequence at the end to see just how they managed it.

Time Heist has to see the Doctor and his gang commit their crime for a morally justifiable reason. They can't possibly be doing it for wealth, so it turns out to be a rescue mission - to save the Teller's mate as they're the last of their kind. Each of the gang members also has to be participating for some personal reason - Psi to get his memories back, Saibra to get a drug which will help with her condition.

In the initial drafts for the story, Saibra was going to be a half human / half Zygon, hence her ability to shape-shift.

The story is remembered for the cameo appearances of some old monsters, some of which are a little odd as choices. We know that the Sensorite society can produce wrong 'uns like the City Administrator, but you don't really think of them first when it comes to criminals. Weevils are savage creatures of pure instinct, so also not the obvious candidates for master criminals. Other characters include Captain John Hart, Androvax, a Terileptil, the Trickster, an Ice Warrior, Kahler-Tek and the Slitheen. It looks like they just picked a bunch of characters from random episodes across the parent series and its spin-offs, with no real thought as to their appropriateness. Oddest of all is Absalom Daak, who has only ever featured in comic book form - and he's a comic book character here as well. Couldn't they have got someone to dress up as him?

In order that the Doctor's gang can't be detected by the Teller, they employ Memory Worms to forget their ultimate intention. These were first introduced in The Snowmen.

Michelle Gomez was initially offered the role of Madame Karabraxos / Miss Delphox, but was unable to attend the audition, so asked Moffat to consider her for any other villainous roles...

Next time: First he gave you an episode in which the Doctor got a flat. Then he gave you a story in which the Doctor got a job. Now Gareth Roberts gives you a story in which the Doctor gets, er, a different job...

Episode 164: The Evil of the Daleks (2)

Synopsis:

Kennedy is rifling through the contents of his employers' safe - unaware that a Dalek has materialised silently behind him...

He tries to run but the Dalek exterminates him. It moves back between the two large machines and dematerialises.

The Doctor had been asked to come to the shop at 10pm, but he has elected to bring Jamie there half an hour earlier. They find the front door open and enter. The Doctor is puzzled by some of the items on sale in the shop. They look to be genuine Victorian objects, and yet they don't appear to have any signs of age or wear.

One item even has its original receipt, so they are not reproductions.

Jamie thinks that Waterfield must have a time machine if he can possess objects which can be both brand new, and a century old.

Waterfield returns to his office to find the secret chamber open, and the Dalek has returned. He is horrified at the death of Kennedy and the callousness of the Dalek. It simply orders him to obey then vanishes again.

The Doctor and Jamie have heard voices, but before they can investigate someone else enters the shop. This proves to be the inquisitive Perry.

Waterfield tears the photograph of the Doctor in two and places half in a small wooden casket, which he leaves in front of the Dalek machinery. He then unlocks the office door and withdraws.

As the Doctor argues with Perry over the TARDIS, they see the office door open and find Kennedy's body, clutching part of the torn photograph. Perry tries to call the police but there is some strange interference on the line. He goes to fetch a policeman.

The Doctor is puzzled as to the cause of the electrical interference. He quickly realises from the length of the corridor and the position of the body that there is a hidden room beyond this one, and they search for a key - only to see the door open.

As they look around the inner chamber, Jamie spots the other half of the photograph sticking out of the casket.

The Doctor tries to warn him but is too late. Jamie opens the box, and they are both overcome by a noxious gas.

Waterfield re-enters the room and all three dematerialise, along with the Dalek machinery.

When Perry returns with a police officer, the shop is empty but for Kennedy's body.

At a large country mansion, a young woman is being held captive by the Daleks. They are monitoring her health, ordering her to eat and measuring her weight.

The Doctor wakes up in an armchair in the parlour of the house, where he is looked after by a maid named Mollie. He then meets Edward Waterfield as well as the owner of this house - Theodore Maxtible.

He explains that the date is June 2nd, 1866, and they are in his home which is located a few miles from Canterbury.

Jamie still sleeps from the effects of the gas, so the Doctor is taken to Maxtible's laboratory. There, the two men explain that they have been experimenting with time travel, building a cabinet full of highly polished mirrors which are charged with static electricity. The Doctor is automatically alarmed at the mention of static electricity. 

Maxtible and Waterfield explain that their experiments drew the attention of hideous inhuman creatures, which now hold them to ransom. They hold Waterfield's daughter, Victoria.

The Doctor's suspicions are confirmed when a Dalek emerges from their time cabinet.

Jamie has now woken up, and he meets Mollie and Ruth - Maxtible's daughter. He notices a portrait and learns that it is of Waterfield's late wife, but also closely resembles his daughter.

