Synopsis:
Salamander has been sucked out of the TARDIS doors into the Vortex, and the Doctor and his companions are threatened with the same fate as the doors remain open. Jamie is able to manoeuvre himself to the console and the doors are closed.
In London, a now elderly Edward Travers is visiting the private museum of Julius Silverstein after it has closed for the evening. Travers had sold him a defunct Yeti, brought back from Tibet decades ago, and now he is desperate to get it back. He tells Silverstein that it is dangerous but is not believed, the old curator thinking he only wants it back as it is now valuable. Travers' daughter Ann arrives to fetch him home, and he reveals to her that he has inadvertently succeeded in reactivating one of the Yeti control spheres which he also brought back. It has gone missing, and he fears it will try to reunite with the robot.
Sure enough, after they have gone, Silverstein hears a window smash. Thinking it the work of Travers he is looking around when the Yeti comes to life, altering its appearance before his terrified eyes. It strikes him dead, then vanishes into the night.
Travers is initially suspected of the crime, but soon afterwards a strange mist starts to spread across central London. Anyone venturing into it is soon found dead, and more Yeti begin roaming the streets. A dense web-like substance begins to infiltrate the Underground network.
The TARDIS materialises, and the Doctor is surprised to find that they are suspended in space. A web-like substance begins to envelop it and the Doctor is forced to boost the power to break free to land.
The ship has arrived on a darkened London Underground station platform - that of Covent Garden. The Doctor explains that the force which held them in space had attempted to capture them, but in breaking free they have arrived some distance from where the force intended to take them.
There is no power and they find the station locked, assuming it to be early morning. Jamie sees the figure of a newspaper vendor sitting outside the station entrance. He is dead, however - his corpse smothered in web.
Situated at Goodge Street on the Northern Line is a deep bunker built originally for the army to act as a transit camp in the heart of the capital. This has now become the base of operations for a military-scientific team set up to counter the threat of the Yeti and the lethal mist. Travers and his daughter provide the scientific talent, whilst Captain Knight leads the military response whilst he awaits the arrival of a new commanding officer. Under Knight is Staff Sergeant Arnold.
Also present is a representative of the British press - the unctuous Harold Chorley.
The Doctor and his companions are exploring the tunnels when they come across Arnold and two of his men - Corporal Blake and Craftsman Weams. They are laying a thick electrical cable. The Doctor asks Jamie and Victoria to follow the soldiers, whilst he traces the cable to see where they have come from, arranging to meet again shortly.
However, Victoria screams when she brushes against a spider's web and the pair are captured by Arnold.
The Doctor traces the cable back to a pile of boxes labelled "Explosives", standing on the platform at Charing Cross. He suddenly hears a familiar bleeping sound and hides under the platform as a pair of Yeti appear.
Jamie and Victoria are taken to the Goodge Street fortress where they are questioned by the Staff Sergeant. Captain Knight is too busy overseeing with Ann Travers the planned detonation of the explosives found by the Doctor at Charing Cross. It is hoped that by destroying sections of tunnel, the spread of the web-like substance will be halted. Jamie and Victoria claim to have been on their own - but quickly change their story when they learn of the planned explosion.
The Yeti are armed with guns which produce large quantities of web and use these to entirely smother the boxes before departing.
The Doctor emerges from hiding to examine their work.
Before Arnold can warn Knight and Ann of the Doctor's presence in the vicinity, the detonation signal is sent.
The boxes at Charing Cross glow fiercely and the Doctor is thrown to the ground...
Written by Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln
Recorded: Saturday 13th January 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5.10pm, Saturday 3rd February 1968
Ratings: 7.2 million / AI 54
VFX: Ron Oates
Designer: David Myerscough-Jones
Director: Douglas Camfield
Guest cast: Jack Watling (Professor Edward Travers), Tina Packer (Ann Travers), Ralph Watson (Captain Knight), Jack Woolgar (Staff Sergeant Arnold), Frederick Schrecker (Julius Silverstein), Jon Rollason (Harold Chorley), Richardson Morgan (Corporal Blake), Stephen Whittaker (Craftsman Weams), Rod Beacham (Corporal Lane), John Levene & Gordon Stothard (Yeti)
The Doctor is running along a darkened tunnel and pauses, facing the camera:
"Thank goodness... Oh, it's you... I thought for one moment it was... oh... sit down for a minute... oh.
I'm glad I met you as a matter of fact, there's something I want to tell you. When we - uh - when we start out on our next adventure - Jamie, Victoria and I - we meet some old friends. Yes, and we meet some old enemies. Very old enemies. Yes - uh - the Yeti as a matter of fact. Only, um, this time they're... they're just a little more frightening than last time, hmm?
So I'd better warn you that if your mummy or daddy are scared, just you get them to hold your hand".
(Sounds of gunfire are heard).
"Here we go again. I've got to go. See you soon - I hope!".
This specially recorded trailer was shown immediately after the final episode of The Enemy of the World, and was recorded during the making of this opening instalment of The Web of Fear - a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen which had only finished broadcasting some twelve weeks before.
