Doctor Who 10x7

1. "The Drashigs attack the ship, and the Doctor and Jo are separated.

2. "Jo is left behind as the Doctor escapes to the alien world beyond the Scope." (Radio Times)

3. This episode was first shown on 10 February 1973.

4. It was seen by 9 million people.

5. Barry Letts was interviewed in The Sun newspaper during the transmission of the story.

6. He said he felt that the Drashigs were one of the most "striking and original" monsters seen in the programme.

7. The neck and head of the Drashig was operated like a glove puppet, covering the operator's forearm.

8. The caterpillar-like rear of the creature was manipulated using two controlling rods.

9. The bodies of the Drashigs were constructed from flexible hose ducting.

10. The heads were moulded in latex around the bleached skulls of terriers.

11. An extra line was scripted for the Doctor at this point - "Perhaps... If we get there."

12. The script indicates that they hear "Distant Baskerville noises",

13. referring to the haunting howl made by the titular creature in the Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-2).

14. In February 1972, Barry Letts wrote to Peter Shepherd, the Head of the BBC Costume Department,

15. praising of James Acheson's work on 'The Mutants', which had just finished recording.

16. He formally requested that Acheson be allocated to work on 'Carnival of Monsters'.

17. 'Carnival' became the second of eight stories that James Acheson worked on between 1972 and 1976.

18. A day and a half were spent at Tillingham Marshes.

19. The filming was done on the afternoon of both days - Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 May 1972.

20. The high tide occurred at the mid-point of the afternoon's filming,

21. so the marshlands maintained a fairly consistent degree of wetness, suitable for the story.

22. During the afternoon of the first day, Roger Liminton and a small crew of scenemen

23. travelled to Carwoods Quarry to set up the cave mouth scenes that would be filmed the following morning.

24. Jon Pertwee was concerned about this sequence.

25. He didn't want viewers to think that the sonic screwdriver was a weapon.

26. He might have been even more alarmed had he read Robert Holmes's original idea.

27. In the storyline, the Doctor has a Very Pistol with him (presumably acquired from the SS Bernice).

28. When one of the Drashigs lunges for them, the Doctor fires a signal flare into its open mouth.

29. The Drashig contorts in agony, and when the rest of the pack arrive, they tear the wounded creature to pieces.

30. Among the "Special Requirements" for filming on the marshes were:

31. Waders, a small boat, a large quantity of towels, lifelines, ropes and 33 life jackets.

32. We'll come back to those life jackets later...

33. Notice Jo's remarkable self-drying trousers!

34. In photographs taken during recording, they also show remarkable regenerative Katy Manning wore her own tartan pair for camera rehearsals.

35. Roger Liminton (died 1998) Was briefly interviewed about his work in the 1973 Doctor Who Special

36. produced by the Radio Times to mark the tenth anniversary of the programme.

37. He was pictured with the cardboard set model of the Inter Minorian city.

38. He explained: "One of the most exciting things I had to do was the inside of a piece of gigantic circuitry,

39. "which the Doctor and Jo had to climb around on, looking miniaturised.

40. "I based that design on a tiny printed circuit which gave lots of jutting ledges to clamber on."

41. Here, Jo namechecks the planned title for the story - 'Peepshow'.

42. In late November 1971, as Robert Holmes was preparing the scripts for the four episodes,

43. he jokingly sent Terrance Dicks a cutting from the small ads of a London newspaper.

44. Placed by a magazine called Mentor, it read:

45. "Freelance writers wanted for magazine. Knowledge of fetishes and erotica an advantage."

46. "A lucrative new market for the inventive fiction writer?" Hinted Holmes.

47. "Thanks for the enclosed ad," replied Dicks.

48. "My script 'The Secret Sex Life of Dr Who' is already on its way to Mentor.

49. "I'll spare you the details but it is sufficient to say that it's not only hearts that he has two of!"

