Doctor Who 10x23

1. "Jo is helped by the Doctor to escape from the giant maggots,

2. "only to find herself in even greater danger." (Radio Times)

3. This episode was first shown on 2 June 1973 and was watched by 7.8 million people.

4. This was a rise of 600,000 viewers from the previous week.

5. Most scenes in Episodes 3 and 4 were recorded in Studio 3 over Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 April 1973.

6. This opening recap of the previous week's cliffhanger

7. was copied directly from the transmission videotape of Episode 2.

8. You should be able to spot the point where the recap ends and the new footage begins.

9. Take a good look at the Doctor and Jo in the tunnel.

10. The Doctor has no light at all on his helmet whilst Jo's light is illuminated.

11. As we jump to the material from the second recording block, they both have lights - and they're both turned off!

12. This is one of two small sections of the mine workings built in the studio for this session by designer John Burrowes.

13. Burrowes also designed for such programmes as Out of the Unknown, Colditz and Comedy Playhouse.

14. He went to direct the two series of Ben Elton's comedy show, The Man from Auntie, in 1990 and 1994,

15. and produced Jim Davidson's long-running snooker-based game show, Big Break (1991-4).

16. This is Dave's last scene,

17. so it was recorded along with Episodes 1 and 2 in the first studio block.

18. This meant that the actor didn't need to be recalled for one small scene two weeks later.

19. He was Talfryn Thomas (1922-82).

20. He was one of 1970s television's "stock Welshmen", yes, indeed, notably in Dad's Army (1973-4) And Survivors (1975).

21. In Doctor Who, he had previously played Mullins, the hospital porter in Jon Pertwee's debut story, 'Spearhead from Space' (1970).

22. As scripted, this scene begins with the Doctor asking Jo, "Ever done any punting?"

23. "No," she replies. "Now's your chance to learn," says the Doctor as he hands her one of the staves.

24. As Jo says, "Through those things?" It was originally intended to include an insert shot

25. showing her viewpoint of the seething pool of maggots ahead.

26. In the upcoming shot, the gap between the two sections of mine scenery was entirely yellow:

27. A yellow painted studio floor in front of a 30-foot golden yellow hanging cyclorama covering the studio wall.

28. The model shot of the real maggots in the miniature set of the cavern was then keyed into the background.

29. Elgin is played by another Welsh-born actor, Tony Adams (born 1940).

30. His early work on stage ranged from Peter Pan (as a child actor) To the Royal Shakespeare Company,

31. and on the small screen in minor roles from iss Me ate (1964) To The Two Ronnies (1972).

32. 'The Green Death' was his first really substantial tv role, after which he played a regular doctor in General Hospital.

33. He was best known for his role as the motel manager Adam Chance in the long-running soap, Crossroads.

34. He played Chance for the last ten years of the soap's original run (1978-88), and again in the 2001-3 revival.

35. Once again, notice the use of photographic blow-ups used to help fill out the back of the set.

36. Barry Letts described this as one of the worst effects shots he ever oversaw.

37. For the close-up, Jon Pertwee steals the humorous line that was originally scripted for Jo.

38. The actors now arrive at the second of the two pieces of mine scenery.

39. They are built on rostra in a narrow oblong U-shape, with the eggs on one side,

40. and the end of Global Chemicals pipeline on the other.

41. This piece of mine scenery was situated just a few feet away from the set of Stevens's office.

42. Directly on the other side of the beige curtain that's behind the Brigadier in fact!

43. The idea that the "green death" could be transmitted by skin contact

44. was inspired by the 1926 Bulldog Drummond novel, The Final Count, which Robert Sloman had read as a boy.

45. In the story, a policeman dies from touching a dog that has had poison applied to its coat.

46. On contact, the policeman's hand breaks out into small open blisters and the toxic substance enters his veins.

47. As he dies, is final words reveal that the dog felt "burning hot" as he touched it.

48. This is somewhat similar to Bert's scripted dialogue in Episode 2 when he touched the chemical waste.

49. "It burns," said Bert. "Like some sort of acid."