The Doctor is informed that the Daleks wish to conduct an experiment in order to identify the "Human Factor" - that set of skills and abilities which has led to their defeat so often in the past. The test subject is to be Jamie.

After Ruth has left, a man named Toby sneaks into the parlour from the garden, overpowering Mollie then knocking out and abducting Jamie.

The Doctor and Waterfield enter the parlour a few minutes later to find him gone.

Two Daleks have returned to the laboratory. They insist that the experiment begin immediately. 

Any delay will result in death...

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 20th May 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.50pm, Saturday 27th May 1967

Ratings: 7.5 million / AI 51

Visual Effects: Michealjohn Harris and Peter Day

Designer: Chris Thompson

Director: Derek Martinus

Additional cast: Marius Goring (Maxtible), Brigit Forsyth (Ruth), Jo Rowbottom (Mollie), Windsor Davies (Toby), Peter Hawkins (Dalek voices), Robert Jewell (Dalek)

Critique:

Episode Two of The Evil of the Daleks is the only surviving instalment of the story, so it's the one we know best. It sees the action move away from contemporary London and back in time to mid-Victorian Kent. A number of new characters will start to be introduced here, some of whom will prove to be superfluous to the plot unfortunately. We also get our first sighting of Victoria, who will go on to become a popular companion.

Deborah Watling was a member of a well-known British acting dynasty, daughter of Jack Watling who featured in many movies of the 1940's and '50's. She had been acting from an early age, including a regular role in the 1958 ITV series The Invisible Man, and had auditioned for the role of Polly the year before. Then, Innes Lloyd had thought her too young and not really fitting the 1960's 'dolly bird' image he had envisioned. A Radio Times cover depicting Watling as Alice in a 1965 BBC biographical drama about the life of Lewis Carroll reminded Gerry Davis of the actress when it came to this story.

After Pauline Collins had declined joining the series as the contemporary Samantha Briggs, the decision had now been made to turn a character from this story into the new female companion. The Victorian setting, and the fact that this was the name of one of Davis' own daughters, determined her name.

Watling wasn't the first actress offered the role. It was initially given to Denise Buckley, but negotiations with her and her agent fell through. 

Another candidate for Victoria was Jo Rowbottom, who was given the role of the maid Mollie Dawson instead.

Whitaker's original episode title was "The Net Tightens". Initial drafts also featured Waterfield's wife Ann. 

Tuesday 25th April saw two photographs being taken during the location filming at Grim's Dyke - the setting for Maxtible's home. One was a nocturnal image of the house for establishing shots, taken at 11.30pm. The other was a shot of Watling in costume, which would be used as the basis for the portrait of Victoria's mother seen in this episode. Designer Chris Thompson enlarged this then painted over it.

Two days of filming at Ealing Studios took place between the recording of episodes one and two, which covered the climactic battle in the final instalment. To ease pressure on Derek Martinus, these were directed by Timothy Combe, who had been working on the series since its first season and who would go on to direct two stories featuring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor.

The cast were now joined by Marius Goring, playing Theodore Maxtible. Martinus admitted that he was quite overawed by him, as he was famous for roles on the big screen as well as small. One movie he is particularly remembered for is Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life And Death, in which he plays the effete French aristocrat who is sent to fetch David Niven's RAF bomber pilot to the Afterlife, thanks to an administrative error. 

However, once the director saw how the actor threw himself into the role he was able to relax.

Patrick Troughton had featured in an episode of The Invisible Man, but not one in which Watling had appeared. He had worked several times with her father, however.

He and Hines took the young actress under their wing. Hines and she had already met during the location filming.

Watling was also looked after by Brigit Forsyth, who would go on to comedy fame as Thelma, wife of Bob Ferris in Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?.

Interviewed in DWM  issue 212, Watling was mostly concerned about spots which broke out on her face on the day of recording her first episode.

In studio, Griffith Davies featured to enact his death scene, after which he was only called upon to play Kennedy's corpse.

Once again, dematerialisations in the hidden chamber were achieved by mixing from live action to a still image of the empty room - this time with the Dalek travel machinery also removed for when everyone leaves for the final time.

When the Doctor picks up half of the torn photograph, because of the complexity of the camera angles it would require, Troughton was recorded on the main set holding the photo, whilst another camera showed the close-up of the picture in his hand, actually being held by extra Barry Ashton on another part of the set.

Maxtible's parlour had french windows opening onto a garden, so sound effects were added to give the sense of the birdlife outside, as well as representing the "flying pests" which the Dalek accused Victoria of feeding.

Goring calls Waterfield "Whitefield" at one point.

The time-cabinet was given a specifically Victorian Gothic design, and had doors which hinged both ways so that the Dalek operators could enter or exit easily. It had a false back. The casket trap issued dry ice.

BBC visual effects also built the Dalek weighing machine, which featured flashing lights and an illuminated wall display.

