NB: This episode no longer exists in the archives and there are no telesnaps available, so representative images are used.
Synopsis:
The TARDIS comes back together again in space, with the Doctor and his companions in the same positions they were in just before it broke apart...
The Doctor operates the scanner to learn where they are, and they see that they are orbiting the dark side of the Moon. A flash of light is visible, and they are shocked to find a missile rushing towards them. They are stuck in space, however, as the landing circuit has jammed.
The Doctor makes an emergency landing seconds before the missile hits. As his companions wonder who would have shot at them, the Doctor thinks it may have been someone who already knows who they are...
This time the scanner reveals a herd of cows.
The Doctor decides to get the visual stabiliser circuit looked at as well, but when he removes it from the console the TARDIS is rendered invisible and they have trouble finding their way outside.
As they are in 20th Century England, the Doctor decides to seek out his old friend Professor Travers who may be able to assist with repairs to the faulty circuits. They will make for London to find him, and set off across the fields.
After a while they come to a road and flag down a passing lorry. The driver, who seems unusually tense, is surprised to see them but offers them a lift out of what he describes as "the compound".
He explains that this whole area belongs to a company called International Electromatics.
He insists they get out by a security fence and they make off into the nearby woods. As soon as they have gone, a motorcycle patrol arrives from the direction he has just come. The riders wear sinister black uniforms.
Their leader demands identification, then insists he return with them.
When he refuses, he is shot dead.
The Doctor and his companions are unaware of this incident and have found themselves on another stretch of road beyond the compound, where they are able to get another lift in a car.
They soon arrive at Travers' home, but are dismayed to find he is not there. Instead they find a young woman named Isobel, niece of a scientist friend of the professor. She is a model and would-be fashion photographer. She explains that Travers and his daughter are on a visit to the USA and have let the house to her uncle, Professor Watkins. She is concerned about him, as he hasn't been seen since visiting the London offices of International Electromatics some days ago. She has tried to contact him through them, with no success.
After their encounter with the lorry driver, the Doctor is suspicious about this company and tries telephoning them - only to encounter an unhelpful automated answering system. He decides to pay them a visit in person instead, with Jamie, whilst Zoe remains at the house with Isobel. Lacking the funds to pay for her own models, she ropes Zoe into posing for her.
The Doctor and Jamie soon come to the IE offices and find the reception area deserted save for a computer. It was this which had failed to answer his questions on the phone, and proves equally unhelpful now.
They decide to look for another way in and scout around the back of the building, unaware that they are being observed by security cameras - and by a couple of men seated in a car parked nearby. They are Benton and Tracy, and they report their observations to their headquarters.
In his penthouse office, the Doctor and Jamie are being watched by Tobias Vaughn, Managing Director of International Electromatics. He sees them make for a lift, and operates a device which floods the corridor with gas. He then sends his chief of security, Packer, to deal with them.
He changes his mind, however, and orders that they be brought to his office.
Benton, meanwhile, reports to Tracy that their HQ wants the pair found and brought there as a priority.
Vaughn acts the perfect host, intrigued to know what they want with Professor Watkins, who he claims is working on a special project for him and cannot be disturbed.
Jamie mentions the TARDIS circuits which need repairing - much to the Doctor's annoyance - and Vaughn is immediately interested. He offers to have his scientists look at them. He is quite insistent, and the Doctor grudgingly hands them over.
Jamie is intrigued by a small device on the desk, and Vaughn explains that it is a miniaturised transistor radio manufactured by his company. He gives it to him as a gift, then concludes the meeting.
Packer escorts them to the main entrance, making it clear they would not be welcomed back.
The Doctor is suspicious of Vaughn, pointing out that he had a very low blink rate - suggesting something not quite human about him.
Alone in his office, Vaughn examines the circuits more closely then operates a switch.
The wall behind his desk slides open to reveal a strange, alien machine...