50. The camera is tilted left for this sequence to make it look as if the Doctor and Jo are climbing upwards.

51. Judging from the awful squeaking, you might think that the miners had been digging for polystyrene rather than coal!

52. In fact, the walls and rocks in the mine set are made of Jablite,

53. which is the industrial trade name for expanded polystyrene.

54. It was cheap, lightweight and could easily be carved into various shapes and designs,

55. which made it the perfect material for use by Doctor Who production designers.

56. One prop egg was made by the Visual Effects Department.

57. This was sent off to the BBC's Plastics Workshop to have six replicas made for the Doctor to discover.

58. In the script, Fell's first name is Charles rather than Ralph,

59. so Elgin's original line here was "Come on, Charlie. You know quite well that I'm as 'authorised' as you are."

60. Returning to direct his third Doctor Who story in three years was Michael E. Briant (born 1942).

61. Briant had worked as an assistant floor manager on the 1965 William Hartnell story, 'The Crusade',

62. and as production assistant on 'The Daleks' Master Plan' (1965-6), 'The Power of the Daleks' (1966) And 'Fury from the Deep' (1968).

63. Briant completed the BBC's directors' course in the latter half of the 1960s.

64. Barry Letts hired him to direct 'Colony in Space' in 1971, followed by 'The Sea Devils' some months later.

65. He later directed 'Death to the Daleks' (1974), 'Revenge of the Cybermen' (1975) And 'The Robots of Death' (1977),

66. and series ranging from Treasure Island (1977) and A Tale of Two Cities (1980) To Secret Army (1978-9) And Howards' Way (1987).

67. The unnamed holder of the fictional ministerial portfolio for Ecology mentions Stevens's first name: Jocelyn.

68. This was an in-joke on Robert Sloman's part.

69. As well as freelance writing, Sloman worked for the Sunday Times for nearly twenty years.

70. He knew full well that the then managing director of the Daily Express was one Jocelyn Stevens (born 1932)!

71. That Jocelyn Stevens edited Queen magazine (1957-68), chaired English Heritage (1992-2000), and was knighted in 1996.

72. Negative checks missed the name, and Barry Letts later commented that they "were lucky not to get a libel writ".

73. Sloman and Letts had the Brigadier quoting from the Enabling Act in their previous story, 'The Time Monster'.

74. On that occasion, it was from the preamble to the Seventh Enabling Act, rather than the Third mentioned here.

75. The Minister of Ecology refers to the Prime Minister as "Jeremy".

76. This was a deliberate reference to the politician and then leader of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe (born 1929).

77. When 'The Green Death' was made, the Conservative Party was in power and the Prime Minister was Edward Heath.

78. By 1973, the Liberals under Thorpe were growing in popularity and the party had won some notable by-elections.

79. Doctor Who's "contemporary" stories were actually set in the near future,

80. and, at the time, Barry Letts was rather hoping that the Liberals would form the next government.

81. They didn't: The first 1974 general election produced a hung parliament, and Thorpe's political career ended in scandal in 1976.

82. Notice that the Doctor's bag is slung round his left shoulder here.

83. Now it seems to have swapped round to his right.

84. That's because this shot is done with the camera looking into a mirror.

85. The next time we see the Doctor and Jo, the actors will be in a different section of pipe on the far side of the studio,

86. again with a mirror at one end so that the camera can get the desired shot.

87. A short scene with Elgin and Fell, due to come before this one, was removed in editing.

88. It began with Elgin saying, "And directly under us is the old West Seam of the mine.

89. "So all you do is pump the waste over to this tank, open the sluice and let it flow into the old mine workings."

90. Walking over to the viewport the wall he asks, "What's this? The pipe itself? Some sort of inspection chamber?"

91. Fell does not answer.

92. "You knew all along," says Elgin. "There is a connection between these deaths in the mine and our oil waste, isn't there?"

93. Fell weakens for a moment, struggling to talk: "Danger. Death." Elgin shouts back, "Tell me, man!"

94. Snapping back into his brainwashed personality, Fell responds,

95. "You are mistaken. I must complete the transfer. Leave me alone."