As you can see from the rehearsal image above, the bedroom set was raised off floor level. Martinus had worked with Daleks before, on Mission to the Unknown, and knew their limitations, visually, so sought to shoot them from interesting angles.

Only one of the two Daleks seen in the closing sequence had an operator inside, the director taking care not to show that its dome lights did not flash with dialogue. The Dalek operated by Robert Jewell was a brand new prop provided by Shawcraft Models.

As mentioned last time, a continuity announcer had to read a statement about Terry Nation creating the Daleks over the closing credits, as it had been too late to amend the captions for this instalment.

Annoyingly, when it came to using a clip from this story to introduce the repeat screening at the end of The Wheel In Space, they elected to use one from this surviving episode - otherwise we might have had a nice clip from a missing instalment.

The film recording of this episode had been returned to the BBC in 1987, having been bought at a car boot sale by collector Gordon Hendry, along with the third instalment of The Faceless Ones.

In the same way that it's surprising that the first "quarry as alien planet" doesn't feature until The Savages, so it often surprises that the series doesn't visit the Victorian era properly until now. The First Doctor was always considered someone who would not look out of place in the late-Victorian period, and with its origins partly in 19th Century science fiction / fantasy literature this time zone would appear to be a natural fit for the series. As it is, the action will be confined to this one residential setting - the location for which just happened to have once been home to a very eminent Victorian - Sir William Gilbert, of Gilbert & Sullivan fame.

Famous Victorian scientists get name-checked - Michael Faraday (1791 - 1867) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879). Unfortunately David Whitaker's grasp of science is not very good, and he muddles his facts about the pair. He has an obsession with static electricity, but doesn't understand its properties.

The Victorian obsessions with science and making money are both on show. Waterfield and Maxtible are amateur scientists, and Maxtible states that he has the money to indulge their interests.

We have to ask why Maxtible has a portrait of Waterfield's wife in his home, and the suggestion is that both Edward and Victoria also live here. It has been suggested that Maxtible was responsible for ruining his friend, and so took them in by way of recompense. (Hardly out of charity - it's not in his nature - but perhaps in order to have some hold over him, perhaps exploiting his technical skills).

We will later discover that his current wealth isn't enough. Like the writer, he has an added obsession about alchemy - the ancient lure of transmuting base metals into gold.

One other question we do have to ask: if the Daleks have time machines, why visit 1866 in the first place? Why not simply set up a base of their own in 1966 to ensnare the Doctor?

And was it really WOTAN which the Doctor sensed when he arrived in Fitzroy Square? He did say that he got the feeling when Daleks were about - and we've now discovered that they were active in Chelsea at the exact same time. It's a massive coincidence that two lots of aliens and a home-grown menace should all strike the London region at the same time. Could one of these other incidents have been set up by the Daleks as a means to trap the Doctor? The Chameleons are the obvious ones, as how else could the Daleks know that the TARDIS would be found, unattended, at Gatwick Airport for them to steal?

Trivia:

• The ratings see a drop of more than half a million on the opening instalment.
• Opposition on ITV included talent show Opportunity Knocks! in the London region, Lost In Space and Bonanza.
• The episode was repeated at 5.15pm on Saturday 15th June 1968, when it was watched by 5 million viewers, and had an appreciation index of 52 - marginally higher than the original broadcast. 
• Television Today highlighted the debut of Deborah Watling in the series on 29th May, featuring a publicity photo of the actress in costume at the Grim's Dyke location. At no point is Victoria ever seen in the grounds of the house in the programme. Nor does she ever take tea with Ruth, as another publicity image showed.
• Another actor considered for the role of Maxtible was Patrick Wymark. Best known nowadays for Where Eagles Dare, Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw, he was the star of The Plane Makers (1963 - 65), which morphed into The Power Game (1965 - 69). Wymark played the anti-hero John Wilder in both series. Lloyd had wanted to work with him for some time, and even considered him as a replacement for William Hartnell as the Doctor.
• Losing out to Windsor Davies, who will become famous for comedy roles in numerous films and the army concert party sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, was actor Christopher Benjamin (Inferno, The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Unicorn and the Wasp).
• Frazer Hines once claimed that he was sitting inside a Dalek casing one day during a break in recording, and overheard a couple of guest stars criticising the show - unaware that the prop was occupied. As this is Hines' only Dalek story, we can only assume that he was referring to a pair of these guest artists. He did not say who they were, however. Goring is reported to have thoroughly enjoyed his time on the story, whilst John Bailey had been in the series before (as the commander in The Sensorites) and would appear again a decade later (as Sezom in The Horns of Nimon). Saying that, Colin Douglas, after appearing in The Enemy of the World, had claimed he would never do another Doctor Who as he felt the programme beneath him - only to turn up later in The Horror of Fang Rock.
• On the Wednesday following broadcast, at the BBC weekly programme review meeting, Huw Weldon was disappointed to learn that this might be the last ever story to feature the Daleks.

