"Bill's Out, Now What?" A Different Doctor Who
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Because I'm a pedantic sod, I just wanted to check if this order is correct:
1: Beyond the Sun
2: The Intruder
3: Marco Polo
4: The Keys of Marinus
5: The Masters of Luxor
6: The Aztecs
7: The Mystery at Hunter’s Lodge
8: Farewell Great Macedon
1: Beyond the Sun
2: The Intruder
3: Marco Polo
4: The Keys of Marinus
5: The Masters of Luxor
6: The Aztecs
7: The Mystery at Hunter’s Lodge
8: Farewell Great Macedon
Almost! Two corrections. The Intruder slots in between Marco Polo and the Keys of Marinus, which is a little bit clumsy given the last minute nature of the switch from 100,000 BC to the Daleks. And Luxor is the last story, with the three historical stories forming an accidental trilogy. To be clear, actually listing the order of episodes at the end of the chapter is a smart move that I ought to have made..
(Also, as a fellow pedantic sod myself, this is really helpful so ta!)
I'm glad you liked it!
It definitely starts the path of DW being popular in the US, and hopefully, this means no lost episodes
Who will play the doctor in this animated series because i could imagine Richard Harris (Dumbledore 1.0) playing him well
Some simple fan-art I knocked together:
A paranoid Doctor glares at Ian and Barbara (The Intruder, Episode 1)
A paranoid Doctor glares at Ian and Barbara (The Intruder, Episode 1)
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The Doctor confronts his mysterious foe (The Intruder: 60th anniversary colorised edition)
Boris Karloff (in an unused alternate costume) and a Dalek in rehearsals for Beyond the Sun
I want to say that I also love these! Terrific to say the last and the only reason I've not been responding is because it triggered a series of thoughts about other costumes for the later Doctors, I got caught up in thinking it through!Thanks.
Genuinely chuffed, mostly because I'm an idiot when it comes to image construction so this is all basically magic to me!
Chapter Five: Season 2
What happened over the course of 1964 is heavily debated to this day. And how it occurred depends on which side of the argument you were on.
If you took the side of the Corporation, they’d tell the story of a rowdy and peevish little man who’d not realized he’d struck gold until he had it. Bitter over his failure to work with Hancock, he’d fermented in his mind a plot to get back at his enemies which included (but not limited to) those in the BBC who would not swear by him. Already angry that his precious script had been tampered with, he started using as many loopholes as he could to gain full ownership of the Daleks, including some very dodgy legal questions about who designed what. In the interest of Doctor Who’s fans, the BBC decided to give Nation some leeway which he proceeded to use to make himself richer at everyone else’s expense.
If you were more prone to listening to Terry, he’d insist that he was striking a blow for creatives everywhere. Yes, he had wanted to make money with the Daleks (Who wouldn’t?) but no more or less money than other creatives deserved to get from their own creations. True, he hadn’t specified what the Daleks looked like exactly in his script but he had made his own additions when the serial had been moved up and while Cusick deserved the credit for realizing his vision on screen, it was just that; his vision. The look was based upon what he wrote and he owned that part of the character, just as much as Dickens owned Fagin or Conan Doyle his great detective. His stand would have been so radical that the BBC, frightened of a public backlash to ruining the man who had given them so much success, agreed to a temporary ceasefire for the time being with a new contract riddled with compromises. [1]
There are two things to note here. Firstly, as with at least seventy five percent of vicious arguments, the truth is bound to lie somewhere in the middle. But also relevant is the fact that it is clear that both sides came away from the scrap bitter and angry and most importantly willing to accentuate wildly the more negative aspects of the other’s approach. This in turn led to their supporters taking the bitter words and adding a fresh heap of salt atop of them. So the truth may ultimately never be known.
So what resulted from this averted war of words? While it was always assumed Terry was going stateside with the Daleks, the contract made it clear that any attempt to go to ITV was a dealbreaker. For a period of five years, starting from the completion of a promised third Dalek story to be aired in the already prepared third season, they were not to be mentioned or shown in Doctor Who proper. Nation could pitch to other networks using the pepperpots, Skaro, the Thals and the Robo-Men but any other characters from the first two and everything from the third serial was off limits outright. In addition, Nation was required to put the interested parties in contact with the BBC with regards to overseas rights. He also quickly ceded full control of the Vrood to the corporation too, which satisfied all five of their diehard fans. [2] Lastly, while Nation could not outright veto stories once the five year gap was up, he would be allowed to make ‘suggestions’ for improvements. [3]
Neither party seemed happy about it, both thought the other had done them up like a kipper but both also resolved to push forward. There was still more to do.
-Extract from The Book of Who, a Companion Guide to 60 Years of Doctor Who, March 1st, 2023.
Pictured: Nation standing tall and proud with his creations on the set of Dalek Invasion of Earth. Not pictured, the considerable amount of burned bridges.….
“Now I like the Dalek Invasion of Earth, don’t get me wrong. I think the directing on it is quite something, and as hard as it was dragging the Daleks out to the bridge I think it works just fine. But I can only ever really see the issues. The end lacks something, I couldn’t help thinking that we’d basically remade the end of the first Dalek serial and called it a night. I think we gave Phyllida some great stuff to work with but I feel like Boris, Julian and Sara got left behind in the dirt. Terry was pushing for all manner of Dalek stuff by then and a big part of getting him to do the episode was letting him have his way. That’s a mistake to my mind, we should have cut two episodes and then we’d have a really strong story.” [4]
-Irene Shubik, Longleat Convention, 2003
….
M: So I have a question, was Doctor Who affecting how much work you were getting?
PL: For my part, no. I was happy enough to get the work that was coming my way. I might have thought a little “Oh, I’d like to do more than this,” but nothing grim. Actually, I was able to do more acting thanks to the show being what it was. I got a lot of offers to do various bits on the stage, I was able to get out of the cardigan and into gowns and the like, that really helped. Apparently amongst the dads who watched the show I was a sex symbol, which was news to me ten years later!
SK: Lucky you! I was…well, to be frank, I was having a little trouble with it. That second series I’d made with the understanding that it was probably going to be the last. It wasn’t going to be awful or disappointing, it simply wouldn’t be as good as the first. And then it would end and the fever would break. By that time I’d started using a wig for my auditions, I remember laughing with Carol Ann—The girl who plays Jenny here. [5] But most of the parts I got were cold, logical characters, usually a little off the rails. In short, Suzanne in go-go boots or in a minidress. Which I suppose is the reverse of what happens with a lot of actresses even today, but I was very much wanting to get something meatier. And Julian….
JG: Julian was just happy to be working, thank you very much!
-Commentary on The Dalek Invasion of Earth ,2007
….
While The Romans is a delightful time in all (See Law and Glover lounging around in clear post-coital bliss), the real joy is watching the interplay between Karloff and Dick Emery’s Nero, perhaps the earliest recorded televised example of frenemies. Over four episodes the dark comedy unfolds to a gasp-worthy crescendo. The comedian’s performance as the simultaneously over and under confident emperor perhaps works because it reflects his own nature. Supposedly rather shy and retiring on set, he and Karloff struck up an enthusiastic chat about flying. Karloff would later muse in his only recorded in-depth interview the brief excursion in Emery’s plane. “A dear man,” he said at last, “but like a rabbit with the hounds at his heels.” [6]
-The Romans: Tardi’s TARDIS Reviews, 2019
….
“One of the few times I remember being baffled, I mean absolutely baffled by a script was The Planet of Webs. [7] In some respects I enjoyed it for they’d somehow managed to convince Sir Frederick Ashton and some of his dancers to come in. [8] We were all of us comrades in that moment for the script was incredibly difficult to read. I was more used to it than the others were, I think. I have had some shocking monsters against me, truly appalling specimens. If you had trouble understanding it the first time, you will be relieved to hear that it was originally six episodes long but two were allocated to a sort of Beckett piece later on in the season. I went to a barber after it was finished and he asked me what it was all about. I’m ashamed to say I could not answer him. [9]
-Interview with Boris Karloff, February 19th 1968, with a local enthusiast
Come on. You know we had to show this.
…..
In hindsight, many of the errors (Vaseline on the lens, wobbly sets, costumes falling apart, giant ants running into the cameras) do obscure a more thoughtful aspect to the story. While the idea that the Zarbi could have been the next Daleks is ludicrous even before you see the realization of the script, the Animus is a far creepier enemy. Christine Finn may have been wasted but she gives the voice a pleasingly affable menace, and the realization of her form (A pulsating web of Christmas Lights that seemed to expand via camera trickery) is surprisingly decent. It is small wonder then that the Animus would end up being considered for a reappearance later on down the line…
-Paul Cornell, 'Overhyped or Undercooked' in Scatterblast Magazine, 2009
….
Doctor Who and his companions land in a most dangerous time; Sixteenth Century Spain. Separated by a violent encounter in a local tavern, Ian is entrusted with a secret message by a dying English spy, a message that will lead him on a mad dash across the countryside to fulfil a secret mission. But Ian has his own enemy in the form of the Doctor, who knows that for the message to reach Drake’s hands is to ensure a terrible doom for time itself. It falls to Barbara to try and work out which of the two is correct. But she’d better move fast, for heretics are not welcome in this land of Inquisition. [10]
-Blurb on the back of The Armada of Cadiz, published 1987.