50. The Doctor rather seems to be forgetting here that he travels in a time machine,

51. so they could easily be in a period prior to the banning of the Miniscopes.

52. He clearly doesn't know in what year they've landed,

53. otherwise he'd have known that they weren't really on the SS Bernice as soon as they stepped from the TARDIS.

54. Jon Pertwee recounted the making of 'Carnival of Monsters' in his 1996 book, I Am The Doctor.

55. While rehearsing the chase scene inside the Scope's workings, he recalled,

56. his boot skidded on the smooth floor as he turned a corner.

57. This sent him crashing into a row of multi-coloured Perspex tubes that made up part of the set.

58. Listen carefully to the end of Pletrac's speech here.

59. Peter Halliday actually had one more line to say - "In that way we dispose of the entire problem."

60. Terence Lodge came in too early with his "Agreed", so Halliday only gets out the first word.

61. Jo's opening line, "They're still following," was cut from the beginning of this scene.

62. The description of the Drashig at this point was: "its sandpaper hide scours away metal like matchwood as it moves forward."

63. If you look carefully, you can spot that they've gone through the scene several times already.

64. Look at all the dirty marks around the "ladder" section of the set.

65. Among the amendments which Robert Holmes made to his storyline

66. was the addition of a sub-plot for Pletrac 4's two cohorts - now named as X10 and Grig 7 (and later Kalik and Orum).

67. The sub-plot centred around X10's desire to usurp his older brother, X8, President of the Odronocracy.

68. X8 is attempting to lift the planet's "iron curtain" and increase galactic trade, travel and culture.

69. With the aid of the "yes-man", Grig 7, X10 secretly plans to engineer the escape of the alien life forms from the Glo-sphere.

70. The very fact that such a thing could happen under the benevolent regime of X8, X10 calculates,

71. will be enough to start an uproar among the nervous Odrons and bring about the President's downfall.

72. Michael Wisher (Kalik) had already appeared in Doctor Who a few times.

73. He was reporter John Wakefield in 'The Ambassadors of Death' (1970).

74. Barry Letts cast him as Rex Farrell in 'Terror of the Autons' (1971).

75. He supplied Dalek voices in 'Frontier in Space',

76. 'Planet of the Daleks' and 'Death to the Daleks',

77. and then created the role of Davros, the crippled scientist in 'Genesis of the Daleks' (1975)

78. In Tom Baker's first two seasons as the Doctor, he also played

79. the Vogan scientist Magrik in 'Revenge of the Cybermen' and Morelli in 'Planet of Evil'.

80. Michael Wisher died in 1995.

81. The "Great Space Plague" that Kalik speaks of here was enlarged upon by Holmes in his outline amendments.

82. "The Odron civilisation was almost ended in 16013rec

83. "by the accidental importation of an alien bug in a cargo of Jacrac yananas,

84. "since which ancient date the Odrons have become the most insular planet in the galaxy."

85. In the original 'Out of the Labyrinth' storyline, the Doctor realises that their only chance is to try and break the scent trail.

86. "Jo and the Doctor stand with a metal abyss before them.

87. "In front there is some form of mechanism - a huge stationary cog wheel.

88. "It seems just possible for them to leap across to the rim of the wheel and then work their way along the spokes to the hub.

89. "It will then be comparatively easy to shin across the central spindle to the far side of the shaft.

90. "By this time there is no choice, anyway. The Drashigs are already bashing dents in the solid steel behind them.

91. "The Doctor jumps onto the wheel and balances there, ready to catch Jo should she slip.

92. "She does, but he catches her.

93. "Unfortunately, their combined weight on the extreme edge of the cogwheel is enough to start it moving.

94. "It swings downward, gathering speed, and they see the meshing teeth of another cog waiting to grind them up..."

