Doctor Who 10x20

Directed by David Maloney

Bernard Horsfall as Taron • Tim Preece as Codal • Jane How as Rebec • Alan Tucker as Latep • Roy Skelton as Dalek (voice)

The Doctor and his friends prepare to refreeze the Dalek army but the Dalek Supreme has arrived on the planet determined to destroy them all.

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1. "The Doctor encounters the army of the Daleks, already beginning to come to life.

2. "Can he defeat the Daleks in time to save the galaxy from invasion?" (Radio Times)

3. This episode was first shown on 12 May, 1973 and was seen by 8.5 million viewers.

4. Daleks are bulky, awkward things to shoot around in the studio.

5. This forced a change in the staging of this scene, which slightly altered the characterisation as Terry Nation intended it.

6. The script specifies that Taron fails to cover himself up properly,

7. but it's actually Codal's boots that we see.

8. That's Codal on the right here.

9. He was the only one completely in the camera's sight-line, without a Dalek in the way, so he had to be the careless one.

10. This episode's original title was:

11. VICTORY

12. It's a camp life being a Dalek.

13. In the 1970s, the operators sometimes amused themselves during camera rehearsals

14. by dressing their props up inappropriately, for example in a feather boa or as Queen Victoria.

15. In this serial, they felt so aggrieved by the requirement that they should wear make-up

16. that they turned up at the final studio session with the Daleks' tops off, wearing exaggeratedly ladylike make-up and clothes to match.

17. Roy Skelton and Michael Wisher contributed suitably "effeminate" Dalek voices to complete the effect.

18. Terrance Dicks later re-used this sequence when he wrote the 1974 Doctor Who stage play, Seven eys to Doomsday.

19. In the play, the Doctor's friend Jenny (Wendy Padbury) poses as a Dalek, which is then exterminated.

20. Only afterwards does the audience learn that, like Rebec, Jenny got out of the Dalek casing just in time.

21. In the script, the Doctor tells Rebec to give the bomb to Codal.

22. In rehearsal, it was decided that Codal needed to keep his hands free for a later scene.

23. This lift set has been modified since we saw it last in Part 3, recorded in the previous studio session.

24. The doors used to be on the right.

25. This fostered the illusion of a large base with many different lifts - and also allowed the director to vary his camera angles!

26. If you should ever feel the urge to imitate the Daleks' design sense, the two colours you'll need are jade

27. and fjord blue.

28. The ice cave is shot through a sheet of glass, with the rocky surround painted onto it.

29. The model shots were first attempted on 8 February, but had to be redone the next day

30. because effects assistant Charlie Morgan got his hands in shot!

31. The Dalek props were not available for use at rehearsals.

32. This was because prop usage was costed against the production by the day.

33. So the Dalek operators had nothing to operate when rehearsing their moves!

34. They would skeeter along on chairs, holding up a clutching hand in imitation of the Dalek eye-stick.

35. They only got the actual Daleks to work with at camera rehearsals on the studio day itself.

36. The script calls this "a small space module".

37. In other words, it's a landing shuttlecraft, not the main Dalek ship.

38. The script calls for "quite the most impressive Dalek we have seen".

39. It is the cinema Dalek which the production borrowed from Terry Nation.

40. Nation's Daleks had large fenders at the base, and their flashing lights were bigger than on the BBC models.

41. The prop was modified by Clifford Culley's team, who fitted jam jars over the lights to give it even bigger "ears".

42. They also gave it a paint job: It was silver when it left Terry Nation's house near Sittingbourne in Kent.

43. Studio recording took place in three two-day sessions and three different studios.

44. The first session was in Studio 4 at Television Centre, and the second, planned for Studio 8, ended up in Studio 6.

45. The final session was scheduled back in Studio 4, but was moved to Studio 1, the largest available at the BBC.

46. The studio dates were 22-3 January, 5-6 February, and 19-20 February, all Mondays and Tuesdays.

47. The studio day began at 9.30 when the cameras were rigged.

48. For the first session, camera rehearsals began at 11.30, and continued until 6.30, with recording in the evening.

49. The routine changed after the first day's recording overran by 17 minutes, incurring heavy overtime payments.

50. The root causes were the number of effects to be recorded and the limited amount of pre-filmed material.

51. A post-mortem on the overrun decided to create more time by starting the remaining sessions half an hour earlier.

52. The squirty fungoids were an especial problem in the studio.

53. They ejaculated wallpaper paste all over the actors' costumes, and Wardrobe had the hardest time cleaning it off.

54. Building the barrier was the reason Codal couldn't take charge of the bomb earlier on.

55. Here the two actors effect an effortless bomb transfer from Rebec to Codal.

56. Studio recording for this episode overran by 24 minutes, though in practice only 13 minutes were spent taping scenes.