A popular, if inaccurate, recreation of historical events. With nary a blue box in sight!…..
-“If the brief scene of Francis Drake(Patrick Allen) may seem a little too quick and lacklustre for modern fans, it’s more than made up for with Francis De Wolff’s performance as the Grand Inquisitor. John Crockett’s writing ensures that a healthy mix of ham and sleaze combine to make a genuinely unnerving villain.”
-Top 10 'Who-storicals' by Christel Dee, 2014.
….
“You should feel honoured to be in my presence. All of my men are good and loyal, to a fault. They know their duty and carry it out to the letter of the one true law. But every so of often, it is required that I take charge of matters. Now….the old man called you Barbara. And a man I knew just recently, he cried out for a Barbara when we moved the rack, ah! Just like this! Now he seemed a capable little heretic, but not so capable that he didn’t need help from someone more cunning than he. Now, don’t struggle so, let us get a little closer. Confess your sins and release will come….in due time.”
-The Grand Inquisitor interrogating Barbara, Episode 3 of the Armada of Cadiz [11]
….
“I remember early on there was discussion about doing another two-part serial. The Intruder had been no one’s favourite but the idea of reusing some of the sets we’d constructed with a minimum of redressing required was something we felt was needed. We were getting lost in butterfly people and capers in Rome and Daleks and we wanted something to keep us a little grounded. So we ended up asking for some reliable writers to come in and provide potential scripts. David Whitaker submitted one and he also brought along a writer he’d commissioned personally called Glyn Jones. Originally David had submitted the two-hander and Glyn the four, but after some thought we asked that they swap assignments. Glyn was a little miffed at the time, and I often thought I’d mishandled it. But at the time I had little time for writers feelings with Terry playing Finders Keepers with the Daleks.”
-Verity Lambert, Interview at Longleat 1993
…..
If the second half of the serial is a bit of a disappointment after the tantalizing first, it does succeed in wringing out a few creepy moments thanks in no small part to Karloff’s portrayal of a frightened old man. Particular credit must go to the one guest actor for the performance. Jack May’s Curator Lobos’s haunting voice mocking the disorientated Doctor is something to be feared, just as his eventual comeuppance and horrific (if glossed over) fate of being collected in his own museum is satisfying. Small wonder then that the threads of these small two-parters would be picked up three decades later with gusto. [12]
-The Space Museum: Tardi’s TARDIS Reviews, 2019
…..
“I had two relatively challenging scripts back-to-back, and that was truly exciting for me. I’d enjoyed playing the confusion very much, though I did have to write back to a few children concerned for my health after the museum episode had aired. Then we had The Rescue, which is probably one of the most satisfying experiences. I often did wonder if the people who did the writing got sick of their work three quarters of the way in, but I was impressed from start to finish with that story.”
-Interview with Boris Karloff, February 19th 1968, with a local enthusiast
…..
The Doctor and his companions arrive on the faraway planet of Dido, a place where Suzanne remembers spending a pleasant summer. But the loss of the TARDIS forces the companions towards the only source of life to be found; an encampment of humans under the servitude of the Koquillion, whose cruelty has pushed them to the breaking point.
While Barbara and Ian attempt to get to the bottom of a series of thefts in the camp and encourage resistance, Suzanne and the Doctor attempt to negotiate with the Koquillion, only to learn a truth so shocking that it changes the whole situation for them.
Can the Doctor defeat the evils, both from and beyond the planet? Will any of the prisoners escape? And why, after so long, does a rescue seem to bring such calamity to the warring planet?
-Doctor Who and the Rescue, first published 1988 [13]
The Koqullion and his latest victim....Or perhaps not.
…..
The passageway sloped downwards, then seemed to level out and curve around. The Doctor looked behind him, saw no one and advanced forwards. To some, the dark and dank brickwork would have induced fear. But the Doctor had been in darker and danker places and he had come to find an appreciation, though not admiration, for what lay inside them.
The Koqullion did not falter. The Doctor tried to move when the clattering of the alien’s own footsteps rang out, to confuse the sound. The shadow ahead grew longer and fainter as the light from the curve grew brighter. The Doctor rounded the bend quickly and stared in amazement.
The chamber before him was large. Not as large as the TARDIS but certainly bigger than he had perceived outside. At first glance, it looked like what you might expect inside such a place. Cobwebs upon great archways, large caskets of stone, decorative ornaments. But the Doctor had come at the exact moment that what ‘might be’ was halfway through fading into what actually was. For now, the cobwebs seemed to be long cables reaching upwards into the ground. The caskets were great computer banks, with reels rolling and screens flashing with information. And the ornaments, though there, were now overshadowed by great orb-like structures showing off footage like that of a camera.
The Koqullion’s shoulders seemed to relax. He moved forward towards one bank and stared at the results. There was a satisfied click and he started to turn—
“Not so fast, my boy.”
--and found the Doctor’s cane against his throat. He froze; his body halfway twisted towards the door. His left hand seemed to move towards the prod but the Doctor was quicker. He slapped it away sharply and stepped forward. He stared at the face and shook his head sadly.
“I wonder. I do wonder. It is a good likeness, but I think you’d have done better to have kept a Didoan around to help you. When you’ve seen one, no fakery can fool you. Take off that ridiculous outfit, and explain yourself!” His hand did not tremble as his eyes swung to the balcony. “And you! Madame, I command you reveal yourself!”
There was a momentary pause. Then a figure moved from out of the shadows and stood in the pale light of the chamber. She looked more annoyed than upset. She nodded once to Koqullion who lifted up to his great cloak and unclipped a few buckles. Then with one movement he pulled it off and stood there. Proud, haughty, simmering with rage. Even the bandages around his brow did not remove his threat.
“Mister Bennet, I presume,” said the Doctor icily. “And Madame Victoria! I had hoped you and I would be friends. Now, shall we get this farce over with? Return the beacon to it’s original settings, and we shall walk away in peace.”
He half-knew it would not work. Vicki spun on her heel and held up a hand. Then from every balcony poured more faces. Cold, hard, without a care in the world. Human, all of them. And clasping rifles
She spoke again, but this time there was nothing of Suzanne in her voice. “The old man has influenced the experiment for long enough. Kill him. Now.” [14]
-Doctor Who and the Rescue, Chapter 9. 1988
…..
“Call me a stereotype if you want, but from behind the sofa I remember gasping in shock. Ronald Pickup had been so likeable as Bennett up until that point, so it was amazing to witness.”
-Marc Platt, on the set of Doctor Who's 30th Anniversary Production to DWM.
….
We’ve talked before how, to understand why a cliché is used, it behoves us to look back at one of the pieces of fiction that used it best. It can be a originator, or a propagator, or it could just be a good example amidst the many. See Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood or Bela Lugosi’s Dracula or Billy Dee Williams’s Han Solo [15] for examples of characters. Or indeed, Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster. So it is with The Pirate, a simple title which belays a surprisingly thoughtful examination of man, myth and what lies between the two.
The story is as simple as you get. Landing in colonial America, the Doctor and his companions are separated during a fracas and are trapped on two opposing sides. Ian and Suzanne end up being taken to and joining with Lieutenant Robert Maynard (Peter Purves) who has been called in to deal with the scourge of pirates. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Barbara fall in with the man most befitting of the serial’s title. ‘The’ Pirate.
-First Time Watcher’s Review of Doctor Who and the Pirate, 2016
…..
Doctor: Unhand me sir! Look at us! Any man with a working set of eyes can tell we’ve nothing of value to be taken.
The CREW laugh to each other, save for the two holding BARBARA and the one with his sword to the DOCTOR’s neck. These move the two travellers forward step by step until they are brought to the main hall. The camera pans slowly from them up the table, past the fine food and cutlery to a figure with his head obscured. His clothes denote obvious status, but as what is not yet clear to us.
Figure: Let the woman stand, Hands. But keep your sword to the old man.
From the figure’s elbow we see the conversation. THE DOCTOR’s temper abates but his defiance does not. Barbara stands free and looks ahead. She seems frightened
Figure: As you say, nothing of value. Except perhaps as an item of curiosity. Not a merchant, nor an admiral and not, I take it, a raving lunatic.
Doctor: No, sir! Merely a traveller who is unaccustomed to such brutality when minding his own business.
Israel: Captain--!
THE FIGURE stands up and slams his knife into the table. THE DOCTOR, defiant, unashamed, contrasts with BARBARA, terrified and perhaps even a little awestruck. Back to the first camera now as we pan up.
Figure: Israel, it has been such a long time since we had guests not wielding guns or cutlass. You will be staying a while with us, and you had best make peace with that. I trust that you will be amenable to entertaining us.
And now we seem him. In all his majesty. Every bit the figure the myths portray him. He draws his own sword and begins to advance.
BLACKBEARD: And if not, then Blackbeard will have to make his own fun!