96. Immediately after the deleted sequence came the scene of the Doctor and Jo feeling the vibration.

97. Then, after Elgin's realisation that there are people in the waste pipe,

98. there was another brief scene of the Doctor telling Jo to hurry.

99. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning simply knelt below the level of the pipeline inspection window

100. and gradually raised themselves to make it look like they were crawling upwards.

101. A recording pause was scheduled at this point, allowing a yellow CSO screen to be placed inside the window.

102. Camera 4 lined up on an effects shot of the toxic oil waste flowing downwards, which was then keyed into the picture.

103. As mentioned in the last episode, the final story in the 1972-3 series was always going to be "ecological",

104. but it wasn't always going to be 'The Green Death'.

105. On 13 April 1972, Barry Letts wrote an internal memo to the various BBC heads of department.

106. Production of the 1972 series was coming to an end: Rehearsals for 'The Time Monster' were just beginning.

107. So Letts needed to give the creative departments a rough outline of the story plans for the following year.

108. The first serial in production would be 'Frontier in Space', set in the 25th century,

109. which would feature a "space war" between the Earth and the Andromedans (later renamed the Draconians).

110. Next on the list was an unnamed adventure "set on the Time-Lords' planet":

111. "A science-fantasy with a feeling of great strangeness", that would "make considerable demands on our creativity."

112. That eventually became the 1972-3 series opener, 'The Three Doctors'.

113. Third into production would be 'Return of the Daleks', which would take place on a "bleak alien planet".

114. It was noted that while they would probably make do with the three working Daleks they had at that stage,

115. "a number of smaller or full-size non-practical models will probably be required".

116. There would also be "strange aliens and/or monsters in addition to the Daleks".

117. The final story mentioned on the list was the anti-pollution tale: 'The Amoeboids'.

118. It would be a "present-day" UNIT story, featuring "strange creatures, giant flying macrophages".

119. Arriving on Earth, they "start swallowing up people and things.

120. "These are space scavengers, come to clean up poor old polluted Earth.

121. "As they are flying monsters (presumably models on film, plus full-sized giant jellyfish creatures),

122. "we hope to co-operate with the RAF and use gyrocopters and a balloon in addition."

123. "I expect that we shall need model shots of the creatures devouring chunks of London etc."

124. He drew a comparison with "Kitten Kong",

125. the fluffy white kitten who demolished the Post Office Tower in the 12 November 1971 edition of The Goodies,

126. and in countless subsequent Goodies title sequences.

127. "Explosions are no doubt to be expected," continued the memo. Well, it was going to be a UNIT story!

128. "There will probably be a strange extra-galactic super-being who has sent the creatures in the first place."

129. But this super-being wouldn't necessarily be humanoid: Doctor Who was trying to get away from men in rubber suits.

130. In September 1972, a copy of the memo was sent to World Distributors, the publishers of the Doctor Who Annual.

131. This was to ensure that none of the planned stories in the book would clash with those being produced for television.

132. By then, 'The Amoeboids' had been crossed out and "Giant maggots in a coal mine" written in its place.

133. In the camera script, Fell's suicide is described rather more dramatically:

134. "Without attempting to stop himself, and with a last cry of despair,

135. "Fell crashes straight through the plate glass window at the end of the corridor. Fell's body is spread-eagled and dead, two floors below.

136. "Stevens turns away from his window, looking as if he is about to vomit."

137. The window was a free-standing piece of scenery at the edge of the office set.

138. Stevens's headphones were reused the following year as part of the Doctor's mind-reading machine in 'Planet of the Spiders'.

139. The dinner scene that follows plays out essentially as scripted,

140. but a lot of little asides were ad-libbed along the way, giving the sequence a natural, relaxed feeling.

141. Nancy is played by Mitzi McKenzie, who had appeared (under the name Mitzi Webster) As the ill-fated Mrs Martin

142. in Michael E. Briant's first Doctor Who story as director, 'Colony in Space' (1971).

143. Some twelve years after this story was made, the first imitation meat, mycoprotein, was commercially produced

144. in a joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICl).