'60's Cybermen @ Peterborough

The first of three batches of photographs from the exhibition covering Cybermen, this lot all come from 1960's stories - and all five of the B&W adventures are represented.

We begin with the original Mondasian version seen in The Tenth Planet...

This is a pretty faithful recreation of the original costume, and I love the fact that we get to see the eyes, which could be glimpsed in some of the original episodes - reminding us of their humanoid origins. I much prefer it to the remake design seen in World Enough And Time / The Doctor Falls.

Jumping ahead chronologically, on the shelf behind you'll have seen a mask from The Invasion. There was no full recreation of this model. This was where the "ear-muffs" first came in.

From The Moonbase we have another full-size outfit. You can always tell this model from the Tomb one by the footwear (lace-up shoes) and the arrangement of hoses running from the chest unit. (Moonbase ones don't have any running from the base of the unit). Another thing to look out for is the circular pattern of breathing holes on the cheeks of the mask, introduced in Tomb for the comfort of the performers.

This Mark II version is definitely my favourite of all the Cyberman designs, and I've been lucky enough to capture a few reproductions, and even one original costume, on camera before.

From The Tomb of the Cybermen we get the impressive Controller...

Darker in colour and with no chest unit, it has a large translucent brain case which was supposed to light up - but the effect was rather lost under the bright studio lights. The original Controller helmet still exists, and the collector who owns it allowed it to be photographed and measured to create this copy.

The images from the exhibition printed in the recent DWM bookazine Cybermen: The Ultimate Guide (highly recommended) were obviously taken before the exhibits were properly set up, as they are seen against a plain grey background. If you visit Peterborough you'll see set elements from Tomb now form a more interesting backdrop, including the half-moon ladder steps, the stylised wall stencils, and the large panel which concealed the Controller's personal chamber.

As mentioned, we only get a mask from The Invasion, so the final full costume '60's Cyberman on display here is the one seen in The Wheel In Space...

As you may already know, this was not the original design for this story. They came up with a version for filming at Ealing which had a vinyl suit, but this proved quite impractical and the director asked for a remake before the story went into studio - and this was the result. The original version did make it to screen, in the sequence where the Cybermen attempt to space-walk onto the Wheel in the final episode, and when they first appear inside the big egg-like pods.

It clearly represents a bridge between the original Troughton design and that which would follow in The Invasion, in that we now have a wetsuit as the base for the costume, there are rigid rods along the limbs instead of hoses, and the tear-drop motif first appears. The chest units were the older Troughton ones, just put on upside down.

This is the only reproduction of this design I've ever seen. The Blackpool Exhibition had featured a Wheel helmet, but stuck on a Mark II body. One of the problems with accurately reproducing this design - and the one from The Invasion - is that the style of wetsuit is no longer manufactured, so you'd have to spend a lot of money adapting a modern one, or getting one custom made.

Next batch... time for some Daleks.

What's Wrong With... Attack of the Cybermen

Haven't had one for a while, but it's another of those occasions when the Time Lords send the Doctor on a vital mission, but don't tell him he's on one until he works it out for himself, and they don't provide him with any information that might prove useful - like where he's going and what he has to do when he gets there.

That mission is to prevent the Cybermen messing about with future history by preventing the destruction of Mondas in December 1986, as seen in The Tenth Planet. (That's not the last old Cybermen story I'll mention, as this one is stuffed with references - many would argue to its detriment).

In order to do this, they've obviously travelled back in time to the year before this disaster. 

Except...

They haven't mastered time travel yet, and have only just stolen a time-ship which has crash-landed on Telos. How can they have a base on the dark side of the Moon, and one in the London sewers (as seen in The Invasion) in 1985, but be in contact with the Controller on Telos in 2500 or thereabouts if they don't already have significant time travel capability?

It is never quite clear if the plans of either Lytton and / or the Cybermen depend on the Doctor turning up or not. Sometimes that is suggested, and other times they simply seem to exploit his presence. But if Lytton kept his distress beacon going even after he made contact with the Cryons, who else was it intended for?

If he did know that the Doctor was sure to turn up, why put himself in danger by deliberately making contact with the Cybermen? The Doctor could have simply been made to take him to Telos in the TARDIS.

What, precisely, were the Cybermen going to do if the Doctor hadn't turned up when he did?

Why have the Cybermen chosen to change things by going to Earth anyway? Wouldn't it be simpler going to Mondas itself and warning their ancestors directly?