CUE CREDITS
-Closing scene from Episode 1 of The Pirate
…..
A rare, colourized photograph of Michael Aldridge in his basic Blackbeard outfit between takes. [16]
I remember really regretting that Michael Aldridge was working mostly with Boris and Phyllis, because when we were taking our breaks he really was the life of the party. Such a genuinely nice man, though I’m not sure what the kids who Boris signed autographs for thought when they saw Blackbeard himself sitting at the table. The beard was some kind of complex piece of makeup that couldn’t be removed once the cameras were rolling, so he had to eat like that for most of the day. We teased him rotten about it, and he took it all in good humour.
-Julian Glover, Commentary of The Pirate, 2005
….
There was a brief moment of panic. A particularly poignant scene sees Blackbeard undertake the irritating process of placing candles into his beard to light them afire. To demonstrate to the Doctor his skill, he lights one up. Unfortunately, Aldridge was not made aware that one of the candles was actually a failed prototype that the props department had swept up along the rest of them in the rush to make the episode. So he lit the candle, which happened to be about chin level, and it went up in an instant. It very nearly burnt through the beard had Karloff not thrown the glass of water he was meant to be drinking on upon it.
-Scenic Route, 60 Years of Who Explored, 2023.
….
Perhaps the most surprisingly relevant piece of writing of the second season is the four part serial Eye of the Beholder, written by Reginald Rose. Recruited from across the pond by Lambert, who was introduced to him by Rod Serling, she suggested he provide a script for their adaptation. They received a complex one for the time but Lambert was incredibly pleased with it, particularly given it’s surprising feminist underpinnings. [17]
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Aneas in the middle of a large Babylonic city (represented through the reliable miniature and painted backdrop departments), right in the midst of a celebration. Caught up in the crowd, the group are split up with Barbara being outright arrested and dragged off to an interrogation cell. There, she discovers that she has been deemed ‘unsightly’ by the High Council and that she must be placed where she cannot disturb the peace. She is sent outside the city to work in the Purification Line, a group of slaves sent out into the dark recesses of the planet to terraform the planet anew. After a week, the mutations are irreversible, as told to her by the manic rebel Crikley (Philip Madoc, managing the difficult task of being despicable, frightening and desperately sad).
Meanwhile, the others mingle with the rest of the guests. Suzanne falls in with a group of young people who have reached “The Age” whereupon they will be given the chance to integrate into Anean society in whatever role they most desire. The Doctor ends up being mistaken for one of the Council members and engages in polite chat with them and a off-world guest; a cheerful man named Trenchan. He soon becomes aware that the older generation are in a great deal of pain and are desperately waiting for something that Trenchan will soon be providing them. And finally, Ian ends up being given a tour by Co-Ordinator Vana (Stephanie Bidmead) who seems in the peak of physical condition despite her obvious disinterest in people outside the city. Mistaking him for a citizen, her cold attitude belays that of the other co-ordinators; miserable, cynical and fed up of their lives.
The common thread here is soon made apparent. Trenchan is supplying three of the four disparate sides with what they want in a never-ending placebo effect. The youth are taken on a tour of the facility before being placed inside a large machine which violently extracts their youth and vitality from them. This is concentrated into a formula which is taken by the Council, restoring them from their decrepit ages into youthful figures once again. Those that do not immediately die are taken out to the Purification Line to die there in servitude. Trenchan supplies the formula but also ensures that unsightliness is banished from the co-ordinators, in exchange for a sacrifice of his choosing. He also gains an obscene amount of wealth. The process has been going on for, at the Doctor’s calculation, five hundred years. [18]
And the slaves outside? In order to keep the money and the machine necessary for the survival of those in the city, Trenchan has supplied Crikley with a significant amount of weapons claiming to be a friend. Today is the day that the Purification Line lives up to their monstrous reputation. And it’s up to four off-world strangers to stop things by any means necessary.
-A Sofa Of One’s Own: Doctor Who through a Feminist’s Eye, 1999. [19]
….
It’s tempting to praise everyone in this serial. We could praise Phyllida Law, who excellently shows the horrors of the mutation occurring inside her while still pushing the clearly unhinged Crikley to calm down and not give in to his base instincts. Or to point out Julian Glover continuing to shine even when given the least impressive portion of the cast’s screentime. We could examine the legitimately horrific cliff-hanger of Part 2 and Sara’s reaction being the cherry on top. Or indeed, Boris Karloff who throughout the entire thing gives his usual best. We’ll not do that here, at least not today. Instead we’re going to highlight Trenchan and talk about the man playing him.
Peter Butterworth, pictured here in a rare dramatic role as Stanley Best in 1978's Deep Blue Sea [20]
Peter Butterworth is a lifelong ensemble actor whose claim to fame outside of Who is his appearance in the Carry On film series (beginning in 1965’s Carry On Cowboy and ending with 1975’s supposedly cursed Carry On Escaping) [21] as a variety of bewildered and bawdy roles. In his role as Trenchan, Butterworth works with a significantly larger range of emotions than his usual roles allow.
In his first scenes we see him ambling alongside the central party at the celebration, standing to the side with his typical amiable smile on his face. In conservation with the Doctor he is just wry enough to get a laugh (“Anyone for Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” he askes as an elder stoops down to bow) but with a creepy edge that unnerves all the while (“You know, skin is one of my specialities. Oh yes Doctor, I can read skin like others read Dickens or Prost. I know every chapter of every person’s life story here just by feeling them hand. But yours? Oh yours is unique, Doctor. I’d be careful lest someone…oh, but what am I saying?”). Even as Vana and he interact he keeps up the jovial attitude which makes for a sudden sharp turn when the Co-Ordinator mocks him and he slams her against the wall. (“Funny!” he growls, moving her hand up to her shoulder. “Yes, funny indeed. Let it never be said that Trenchan can’t take a joke. What else can he take in so much as a blink of an eye? Your wall is strong and your head, despite what you may think, isn’t. Apologize. Like you mean it”.) [22] And if all that isn't enough, the cliff-hanger of Part 2 (where he activates the machine that drains and murders the younger generations, represented in typical less is more fashion by the filling up of old chemical tubes) only works because of his giddy delight and is credited for making many a student fearful of a bunsen beaker.
But it’s his interactions with Barbara that are the most genuinely unnerving. After portraying a far more mercenary figure with Crikley, he tracks her down to where she has started to feel the effects of the outside. While she pushes back as per usual, he instead offers her a drink of pure water. He then pours it out and gestures to the ditch, while she does not drink from it the implication is quite horrible. The way he licks his lips is a legitimately uncomfortable moment supposedly improvised by Butterworth during the filming and left in on the first take. It’s only Crikley’s appearance that keeps the implications subtextual. [23]
Throughout the serial we see him range from sinister manipulator to tantrum throwing child, before finally ending on a particularly grim note as the chaos erupts and the various good factions coalesce with each other. Shoving Vaan towards Crikley and letting the two of them battle it out even as their supporters die or defect, he rushes towards his spaceship, followed by Barbara and the young man Haron, where we discover what he gets out of it. Having cornered Suzanne and knocked her out, he has taken her to drain her of her vitality and add it to his own personalized potion of immortality. There's a fight and Haron wounds him, forcing Trenchan to immediately drop his normal facade and blind the young man with the glass. [24] Thrown off by the Doctor's commanding voice, he hisses and curses and splutters out vileness while Barbara pins him to the wall. Watching as she destroys his life's work (in a very satisfying moment), he attempts to lunge for her and gets caught inside his own machine. The last we see of him is him caterwauling as the four make their escape and he gets drained in a similar fashion, breaking free of the machine only to collapse into dust within a instant. [25]
is it any wonder that this is cited as a traditional sixties trauma? So here's to Peter Butterworth, a man who made people wet their pants in two different ways.
-Who's That: Unsung Heroes of Doctor Who, by Norman Anderson, 2013
…..
Barbara glanced back at the abbey door. The clamour was growing louder and louder; now she could make out angry voices amidst the hubbub. “Come on Ian!”
There was a loud clunk and Ian stepped back with a cocksure smile; screwdriver in hand. But Barbara had no time to congratulate him, for she rushed forward and pulled Ian with her into the vestibule. He shut the door behind her just as the cry of the mob’s leader rang out.
The second the door locked, Barbara felt something was wrong. That the sound would be muffled was of course logical. That it would completely cut off was something far more worrisome. She saw Ian’s concerned glance and read the same question in his mind too. They turned and Barbara nearly screamed.
“Ian! The Monk’s got a TARDIS!”
Doctor Who and the Meddler, novelized by Nigel Robinson for Target in 1987. [26]
….
The Meddler himself....in action figure form! [27]
“Was there tension between Boris and Stanley Unwin?”
“That seems to be overstating it a little. But fundamentally, Stanley was interested in promoting himself. Which makes sense, he was quite the get at the time and I can understand the point of view that if you wanted Unwin, you’d get Unwin. That manifested in arguments over it being the Stanley Unwin and the Doctor Show, with himself first and foremost. I remember Richard Martin had to push back a lot on his attempts to interject Unwinese into the story, we kept it to a good level as far as I can recall. I’ve always wondered if that was the moment that people started to wonder about leaving….” [28]
- Phyllida Law on the DVD Extras of the Meddler, 2002
….