Written by Derrick Sherwin (from an idea by Kit Pedler)
Recorded: Friday 20th September 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 2nd November 1968
Ratings: 7.3 million / AI 55
VFX: Bill King / Trading Post
Designer: Richard Hunt
Director: Douglas Camfield
Guest cast: Kevin Stoney (Tobias Vaughn), Peter Halliday (Packer), Sally Faulkner (Isobel), John Levene (Benton), Geoffrey Cheshire (Tracy), Murray Evans (Lorry Driver), Walter Randall (IE Patrolman)
Knowing how popular they were, producer Peter Bryant requested a fifth Cyberman story from Kit Pedler whilst The Wheel in Space was still in production. The plan once again was that he would come up with the general storyline, which would then be written up by David Whitaker. However, Whitaker was busy on another project so Gerry Davis was approached to collaborate with Pedler for the first time since Tomb of the Cybermen. He too proved unavailable - so the task fell to the current story editor, Derick Sherwin, who was just about to move on to produce a series of his own - or so he thought. His assistant, Terrance Dicks would take his place for the opening story of the sixth recording block.
Disliking stories about "jellies in space", Sherwin wanted to bring the series down to Earth - inspired by the Quatermass serials of the 1950's. He discussed this with Bryant who agreed that it would reduce costume and design costs, as well as opening the programme up to more location-based action. Potentially, it might prove to be a template for the following year's season, and so came to be considered as a sort of pilot.
Both men had been particularly impressed with The Web of Fear, and sought to emulate its feel. As such, its director Douglas Camfield was engaged.
The plan was to bring back the characters of Professor Travers, his daughter Anne, possibly, and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart from the Yeti sequel.
As with all three of the Quatermass serials, the Doctor would be allied with the military through the Colonel. This was good news for Patrick Troughton as he realised that this set-up would take some of the strain off of him.
Pedler's initial idea was that the Cybermen would attempt an invasion of contemporary Earth by allying themselves with a sinister global electronics firm. Cybermats were to feature once more as part of their scheme. Sherwin then took the basic idea and began writing his scripts. Pedler was unhappy at being treated merely as a "thinktank", and wanted more creative input - but Sherwin decided to keep his involvement to a minimum.
Permission to use Prof. Travers and Lethbridge-Stewart was sought from writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln in May, which was granted.
The story began life as a six-parter. Reading it through, Bryant realised that there was very little involvement for Travers - not enough to justify rehiring Jack Watling. Another scientist would be created to fill this role - Professor Watkins. He would have a niece named Isobel, who - if popular - might become the new companion for the seventh season.
Sherwin then tried to also replace Lethbridge-Stewart, to save on rehiring Nicholas Courtney. This was run past the BBC copyright department but they responded that any new army officer fulfilling a similar role would be so close to Lethbridge-Stewart that Haisman and Lincoln could justifiably make a claim against them for a fee.
Courtney would therefore be brought back, but now his character would be promoted to Brigadier and put in charge of a new military outfit which specialised in countering alien threats - the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or simply UNIT.
In the first draft of this episode, Watkins was said to work at the Cavendish Laboratories, a genuine research establishment in Chelmsford.
The feather boa which Zoe dons to model for Isobel was specified in the script as it would provide a plot point later.
Vaughn used a device in the form of a pen to open the wall to reveal the alien machine. This was later named the Cyber-Director, and Sherwin went into some detail about what it ought to look like. It is basically a brain-case contained within a frame, with cables going off to various machines which surround it. The walls were to be covered in glowing hexagonal patterns. The main thing was that it shouldn't look too obviously like Cyberman technology.
The IE reception and Vaughn's office were to be cold, clinical spaces.
Benton and Tracy were to have been spying on the IE building from a neighbouring rooftop.
Sherwin carried out extensive rewrites on 8th August, from the point where the travellers flag down the lorry to their arrival at Travers' house, as well as the Doctor's initial meeting with Vaughn.
Character notes described the action as taking place "about the year 1976 AD". Radio Times went with 1975 - which was also the date given by the BBC continuity announcer just before the broadcast of this opening instalment.
A near future setting was what the production team intended, so that they could include items like computers and videophones as everyday items.
Vaughn was to be a "Charles Gray" type figure - the actor who had played Mocata in The Devil Rides Out, and who would go on to play Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever. Isobel was inspired by Susannah York's character in the recent comedy spy thriller Sebastian.
Bobbie Bartlett took over costume design from this story whilst Sylvia James stayed on as make-up supervisor. Designer Richard Hunt had worked on Galaxy 4 and The Smugglers, as well as collaborating with Ray Cusick on Mission to the Unknown.
