Doctor Who 14x16

Directed by Pennant Roberts

David Garfield as Neeva • Brendan Price as Tomas • Leslie Schofield as Calib • Leon Eagles as Jabel • Mike Elles as Gentek

The Doctor tries to fix the mad computer Xoanon. But it is determined to stop him – even if it must destroy the entire world!

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1. "The Acolytes of Xoanon defend their God. But only the Doctor knows their world is doomed."

2. This episode was first shown on 22 January 1977, and was seen by 11.7 million viewers.

3. This was the only serial in the 1976-7 series in which each episode attracted a larger audience than the one before.

4. The recorded image was degraded and solarised by passing it through a videcon camera.

5. Chris Boucher intended the red emergency lighting to make the corridor even darker and gloomier than this.

6. He also didn't expect the Tesh to be wearing hats.

7. In the script here, Leela pulls his head back by the hair, and threatens him with the gun, not her knife.

8. If you've been impatient to see Peter Baldock as generic Tesh Acolyte No. 1 - here he is.

9. In the script, "the chamber is plunged into darkness and silence",

10. So Leela gets the Doctor to his feet and they stumble out together.

11. It was a rehearsal decision to play the sequence with the Doctor unconscious and recovering.

12. The intended transmission dates were 27 November to 18 December 1976, followed by a week off for Christmas.

13. In the script, he can also feel static electricity.

14. The object from his pocket is specified as a coin in the script.

15. And here he adds that the door "must be insulated" - he's leaning on it.

16. The brighter than intended emergency lighting meant that this bit had to be rethought and truncated.

17. Leela uses the disrupter gun, but it doesn't work on the zombie-like Tesh, and she throws it away in disgust.

18. The Doctor dodges as the Tesh runs at him, so the Tesh cannons into the wall, and... ZZZZTT!

19. But at this time, the production team was keen to make the Doctor more physically assertive.

20. The Doctor's regretful line was a late addition to avoid compromising his heroic status.

21. The model is differently lit from last week: The script calls for "pale morning sunlight".

22. Tomas is played by Brendan Price.

23. His previous television work included Space. ; 1999 and The Sweeney.

24. He later worked extensively in Spanish cinema and television.

25. Rehearsals for this serial followed the usual pattern.

26. On 28-9 September, the rehearsal room floor was marked up with lines to represent the sets in studio.

27. There was a full-cast script read-through on 30 September,

28. followed by nine days of rehearsal for each of the two studio sessions:

29. 1-2 and 4-9 October for block 1, then 13-16 and 18-23 October for block 2.

30. They're electronics spares, the script tells us.

31. The script calls for "wide and staring" eyes.

32. Pennant Roberts intended a close-up here showing Leela's finger on the trigger.

33. He's making the crystal resonate,

34. producing the hypnotic Noise you can hear now.

35. In the script, he stops the resonance, using the sonic screwdriver, between "two" and "three".

36. Early in the rehearsal process, Pennant Roberts and Louise Jameson worked to develop Leela's spontaneity.

37. Louise chose not to think too cerebrally about body language and vocal inflections,

38. because she didn't want to create the character by looking at her from the outside.

39. Instead, she worked on Leela's " The internal energy level determining how she carries her body.

40. Leela is "high-centred".

41. Mike Elles, who plays Gentek, had previously been a guinea pig in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972).

42. Jabel is played by Leon Eagles (1932-97).

43. His later work included a pocket-sized judge in Gulliver in Lilliput ,

44. and a brace of senior army officers in The Tomorrow People (1978) And Chocky's Challenge (1986).

45. Note the sallow Tesh make-up

46. in contrast with Leela's tanned, outdoor Sevateem skin.

47. "Temperature, pressures, etc."

48. Louise Jameson is 5'6" to Tom Baker's 6'3", but her boots give her a few inches more.

49. For this closing exchange, the script calls for the screen to cut back to Xoanon's point of view.

50. The start of the next scene was cut. The Doctor and Leela arrive at the main control room.

51. "Why did you break the weapon?" Asks Leela. "You didn't think I might use it on you, did you?"

52. "Someone might force you to," replies the Doctor as he works, and Leela protests, "Never!"

53. Then she realises with a shudder what must have happened to her in the communications room.

54. Sally was a toddler coming up to her fourth birthday.

55. It was scripted as the fusion generator.

56. The Doctor's calmness was inspired by Tom Baker's liking for the writings of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900),

57. Tom reversed the scripted line, "Crude, but effective", making the Doctor more of an aesthete.

58. Jabel supervises the work in the script, but this was amended to build up Gentek's part.

59. Chris Boucher envisaged a whole barrage of "heavy-duty disrupters", not just the one gun.

60. The Tesh costumes were not constructed quite as you might think.

61. The shoulder pads and sleeves were separate items, detachable from the tunics.

62. During camera rehearsals, some Tesh wore their street clothes,

63. but enhanced with their Tesh hats and their Tesh pads and sleeves.