It can seem a little odd to us nowadays that The Meddler was so well received. To be clear, the revelations it included were certainly interesting and the emergence of a rival time traveller would create fresh interest (Not to mention a significant refinement in the coming years). Yet there is an uneasy element to it that I don’t think was fully intended. Everything bar the twist of the second TARDIS feels slightly off balance, from the off-kilter Stanley Unwin’s Meddler to the faltering by Karloff; not to mention the unsubtle and somewhat crass implications of the medieval section. The Romans had walked a time-rope and faltered only once or twice. The Meddler was practically cartwheeling off the edge. [29]
-Doctor Who Magazine: Trial of the Twenty
…..
Doctor: Well, well! Most satisfactory, most satisfactory indeed!
Ian: What will happen to him?
Doctor: The Monk? The little imp has some knowledge of temporal physics, limited though it may be. If the soldiers don’t get him he’ll have time enough to work out how to fix his machine. But I’ve made one or two little adjustments to the flight computer that will prevent him from doing any real harm. And of course, all of this assumes he will apply himself to the task!
Barbara: ….I suppose we did the right thing, didn’t we?
Doctor: Right doesn’t come into it! Such childish tampering is beyond my people, isn’t that so?
Suzanne: Yes Grandfather. You wouldn’t see them meddling around with Blackbeard or Nero, or anything of that sort! (Doctor Who is slightly wrong-footed by this, before dismissing it with a tetchy grunt. The viewers can see a little smirk growing on his face nonetheless) I’m sorry Ian, Barbara. I know that you must have been tempted by his offer---
Barbara: No, the Doctor is quite right. I suppose it was a little silly to imagine the Monk could take us back home. Are you no closer, Doctor?
Doctor: Hmm? Oh, yes, my dear Miss McGovern! Yes indeed! I was able to gain a little knowledge from the bungler’s console and the new unit installed should prove to be more reliable. Yes, more reliable!
Ian: Wherever, whenever and however we get there, I’m glad it’s with you, Doctor.
(Credits roll)
-Closing scene of The Meddler and Season 2 as a whole.
…..
Season 2 (40 Episodes) consists of:
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (6 Episodes)
The Romans (4 Episodes)
The Web Planet (4 Episodes)
The Armada of Cadiz (4 Episodes)
The Space Museum (2 Episodes)
The Rescue (4 Episodes)
The Pirate (5 Episodes)
The Eye of the Beholder (5 Episodes)
The Meddler (6 Episodes)
-Early listing in 1981 for missing episode hunters, sans annotations. [30]
.
....
I remember pitching it to Irene and thinking that I'd gotten it in the bag. And then I got some notes back suggesting that I add more futuristic dialogue to it. Well, I wasn't against the idea and I was ready to do it, but I thought that it would be hard to do with this particular story. And then Verity rang me and said "Look, I'm sorry but I don't think it'd be worth us slashing your script to pieces. I do have a friend at Hammer though, so if you cut the cliffhangers and alter the names, you might have better luck...." And I thought that was rather odd but I was curious. So I brought it over and left it and I expected to have it returned in three days or get a phone call. And a day later my agent rang me up and asked if I wanted to go into business for myself. He said that the figures they were offering me for it was....well, it was a lot! And I was amazed and I said yes to their offer. But even then, I didn't know what was going to happen with 'The Slide' until the reviews came in..... [31]
-Victor Pemberton, on the special features of Eye of the Beholder, 2004
.....
Terry’s last story is going to be about six parts. I think the controller might try to get us to extend them, because of how much his wife loves them, but I think we hold firm on that. Consider this a chance to open up our nets and pick up some new staff with any ideas they have for Three. Let’s see if we can’t defy this lightning doesn’t strike twice nonsense, shall we?
-Irene Shubnik, memo released in July 1965.
….
A colourized photographs of Sara Kestelman and Michael Bryant in Amicus's 1972 adaptation of Bleak House, as Lady Honoria and Mister Tulkinghorn respectively.
“We got officially commissioned around about the fifth story and it struck me that, though I was having a great deal of fun with Boris and Julian and Phyllida, it might not be too long before I wasn’t. And that would make things worse for me and for them, so I asked them, in-between the break, if they could write me out. We were both luckily on the same lines of having me come back for the first story and giving me a send-off. The others were very understanding, and I remember at the time thinking how much Boris was coughing at that point. He said he was fine but now, looking back, I can see the signs there….”
-Sara Kestelman, Commentary on The Cybermen, 2003.
[2] Yeah a lot of this is what I covered or at the least inferred in the Daleks chapter but I do think that it is worth putting down in black and white for the record. Also Nation lets go of the Vrood which, like…even for him I doubt he’d care that much about working with them? Maybe he was a really big fan, who knows?
[3] Yeah Nation’s not a maniac, but he’s not a cuddly guy either. Plenty of pushing and shoving to come since he’s arguably in a stronger position than in OTL.
[4] A script that is slightly worse than OTL because it lacks the Susan departure scene and it’s a writer getting increasingly at odds with the company.
[5] Before you ask, yes that’s Carol Ann Ford. If we ever reach the end of the sixties I’d like to do a breakdown of what the actors are all up to at the moment but we’ll wait and see.
[6] Very much an OTL issue with Emery, who was considered for the part around this time. Obviously we do not have a version with Karloff and Emery to compare but losing OTL’s Nero means this is another OTL episode slightly weakened, though not as much as the prior one and it’s still a classic.
[7] Name’s still the same as in OTL but I guarantee you that when you’ve done as much pulp as Karloff has, he’ll slip up on one or two of the lesser remembered ones.
[8] Karloff’s star power and the increased support the show gets nets it the ballet dancers to try and fulfil the original aim of the writer in the Menoptra’s alien interpretation. This may be considered clever, misguided or boring, your pick is as good as mine.
[9] While many of the infamous moments of the serial still occur, it is greatly helped that the story is condensed down which technically makes this better than in OTL.
[10] If you want a OTL version of this story, then I highly recommend the excellent Flames of Cadiz by Big Finish Productions. It’s what I’ve basically got in my head while writing this, but I’ve made sure not to replicate the writing at all. Worth getting in my view though, far better than my own.
[11] A particular difficulty of mine is trying to capture the style of the time. Hopefully I’ve managed to do so without going too far into extremes.
[12] Again, another episode with a better OTL reputation as a result of it not being four episodes long. The connections to the previous two parter was accidental but I do have the germ of an idea now.
[13] If there’s a way to describe IITL’s story it’s basically Truman Show meets Vengeance on Varos. A group of colonists who had previously visited the colony fake their deaths in an accident and then manipulate the survivors into digging up the spoils of the planet, (Having killed the natives before they could instruct them in their use) while recording their actions for a entitled desire to analyze the human condition. Which goes well…right up until the point that the Doctor and company stumble in.
[14] The Doctor is projecting here, his fondness for younger people as his companions already getting established.
[15] First big spoiler here for Star Wars! Boy oh boy, what fun we’ll have!
[16] Or in our timeline, his one-scene wonder appearance from Fall of Eagles as Rasputin. I love Aldridge and while I was unable to make him the Doctor here I do hope to have him pop up here and there to give hm a bigger profile.
[17] It’s also the first wholly original story I’ve outlined in that much detail here, so I hope you find some amusement in it.
[18] If this sounds complex, it’s because it is…definitely a ‘show don’t tell’ kind of situation here but since I don’t have a machine to show you, you’ll take my word for it I hope?
[19] I am unreasonably proud of that book title, by the by. Based off the old Virginia Woolf essay that anyone in college will have learnt to dissect.
[20] As someone who understands the need for movies on historical events, the event in which Stanley Best plays a part is a favourite of mine to recount. You may know it or may not, it was made into a movie recently but it fell by the wayside in the blink of an eye. Actual image is from Carry On Behind which….
[21] Does not exist here! Yes, another bombshell, Carry On will be altered too. Carry On Escaping is a real life script that was rejected and saved in a book talking about the films, so you have that to look forward to. And yes, more foreboding talk. Oooh matron, whatever can he mean!
[22] I will concede that Butterworth might be a hard figure to find frightening but given his talents I think that he could have made his usual attitude feel quite disquieting should the moment have arisen.
[23] Who in the sixties could be surprisingly blunt about implications of a darker nature. See the Time Meddler for a significant example
[24] Setting up the point, that unlike the Elders, Haron will be able to cope and deal with his illnesses and his decay and will not need to destroy the lives of those after him.
[25] But he’s the villain so no one need worry! There won’t be that many complaints coming in but it’s a sign that the team is getting a bit harder than it might otherwise have been given the amount of money being thrown at it.
[26] Oldie but a goodie.
[27] In reality taken from The Secret Service, where Unwin plays a puppet version of himself in what is the lesser of Anderson’s efforts. It gets butterflied away with Anderson doing more work at the time.