57. The remaining 11 minutes were spent transferring film sequences onto videotape.

58. The very last job, a matter of urgency, wasn't even for this serial.

59. It was 20 February, and the episode of 'Frontier in Space' to be shown on 3 March still lacked its closing credits...

60. The Dalek Supreme is operated by future singer-songwriter Tony Starr.

61. He was a Dalek on and off until 1988, but this was his first time inside the casing.

62. Inexperience may explain why his lights are out of synch.

63. The Dalek operators didn't do the voices themselves, but they still had to learn the lines

64. so that they could flash the lights at the right time.

65. A change in the system had been mooted at this time and three experimental Dalek props made.

66. Christened "super-Daleks", they had a ring modulator (which produced the voice effect) Built into the casing itself.

67. The aim was to create more efficient Daleks which could be operated and voiced by a single performer.

68. Nothing came of it: Even in the 21 st century, Dalek movement and Dalek voices are supplied by different actors.

69. In May 1973, two of the prototype "super-Daleks" went to Cardiff for an edition of the Welsh-language series Non Mewn Pum Munud.

70. On the way back to London they were stolen, just like Terry Nation's Dalek a few months earlier.

71. On 7 June, Blue Peter ran an appeal for their return, while on Nationwide Michael Barratt interviewed the third "super-Dalek".

72. He asked, "What will happen to the people who stole the Daleks?" (Go on, guess.)

73. "They will be ex-ter-min-ated," replied the Dalek.

74. The two missing Daleks were later found in London, one by a couple of bemused nurses,

75. and the other by a driver who removed a tarpaulin, expecting to find his car...

76. Before recording, Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning gave themselves a warm-up by doing a Maori haka.

77. Another pre-performance ritual was a throat-clearing exercise in which the entire cast, led by Pertwee, "Harry Roy!"

78. The guest actors were mystified, but went along with it as a harmless eccentricity.

79. After each studio session, the sets were immediately taken down.

80. Those which were to be reused were transported to the Kew firm, Bullen's Storage.

81. The sets for this serial occupied 12 storage bays there.

82. Sixteen blocks of dry ice were used to create the vapour in this scene.

83. The set was constructed around a standard tubular scaffolding rig.

84. In the first design, the balustrade was solid.

85. This bit was probably why the designer had second thoughts and made it open.

86. Post-production editing began in February and the final sound dub took place on 1 April.

87. There was a playback of the finished episodes on 4 April.

88. "The Doctor moves warily," says the script, "as if he had fallen into a pit of snakes."

89. Terry Nation envisaged a much higher catwalk, about 12 feet up from the Daleks.

90. This makes it hard for the Doctor to get out, until he has the daring idea of climbing up onto the Daleks.

91. The BBC's promotional material for this serial listed five "selling points":

92. The return of the Daleks, the alien jungle, the Spiridons, the "spectacular climax"

93. and the fact that Terry Nation wrote it.

94. It was relatively unusual for a scriptwriter to be considered a "selling point".

95. This "Dalek cutaway"

96. ensures that Katy Manning doesn't actually have to do any rope-climbing.

97. At their review meeting on 16 May, the BBC's senior management deemed this an excellent final episode.

98. One slight dissenter was Alasdair Milne, who felt the final sequences were rather low-key.

99. Recording broke here

100. so that this set could be redressed with blast damage, like the black marks that have been hastily added to the walls.

101. Dudley Simpson was commissioned on 7 December, 1972 to compose the incidental music for this serial.

102. His score for the entire six episodes was just under 43 minutes in length.

103. The finished tracks combined live musicians with electronic sound.

104. The live elements were recorded separately, in four sessions at the Television Music Studio, Lime Grove, on 1, 10, 20, and 29 March.

105. Dudley Simpson conducted an orchestra of five musicians

106. playing reed instruments, keyboards, percussion and horns.

107. The electronic components took longer to achieve.

108. Simpson supervised six recording sessions at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop on 2, 5, 12-13, 21, and 29 March.

109. The model Daleks were mounted on card at the base, which was then pushed forward from behind.

110. The model set is made of polystyrene.

111. In the script, it is Jo who first notices the distant rumbling of the volcano, but this was cut to keep focus on the Doctor.

112. The ice for the model shots is made of water thickened up with the silica resin Cabosil.

113. Huw Wheldon, the BBC's Managing Director of Television and chief Dalek fan, was impressed by the "tidal wave" effect.