Bill King and his Trading Post company would handle visual effects.
As Camfield disliked using Dudley Simpson, the incidental music was composed by Don Harper, who was also a jazz musician.
Unaware of the ill-feeling the director had towards the composer - the result of a misunderstanding between the pair - Harper actually approached fellow Australian Simpson for advice on how to score a Doctor Who story.
To play Tobias Vaughn, the principal villain of the piece, Camfield looked to Kevin Stoney. He had played what is arguably the best villain the series had seen to date - Mavic Chen, in the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, which he had directed.
In my opinion, he's the best villain actor of the entire classic era, getting two great roles spanning 19 episodes.
His henchman, Packer, would be played by Peter Halliday, who had starred in A For Andromeda and its sequel, The Andromeda Breakthrough.
Promoted from playing monsters in the series was John Levene who, as Sergeant Benton, would go on to become a series regular during the Pertwee era. He had played a Cyberman at Ealing in The Moonbase, and a Yeti in The Web of Fear, where his friendship with Camfield first began. He had initially been considered only to play a Cyberman.
During the summer break, Patrick Troughton had spent three weeks in France with his second family, and the next three weeks in the UK with his first. He had contacted Peter Bryant in August to confirm that this would be his last season on the show as he was keen to move on to other projects.
Filming got underway on Friday 30th August with model work at Ealing, which included the missile attack in this episode, involving models of the TARDIS and the Moon.
A new production model was used for the sixth year to avoid location filming overlapping with studio recording on episodes, which had entailed the regulars being taken out of rehearsals or missing days off. Each story would now get a week's filming, either for location or for model work, before studio rehearsals commenced. This had been raised with Shaun Sutton late in 1967 by Troughton and Barry Letts, and agreed.
Location work for this episode was due to commence on Wednesday 4th September, but was brought forward a day when helicopter scenes for a later episode had to be cancelled - the aircraft not turning up.
The location was a farm in Gloucestershire - Williamstrip Farm at Coln St Adwyns. This was for the sequence of the TARDIS arrival.
A split screen effect was used for the Doctor and companions emerging from the invisible ship, with half the lens masked off, the film rolled back and re-exposed with the other side masked off.
As well as the regulars, Sally Faulkner was present to have photographs taken which would be used as set dressing in her studio.
The following day saw scenes involving the lorry and the sequence at the compound security gate filmed - on Hatherop Road should you wish to find it. This was Walter Randall's only work on the story.
Saturday 7th September saw production move to Millbank Tower, on the Thames near to the Tate Gallery in Pimlico. This would be used as the IE building.
On Wednesday 11th, the sequence with the Doctor and his companions being dropped off close to Travers' home was filmed - on Princedale Road in Notting Hill. The helpful driver was Douglas Camfield. The actual property used for Travers' house was in St James' Gardens in Kensington.
Rehearsals got underway at St Helen's Church Hall on Monday 16th September.
Publicity images were taken of the three regulars on the TARDIS set during the afternoon of recording.
The episode opened with a reuse of the model TARDIS breaking up from The Mind Robber (1), reversed as it had been at the conclusion of that story. Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury assumed the same positions they had been in for that opening episode, and an electronic interference effect was used to defocus the picture, with the camera looking at each of the trio individually in turn. (One further clue as to when the Land of Fiction 'dream' may have begun is the costumes Hines and Padbury are wearing - those they changed into only after the Doctor had already used the emergency unit).
One of the recording breaks allowed Padbury to change into the clothes she had to wear to model for Isobel, which she would retain for most of the story.
The voice of the IE computer was that of Sheila Dunn - Camfield's wife. She had previously played Hollywood actress Blossom Lefevre in The Feast of Steven for her husband, and would return to play Petra Williams in Inferno.
Dry ice was used to indicate the gas which temporarily disables the Doctor and Jamie.
One wall panel swivelled up behind Vaughn's desk, pivoting at the bottom right corner, to reveal the Cyber-Director. This was based on the Cyber-Planner prop seen in The Wheel in Space, but extended with a large metal and glass framework and additional components which included the use of plastic tumblers from Woolworths.