[28] To be clear, I’ve no idea if Unwin was a particularly disruptive presence on TV or the like. I just needed someone to fill a void and for another purpose down the line which should become clear.
[29] In effect, the serial spends it’s time leaping back and forth the original OTL setting of Hastings, a Elizabethan era and the 1940s as the Meddler attempts to control the effects of his messing about. In effect, it’s IITL’s equivalent of The Chase.
[30] Oh yes, lost episodes! Hmm…..more on them at a later date.
[31] Most of this is OTL, with the key exception of Pemberton bringing it to Hammer and not to radio, where it ended up and became a forgotten gem. Here however, it’s quite significant….
[32] Taken from the excellent Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, which is responsible for introducing me to Sara Kestelman in the first place. She made quite the impact as you can tell.
[33] No, your eyes don’t deceive you! Whatever could this mean?
If you took the side of the Corporation, they’d tell the story of a rowdy and peevish little man who’d not realized he’d struck gold until he had it. Bitter over his failure to work with Hancock, he’d fermented in his mind a plot to get back at his enemies which included (but not limited to) those in the BBC who would not swear by him. Already angry that his precious script had been tampered with, he started using as many loopholes as he could to gain full ownership of the Daleks, including some very dodgy legal questions about who designed what. In the interest of Doctor Who’s fans, the BBC decided to give Nation some leeway which he proceeded to use to make himself richer at everyone else’s expense.
If you were more prone to listening to Terry, he’d insist that he was striking a blow for creatives everywhere. Yes, he had wanted to make money with the Daleks (Who wouldn’t?) but no more or less money than other creatives deserved to get from their own creations. True, he hadn’t specified what the Daleks looked like exactly in his script but he had made his own additions when the serial had been moved up and while Cusick deserved the credit for realizing his vision on screen, it was just that; his vision. The look was based upon what he wrote and he owned that part of the character, just as much as Dickens owned Fagin or Conan Doyle his great detective. His stand would have been so radical that the BBC, frightened of a public backlash to ruining the man who had given them so much success, agreed to a temporary ceasefire for the time being with a new contract riddled with compromises. [1]
There are two things to note here. Firstly, as with at least seventy five percent of vicious arguments, the truth is bound to lie somewhere in the middle. But also relevant is the fact that it is clear that both sides came away from the scrap bitter and angry and most importantly willing to accentuate wildly the more negative aspects of the other’s approach. This in turn led to their supporters taking the bitter words and adding a fresh heap of salt atop of them. So the truth may ultimately never be known.
So what resulted from this averted war of words? While it was always assumed Terry was going stateside with the Daleks, the contract made it clear that any attempt to go to ITV was a dealbreaker. For a period of five years, starting from the completion of a promised third Dalek story to be aired in the already prepared third season, they were not to be mentioned or shown in Doctor Who proper. Nation could pitch to other networks using the pepperpots, Skaro, the Thals and the Robo-Men but any other characters from the first two and everything from the third serial was off limits outright. In addition, Nation was required to put the interested parties in contact with the BBC with regards to overseas rights. He also quickly ceded full control of the Vrood to the corporation too, which satisfied all five of their diehard fans. [2] Lastly, while Nation could not outright veto stories once the five year gap was up, he would be allowed to make ‘suggestions’ for improvements. [3]
Neither party seemed happy about it, both thought the other had done them up like a kipper but both also resolved to push forward. There was still more to do.
-Extract from The Book of Who, a Companion Guide to 60 Years of Doctor Who, March 1st, 2023.
Pictured: Nation standing tall and proud with his creations on the set of Dalek Invasion of Earth. Not pictured, the considerable amount of burned bridges.
“Now I like the Dalek Invasion of Earth, don’t get me wrong. I think the directing on it is quite something, and as hard as it was dragging the Daleks out to the bridge I think it works just fine. But I can only ever really see the issues. The end lacks something, I couldn’t help thinking that we’d basically remade the end of the first Dalek serial and called it a night. I think we gave Phyllida some great stuff to work with but I feel like Boris, Julian and Sara got left behind in the dirt. Terry was pushing for all manner of Dalek stuff by then and a big part of getting him to do the episode was letting him have his way. That’s a mistake to my mind, we should have cut two episodes and then we’d have a really strong story.” [4]
-Irene Shubik, Longleat Convention, 2003
….
M: So I have a question, was Doctor Who affecting how much work you were getting?
PL: For my part, no. I was happy enough to get the work that was coming my way. I might have thought a little “Oh, I’d like to do more than this,” but nothing grim. Actually, I was able to do more acting thanks to the show being what it was. I got a lot of offers to do various bits on the stage, I was able to get out of the cardigan and into gowns and the like, that really helped. Apparently amongst the dads who watched the show I was a sex symbol, which was news to me ten years later!
SK: Lucky you! I was…well, to be frank, I was having a little trouble with it. That second series I’d made with the understanding that it was probably going to be the last. It wasn’t going to be awful or disappointing, it simply wouldn’t be as good as the first. And then it would end and the fever would break. By that time I’d started using a wig for my auditions, I remember laughing with Carol Ann—The girl who plays Jenny here. [5] But most of the parts I got were cold, logical characters, usually a little off the rails. In short, Suzanne in go-go boots or in a minidress. Which I suppose is the reverse of what happens with a lot of actresses even today, but I was very much wanting to get something meatier. And Julian….
JG: Julian was just happy to be working, thank you very much!
-Commentary on The Dalek Invasion of Earth ,2007
….
While The Romans is a delightful time in all (See Law and Glover lounging around in clear post-coital bliss), the real joy is watching the interplay between Karloff and Dick Emery’s Nero, perhaps the earliest recorded televised example of frenemies. Over four episodes the dark comedy unfolds to a gasp-worthy crescendo. The comedian’s performance as the simultaneously over and under confident emperor perhaps works because it reflects his own nature. Supposedly rather shy and retiring on set, he and Karloff struck up an enthusiastic chat about flying. Karloff would later muse in his only recorded in-depth interview the brief excursion in Emery’s plane. “A dear man,” he said at last, “but like a rabbit with the hounds at his heels.” [6]
-The Romans: Tardi’s TARDIS Reviews, 2019
….
“One of the few times I remember being baffled, I mean absolutely baffled by a script was The Planet of Webs. [7] In some respects I enjoyed it for they’d somehow managed to convince Sir Frederick Ashton and some of his dancers to come in. [8] We were all of us comrades in that moment for the script was incredibly difficult to read. I was more used to it than the others were, I think. I have had some shocking monsters against me, truly appalling specimens. If you had trouble understanding it the first time, you will be relieved to hear that it was originally six episodes long but two were allocated to a sort of Beckett piece later on in the season. I went to a barber after it was finished and he asked me what it was all about. I’m ashamed to say I could not answer him. [9]
-Interview with Boris Karloff, February 19th 1968, with a local enthusiast
…..
In hindsight, many of the errors (Vaseline on the lens, wobbly sets, costumes falling apart, giant ants running into the cameras) do obscure a more thoughtful aspect to the story. While the idea that the Zarbi could have been the next Daleks is ludicrous even before you see the realization of the script, the Animus is a far creepier enemy. Christine Finn may have been wasted but she gives the voice a pleasingly affable menace, and the realization of her form (A pulsating web of Christmas Lights that seemed to expand via camera trickery) is surprisingly decent. It is small wonder then that the Animus would end up being considered for a reappearance later on down the line…
-Paul Cornell, 'Overhyped or Undercooked' in Scatterblast Magazine, 2009
….
Doctor Who and his companions land in a most dangerous time; Sixteenth Century Spain. Separated by a violent encounter in a local tavern, Ian is entrusted with a secret message by a dying English spy, a message that will lead him on a mad dash across the countryside to fulfil a secret mission. But Ian has his own enemy in the form of the Doctor, who knows that for the message to reach Drake’s hands is to ensure a terrible doom for time itself. It falls to Barbara to try and work out which of the two is correct. But she’d better move fast, for heretics are not welcome in this land of Inquisition. [10]
-Blurb on the back of The Armada of Cadiz, published 1987.
A popular, if inaccurate, recreation of historical events. With nary a blue box in sight!
-“If the brief scene of Francis Drake(Patrick Allen) may seem a little too quick and lacklustre for modern fans, it’s more than made up for with Francis De Wolff’s performance as the Grand Inquisitor. John Crockett’s writing ensures that a healthy mix of ham and sleaze combine to make a genuinely unnerving villain.”
-Top 10 'Who-storicals' by Christel Dee, 2014.
….
“You should feel honoured to be in my presence. All of my men are good and loyal, to a fault. They know their duty and carry it out to the letter of the one true law. But every so of often, it is required that I take charge of matters. Now….the old man called you Barbara. And a man I knew just recently, he cried out for a Barbara when we moved the rack, ah! Just like this! Now he seemed a capable little heretic, but not so capable that he didn’t need help from someone more cunning than he. Now, don’t struggle so, let us get a little closer. Confess your sins and release will come….in due time.”