In The Tenth Planet, Mondas was actually destroyed by its own greed. The Cybermen claimed that they couldn't control its energy consumption, so even if the Earth was devastated by Halley's Comet, Mondas would still absorb too much energy and perish.

In this story it is stated that the planet was deliberately steered back to Earth by the Cybermen, but The Tenth Planet implied that the Cybermen didn't have much control over it, and it had simply followed a natural trajectory which had brought it back towards Earth again. The Cybermen made to attempt to move it out of danger, did they?

Here, the Controller is happy to allow a couple desperate and potentially dangerous prisoners to escape, killing several of his Cybermen, all just so he can run a psychological experiment. Wouldn't it have been better to delay this until after the saving of Mondas and foiling the Cryon plan?

The Controller also wants to destroy the surface of Telos, just to see what it looks like. Again, wouldn't it be best to make sure Mondas is safe first and not leave yourselves homeless again? But, of course, if they do save Mondas then they would never have come to Telos in the first place, so the whole experiment is pointless whichever way you look at it.

And Cybermen are supposed to be creatures reliant on logic...

The time-ship requires three to operate, yet Stratton and Bates never explain how they are going to get the third person. They don't know about Lytton and Griffiths until they come across them.

You have to wonder how Stratton and Bates could ever have been placed in control of a valuable time-ship in the first place. No wonder it crashed.

You also have to question Lytton's credentials as a criminal mastermind, if the best he can come up with include Griffiths and a police insider.

Another temporal anomaly is how the Cryons were able to establish communication with Lytton when he's in 1985 and they're also in the 26th Century. Even if they had the technology, how could they possibly know that there's a bloke in 20th Century London who is the best person to help them now, in the 26th Century?

If the technology isn't theirs but Lytton's, then where did he get it, as last time we saw him he was wandering off in a police uniform with no visible stash of electronic components. I doubt very much he'd find anything on Tottenham Cross Road that could be adapted to communicate with an alien planet 500 years into the future.

The Doctor and Lytton seem to know an awful lot about each other, considering they only glimpsed each other once across a darkened warehouse during a battle with Daleks and didn't say a single word to each other. There's nothing on screen to even hint at an unseen adventure. Indeed, the Doctor even refers to Lytton as last being in the Daleks' employ.

The Doctor also suddenly comes up with the bizarre fact that Cybermen will always respond to the distress of one of their number. Where did that come from?

If you're going to lock up a dangerous prisoner, best not to put them in a room full of highly volatile explosive material - especially if you're not going to bother searching them for any devices capable of igniting highly volatile explosive material...

Production wise, they go to all that bother to return to the ice tombs of Telos (as seen in Tomb of the Cybermen), but come up with sets that look nothing like them. They also bring back the Controller, who also looks nothing like the original - though it would be fair to say that both Controllers look like altered versions of their current subordinates, and Cybermen certainly do evolve over time. 

Needing a tall actor to play the Controller, they do the fan-pleasing thing of bringing back the original actor, Michael Kilgarriff. But he doesn't look the same, and he doesn't sound the same, and he's obviously filled out a bit in the last 18 years... That there was a character in Thomas The Tank Engine called "The Fat Controller" didn't help fans take this seriously.

In fact fans didn't like this story at all - mainly for some of the very things put in to please them. It's one thing to honour the show's history, but you have to do it in a respectful manner (no turning Sutekh into a big CGI dog, or Omega into a big CGI zombie, for instance). Above all, don't muck about with continuity, even if the series has a very poor grasp of this at the best of times. What little there is needs to be honoured. 

Certainly don't go overboard on it. One of the things people really hated about the Star Wars spin-off Solo was that they felt the compulsion to stick in an explanation / reference for every single Han Solo line in the original trilogy.

Attack of the Cybermen felt at times like a shopping list of elements from past Cyberman stories, as well as Resurrection of the Daleks obviously.

And let's not forget An Unearthly Child, because the TARDIS just happens to revisit I.M. Foreman's yard in Totters Lane. Except this looks nothing like the one we saw earlier - or the one we'll see later.

This is a scrap yard, not a junkyard. There is a difference.

Lastly, we must mention the level of violence in this story, as it will be used as an excuse to force the series into its first hiatus (I think Doctor Who fans are more familiar with this word than the general population).

There's a high body count, and we also have the nasty moment when Lytton gets his hands crushed by the Cybermen. The violence of this and other stories in Season 22 was used to justify suspending the series (though we actually know it had nothing to do with it) but a lot of fans at the time agreed that the violence was going too far.

Prentis Hancock 1942 - 2025

Sad to report that the family of Prentis Hancock have announced his death. He passed away on 30th May, two weeks after his 83rd birthday.

The Glasgow born actor first appeared in Doctor Who in Jon Pertwee's debut, Spearhead From Space, in which he played one of the reporters at the cottage hospital.