The office was also dressed with a set of wall panels facing Vaughn's desk, featuring three circular apertures in which TV monitors were placed - each showing the same image.
A short piece of stock music was used for the radio gifted to Jamie, whilst electronic background music played behind some scenes in Vaughn's office - used previously in an episode of Out of the Unknown, and in the first episode of The Macra Terror.
The closing credits ran over a shot of the Cyber-Director. Opening credits ran over the title sequence.
"You are working on Doctor Who, the most technically complex show on British television, and therefore the world".
So said Douglas Camfield at the start of production. This will be his second biggest project for the series but, unlike the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, this one has a continuity about it - being set in only a few real and recognisable locations and with a core cast of characters. Like The Web of Fear, it will also appeal to his love of all things military, having served in the army himself for a time - though we don't get to see any of that this week.
The closest we've come to an episode like this one so far is The Enemy of the World. No sign (yet) of any significant alien involvement - though there's something lurking on the dark side of the Moon. Just human protagonists, in what is shaping up to be a contemporary thriller involving a would-be super-villain - an industrialist rather than a political figure like Salamander.
In this it has obvious James Bond trappings, just like that earlier Troughton story. As with the major Bond villains, Vaughn has his loyal henchman to do the dirty work and he commands his own personal army.
The compound, though, with its sinister uniformed guards is reminiscent of Winnerden Flats, where an alien presence established itself in the second Quatermass serial.
The lorry driver describes it in similar terms, with the locals either forced out or gone over to working for the secretive company which provides housing and other amenities in order to maintain it as a private, enclosed area. (They have their own cows but not chickens, apparently, as the lorry driver was hauling eggs...).
As mentioned, the Quatermass serials are an acknowledged inspiration for this story - and the intended future for the series.
The look of the guards is reminiscent of the French riot police who would have been a familiar sight to UK viewers who had watched the news of the Parisian student demonstrations earlier that year - as well as the Firemen from the 1966 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
It should be remembered that most people planned their evening's TV viewing on a daily basis through listings in the newspaper in 1968. Only readers of the Radio Times (see below) would have known that this was going to be another Cyberman story.
William Hartnell always raised his game when confronted by an exceedingly good actor, and Troughton obviously relishes the opportunity to act opposite a strong performer. In this story he'll have plenty of those with Stoney, and shortly with Nicholas Courtney.
He had been told about this story after completing Fury From The Deep, and was really looking forward to it. He was very disappointed, however, to learn that Jack Watling would no longer be participating.
Jamie will get quite a bit to do in the first half of this story, before Zoe takes over later. Here, it is he who goes with the Doctor to the IE building and meets Vaughn and Packer - the latter of whom takes an instant dislike for the boy and will spend a lot of the next few weeks hoping to beat him up.
You do have to wonder how Vaughn ever got to be so successful when he surrounds himself with people like Packer (brutal, but a bit thick). (And just wait until you meet Vaughn's supposed top research scientist...).
Surrounding yourself with idiots might make you look great in comparison, but men like Packer do have a job to do - and we'll soon see that they aren't really up to it. (There are obvious current parallels...).
In some ways this story might resonate more today than it did back in 1968 - an IT billionaire who has a great deal of power beyond his business interests. The Silicon Valley / AI entrepreneur folks of today don't have to hypnotise people to get what they want, however. Just throw their millions in a certain direction...
The idea that Isobel Watkins may have been considered as a potential companion is interesting, to say the least. She is actually rather an annoying character who feels like a bit of a throw back to earlier in the decade. She's much more like the "dolly bird" stereotype which Polly was intended to be.
How serious Bryant and Sherwin were about her returning in Season 7 depends on when Wendy Padbury confirmed her departure from the show. She has stated that she was invited to stay on, but decided to leave with Troughton and Hines. They also created Dr Liz Shaw as the next companion - a scientist more in Zoe's vein than Isobel's.
Rumour has it that a copy of this episode exists in private hands - it is one of two episodes from the serial which are lost to the archives - as Nicholas Courtney mentioned in an interview being shown a copy at his home by a fan, though it didn't have a soundtrack. As the soundtrack does exist, and so could be reunited with the visuals, it would seem that the episode ought to have been returned to the BBC by now. The fact that it hasn't has led most fans to believe that Courtney was mistaken in the particular episode he was shown, and may have meant the first episode in which he features. Either that, or there's a silent VHS copy out there somewhere.