-The Grand Inquisitor interrogating Barbara, Episode 3 of the Armada of Cadiz [11]
….
“I remember early on there was discussion about doing another two-part serial. The Intruder had been no one’s favourite but the idea of reusing some of the sets we’d constructed with a minimum of redressing required was something we felt was needed. We were getting lost in butterfly people and capers in Rome and Daleks and we wanted something to keep us a little grounded. So we ended up asking for some reliable writers to come in and provide potential scripts. David Whitaker submitted one and he also brought along a writer he’d commissioned personally called Glyn Jones. Originally David had submitted the two-hander and Glyn the four, but after some thought we asked that they swap assignments. Glyn was a little miffed at the time, and I often thought I’d mishandled it. But at the time I had little time for writers feelings with Terry playing Finders Keepers with the Daleks.”
-Verity Lambert, Interview at Longleat 1993
…..
If the second half of the serial is a bit of a disappointment after the tantalizing first, it does succeed in wringing out a few creepy moments thanks in no small part to Karloff’s portrayal of a frightened old man. Particular credit must go to the one guest actor for the performance. Jack May’s Curator Lobos’s haunting voice mocking the disorientated Doctor is something to be feared, just as his eventual comeuppance and horrific (if glossed over) fate of being collected in his own museum is satisfying. Small wonder then that the threads of these small two-parters would be picked up three decades later with gusto. [12]
-The Space Museum: Tardi’s TARDIS Reviews, 2019
…..
“I had two relatively challenging scripts back-to-back, and that was truly exciting for me. I’d enjoyed playing the confusion very much, though I did have to write back to a few children concerned for my health after the museum episode had aired. Then we had The Rescue, which is probably one of the most satisfying experiences. I often did wonder if the people who did the writing got sick of their work three quarters of the way in, but I was impressed from start to finish with that story.”
-Interview with Boris Karloff, February 19th 1968, with a local enthusiast
…..
The Doctor and his companions arrive on the faraway planet of Dido, a place where Suzanne remembers spending a pleasant summer. But the loss of the TARDIS forces the companions towards the only source of life to be found; an encampment of humans under the servitude of the Koquillion, whose cruelty has pushed them to the breaking point.
While Barbara and Ian attempt to get to the bottom of a series of thefts in the camp and encourage resistance, Suzanne and the Doctor attempt to negotiate with the Koquillion, only to learn a truth so shocking that it changes the whole situation for them.
Can the Doctor defeat the evils, both from and beyond the planet? Will any of the prisoners escape? And why, after so long, does a rescue seem to bring such calamity to the warring planet?
-Doctor Who and the Rescue, first published 1988 [13]
…..
The passageway sloped downwards, then seemed to level out and curve around. The Doctor looked behind him, saw no one and advanced forwards. To some, the dark and dank brickwork would have induced fear. But the Doctor had been in darker and danker places and he had come to find an appreciation, though not admiration, for what lay inside them.
The Koqullion did not falter. The Doctor tried to move when the clattering of the alien’s own footsteps rang out, to confuse the sound. The shadow ahead grew longer and fainter as the light from the curve grew brighter. The Doctor rounded the bend quickly and stared in amazement.
The chamber before him was large. Not as large as the TARDIS but certainly bigger than he had perceived outside. At first glance, it looked like what you might expect inside such a place. Cobwebs upon great archways, large caskets of stone, decorative ornaments. But the Doctor had come at the exact moment that what ‘might be’ was halfway through fading into what actually was. For now, the cobwebs seemed to be long cables reaching upwards into the ground. The caskets were great computer banks, with reels rolling and screens flashing with information. And the ornaments, though there, were now overshadowed by great orb-like structures showing off footage like that of a camera.
The Koqullion’s shoulders seemed to relax. He moved forward towards one bank and stared at the results. There was a satisfied click and he started to turn—
“Not so fast, my boy.”
--and found the Doctor’s cane against his throat. He froze; his body halfway twisted towards the door. His left hand seemed to move towards the prod but the Doctor was quicker. He slapped it away sharply and stepped forward. He stared at the face and shook his head sadly.
“I wonder. I do wonder. It is a good likeness, but I think you’d have done better to have kept a Didoan around to help you. When you’ve seen one, no fakery can fool you. Take off that ridiculous outfit, and explain yourself!” His hand did not tremble as his eyes swung to the balcony. “And you! Madame, I command you reveal yourself!”
There was a momentary pause. Then a figure moved from out of the shadows and stood in the pale light of the chamber. She looked more annoyed than upset. She nodded once to Koqullion who lifted up to his great cloak and unclipped a few buckles. Then with one movement he pulled it off and stood there. Proud, haughty, simmering with rage. Even the bandages around his brow did not remove his threat.
“Mister Bennet, I presume,” said the Doctor icily. “And Madame Victoria! I had hoped you and I would be friends. Now, shall we get this farce over with? Return the beacon to it’s original settings, and we shall walk away in peace.”
He half-knew it would not work. Vicki spun on her heel and held up a hand. Then from every balcony poured more faces. Cold, hard, without a care in the world. Human, all of them. And clasping rifles
She spoke again, but this time there was nothing of Suzanne in her voice. “The old man has influenced the experiment for long enough. Kill him. Now.” [14]
-Doctor Who and the Rescue, Chapter 9. 1988
…..
“Call me a stereotype if you want, but from behind the sofa I remember gasping in shock. Ronald Pickup had been so likeable as Bennett up until that point, so it was amazing to witness.”
-Marc Platt, on the set of Doctor Who's 30th Anniversary Production to DWM.
….
We’ve talked before how, to understand why a cliché is used, it behoves us to look back at one of the pieces of fiction that used it best. It can be a originator, or a propagator, or it could just be a good example amidst the many. See Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood or Bela Lugosi’s Dracula or Billy Dee Williams’s Han Solo [15] for examples of characters. Or indeed, Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster. So it is with The Pirate, a simple title which belays a surprisingly thoughtful examination of man, myth and what lies between the two.
The story is as simple as you get. Landing in colonial America, the Doctor and his companions are separated during a fracas and are trapped on two opposing sides. Ian and Suzanne end up being taken to and joining with Lieutenant Robert Maynard (Peter Purves) who has been called in to deal with the scourge of pirates. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Barbara fall in with the man most befitting of the serial’s title. ‘The’ Pirate.
-First Time Watcher’s Review of Doctor Who and the Pirate, 2016
…..
Doctor: Unhand me sir! Look at us! Any man with a working set of eyes can tell we’ve nothing of value to be taken.
The CREW laugh to each other, save for the two holding BARBARA and the one with his sword to the DOCTOR’s neck. These move the two travellers forward step by step until they are brought to the main hall. The camera pans slowly from them up the table, past the fine food and cutlery to a figure with his head obscured. His clothes denote obvious status, but as what is not yet clear to us.
Figure: Let the woman stand, Hands. But keep your sword to the old man.
From the figure’s elbow we see the conversation. THE DOCTOR’s temper abates but his defiance does not. Barbara stands free and looks ahead. She seems frightened
Figure: As you say, nothing of value. Except perhaps as an item of curiosity. Not a merchant, nor an admiral and not, I take it, a raving lunatic.
Doctor: No, sir! Merely a traveller who is unaccustomed to such brutality when minding his own business.
Israel: Captain--!
THE FIGURE stands up and slams his knife into the table. THE DOCTOR, defiant, unashamed, contrasts with BARBARA, terrified and perhaps even a little awestruck. Back to the first camera now as we pan up.
Figure: Israel, it has been such a long time since we had guests not wielding guns or cutlass. You will be staying a while with us, and you had best make peace with that. I trust that you will be amenable to entertaining us.
And now we seem him. In all his majesty. Every bit the figure the myths portray him. He draws his own sword and begins to advance.
BLACKBEARD: And if not, then Blackbeard will have to make his own fun!
CUE CREDITS
-Closing scene from Episode 1 of The Pirate
…..
A rare, colourized photograph of Michael Aldridge in his basic Blackbeard outfit between takes. [16]
I remember really regretting that Michael Aldridge was working mostly with Boris and Phyllis, because when we were taking our breaks he really was the life of the party. Such a genuinely nice man, though I’m not sure what the kids who Boris signed autographs for thought when they saw Blackbeard himself sitting at the table. The beard was some kind of complex piece of makeup that couldn’t be removed once the cameras were rolling, so he had to eat like that for most of the day. We teased him rotten about it, and he took it all in good humour.
-Julian Glover, Commentary of The Pirate, 2005
….
There was a brief moment of panic. A particularly poignant scene sees Blackbeard undertake the irritating process of placing candles into his beard to light them afire. To demonstrate to the Doctor his skill, he lights one up. Unfortunately, Aldridge was not made aware that one of the candles was actually a failed prototype that the props department had swept up along the rest of them in the rush to make the episode. So he lit the candle, which happened to be about chin level, and it went up in an instant. It very nearly burnt through the beard had Karloff not thrown the glass of water he was meant to be drinking on upon it.
-Scenic Route, 60 Years of Who Explored, 2023.
….