He returned a couple of years later for a more substantial role - that of the hot-headed Thal Vaber in Planet of the Daleks.

That story's director, David Maloney, recalled him when looking for a similarly temperamental  character in Season 13's Planet of Evil, and Hancock portrayed the increasingly out-of-his-depth Commander Salamar.

His final role in the series was as the Shrieve Captain in The Ribos Operation.

He features in several DVD extras of his stories, talking about his time on the series with great affection.

Beyond Doctor Who, for many he will be best remembered for his role as Paul Morrow in the superior first season of Gerry Anderson's Space:1999.

RIP

Premature Regeneration...

It is pretty much confirmed that Ncuti Gatwa was intending to make a third series, and a different ending to The Reality War was recorded more than a year ago. We would have seen a little more of Susan, as well as Belinda's father. Between October 2024, when he stated on the Graham Norton Show that he'd be filming a new series soon, and February 2025 when reshoots were mounted, something obviously happened to change his mind - for those reshoots were to include the regeneration. 

Anyone who says it was all planned that he'd leave after just two years is being economical with the truth.

It looks like most of the Poppy stuff was only added as part of these new scenes, there to justify the Doctor's sacrifice. 

All this might help to explain why the second half of the episode felt so disjointed.

It is also now widely believed that Piper isn't necessarily the new Doctor and that she's just there to hold the fort for a special or two before someone else is cast, or another regeneration is left open ended to allow for a much longer hiatus.

Theories about Piper are that she's the embodiment of the TARDIS, like Idris in The Doctor's Wife, or the Bad Wolf Rose, or even some sort of intermediate state like the Watcher in Logopolis.

The regeneration certainly didn't look right (the Doctor's face vanishes for a second - has he been hijacked and replaced?) and was it significant that they seemed to focus on the TARDIS console just before the change?

Piper herself spoke about being back on the TARDIS "one more time", which some people have taken literally as meaning a single episode, but I think that's reading too much into a phrase.

RTD2 has said: "How and why and who is a story yet to be told", whilst Piper said "...but who, how, why and when, you'll just have to wait and see". The inclusion of "who" in both statements can't be a coincidence.

Just to muddy things further, Piper also posted the cryptic "A rose is a rose is a rose" on Instagram following the reveal.

We knew Gatwa couldn't possibly commit to any new filming until at least October as he's appearing in the West End, but if Piper is available then they might just be able to give us something in 2026 - except there's still the business of the Disney partnership to be resolved... If Bad Wolf and the BBC have the money then they could push ahead with a special even without Disney input, or perhaps talks are already underway with an alternative streaming partner. I really can't see Disney not having already made up their mind about reinvesting in the show.

Episode 163: The Evil of the Daleks (1)

Synopsis:

After saying farewell to Ben and Polly, the Doctor informs Jamie that the TARDIS isn't where it is supposed to be. They are just in time to see it being driven out of the airport on the back of a lorry.

They are too late to stop it - and are unaware that they are being spied on from a nearby field by a man named Kennedy.

They speak to a worker named Bob Hall, who is wearing a hearing aid. Their conversation is being listened to by Kennedy. Hall tells them the lorry had the name "Leatherman" painted on its side. He has a document amongst his papers stating that the Police Box was authorised for collection by one "J. Smith".

After they have gone, Hall checks with Kennedy that he overheard what was said.

The Doctor is suspicious of Hall as his overalls did not fit properly, and the sheet of paper about the TARDIS was different to the others he was holding. 

Kennedy meanwhile is reporting events to his employer. This is a man named Edward Waterfield, who dresses in Victorian fashion.

The Doctor and Jamie wait for Hall to leave in his car then jump in a taxi and follow him.

Waterfield runs an antiques shop in London, with his assistant Perry. Perry is impressed by the quality of the merchandise his employer procures - especially his time-pieces.

He is curious to know why they have taken delivery of a battered old Police Call Box, but Waterfield isn't willing to discuss the whims of their customers.

The Doctor and Jamie have followed Hall to an abandoned warehouse located in a narrow lane, alongside some railway arches.

Kennedy is already there waiting for him, and gives him some money. When he realises that he has been followed, Hall attempts to leave and Kennedy knocks him out. He conceals himself as the Doctor and Jamie enter, finding the stricken man. They note the cash, and hear him ask after someone named "Ken...". He passes out again before he can continue, and they search him. The Doctor finds a book of matches from a coffee bar named "The Tricolour". Some matches have been removed, indicating that they belonged to a left-handed man.

Kennedy goes to the antiques shop, where he gives his report to Waterfield - confirming that the Doctor found the matchbook. He had waited until the Doctor and Jamie had left then followed Hall to confirm he had now fled the city.