95. The term "lateral thinking" first appeared six years before the transmission of 'Carnival of Monsters'.

96. It was coined by the creativity expert, Edward de Bono, in his book The Use of Lateral Thinking (1967).

97. In the script, Jo concludes her thoughts by confirming, "When in doubt, go sideways!"

98. This is the internal layout of the Scope's circuitry that we saw the Doctor sketching earlier on.

99. It's a mystery how he manages to work out from his drawing that there's another way back onto the ship!

100. The conclusion of this scene is cut from the transmitted episode.

101. When Vorg says that they'll lose the collection if he shuts off the support system,

102. Shirna replies, "Frankly, I wouldn't mind if we did."

103. "You're unhinged," retorts Vorg. "You don't know what you're saying."

104. "I think I'd feel sorry for the Tellurians," says Shirna, "because they look almost like us. But the rest of the menagerie..."

105. As Vorg complains that the Scope contains a "unique and priceless collection", Shirna replies:

106. "Oh, come off it! That is a cheap, rubbishy box of fourth-rate life forms.

107. "No wonder those terribly distinguished Minorian gentlemen didn't give us permission to enter their planet."

108. "Terribly distinguished? Them!" Says Vorg, shocked.

109. "In a grey sort of way" replies Shirna.

110. As scripted, Major Daly was to have continued, "The old briny might be all right for fish but..."

111. The term "doggo" means to be concealed or to stay hidden.

112. "Memsahib" was a term used formally in colonial India as a form or respectful address for a European woman.

113. In I Am The Doctor, Jon Pertwee recalled that, at one point during the recording, a message came from Barry Letts.

114. It was an order to clear the studio floor because everyone was being too noisy.

115. Pertwee protested that this was a little drastic,

116. but Letts informed him that they were trying to evacuate the studio calmly after the discovery of a suspect package:

117. A zip bag with ticking noise coming from within.

118. One of the effects assistants puppeting the Drashigs refused to leave,

119. so Pertwee explained to him the real reason why they had to go.

120. The assistant burst out laughing: The package was his overnight bag, containing, among other things, his alarm clock!

121. Despite this admission, the studio was cleared and the bag checked before they could all continue working.

122. Claire Daly is played by Jenny McCracken.

123. Her television career included a brace of Dickensian nurses:

124. Polly Toodle in 1983's Dombey and Son, produced by Barry Letts,

125. and the faithful Peggotty in the 1986 production of David Copperfield, produced by Terrance Dicks.

126. As scripted, Andrews was to say at this point, "The poor child's deranged. All those weeks in a dark hold..."

127. "How do you happen to know my name?" Asks Major Daly.

128. "We've been introduced, Major," says Jo.

129. At this point, they hear the roar of the Drashig in the forward hold.

130. Visiting the set on the day these scenes were recorded was Keith Miller, who ran the Doctor Who Fan Club.

131. In DWFC Monthly #14 (March 1973), Keith recalled how this particular scene didn't quite go as planned.

132. "The practice shots rang through the air with John (Andrews) and the sailors firing at the monster,

133. "but there was one little chap there who was going berserk!

134. "He was firing at everyone except the monster, waving the gun about like a madman and jumping up and down like a thing possessed.

135. "Barry, who was directing this particular adventure, as well as producing it,

136. "wondered what on earth this little man was up to, so they had to take him off and replace him!

137. "He was still jumping up and down when they took him away..."

138. Recalling the event for these subtitles, Keith recalls:

139. "I was with Barry in the production gallery and remember him looking horrified and saying, 'Oh my Lord. He's gone loco! '

140. "Katy Manning thought the whole thing was hilarious!"

141. With the location filming taking place on the River Medway as well as the Essex tidal marshes,

142. it was deemed essential that life jackets be made available for all the cast and crew.

143. A total of 33 life jackets were booked out of the BBC's property store to the assistant floor manager, Karilyn Collier.

144. However, at the end of the location filming, only 25 of them were returned.

145. Property organiser F. J. Holland decided that the loss would have to be paid for by the production office.

146. The claim was disputed: Karilyn Collier insisted that all 33 jackets were put on board the prop van for return to London.