114. At £650, it was the single most expensive effect in the serial.

115. Clifford Culley colour-matched the Cabosil mix to the naturally green water at the quarry location.

116. This scene's tightly framed shots fail to convey what the script asks for:

117. A control room that is deserted save for the Dalek Supreme and his two aides.

118. As well as altering the Dalek Supreme's lights and colour scheme, the effects team gave it an entirely new eye.

119. It's an ordinary domestic torch, modified to work off the car battery under the operator's seat inside.

120. The last Dalek collides with the control desk in his haste to escape.

121. Terry Nation had already used the idea of flying home in a captured Dalek craft.

122. It was how the Doctor's friends lan and Barbara finally got back to Earth at the end of 'The Chase'.

123. Terrance Dicks especially liked Codal, "the self-doubting intellectual who screws himself up to acts of courage".

124. He asked Terry Nation to develop the character as much as possible.

125. The Doctor's speech was written in at the request of Terrance Dicks,

126. partly to give Jon Pertwee another of his cherished "moments of charm",

127. and partly to round off the theme he'd suggested, about the dangers of militarism.

128. The names of the war dead here were unscripted, added during rehearsal.

129. 'Planet of the Daleks' was a generally well-received serial.

130. The first episode won kisses from Stanley Reynolds, the television reviewer of The Times.

131. He declared that the series was "that bit more classy" when "the boss space horrors" were around.

132. The whole serial achieved one of Doctor Who's highest average audiences of the early 1970s.

133. The ratings for Part 1 hadn't been bettered since 1965:

134. It drew the highest audience since 'Galaxy 4', and the first ranking in the weekly top ten since 'The Chase'.

135. This was the more remarkable in that the serial was broadcast at a time when audiences traditionally began dropping off,

136. as Britain moved towards longer summer days and outdoor pursuits began to pull potential viewers away from the television.

137. While the serial was being made, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks had the future in their sights.

138. They were in the process of setting up the Doctor's adventures in the forthcoming 1973-4 series.

139. Clifford Culley happened to mention to Letts that his effects team would have no difficulty

140. using models to put prehistoric monsters into a modern city setting.

141. This was just what Letts needed to invigorate 'Bridgehead from Space',

142. a Malcolm Hulke storyline under development, which became 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs'.

143. The Daleks would also be back next year, in another Terry Nation script, 'Death to the Daleks'.

144. But viewers in 1973 didn't have to wait that long.

145. Exactly a week later, the disc jockey Jimmy Saville invited the bean-bag squatting audience of his BBC series Clunk-Click

146. to guess the owner of a "mystery voice". It was grating and it threatened extermination...

147. Fortunately it turned out to be a "diplomatic" Dalek, who had come to witness an example of Earth-type entertainment.

148. "Mr Dalek", as Saville called him, then spent the rest of the programme butting in.

149. One item featured a rendition of the traditional Cockney song, 'Any Old Iron'.

150. "We take it that the term 'any old iron' is not meant as an insult to our race," said the Dalek, showing off his diplomacy.

151. Throughout, Mr Saville treated Mr Dalek as a real being, showing unease as the eye followed him around the studio.

152. And what did Mr Dalek conclude from his experience of Clunk-Click?

153. His final verdict was that entertainment was un-pro-duc-tive!

154. Perhaps it was for the best that Saville ended the programme by telling his guest,

155. "Well, Mr Dalek, you'd better be getting back now to the planet of the Daleks."

156. Both this TARDIS scene and some of the jungle shots immediately beforehand were pre-recorded on 23 January.

157. For the inserts, the Dalek Supreme was operated by John Scott Martin, not Tony Starr.

158. If you want to play spot the cut-in, watch for changes in Jo's hair.

159. After recording wrapped, Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning had nearly three weeks off

160. before they were required on location in Wales to start filming the next serial,

161. which was due to be Katy's last.

162. A continuity announcer told eager 1973 viewers the title of that new adventure: 'The Green Death'.

163. Uncredited production contributors

164. Arthur Beavis, Martin Gutteridge, Charlie Stoneham (Effects Assistants)

165. John Cook (Assistant Floor Manager)

166. Text commentary written by Martin Wiggins 67 —> 00:21:14,598 The Daleks are never defeated!

167. Jo, look.

168. That's Skaro.

169. Yes.

170. Any regrets?

171. No, not really.

172. But, Jo, that's only one little world.

173. There's so many hundreds of others to see.

174. There's only one little world I want to see right now.

175. That one.

176. That one? But, Jo, that's Earth.

177. That's right, Doctor, home.

178. Home it is, Miss Grant.

179. A new Doctor Who serial, 'The Green Death',

180. begins next Saturday at the same time.

181. The Doctor Who theme is now available on a BBC record from most record shops.