64. What's the Doctor up to? The scripted explanation was cut:

65. "It should be possible to re-absorb everything I put into the data core originally.

66. "In theory, that should leave me unharmed and him sane.

67. "Unless he's too far gone already or he swamps my brain and burns it out, so to speak."

68. All the serial's videotaped scenes were shot in the 90 by 70-foot Studio 3 at Television Centre.

69. The two sessions were divided along tribal lines: "Sevateem" scenes on 11 and 12 October,

70. and "Tesh" scenes Two weeks later on 24-6 October.

71. It was a practical scripting measure which Robert Holmes often deployed,

72. In consequence, they had to carry on recording until 10.25 on the second day, incurring overtime payments,

73. because a fortnight later, only the Tesh sets and the mouth of the idol would be available:

74. The Sevateem sets would be broken up and destroyed in the process of striking them.

75. There was a further 25-minute overrun on the last studio day, 26 October.

76. This was mainly caused by the time-consuming complexity of the CSO effects,

77. The script calls for Leela to speak the mantra aloud, but with the voice of Xoanon.

78. The script calls for a struggle as the Doctor tries to break Leela's trance.

79. He manages to get her knife from her, and puts it under her chin.

80. Then he twists her head back and to one side, and down she goes, unconscious.

81. Burdened with the unwieldy gun, Neeva slips on the polished floor as he enters.

82. Xoanon's line of realisation was a last-minute addition.

83. It took five eight-hour sessions to complete the serial's post-production editing.

84. Meanwhile, Dudley Simpson wrote the score, covering 40-60% of the action as usual.

85. The music was recorded in two three-hour sessions on 15 and 26 November.

86. The final dubbing sessions, one per episode, took place between 17 November and 6 December.

87. And that's why 'The Face of Evil' was shown at the start of 1977, not the end of 1976.

88. The chocolate was scripted as a piece of the food concentrate which was cut from Part 2.

89. where they pre-recorded an item for the early evening current affairs programme Nationwide.

90. "So the search goes on for a new galactic travelling companion for the Doctor."

91. The piece wasn't transmitted live, but it tried hard to mimic the unpredictability of live television.

92. and the Doctor commented that he "was astonished" by this facet of his new assistant's character.

93. All three tried hard to do the piece in character,

94. so the interview continued as a chat with Tom and Louise in their own persons.

95. This is a scene that Chris Boucher was reluctant to write.

96. He felt inhibited by the cured Xoanon's intellect, finding it hard to think of appropriate dialogue.

97. So at the end of the draft script, Xoanon is talked about but doesn't actually appear.

98. In the octagon is a pulsating, solarised image of a rose, achieved with Front Axial Projection,

99. Because that side of the picture is masked off with previously shot footage of the set.

100. Louise Jameson effortlessly indicates that Leela has never before sat in a chair.

101. The Doctor taps the chocolate as a smoker would tap the end of his cigarette before lighting it.

102. and he made a point of never being seen with a cigarette in public during his time on Doctor Who.

103. In the script, the Doctor reports Xoanon's message a little differently:

104. "That he's anxious to put right the damage that he's done. That he and I have done."

105. For example, Leslie Schofield And Brendan Price Were both six-footers.

106. The "little" here was Tom Baker's unscripted contribution.

107. So how little is Gentek? The actor, Mike Elles, was 5'4", eleven inches shorter than Tom.

108. The impending post-production delays became obvious during the period the serial was in the studio,

109. so the decision to defer transmission was taken before production wrapped on 26 October.

110. A run of edited omnibus repeats from the 1975-6 series was scheduled to fill the gap,

111. but in the event, only two of them were shown: 'Pyramids of Mars' and 'The Brain of Morbius'.

112. The third, 'The Seeds of Doom', was pre-empted by the Gerry Anderson TV movie, Into Infinity.

113. The break meant that 'The Face of Evil' was billed was the first of a new series of Doctor Who.

114. In the script, the Doctor prefaces his reply with "If I can say so without seeming over-modest..."

115. The serial was transmitted in a slightly later timeslot, 6.20 p.m. Instead of 6.10.

116. This was only because it was now following a slightly longer programme, Jim'll Fix It,

117. For nearly two years, they had been agitating to the effect that Doctor Who was unsuitable viewing for children,

118. and their newsletter now declared that the later timeslot showed how "persistence pays off".

119. There was no peace for Tom Baker, He had to go back to work early

120. to have an uncomfortable time trapped in an ore silo for the new serial's only day of live-action filming.

121. Uncredited production contributors included:

122. Mike Felton, R. Williams

123. Sue Ward

124. Derek Miller-Timmins

125. Philip Livingstone

126. Production text commentary by Martin Wiggins