147. Holland refused to accept this and duly made plans to charge the production £62.40 for the loss,

148. stating that the assistant floor manager was responsible for all safety equipment until it was returned.

149. Collier duly contacted the film operative into whose care she had given all the props for return to Movement Control.

150. The operative stated that all the life jackets save two were safely returned back to the BBC

151. after which they were immediately dispatched out to another production.

152. The outcome of the dispute was never recorded.

153. You may remember that the RFA Robert Dundas was about to be broken up for scrap.

154. The film crew were told that they could help themselves to any of the fitments they wanted, with one exception.

155. The one thing they were asked to leave alone was the ship's compass in the binnacle.

156. Jon Pertwee had served in the Navy, so he was aware that the vessel would also carry a spare compass.

157. Figuring that this would be fair game, he located the spare on the bridge.

158. It was under a wooden bench-seat - but was swiftly wrapped in paper and placed in his bag.

159. A while later, the vessel's owners complained to Barry Letts.

160. Someone had walked off with the compass from the bridge!

161. Rather guiltily, Pertwee secretly returned his booty to the bench-seat from whence he'd taken it,

162. only to find out later on that they didn't mean the spare compass he had found.

163. Someone had whipped the main compass in the binnacle - the one they'd been asked not to touch!

164. Jon Pertwee later recounted that, after hearing him tell the story at a Doctor Who convention,

165. stuntman Terry Walsh confessed to having taken the compass.

166. However, there is no indication that Terry Walsh was ever aboard the Robert Dundas.

167. He had been at the filming at Tillingham Marshes, but he went home before the unit moved to Chatham.

168. In his memoirs of working on Doctor Who, Who and Me, published in 2007, Barry Letts explained

169. that Jon Pertwee had a habit of embellishing tales for an audience,

170. and that his "editing" of various stories could be rather "flagrant"!

171. Aboard the SS Bernice, the Doctor says he needs "about a dozen fathoms" of rope.

172. A fathom is the unit of length used to measure the depth of water. One fathom equals six feet,

173. so 12 fathoms would equal 72 feet of rope.

174. Originally, the script specified "fifty fathoms" or 300 feet of rope.

175. Rather too much for the Doctor to carry!

176. Cut from this part of the episode was the Doctor being attacked by a Drashig at the top of the shaft.

177. As he ties the rope, he is spotted by a Drashig, which charges towards him.

178. The Doctor's foot catches in the coil of rope and he falls, tangled, back into the shaft,

179. and the Drashig shoots straight over the precipice to its death.

180. The Doctor disentangles himself and climbs down the rope.

181. So the Drashig we see at the bottom of the shaft is the one that fell, not the one blasted by Andrews's dynamite.

182. When we left Robert Holmes's original storyline, the Doctor and Jo were in peril,

183. negotiating a huge set of now-moving cogs in the shaft.

184. The Doctor tries to distribute his weight out across the cogwheel in an effort to restore its balance.

185. Eventually, the movement stops and they both make their way over to escape on the far side.

186. So why is it that only the Doctor escapes in the finished episode?

187. We'll look at the reasons next time. 807 —> 00:16:45,958 - The Captain wants to see you, Miss. - Oh, well, anything for a change.

188. Well, not a pleasant change, I'm afraid. He's certain to put you under arrest.

189. Well, last time he was too busy to see me.

190. Last time?

191. Well, yes, when I was put in your cabin, Major Daly.

192. No, wait a minute. No, that wasn't last time.

193. That was the time before.

194. Oh, can't any of you remember anything?

195. There it is again, Andrews!

196. And it did come from the forward hold!

197. I don't believe it! - Fire!

198. - Where are they going? - To the guard block.