145. Their product, known as "Quorn", was produced from the fungus, Fusarium venenatum.

146. Fusarium venenatum was first discovered growing naturally in the soil of a field in Buckinghamshire in 1967.

147. Mycoprotein (essentially, protein from fungus) Was initially developed in the 1960s

148. in response to a potential world shortage in food protein.

149. Although Fusarium venenatum is indeed a fungus, it's nothing like the toadstool that Professor Jones has been cultivating!

150. For the most part, the silent members of the Wholeweal community were walk-ons hired through the A.P.P. Agency.

151. The one exception to this was "Jessie, tootling away on her tin whistle".

152. Jessie was actually Jessica Stanley-Clarke, who had been a flautist with the early 1970s prog-rock band, Marsupilami.

153. Later, she worked in the Drama Department of the BBC and also played flute as a session musician.

154. She was spotted by Barry Letts and asked to appear in the story, where she played one of her own compositions.

155. Later known as Jekka McVicar, she became an organic gardening expert specialising in the cultivation of herbs.

156. Her books on the subject include The Complete Herb Book (1994) And Seeds (2003).

157. Jo's original line here was, "Here were we laughing and enjoying ourselves. And all the time Bert was..."

158. In rehearsals, they opted for understatement instead.

159. Hinks, Stevens's driver and hard-man, is played by Ben Howard (born 1940).

160. Prior to Doctor Who, his work ranged from the film version of Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) To Department S (1970).

161. He later played the regular character of Detective Constable Len Clayton in the 1976 series of Dixon of Dock Green.

162. His other work in science fiction included The Land that Time Forgot (1975) And Blake's 7 ('Volcano', 1980).

163. The Brigadier's scripted line was "Funny looking thing..."

164. The growing romance between Jo and Cliff mirrored real life when this story was made.

165. Stewart Bevan was Katy Manning's boyfriend, and the two shared a flat in Belgrave Court, Chiswick.

166. That didn't mean that Bevan was in any way an automatic choice for the role.

167. In An Adventure in Space and Time in 1987, Michael E. Briant recalled the casting process:

168. "I needed a guy, a Welsh hippy character who could play the guitar, possibly sing a bit,

169. "and was an actor of an age where he could carry Katy Manning off into the sunset.

170. "Quite early on, somebody said, 'Katy's got a boyfriend called Stewart who's an actor and could do the part',

171. "and I said 'No', not wanting to get involved with any off-screen romances that have been known to cause problems on set.

172. "I interviewed literally dozens of people, all with absolutely no success whatsoever

173. "and after a week or two, I was starting to get desperate.

174. "None of the people I'd seen combined all the things I was looking for.

175. "So, feeling I had nothing to lose, I reluctantly agreed to see Stewart Bevan.

176. "And the minute he walked in the door, I knew he was absolutely right for the part."

177. Bevan was the only actor who used a Welsh accent at his audition.

178. The script specified Jo's costume in this scene:

179. "Flowing caftan-like garment with several strings of large wooden beads around her neck".

180. The eventual costume was adapted from a nightdress.

181. The prop maggots were made to move in a number of different ways.

182. In the upcoming shot of the maggot crawling across the floor of the laboratory,

183. notice the see-through line towards the back half of the creature.

184. The maggot is being made to crawl using two yellow rods on an entirely yellow CSO area of the studio.

185. Watch out for when one of the rods crosses over the maggot,

186. and the floor of the laboratory set is keyed over the yellow rod as well as the background.

187. Also appearing in this episode were:

188. Brychan Powell (Prime Minister)

189. Evan Ross (Cabinet Minister)

190. Jean Channon (Hilda the Lotus Position Girl)

191. Ken Hanniwell (Sculptor)

192. Keith Norrish (Long-Haired Boy)

193. Alison Daumler (Hippy Girl)

194. Robert Birmingham (Hippy Boy) alisation.

195. Aren't you, love? She used to run an encounter group in Aldgate.

196. - Oh, I was stationed once in Aldgate. - Really?