A montage of action sequences followed the Doctor's dialogue to camera.
Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln had been approached by Peter Bryant during the location filming of the first Yeti story for a follow-up featuring the monsters - so confident was he that it would prove successful. Preparing to take over as producer on Doctor Who, he knew that aliens, robots and monsters were the key to the series' popularity. He was also conscious of the success of Hammer's horror films and wished to have something of their feel. The director chosen for the new story was someone who had been trying to get work with Hammer for some time, with no success...
Victor Pemberton's "Colony of Devils" would be pushed back to allow the second Yeti story to take its place, as it was in better shape. Pemberton was having issues with new Story Editor Derrick Sherwin over his scripts, which would soon see production as Fury From The Deep.
Haisman and Lincoln decided to remain Earthbound for their follow-up and wished to bring back the character of Edward Travers. Luckily Jack Watling was able to confirm he could appear a few weeks later. Time would have moved on to the present day (more on this next time...) so Travers would now be an elderly scientist rather than a young explorer.
The writers also elected to bring the threat closer to home and set the story in London. Thinking of how the Great Intelligence could spread across the city without recourse to a lot of impractical location filming, the dark and claustrophobic tunnels of the Underground made for an ideal setting.
Douglas Camfield had not worked on the series since the epic The Daleks' Master Plan. With a strong military presence in the new Yeti story, he was the obvious choice as director.
As mentioned, he had been keen to find work with Hammer as a means of moving away from television onto cinema work. (One of the company's more recent features had been Quatermass and the Pit (released November 1967), which had relocated Nigel Kneale's main setting from a Knightsbridge building site down into the London Underground).
Haisman and Lincoln were unhappy that Camfield found the Yeti not frightening enough. He wanted them to be sleeker, and with glowing eyes which would show up on the darkened tunnel sets. He also decided to give them a roar. Terrance Dicks, who joined the production team around this time as Sherwin's assistant and intended successor, often stated in later interviews that his first experience on the show was seeing how they tried to make the Yeti roar not sound like a flushing toilet.
The original costumes had been in a poor state anyway, with their bamboo frames broken, so four new ones were made by father and son team Jack and John Lovell. These were made from yak hair and, as well as the sleeker outline, they had larger claws and a belt of ribbed skin around the middle. The fur pattern was slightly different for each.
The writers didn't like these physical changes as their apparent cuddliness was intentional on their part. They looked cute yet could suddenly kill and destroy, and it was this contradiction between appearance and behaviour which they wanted.
The draft script for Episode 1 did not feature the opening TARDIS scenes resolving the cliff-hanger, and began instead with Jamie noticing the flashing light on the console.
The museum was to have been the Natural History Museum, and neither Julius Silverstein nor Harold Chorley featured.
Permission was sought from the London Transport Board to film in the Underground network. Aldwych Station had been hoped for, as well as the entrance to Covent Garden station.
However, only very limited overnight hours - 2am to 5am - could be offered, and they would charge £200 per hour. Night filming would already be overly expensive for the BBC crew, so it was decided that most of the Underground scenes should be filmed at Ealing.
David Myerscough-Jones designed a quarter-length station platform which could be redressed with signage to represent a number of different stations, as well as sections of tunnel which could be reconfigured and filmed from different angles to give Camfield the maximum coverage.
As well as a curving section and a long straight one, there was also a Y-junction.
Filming commenced on the afternoon of Friday 15th December 1967 over two Ealing stages and required the presence of Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Debbie Watling, who were taken out of rehearsals for the third episode of The Enemy of the World. The scenes set at Covent Garden station were filmed first, with the newly arrived TARDIS crew exploring before setting off down the tunnels.
The platform was redressed to represent Charing Cross for the sequences of the Yeti smothering the explosives and the Doctor's investigation of the boxes and their subsequent "explosion".
A line about the TARDIS always seeming to land on Earth these days was added when Sherwin noted how many consecutive stories this season were indeed Earthbound (there would be 30 episodes in total, bookended by the two Cyberman stories).
Filming continued on Monday 18th, for the scenes in which the Doctor's party spotted Arnold and his men, with the regulars missing more rehearsals.
Model filming was due to take place on Tuesday 19th December, but this was postponed.
Also deferred was planned location filming at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, for the opening sequence involving Silverstein, Edward and Ann Travers and the Yeti coming to life. This had been planned for Thursday 21st - the museum closing for Christmas from Monday 18th - but this was moved to Wednesday 3rd January to be staged at Ealing instead.
An original Yeti costume and one of the control spheres from The Abominable Snowmen were reused, the sphere attached to a black rod to hover outside the window before being pushed through the glass.
The model work was finally completed on Monday 8th January, comprising the shots of the TARDIS suspended in space and being covered in web. This was achieved using a stop-motion effect, with a latex gun being used to add layers of fake cobweb.
Studio recording began on Saturday 13th January, with episodes being recorded three weeks before broadcast.
All the Yeti material had been captured on film at Ealing so none of the monsters were present on the first day's work.
