Synopsis:
The Doctor and Jamie are in the warehouse area of the IE building, having heard Zoe and Isobel cry out. They are challenged by security guards, led by Packer. Jamie attacks him and they make for the exit - only to encounter more guards. Packer approaches, pistol drawn...
He is prevented from harming them by the sudden appearance of Vaughn. He does not deny that the two young women were here, but claims they left. Jamie insists that they heard them call out, and he saw Zoe's feather boa sticking out of one of the large metal cylinders. Vaughn invites them to search and they move away, but Packer quickly orders the freight train carrying these containers to leave immediately.
By the time the Doctor and Jamie reach the platform, the train is already on its way.
Vaughn explains that it is going down to his factory in the country, and states that he himself is going there now. They can come with him and inspect the containers on their arrival.
They take to Vaughn's Rolls Royce outside the offices and drive off.
This has been observed by Corporal Benton, who reports back to the Brigadier at UNIT HQ.
Asked if he and Tracy should follow, the Brigadier instead instructs Sergeant Walters to send a helicopter to track them. On board will be Captain Turner.
He soon reports seeing the car enter the IE compound, and is advised to remain in the area.
The Doctor and Jamie are taken to Vaughn's office - which is identical to the one in London. He explains that uniformity is a key part of his business efficiency.
Vaughn tries to get information from the Doctor about the TARDIS circuits, which his own people have failed to explain. He then leaves to arrange for them to meet with Professor Watkins.
Jamie is worried that he is being far too nice to them, whilst the Doctor is more concerned about his interest in the circuits. Both are curious as to why Vaughn is letting them speak with Watkins.
Vaughn and Packer are in the professor's workshop, threatening to use Isobel to force him to collaborate with them.
The Doctor is looking out of the window and is intrigued to see a number of large white domes at the edge of the compound, of the sort which house long-range tracking systems. Jamie notices the UNIT helicopter in the distance.
They are then taken to see Watkins. He knows of the Doctor through Anne Travers, and wants to hear more about the TARDIS. The Doctor evades his questioning and produces a magnet from his pocket, which he uses to disable an electronic eye which has been spying on them. They then learn of the professor's work on a teaching machine he calls the Cerebratron Mentor, which induces emotional impulses.
Vaughn and Packer see the monitor in his office reduced to static. Vaughn had hoped to learn more of how his allies could know of the Doctor, and his presence on an alien planet. He has deduced that the Doctor must have some sort of travel machine, and the strange circuits are part of this.
He decides that the time to play games with them is over as he and Packer go to the workshop and remove the Doctor and Jamie, threatening Zoe if they won't co-operate with him.
As they are marched towards a lift, the Doctor causes a distraction. Packer is shoved aside and they enter the lift and ascend to the upper levels. The Doctor sabotages the controls so that it can't be brought back down.
Packer has guards sent to every level - unaware that the Doctor and Jamie have exited the lift through a hatch in its ceiling and are climbing a ladder up the shaft to the roof of the building.
When the lift controls are overridden, Packer is surprised to find it empty - but Vaughn is furious with him for failing to realise that they would have gotten out the way they did. Packer sends the lift up to the top of the building - hoping to crush them, despite Vaughn wishing them to be taken unharmed - but they are already safely outside.
They find a fire escape and climb down to ground level. Packer is forced to report to Vaughn of his failure to capture them on the roof - infuriating him further.
The entire compound is put on full alert.
The Doctor and Jamie have found their way to the railyard. As Packer and his men approach, they decide to hide in one of the freight cars - Jamie climbing inside one of the metal cylinders, which appear to contain large cocooned objects.
He is shocked to discover that he is not alone in the darkness of the container. There is something alive, stirring within the cocoon...
Data:
Written by Derrick Sherwin (from a story by Kit Pedler)
Recorded: Friday 4th October 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D
First broadcast: 5.15pm, Saturday 16th November 1968
Ratings: 7.1 million / AI 54
VFX: Bill King & Trading Post
Designer: Richard Hunt
Director: Douglas Camfield
Additional cast: Edward Burnham (Professor Watkins)
Critique:
In writing The Invasion, Derrick Sherwin first concentrated on the opening few episodes, which are the ones which more closely resemble a conventional spy thriller. The action concentrates on Tobias Vaughn and his henchman Packer, with the Doctor investigating International Electromatics with only Jamie as companion. Zoe has been side-lined in the plot, with Isobel, and doesn't feature at all this week.
We are only drip fed the information that Vaughn has less than conventional allies. There's the strange machine hidden in his office, which alerts him to the fact that the Doctor is known to it and has been seen on an alien planet. This pins down who might be behind all this, and the voice of the Cyber-Director would probably have given the game away for those who might not have read the Radio Times for the week of the first episode. The Brigadier and UNIT have been introduced, but they are very much sitting on the side-lines for now - held back until the invaders finally show themselves, though they will have something exciting to do in the fourth instalment.
This week, we move away from London to IE's rural compound. Visually, there's not a lot of difference as the same locations are used, and Vaughn likes his offices to look identical.
We get one new character introduced - Professor Watkins, whose disappearance got the Doctor into this in the first place. As mentioned last time, he was initially going to appear in Episode Two but his first appearance was kept back until now.
Filming for this episode began on Thursday 5th September, at Kingston Minerals in Gloucestershire. This was for scenes involving the UNIT helicopter which tracked Vaughn's Rolls Royce - a Silver Cloud. The 'copter was an Alouette supplied by Gregory Air Services, who had previously contributed to Fury From The Deep. A nearby field was used, and close-ups of Robert Sidaway (Capt. Turner) in the machine were filmed on the ground from a low angle.