Perhaps the most surprisingly relevant piece of writing of the second season is the four part serial Eye of the Beholder, written by Reginald Rose. Recruited from across the pond by Lambert, who was introduced to him by Rod Serling, she suggested he provide a script for their adaptation. They received a complex one for the time but Lambert was incredibly pleased with it, particularly given it’s surprising feminist underpinnings. [17]
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Aneas in the middle of a large Babylonic city (represented through the reliable miniature and painted backdrop departments), right in the midst of a celebration. Caught up in the crowd, the group are split up with Barbara being outright arrested and dragged off to an interrogation cell. There, she discovers that she has been deemed ‘unsightly’ by the High Council and that she must be placed where she cannot disturb the peace. She is sent outside the city to work in the Purification Line, a group of slaves sent out into the dark recesses of the planet to terraform the planet anew. After a week, the mutations are irreversible, as told to her by the manic rebel Crikley (Philip Madoc, managing the difficult task of being despicable, frightening and desperately sad).
Meanwhile, the others mingle with the rest of the guests. Suzanne falls in with a group of young people who have reached “The Age” whereupon they will be given the chance to integrate into Anean society in whatever role they most desire. The Doctor ends up being mistaken for one of the Council members and engages in polite chat with them and a off-world guest; a cheerful man named Trenchan. He soon becomes aware that the older generation are in a great deal of pain and are desperately waiting for something that Trenchan will soon be providing them. And finally, Ian ends up being given a tour by Co-Ordinator Vana (Stephanie Bidmead) who seems in the peak of physical condition despite her obvious disinterest in people outside the city. Mistaking him for a citizen, her cold attitude belays that of the other co-ordinators; miserable, cynical and fed up of their lives.
The common thread here is soon made apparent. Trenchan is supplying three of the four disparate sides with what they want in a never-ending placebo effect. The youth are taken on a tour of the facility before being placed inside a large machine which violently extracts their youth and vitality from them. This is concentrated into a formula which is taken by the Council, restoring them from their decrepit ages into youthful figures once again. Those that do not immediately die are taken out to the Purification Line to die there in servitude. Trenchan supplies the formula but also ensures that unsightliness is banished from the co-ordinators, in exchange for a sacrifice of his choosing. He also gains an obscene amount of wealth. The process has been going on for, at the Doctor’s calculation, five hundred years. [18]
And the slaves outside? In order to keep the money and the machine necessary for the survival of those in the city, Trenchan has supplied Crikley with a significant amount of weapons claiming to be a friend. Today is the day that the Purification Line lives up to their monstrous reputation. And it’s up to four off-world strangers to stop things by any means necessary.
-A Sofa Of One’s Own: Doctor Who through a Feminist’s Eye, 1999. [19]
….
It’s tempting to praise everyone in this serial. We could praise Phyllida Law, who excellently shows the horrors of the mutation occurring inside her while still pushing the clearly unhinged Crikley to calm down and not give in to his base instincts. Or to point out Julian Glover continuing to shine even when given the least impressive portion of the cast’s screentime. We could examine the legitimately horrific cliff-hanger of Part 2 and Sara’s reaction being the cherry on top. Or indeed, Boris Karloff who throughout the entire thing gives his usual best. We’ll not do that here, at least not today. Instead we’re going to highlight Trenchan and talk about the man playing him.
Peter Butterworth, pictured here in a rare dramatic role as Stanley Best in 1978's Deep Blue Sea [20]
Peter Butterworth is a lifelong ensemble actor whose claim to fame outside of Who is his appearance in the Carry On film series (beginning in 1965’s Carry On Cowboy and ending with 1975’s supposedly cursed Carry On Escaping) [21] as a variety of bewildered and bawdy roles. In his role as Trenchan, Butterworth works with a significantly larger range of emotions than his usual roles allow.
In his first scenes we see him ambling alongside the central party at the celebration, standing to the side with his typical amiable smile on his face. In conservation with the Doctor he is just wry enough to get a laugh (“Anyone for Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” he askes as an elder stoops down to bow) but with a creepy edge that unnerves all the while (“You know, skin is one of my specialities. Oh yes Doctor, I can read skin like others read Dickens or Prost. I know every chapter of every person’s life story here just by feeling them hand. But yours? Oh yours is unique, Doctor. I’d be careful lest someone…oh, but what am I saying?”). Even as Vana and he interact he keeps up the jovial attitude which makes for a sudden sharp turn when the Co-Ordinator mocks him and he slams her against the wall. (“Funny!” he growls, moving her hand up to her shoulder. “Yes, funny indeed. Let it never be said that Trenchan can’t take a joke. What else can he take in so much as a blink of an eye? Your wall is strong and your head, despite what you may think, isn’t. Apologize. Like you mean it”.) [22] And if all that isn't enough, the cliff-hanger of Part 2 (where he activates the machine that drains and murders the younger generations, represented in typical less is more fashion by the filling up of old chemical tubes) only works because of his giddy delight and is credited for making many a student fearful of a bunsen beaker.
But it’s his interactions with Barbara that are the most genuinely unnerving. After portraying a far more mercenary figure with Crikley, he tracks her down to where she has started to feel the effects of the outside. While she pushes back as per usual, he instead offers her a drink of pure water. He then pours it out and gestures to the ditch, while she does not drink from it the implication is quite horrible. The way he licks his lips is a legitimately uncomfortable moment supposedly improvised by Butterworth during the filming and left in on the first take. It’s only Crikley’s appearance that keeps the implications subtextual. [23]
Throughout the serial we see him range from sinister manipulator to tantrum throwing child, before finally ending on a particularly grim note as the chaos erupts and the various good factions coalesce with each other. Shoving Vaan towards Crikley and letting the two of them battle it out even as their supporters die or defect, he rushes towards his spaceship, followed by Barbara and the young man Haron, where we discover what he gets out of it. Having cornered Suzanne and knocked her out, he has taken her to drain her of her vitality and add it to his own personalized potion of immortality. There's a fight and Haron wounds him, forcing Trenchan to immediately drop his normal facade and blind the young man with the glass. [24] Thrown off by the Doctor's commanding voice, he hisses and curses and splutters out vileness while Barbara pins him to the wall. Watching as she destroys his life's work (in a very satisfying moment), he attempts to lunge for her and gets caught inside his own machine. The last we see of him is him caterwauling as the four make their escape and he gets drained in a similar fashion, breaking free of the machine only to collapse into dust within a instant. [25]
is it any wonder that this is cited as a traditional sixties trauma? So here's to Peter Butterworth, a man who made people wet their pants in two different ways.
-Who's That: Unsung Heroes of Doctor Who, by Norman Anderson, 2013
…..
Barbara glanced back at the abbey door. The clamour was growing louder and louder; now she could make out angry voices amidst the hubbub. “Come on Ian!”
There was a loud clunk and Ian stepped back with a cocksure smile; screwdriver in hand. But Barbara had no time to congratulate him, for she rushed forward and pulled Ian with her into the vestibule. He shut the door behind her just as the cry of the mob’s leader rang out.
The second the door locked, Barbara felt something was wrong. That the sound would be muffled was of course logical. That it would completely cut off was something far more worrisome. She saw Ian’s concerned glance and read the same question in his mind too. They turned and Barbara nearly screamed.
“Ian! The Monk’s got a TARDIS!”
Doctor Who and the Meddler, novelized by Nigel Robinson for Target in 1987. [26]
….
The Meddler himself....in action figure form! [27]
“Was there tension between Boris and Stanley Unwin?”
“That seems to be overstating it a little. But fundamentally, Stanley was interested in promoting himself. Which makes sense, he was quite the get at the time and I can understand the point of view that if you wanted Unwin, you’d get Unwin. That manifested in arguments over it being the Stanley Unwin and the Doctor Show, with himself first and foremost. I remember Richard Martin had to push back a lot on his attempts to interject Unwinese into the story, we kept it to a good level as far as I can recall. I’ve always wondered if that was the moment that people started to wonder about leaving….” [28]
- Phyllida Law on the DVD Extras of the Meddler, 2002
….
It can seem a little odd to us nowadays that The Meddler was so well received. To be clear, the revelations it included were certainly interesting and the emergence of a rival time traveller would create fresh interest (Not to mention a significant refinement in the coming years). Yet there is an uneasy element to it that I don’t think was fully intended. Everything bar the twist of the second TARDIS feels slightly off balance, from the off-kilter Stanley Unwin’s Meddler to the faltering by Karloff; not to mention the unsubtle and somewhat crass implications of the medieval section. The Romans had walked a time-rope and faltered only once or twice. The Meddler was practically cartwheeling off the edge. [29]
-Doctor Who Magazine: Trial of the Twenty
…..
Doctor: Well, well! Most satisfactory, most satisfactory indeed!
Ian: What will happen to him?
Doctor: The Monk? The little imp has some knowledge of temporal physics, limited though it may be. If the soldiers don’t get him he’ll have time enough to work out how to fix his machine. But I’ve made one or two little adjustments to the flight computer that will prevent him from doing any real harm. And of course, all of this assumes he will apply himself to the task!