- The ratings for the new story get off to a good start, including the audience appreciation figure.
- In London and the South East, ITV replaced Joe 90 with Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants, which would prove hugely successful and impact Doctor Who's ratings.
- The series had been off the air for two consecutive Saturdays following The Mind Robber (5), due to coverage of the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. There was now a seven week gap between recording and broadcast - a far cry from when Troughton first started.
- With the episode missing, we don't know how the Doctor knows that they are in 20th Century England. The location may be evident from the landscape, but he mentions that Travers could be a baby or a schoolboy - so doesn't actually know the time period.
- This is the first of seven Troughton episodes which are both missing from the archives and lacking in telesnaps - two from this story, as mentioned, and five from The Space Pirates. You have to go right back to The Dancing Floor, third instalment of The Celestial Toymaker for a similar situation - but that had many photographs taken during camera rehearsals, some in colour. The final story for which telesnaps exist, as far as we know, was The Wheel in Space. As John Cura took his images right up until just before he died, in April 1969, he may well have taken some of these missing episodes - just not found a buyer. After his death his widow offered his archive to the BBC, but they rejected it and it is believed it was subsequently destroyed.
- Other than the whole section in the compound involving the lorry driver, we at least know what this episode looked like as locations such as Vaughn's office and Isobel's studio appear in other episodes.
- At a programme review meeting in early November, concern was raised by the BBC's controller of television programmes, Ian Atkins, about the sequence of the killing of the lorry driver, who is shot - twice. He felt this was "nasty and gratuitous", especially in such a realistic setting, and this sort of violence had no place in an "institution" like Doctor Who. He asked for the violence in the show to be closely monitored.
- One young viewer wrote into Junior Points of View to query Isobel's use of "two quid" - i.e. £2 - if the story was set in 1975, as she was sure the UK would have gone decimal by then. Of course, we did go decimal, but people still call the Pound a quid today.
- As well as Lethbridge-Stewart, Travers, and possibly his daughter Anne, from The Web of Fear, Driver Evans was also considered for a return in this story. However, it was felt that his cowardly nature might upset Welsh viewers.
- This is the first of several roles in the series for Peter Halliday. He provided voices for both the Silurians and the commander of the Alien Ambassadors in Season 7, before taking on the role of Pletrac in Carnival of Monsters. He returned to play Captain Tancredi's bodyguard in City of Death, and his final role was as the blind clergyman in Remembrance of the Daleks. He will also provide the Cyberman voices for this story.
- Walter Randall, seen briefly here as the IE Patrolman, had previously played Tonila in The Aztecs, El Akir in The Crusade, and Hyksos in The Daleks' Master Plan - the latter two roles for Douglas Camfield. He will go on to feature as Slocum in Inferno (Camfield again) and an overseer in Planet of the Spiders.
- Geoffrey Cheshire had played the Viking leader in The Time Meddler and Garge in The Daleks' Master Plan. He also played a Roboman in the film Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150AD.
- Douglas Camfield will revisit an invisible TARDIS in Terror of the Zygons - in a deleted scene that was due to introduce the Doctor and his companions into the first episode. Variable lighting conditions due to the weather on location led to its deletion, but it is available on the DVD and Blu-ray as an option.
- Camfield would also reuse Millbank Tower for the Zygon story - now posing as Stanbridge House, scene of the energy conference threatened by the Skarasen. Built in 1963, it was briefly the UK's tallest building - until superseded the following year by the Post Office Tower (WOTAN's base of operations).
- The Doctor's suspicions about Vaughn arise from his blink rate, which he says is less than once every 10 - 15 seconds, which is the norm for humans. That would work out at between 4 and 6 a minute. However, blink rate varies depending on activity. Resting, it is 14 - 20 times per minute, and when talking it rises to 26 or more. If Vaughn is blinking less than 6 times per minute during a conversation, then he really is reacting in an inhuman manner.
- Radio Times carried a photograph of a Cyberman near St Paul's Cathedral along with the day's programme listings - despite the fact that the aliens' involvement in the story would be held back until the end of Episode 4...
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