Waterfield insists that Kennedy stay hidden at the shop and that he should say nothing to Perry. Thinking himself alone, he produces a key and unlocks a hidden door in a bookcase at the rear of his office - but Kennedy is watching. He assumes that his employer has valuables locked away which he plans on stealing later.

Waterfield has brought out a small wooden casket and a pair of photographs - of the Doctor and Jamie.

He shows these to Perry and explains that a "Dr Galloway", an eccentric collector, is interested in the Police Box. Perry should go to "The Tricolour" and make contact with him.

The Doctor and Jamie are at the coffee bar, which is frequented mostly by young people. No-one knows of anyone named "Ken". They have discovered that the firm of "Leatherman" does not exist.

Kennedy is listening at the secret room and hears Waterfield pleading with someone.

Perry meets with the Doctor and Jamie and gives them a business card for the shop, requesting that they visit at 10pm that night to meet with his employer.

He reports back to Waterfield who updates Kennedy after he has gone. His preparations complete, Waterfield retires for a few hours sleep.

Believing himself to be alone, the curious Kennedy enters the office and gains access to the secret room in search of valuables. It is a brightly lit chamber, the only furniture a large chair facing a blank space.

As he rifles the safe, he is unaware of a squat metallic shape which slowly materialises behind him, flanked by futuristic machinery.

It is a Dalek...

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 13th May 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 6.00pm, Saturday 20th May 1967

Ratings: 8.1 million / AI 51

Visual Effects: Michealjohn Harris and Peter Day

Designer: Chris Thompson

Director: Derek Martinus

Guest cast: John Bailey (Edward Waterfield), Griffith Davies (Kennedy), Alec Ross (Bob Hall), Geoffrey Colville (Perry)

Critique:

Terry Nation was still busy working on more lucrative ATV series, which he hoped would take him to the United States, but was keen to launch the Daleks in a series of their own. In late 1966 he had submitted a pilot to the BBC, titled "The Destroyers" which would see the Space Security Service -introduced in The Daleks' Master Plan - battle the creatures. The SSS team would comprise Sara Kingdom and her brother David, Captain Jason Corey and an android named Mark 7.

Thinking it a done deal, Nation had his own production company, Lynstead, lined up to make the series with the BBC, with filming due to commence in December 1966. He had even purchased the Dalek props from the Curse of the Daleks stage play to feature in this. In the new year he would be taking the pilot to the States to interest networks there.

However, the BBC rejected the idea, which did not go down well at all with the writer. He would still take his idea to America, but this would mean taking his creations out of the BBC's hands all together.

He was agreeable to the BBC using the Daleks in Doctor Who whilst his negotiations on "The Destroyers" were in progress - though not interested in writing a new story himself. This fell to David Whitaker, who had collaborated with Nation on other Dalek projects and who had written their last outing - The Power of the Daleks.

Right from the start, Whitaker intended the story to feature a significant portion of time in Victorian England. Whilst Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis had discontinued the historical stories, they were not averse to historical backdrops being used for science fiction stories. Whitaker also planned a trip into prehistory, as the Daleks wanted a caveman (named Og) to test in order to identify the "Human Factor".

It was known that Ben and Polly were to depart the series, but this would only happen in the second episode of this story, when they would be left behind whilst the Doctor and Jamie travelled back to 1880. They feature in Whitaker's first draft of this episode.

The writer gave each episode its own title, as with the series when he had helped launch it. This one was called "To Set A Trap...".

Davis was preparing for his departure during the making of this serial, having declined the offer to replace Lloyd. He had instead suggested that his assistant story editor Peter Bryant be given the role. As with the previous serial, Bryant was credited as associate producer on this story. Victor Pemberton, who had been a supporting cast member on The Moonbase, was being groomed to replace Bryant as story editor once he was promoted.

Another behind the scenes change going on at this time was that the BBC's own visual effects department was to assume responsibility for the series. Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie had initially refused to work on Doctor Who unless they were given more staff and facilities, which had been rejected. The department had since grown and so they were now able to take on the workload which the series would bring. Lloyd had been keen to drop their reliance on Shawcraft Models after the high cost of the Macra prop and the problems encountered during the making of The Faceless Ones. Shawcraft would continue as a subcontractor, and they were happy to see the partnership cut back as they were getting a lot of other, more lucrative, commercial work.

The sequence of the Doctor and Jamie chasing the lorry with the TARDIS, then discussing the matter with Bob Hall, was not filmed at Gatwick Airport alongside footage for The Faceless Ones. Instead, filming was carried out at hangars belonging to the Metal Box Company on Kendal Avenue in North London - across the road from the BBC's Outside Broadcast transport department. This took place on Friday 21st April.