199. One ordered them to take their repasts.

200. But regulations state that no eradicator must be left unattended.

201. If there's a heat build-up, it could engage accidentally!

202. But this one won't, Orum, will it?

203. What is it, man?

204. Sir!

205. Right, get going. It's through into the outer hold, sir.

206. Well, where on earth did it come from, man?

207. Out of the bilges?

208. It's as big as an elephant, sir, bigger.

209. Bosun, where's that gun?

210. I know where there's something even more useful, sir.

211. In the forward hold, dynamite.

212. Psst! Psst!

213. President Zarb has granted special powers.

214. The Lurmans and their machine are to be deported.

215. - Excellent! - And the Tellurian vessel?

216. Oh, that too can be loaded and jettisoned in deep space,

217. unless, of course, the Lurmans wish to enter a claim of ownership.

218. Agreed.

219. Where are the functionaries? Why is the eradicator unattended?

220. Uh, one ordered them to leave it.

221. You ordered them? You?

222. They had been on duty continually for two periods.

223. You have exceeded your authority, Kalik!

224. - There will be an enquiry. - Very well.

225. - But where are the functionaries? - In the guard room.

226. Well, fetch them! Fetch them at once!

227. From the time this tribunal is dissolved, Kalik,

228. you will be suspended pending my official report.

229. - Is that clear? - Perfectly, Chairman Pletrac.

230. Perfectly clear.

231. Come on. JO: But the Doctor's down there!

232. - No place for the fair sex, my dear. - I must go!

233. Yes, please, in a lifeboat, the pair of you.

234. I'm not leaving here.

235. Ah, the very thing. Give it to me, man.

236. Give it to me, man. Quiet!

237. Look out below, Major Daly!

238. I'm sorry, my dear, I'm sure the Captain won't be long.

239. (CHUCKLING) By Jove, that beast took a bit of stopping, eh?

240. Well, we could all do with a chocker peg, what?

241. I've never seen anything like it. Have you?

242. Well, actually, I have. There's rather a lot of them about.

243. Yes, strange waters these, you know?

244. Oh, look, please, I've got to find the Doctor.

245. Ah, you feeling a bit umpty? I'm not at all surprised!

246. No, man, don't! You'll blow us all to bits! Don't!

247. No, man, no!

248. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.

249. That's done it.

250. - Look at those dials, Vorg. What about them?

251. They're suddenly dropping back, all of them! All the circuits!

252. - They can't be. - Well, look for yourself.

253. It's a general power failure.

254. Don't be ridiculous. The power system's fully protected.

255. - Well? - Well, it can't be a power failure.

256. The generators.

257. The generators were built by the old Eternity Perpetual Company.

258. They're designed to last forever. That's why the company went bankrupt.

259. Well, they're still dropping. They'll be down to critical soon.

260. I can see that.

261. (SIGHS) Well, that's that then. That's the scope finished.

262. There should be enough power already in the circuits

263. to keep it functioning for a time.

264. - How long? - I don't know.

265. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

266. Long enough to repair it?

267. - Maybe, if I still had that handbook. - You've not lost it?

268. Oh, hello, old chap, sundowner?

269. Oh, not for me, sir? - Claire?

270. No, thank you, daddy. John and I are just going to take a walk.

271. Oh. 20 times round the deck is a mile...

272. You've forgotten, haven't you? You've forgotten everything!

273. - Upon my soul! - Who are you?

274. (SIGHS) Here we go again.

275. You're not a passenger. Where did you come from?

276. - How do you know I'm not a passenger? - What?

277. Well, since none of you can remember

278. more than about 10 minutes ago, how do you know?

279. Can't you remember shooting the monster about 20 minutes ago?

280. What monster?

281. I was with you when you shot it down, Major!

282. Oh, poor young girl. Must have a touch of the sun, what?

283. Maybe. Still, we can't have stowaways wandering about.

284. - No. - Better get after her.

285. Watch out for the monster!

286. The power's still dropping, Vorg.

287. - What are you doing? - I wish I knew.

288. Oh! Routine maintenance, your worship.