TARDIS scenes were completed first, with action following on directly from the climactic events of The Enemy of the World. A periscope attachment was used on a camera to record the shots of the Doctor and companions struggling on the console room floor. The regulars retained their outfits from that story, including a sticking plaster on Troughton's left cheek. Lighting effects and camera movement suggested the TARDIS being out of control with its doors open.
The first recording break followed shots of spreading web, then a clear star-scape, and then a tunnel ceiling, shown on the TARDIS monitor.
The Doctor was to have explained what happened to Salamander as being the result of "air pressure caused by air speed velocity", but thankfully this was dropped. What we are left with is a suggestion that the would-be dictator might actually still be alive in the Vortex, as the Doctor claims he doesn't envy his predicament.
Extra Bert Smith was recorded seated on the small station entrance set, covered in latex webbing.
Action then moved to the platform set. The Underground sets had been designed to be remounted in the more limited spaces of Lime Grove.
Troughton ad-libbed the word "braunched" to describe what would have happened had the rails been live. This is an obsolete version of "branched" but can be used as a sexual metaphor.
The Goodge Street fortress was a series of linked sets - corridors, ready room, bunk room and workshop - and contained a large illuminated map of the Underground network that would be used to indicate the progress of the web.
The closing credits played over microscope film of cells multiplying.
With recording completed, Troughton embarked on a week's holiday, spending most of it fishing at Elstree Reservoir with his sons.
As is well known, following broadcast the production team was contacted by an irate London Transport Board, threatening legal action for filming on their property without permission, such was the quality of the set design and construction. In March 1968 they would praise these sets in their in-house staff magazine, with comments from Myerscough-Jones.
Victoria: "But will it be safe?"
Doctor, gleefully: "Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment...".
For more than four decades this was our only glimpse of a story which was regarded as a classic, thanks to fan memory and an excellent Target novelisation by Terrance Dicks.
We got an often humorous TARDIS sequence (with the resolution to the cliff-hanger of a lost story) - the Doctor thinking that Jamie and Victoria are playing a trick on him. Note the physical business between Troughton and Hines with the power booster, which we'll see again...
We also got the atmospheric museum sequence, enhanced by the classical music (Bela Bartok once again) and it being on film. Then we saw the superb Underground sets - again helped immeasurably by being on film. There was horror in the discovery of the old newspaper seller, his corpse covered in cobweb. The cast of guest characters are introduced, and we end on a proper appearance by the new Yeti. As openers go, it cannot be faulted.
On paper, the idea of transplanting Abominable Snowmen to the London Underground simply should not work - but it does.
Setting the story decades after The Abominable Snowmen, newer viewers could easily get into this without having seen the previous story - though fans would have enjoyed being reunited with Travers and the Yeti.
- The ratings get off to a so-so start, despite the return of the Yeti - dropping just over a million viewers from the previous episode - though the Appreciation Index is an improvement.
- The first two episodes of the new story began slightly earlier than usual due to coverage of the Winter Olympics.
- The trailer was to have ended with the Doctor saying "... see you next week!", but it was realised that the series might not be shown on a weekly basis overseas. It is now lost, but this change suggests that it was sold abroad along with the episodes themselves, and so the possibility of its survival somewhere exists.
- Television Today published a very positive review of the opening episode on February 8th, in a piece titled "Guaranteed to Chill the Blood". As well as welcoming the Yeti back, it singled out Troughton's performance as the Doctor, stating that he had "broadened, mellowed and enriched" the series.
- John Levene - who will go on to find fame as UNIT's Sergeant Benton - makes his second appearance in the series as one of the Yeti at Charing Cross. He had previously been a Cyberman in The Moonbase. Accompanying him as the other monster is Gordon Stothard who, as Gordon St Clair, will play King's Champion Grun in The Curse of Peladon.
- First appearance in the series for Ralph Watson. He will be back as the rebellious Ettis in The Monster of Peladon, and as lighthouse keeper Ben in Horror of Fang Rock.
- Richardson Morgan will return as technician Rogin in The Ark in Space.
- Jon Rollason was one of the original Avengers - that being the ITV series which starred Patrick Macnee. Rollason played Dr Martin King who briefly replaced Ian Hendry's Dr Keel, prior to the introduction of Honor Blackman's Cathy Gale.
- Chorley seems to be based on Alan Whicker or perhaps David Frost, but in appearance he's more like the BBC's political commentator Robin Day, who was noted for his spectacles and bow ties.
- We're Haisman and Lincoln possibly Pink Floyd fans, using names like Arnold and Lane?
- The deceased commander of the fortress is a Colonel Pemberton - named for writer and temporary story editor Victor.
- The new production partnership of Bryant and Sherwin would come to be nicknamed "Bryant and May" - after the popular brand of safety matches.
- The Doctor is mistaken when he tells Victoria that the Underground is a little after her time. She left home in 1866, and the first public underground railway - between Paddington and Farringdon - opened in 1863. Even if she had never travelled on it, it was obviously big news at the time.
- Radio Times caught up with the times and provided some rather groovy stylised illustrations, by Richard Jackson, to accompany its usual piece on the new story:
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