The following day saw the crew move to Associated British Maltsters at Wallingford, for the sequence where the Doctor and Jamie climb down a fire escape. The company provided a modern office block and more railway sidings. This filming made the local press.
On Saturday 7th, Troughton, Hines, Stoney and Halliday were filmed exiting Millbank Tower and getting into Vaughn's Rolls Royce. Hines would later borrow the vehicle to drive around London to impress his friends.
Last time, we mentioned that Troughton, Hines and the crew had finished filming in Notting Hill on Wednesday 11th September, and moved to Acton - the location of the Guinness Brewery. This had been identified by local resident Chris D'Oyly John who was Production Assistant on the story (pictured below right).
They arrived in time for lunch, which included several bottles of the company's famous product. The visitors were gifted Guinness Christmas Puddings. (Troughton would later report that the alcohol fumes caused his to explode). Troughton organised a water fight after the meal. Everyone got a little merry, but fortunately only some action scenes were required from the cast that afternoon, with no dialogue.
For one scene where the Doctor and Jamie had to peer round the corner of a building, both actors kept falling over.
The final filming for Episode Three took place at Ealing on Friday 13th September, for the sequence where the Doctor and Jamie climb up the lift shaft. "Kilroy Was Here" graffiti was added to the set for a touch of verisimilitude. This had been at the suggestion of Hines who argued that British workmen would do this sort of thing, after Douglas Camfield had initially objected.
Prior to recording on Friday 4th October, a few script amendments were made - including Packer using a wrist-mounted communicator instead of a conventional telephone next to the lift.
Watkins was described as short, bald and short-sighted.
The US Information Office supplied footage of an Early Warning System, which would be used when the Doctor spied on it from Vaughn's office. This was viewed through a circular mask to indicate the Doctor's POV through his telescope.
The compound office was simply the existing London set with a new backdrop behind the window blinds. As well as saving on creating a new set, this obviously tied in with Vaughn's ultra-efficiency through uniformity nature.
John Levene had been hired to play Benton in this episode, but did not feature on screen - only providing a radio narrative for the Brigadier.
Recording breaks were mainly for cast movements. The last was for Hines to move from the cylinder prop to another which had a cutaway section, for his close-up as he sees the object within the cocoon begin to stir.
"Our friend the Doctor's a resourceful man. No wonder our allies fear him".
"Our allies know him?"
"Oh yes, I was ordered to destroy him. But first I must learn the secrets of this extraordinary machine of his"
"If you've been ordered to destroy him - "
"I don't take orders, Packer, I give them!..."
"You know something? You're a clever wee chappie".
This episode is really about two pairs of characters - a couple of double acts. One is humourless and regimented, the other funny and anarchic.
The Brigadier does feature briefly and we get to meet Professor Watkins, who gets two scenes - one with each of these pairs, and which very much highlight their different characteristics.
Vaughn and Packer are deadly serious (though Vaughn has a smirking charm about him). Vaughn threatens, and Packer bullies. We also get to see how the boss is infuriated at the incompetence of his underling (which takes us back to why he not only employs him, but seems to rely on him a great deal. Last week we also met Gregory, who doesn't exactly inspire confidence as a head of research).
There is some humour to be had from watching Packer becoming increasingly exasperated at what is his own incompetence.
The Doctor and Jamie, meanwhile, do what they do best - get into trouble then find clever ways to get out of it. It's very clear that Troughton and Hines are completely in tune with each other as performers. Hines has said as much in interviews, claiming they could each tell what the other was thinking - and this sometimes comes across with their characters. They've not only worked together solidly since The Highlanders, but they had acted opposite each other in previous drama productions.
Troughton and Kevin Stoney were both character actors, who had found steady work in supporting roles. Halliday had been a leading man for a time, starring in low budget British movies such as Dilemma (a suburban thriller written by Pip & Jane Baker) as well as on TV in the two Andromeda serials.
Hines had been a juvenile lead, but at this stage in his career was being pressured by his agent to get into films, so was hoping to land leading (or more prominent supporting) roles.
We're concentrating on the main characters this week, as it's another episode which is really treading water.
We're biding our time until Vaughn's allies make themselves known, and the promised invasion gets under way. All that's really happened is that we've moved from one location to another, which in many ways is identical to what we've already seen so far.
Being a technocrat, it was easy to have him obsessed with uniformity and duplication - so that his offices would have the same overall design and layout (which was obviously a blessing for the designer and for the budget).
One new element of significance is the work which Watkins is being forced to carry out for Vaughn. A machine which generates emotional impulses.
It's a 'Chekov's Gun' - introduced now because it must have some relevance later.
Edward Burnham will get a very good scene with Kevin Stoney later, but otherwise the professor's invention is the character's only real contribution to the story. You can see why they decided it wasn't really worthwhile hiring Jack Watling again.
Trivia:
- The ratings remain stable, with the appreciation figure actually rising by a point.
- Edward Burnham will return to the series as another professor - Kettlewell - in Robot.
- There is some confusion as to just what the professor's invention is called. I've gone with what appears in DWM's The Complete History. A transcript site has "Cerebraton", whilst the TARDIS wiki insists on "Cerebration". Burnham certainly doesn't pronounce it as "Cerebration".
- Packer presses Floor 3 to get to Watkins' workshop - yet Jamie declares that they are 6 floors up when he and the Doctor first escape into the lift, having just come from the workshop...
- The Guinness company's in-house magazine covered the filming at Acton, including a photograph of Troughton and Hines with some of the workers:
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