197. Here it is. Up the Amazon with rifle and camera.

198. It's practically unexplored territory, see?

199. What, the Amazon basin? Oh, surely not.

200. No, no, I mean the things people eat to get their protein.

201. Grubs, caterpillars, locusts,

202. - the blood of their cattle. - Ugh.

203. Well, it's only the same as black pudding, love.

204. - Oh, that's disgusting. - Ah, now, listen to this.

205. And when game is in short supply, these tribes,

206. or so it is said,

207. will subsist for months at a time

208. on a certain giant toadstool peculiar to their region,

209. which serves them for their meat.

210. Thus doth beneficent providence, etcetera, etcetera.

211. - When was that published? - CLIFF: 1884.

212. And on the strength of that, you'll go gallivanting off into the jungle?

213. - Aye. - But of course.

214. Well, look, it's like finding an old treasure map, isn't it?

215. Aye, and what a treasure.

216. It could help to make the whole world rich.

217. - Right. - A toadstool?

218. - Aye, a toadstool! - (ALL LAUGHING)

219. Bad news.

220. The other miner's dead.

221. Bert?

222. Yes, I'm afraid so. He never regained consciousness.

223. Oh, no.

224. Well, they've completed the post-mortem on Hughes.

225. And?

226. Every cell in his body had been attacked

227. by some sort of virus, apparently.

228. They still haven't been able to isolate it, though.

229. So we're fighting in the dark?

230. No, not quite.

231. We've still got that egg, remember?

232. Poor Bert.

233. An egg? They've actually got an egg?

234. Well, that's what they were saying down in the village.

235. You see, there was this old taff in the pub,

236. - and, er... - But the Doctor and the girl

237. are the only ones actually to have seen these creatures, is that right?

238. Load of old codswallop, if you ask me.

239. Still, you know, I thought I ought to tell you.

240. Yes, quite right, quite right.

241. And where is this egg now?

242. Over at the Nut Hutch.

243. I see.

244. Well, you'd better go and get it, hadn't you?

245. It's a tremendous size.

246. Yes, isn't it?

247. Well, tomorrow morning, Professor Jones and I are going to examine it properly.

248. But Cliff,

249. if I'd stayed, I might have been able to help him in some way.

250. Oh, there's nothing you could have done, love.

251. You mustn't blame yourself.

252. I know that, really.

253. It's just he was, he was such a perky little man.

254. He called me Blodwyn.

255. Cliff, I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying.

256. A funny little Welshman that I hardly knew.

257. You shouldn't feel ashamed of your grief.

258. It's right to grieve.

259. Your Bert, he was unique.

260. In the whole history of the world,

261. there's never been anybody just like Bert.

262. And there'll never be another,

263. even if the world lasts for a hundred million centuries.

264. Thanks.

265. - (DOOR CLOSING) Well quite frankly, Brigadier,

266. I fail to see the value of a lot of idiot soldiers

267. clumping about the place.

268. Oh, you've been thankful enough sometimes, Doctor.

269. Ah, Professor Jones. Just come to say goodnight. I'm off.

270. Are you sure you won't stay here, too, Brigadier?

271. We've plenty of room.

272. Er, no, thank you.

273. It's very kind of you, but the pub'll do me.

274. - Goodnight, Miss Grant. - Goodnight, Brigadier.

275. - Goodnight, Doctor. - Goodnight, Brigadier.

276. - I'll show you out. - Ah, thank you.

277. I think a good night's sleep is indicated, Jo.

278. Oh, I'm fine now. Honestly, I am.

279. Actually, I think I'll stay up for a bit.

280. This book on the Amazon looks fascinating.

281. Yes, well, I shouldn't be too late if I were you.

282. - Goodnight. - Goodnight.

283. By the way, Jo, the Tardis did come up trumps.

284. I got to Metebelis Three,

285. - as you can see. - JO: Hmm?

286. Oh, great! Great. Goodnight.

287. Goodnight.

288. Ah, off to bed, are you?

289. Professor Jones, the very man.

290. I've had some thoughts about this so-called virus.

291. - Oh, but I, er... - It seems to me,

292. that if we were to postulate an active nucleus...

293. Goodnight, Jo.

294. Sleep well!