As well as Troughton and Hines, actor Alec Ross and extra Len Russell (playing the lorry driver) were in attendance. After filming at this location the cast and crew moved to Warehouse Lane to film shots of the Doctor and Jamie alighting from a taxi after following Hall. This lane featured railway arches and warehousing.

The scenes of Kennedy watching the activities at Gatwick were actually filmed the day before at an entirely different location - Grim's Dyke, a house in Harrow Weald west of London, which would be used as Theodore Maxtible's home for much of the story. Griffith Davies was filmed sitting on a fence behind the house's stable block.

Thursday 11th May saw Peter Hawkins dub all the Dalek dialogue for the Ealing filming material, as the cast rehearsed at St Helen's church hall.

Recording on the evening of 13th May ran from 8.30 - 9.45pm. The opening captions were shown over the title sequence, instead of following this and playing over establishing shots as had been the norm since The Savages.

The main set was a linked one for Waterfield's shop. It comprised his office and the inner chamber in which the Dalek would materialise, as well as a short section of corridor. The wall safe was constructed with no back so that Derek Martinus could shoot Kennedy face on with the Dalek behind him.

The materialisation of the Dalek was achieved simply by mixing between a still photograph of the empty room and the set with the Dalek and the time machine props in place, being careful to line up the background exactly.

Other sets were the fuel station office, the warehouse doorway and interior, and "The Tricolour" coffee bar. As the name suggests, this was decorated with red, white and blue stripes.

Photographs of Troughton and Hines had been taken during location filming.

As the previous story had established that this was July 1966, appropriate music was needed for the bar. Two pieces chosen were No Body Knows The Trouble I've Seen, by The Seekers, and Paperback Writer by The Beatles.

Composer Dudley Simpson had created a Dalek theme which was based on the bass line of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme.

It was during the making of this story that Simpson was stopped by the police when driving the music over to his copyist in the middle of the night. When he explained what he was doing the policeman saw him on his way.

The BBC received a complaint from Terry Nation's agent - Roger Hancock - following the broadcast of this episode, as his client had not been credited on screen for devising the Daleks. The credits for Episodes 3 - 7 were amended, whilst the second instalment would have a spoken acknowledgement.

It's a very convoluted way of getting someone to an appointment, and this is symptomatic of this story (and some other Whitaker scripts). Of the two Troughton Dalek stories, The Power of the Daleks is my favourite, as it lacks the padding which is evident throughout a number of episodes of this later effort.

Here we have an entire episode devoted to getting the Doctor to Waterfield's antiques shop, where a trap is obviously being set - and the Doctor and Jamie don't even get there until the next instalment.

In Whitaker's original notes, it is Edward Waterfield himself who steals the TARDIS, forced to do so as the Daleks hold his daughter hostage. He employs a gang member named Bill - a character who would later become Bob Hall. This would obviously have sped matters up considerably.

This is not to say that this opening episode as it stands is bad. It's actually very interesting to see the Second Doctor in a contemporary setting. The airport backdrop for The Faceless Ones was still quite exotic at the time, but here we see him and Jamie frequenting a trendy coffee bar, where young people in mini-kilts dance to The Seekers and The Beatles.

Also like The Faceless Ones, we see the Doctor employ detective skills. Back then burnt fibres and foreign stamps had caught his attention, but here he notes Hall's ill-fitting overalls and different coloured works orders, and even works out that the book of matches had been used by a left-handed person.

Trivia:

• The ratings get off to a healthy start, no doubt due to the reappearance of the Daleks.
• The episode was repeated on Saturday 8th June 1968, when it was viewed by an audience of 6.3 million, with an appreciation figure of 50.
• For the repeat, some dialogue between Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury was played over the opening scene, as this repeat run was linked directly to the closing scene of The Wheel in Space and helped plug the summer gap between Seasons 5 and 6.
• Future Dad's Army regular James Beck (David Whitaker's best man at his wedding) was a candidate for the role of Kennedy, whilst Maurice Denham (The Twin Dilemma) had been considered for the part of Edward Waterfield.
• Doctor Who was the subject of a feature in Television Today magazine, two days before this episode went out. It was mainly an interview with Innes Lloyd.
• Daleks featured in Late Night Line-Up on the evening of broadcast. Joan Bakewell conducted interviews with school children about the monsters, and a clip from a Hartnell Dalek story was shown, dubbed into Arabic.
• Start times for this story will vary greatly over the seven week run, with the earliest being 5.45pm (Episodes 3 - 6), and the latest 6.25pm for the final instalment.
• This episode aired at 6pm due to coverage of the FA Cup Final.
• Radio Times as usual featured the first episode of the new story, including a photograph depicting Jamie and Victoria - even though Deborah Watling wouldn't feature until the following week.