Barbara: ….I suppose we did the right thing, didn’t we?
Doctor: Right doesn’t come into it! Such childish tampering is beyond my people, isn’t that so?
Suzanne: Yes Grandfather. You wouldn’t see them meddling around with Blackbeard or Nero, or anything of that sort! (Doctor Who is slightly wrong-footed by this, before dismissing it with a tetchy grunt. The viewers can see a little smirk growing on his face nonetheless) I’m sorry Ian, Barbara. I know that you must have been tempted by his offer---
Barbara: No, the Doctor is quite right. I suppose it was a little silly to imagine the Monk could take us back home. Are you no closer, Doctor?
Doctor: Hmm? Oh, yes, my dear Miss McGovern! Yes indeed! I was able to gain a little knowledge from the bungler’s console and the new unit installed should prove to be more reliable. Yes, more reliable!
Ian: Wherever, whenever and however we get there, I’m glad it’s with you, Doctor.
(Credits roll)
-Closing scene of The Meddler and Season 2 as a whole.
…..
Season 2 (40 Episodes) consists of:
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (6 Episodes)
The Romans (4 Episodes)
The Web Planet (4 Episodes)
The Armada of Cadiz (4 Episodes)
The Space Museum (2 Episodes)
The Rescue (4 Episodes)
The Pirate (5 Episodes)
The Eye of the Beholder (5 Episodes)
The Meddler (6 Episodes)
-Early listing in 1981 for missing episode hunters, sans annotations. [30]
.
....
I remember pitching it to Irene and thinking that I'd gotten it in the bag. And then I got some notes back suggesting that I add more futuristic dialogue to it. Well, I wasn't against the idea and I was ready to do it, but I thought that it would be hard to do with this particular story. And then Verity rang me and said "Look, I'm sorry but I don't think it'd be worth us slashing your script to pieces. I do have a friend at Hammer though, so if you cut the cliffhangers and alter the names, you might have better luck...." And I thought that was rather odd but I was curious. So I brought it over and left it and I expected to have it returned in three days or get a phone call. And a day later my agent rang me up and asked if I wanted to go into business for myself. He said that the figures they were offering me for it was....well, it was a lot! And I was amazed and I said yes to their offer. But even then, I didn't know what was going to happen with 'The Slide' until the reviews came in..... [31]
-Victor Pemberton, on the special features of Eye of the Beholder, 2004
.....
Terry’s last story is going to be about six parts. I think the controller might try to get us to extend them, because of how much his wife loves them, but I think we hold firm on that. Consider this a chance to open up our nets and pick up some new staff with any ideas they have for Three. Let’s see if we can’t defy this lightning doesn’t strike twice nonsense, shall we?
-Irene Shubnik, memo released in July 1965.
….
A colourized photographs of Sara Kestelman and Michael Bryant in Amicus's 1972 adaptation of Bleak House, as Lady Honoria and Mister Tulkinghorn respectively.
“We got officially commissioned around about the fifth story and it struck me that, though I was having a great deal of fun with Boris and Julian and Phyllida, it might not be too long before I wasn’t. And that would make things worse for me and for them, so I asked them, in-between the break, if they could write me out. We were both luckily on the same lines of having me come back for the first story and giving me a send-off. The others were very understanding, and I remember at the time thinking how much Boris was coughing at that point. He said he was fine but now, looking back, I can see the signs there….”
-Sara Kestelman, Commentary on The Cybermen, 2003.
NEXT TIME: ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS AND MORE ENDINGS!
[1} I am, of course, being very facetious here but my original intention might not have been that far off. The original idea was “What if Terry Nation was even more of a meddler?” which would lead to tougher consequences down the road. Then the Coburn news hit the airwaves and I had the realization that I’d perhaps been too harsh to Nation. True his estate can be a pain and I’ll never understand how he hated Whitaker’s writing but not John Peel’s but he could have been a hell of a lot worse.[2] Yeah a lot of this is what I covered or at the least inferred in the Daleks chapter but I do think that it is worth putting down in black and white for the record. Also Nation lets go of the Vrood which, like…even for him I doubt he’d care that much about working with them? Maybe he was a really big fan, who knows?
[3] Yeah Nation’s not a maniac, but he’s not a cuddly guy either. Plenty of pushing and shoving to come since he’s arguably in a stronger position than in OTL.
[4] A script that is slightly worse than OTL because it lacks the Susan departure scene and it’s a writer getting increasingly at odds with the company.
[5] Before you ask, yes that’s Carol Ann Ford. If we ever reach the end of the sixties I’d like to do a breakdown of what the actors are all up to at the moment but we’ll wait and see.
[6] Very much an OTL issue with Emery, who was considered for the part around this time. Obviously we do not have a version with Karloff and Emery to compare but losing OTL’s Nero means this is another OTL episode slightly weakened, though not as much as the prior one and it’s still a classic.
[7] Name’s still the same as in OTL but I guarantee you that when you’ve done as much pulp as Karloff has, he’ll slip up on one or two of the lesser remembered ones.
[8] Karloff’s star power and the increased support the show gets nets it the ballet dancers to try and fulfil the original aim of the writer in the Menoptra’s alien interpretation. This may be considered clever, misguided or boring, your pick is as good as mine.
[9] While many of the infamous moments of the serial still occur, it is greatly helped that the story is condensed down which technically makes this better than in OTL.
[10] If you want a OTL version of this story, then I highly recommend the excellent Flames of Cadiz by Big Finish Productions. It’s what I’ve basically got in my head while writing this, but I’ve made sure not to replicate the writing at all. Worth getting in my view though, far better than my own.
[11] A particular difficulty of mine is trying to capture the style of the time. Hopefully I’ve managed to do so without going too far into extremes.
[12] Again, another episode with a better OTL reputation as a result of it not being four episodes long. The connections to the previous two parter was accidental but I do have the germ of an idea now.
[13] If there’s a way to describe IITL’s story it’s basically Truman Show meets Vengeance on Varos. A group of colonists who had previously visited the colony fake their deaths in an accident and then manipulate the survivors into digging up the spoils of the planet, (Having killed the natives before they could instruct them in their use) while recording their actions for a entitled desire to analyze the human condition. Which goes well…right up until the point that the Doctor and company stumble in.
[14] The Doctor is projecting here, his fondness for younger people as his companions already getting established.
[15] First big spoiler here for Star Wars! Boy oh boy, what fun we’ll have!
[16] Or in our timeline, his one-scene wonder appearance from Fall of Eagles as Rasputin. I love Aldridge and while I was unable to make him the Doctor here I do hope to have him pop up here and there to give hm a bigger profile.
[17] It’s also the first wholly original story I’ve outlined in that much detail here, so I hope you find some amusement in it.
[18] If this sounds complex, it’s because it is…definitely a ‘show don’t tell’ kind of situation here but since I don’t have a machine to show you, you’ll take my word for it I hope?
[19] I am unreasonably proud of that book title, by the by. Based off the old Virginia Woolf essay that anyone in college will have learnt to dissect.
[20] As someone who understands the need for movies on historical events, the event in which Stanley Best plays a part is a favourite of mine to recount. You may know it or may not, it was made into a movie recently but it fell by the wayside in the blink of an eye. Actual image is from Carry On Behind which….
[21] Does not exist here! Yes, another bombshell, Carry On will be altered too. Carry On Escaping is a real life script that was rejected and saved in a book talking about the films, so you have that to look forward to. And yes, more foreboding talk. Oooh matron, whatever can he mean!
[22] I will concede that Butterworth might be a hard figure to find frightening but given his talents I think that he could have made his usual attitude feel quite disquieting should the moment have arisen.
[23] Who in the sixties could be surprisingly blunt about implications of a darker nature. See the Time Meddler for a significant example
[24] Setting up the point, that unlike the Elders, Haron will be able to cope and deal with his illnesses and his decay and will not need to destroy the lives of those after him.
[25] But he’s the villain so no one need worry! There won’t be that many complaints coming in but it’s a sign that the team is getting a bit harder than it might otherwise have been given the amount of money being thrown at it.
[26] Oldie but a goodie.
[27] In reality taken from The Secret Service, where Unwin plays a puppet version of himself in what is the lesser of Anderson’s efforts. It gets butterflied away with Anderson doing more work at the time.
[28] To be clear, I’ve no idea if Unwin was a particularly disruptive presence on TV or the like. I just needed someone to fill a void and for another purpose down the line which should become clear.
[29] In effect, the serial spends it’s time leaping back and forth the original OTL setting of Hastings, a Elizabethan era and the 1940s as the Meddler attempts to control the effects of his messing about. In effect, it’s IITL’s equivalent of The Chase.
[30] Oh yes, lost episodes! Hmm…..more on them at a later date.
[31] Most of this is OTL, with the key exception of Pemberton bringing it to Hammer and not to radio, where it ended up and became a forgotten gem. Here however, it’s quite significant….
[32] Taken from the excellent Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, which is responsible for introducing me to Sara Kestelman in the first place. She made quite the impact as you can tell.
[33] No, your eyes don’t deceive you! Whatever could this mean?
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