Doctor Who 14x25

Directed by David Maloney

John Bennett as Li H'sen Chang • Christopher Benjamin as Jago • Trevor Baxter as Professor Litefoot • Deep Roy as Mr. Sin • Tony Then as Lee

The Doctor and his allies try to track down Weng-Chiang before he can activate the time cabinet and possibly destroy London.

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1. "Weng-Chiang's trail leads the Doctor to an opium den. But his friends are facing death at the House of the Dragon!" (Radio Times)

2. This episode was first shown on 26 March 1977, and was watched by 10.1 million people.

3. The Doctor greets the "visitors" in Chinese.

4. Rehearsals for this serial were tense, because Tom Baker had taken against the character of Leela.

5. Like the Doctor, he disliked her violent tendencies.

6. He disliked the attention she was getting as a striking female character.

7. He even disliked the fact that she was there at all.

8. He'd wanted to carry the series alone after the departure of his co-star Elisabeth Sladen,

9. and in the early months this didn't make for an easy working relationship with her successor.

10. It's a myth that Sherlock Holmes often said, "Elementary, my dear Watson,"

11. but he does describe a problem as "elementary" in 'The Crooked Man' (1893).

12. In the script, the Doctor's momentarily surprised that Leela hasn't heard of the Homunculus.

13. He was originally to have told Litefoot, "I don't like being preposteroused."

14. Tom and Louise eventually made up their differences and found a modus vivendi as the Doctor and Leela.

15. They remembered this serial not for their sometimes strained working relationship as actors,

16. but rather for the strength of the characterisation they had to work with.

17. This became the basis of a bright idea for a new acting collaboration:

18. A tour of Shaw's Pygmalion, played as a Doctor Who spin-off,

19. with Tom as Professor Higgins and Louise as Eliza.

20. The idea never came to anything - but at least the series' two co-stars were back on friendly terms!

21. In the script, the Doctor elaborates: "When a puppet pulls the strings, there is no sanity left."

22. Watch the coolie pushing at the back: He's limping.

23. Unlucky chap: Originally the scene didn't demand furniture-moving skills from the extras.

24. It was scripted to begin at this point with the time cabinet already in place and Weng-Chiang caressing it.

25. The Tong's pigtails are courtesy of make-up designer Heather Stewart.

26. In the script, the enraged Weng-Chiang physically attacks the Tong,

27. and Lee sprawls back, trying to shield his face against the kicks.

28. Weng-Chiang then draws his "Multishot Staser Arbacus" and blasts the screaming coolie to death.

29. This replacement business with the scorpion venom capsule was worked out in rehearsals.

30. Lee is played by Singapore actor and musician Tony Then (1944-95).

31. After training in London, he appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The New Avengers (1977), and Gangsters (1978).

32. He later co-founded the Singapore Dance Theatre in 1988.

33. Don't break out your A to Z of London: You won't find either of these addresses in it.

34. Nor indeed will you find Brick Lane Buildings,

35. which was the laundry's original address in the script.

36. This is what the Doctor was originally scripted to say,

37. but in rehearsal, the actors tried out an alternative line:

38. "Weng-Chiang is like a monkey playing with matches in a powder magazine."

39. In the script, the Doctor elaborates:

40. "He's a mass slaughterer, and by now he needs more victims and he needs them quickly.

41. "That's another reason why we must find him."

42. The script calls for more background noise than features in the finished version of the next scene:

43. "Cries, screams, and snatches of song from drunken denizens."

44. We were then to hear the noise of the Doctor breaking the catch on the skylight.

45. This was omitted to avoid making any suggestion of breaking and entering.

46. In the script, there's no dialogue in the scene, and it's the Doctor who goes in first,

47. but in Tom Baker's characterisation the Doctor was often unthinkingly ungallant to his female companions.

48. In the script, Litefoot is sweeping up a broken figurine rather than a vase,

49. but vases are cheaper to break!

50. Robert Holmes often wrote characters in contrasting pairs.

51. Here's one such "double-act" in the making.

52. Others feature in such Doctor Who serials as 'Carnival of Monsters' (1973) And 'The Caves of Androzani' (1984).

53. This wasn't a deliberate feature of Holmes's craftsmanship:

54. He just created these pairings by instinct as a way of giving actors strong parts.

55. In fact, he never even realised he was doing it until it was pointed out to him in 1985!

56. At this point in the relationship, Litefoot doesn't completely trust Jago,

57. which is why he picks up the stick, in case he needs to defend himself.

58. Jago, characteristically, doesn't notice anything untoward.

59. This was unscripted business which the actors developed in rehearsal.

60. During production it was casually remarked that Jago and Litefoot might possibly have more mileage in them,

61. but Robert Holmes never actively pursued the idea of featuring them in a spin-off series.

62. He had neither the time nor the inclination to put in the effort that developing and selling a series entails.

63. Just watch the good a little flattery will do:

64. It convinces Litefoot he won't need the stick!

65. We're just coming up to a big dialogue cut.

66. In the script, Jago savours that "unforgettable apothegm" about sleep and tortoises,

67. which reflects the Doctor's "forcible personality".

68. The conversation then continues with escalating Jago bluster:

69. "In our brief acquaintance I've become greatly devoted to the man.

70. "When I warm to a fellow, I'll stand by him through thick and thin. That's what built the Empire, eh?

71. "British loyalty and courage. Steadfast in the face of the foe, eh?"

72. This sequence was unscripted business worked out in rehearsal.

73. In the script, the scene begins with the Doctor picking the lock, and having difficulty

74. because, he says, it's "thick with rust".

75. "Papaver somniferum" (Latin) Actually means "the poppy that brings sleep".

76. "With any luck our Chinese chums will be in dreamland," adds the Doctor in the script.

77. Watch the Doctor's lips in this and the next shot.

78. His lines (but not Leela's) Were dubbed in post-production over the words Tom Baker said in the studio.

79. In the script, he explains Weng-Chiang's situation more precisely:

80. "He knows something-but not enough- about orthomolecular proteinoids."

81. The Doctor's move to examine Chang's leg was added in rehearsal.

82. In the script he doesn't contemplate treating Chang himself, just promises to get him to hospital.

83. Chang is played by John Bennett (1928-2005),

84. who was best known for his role as the doomed artist Philip Bosinney in The Forsyte Saga (1967).

85. David Maloney cast him knowing that he would provide a strong contrast with Tom Baker's performance:

86. Baker was a very dominant actor, both physically and intellectually,

87. so the villain's role required a performance of comparable power.

88. Bennett, of course, was not Chinese, though he was often cast in ethnic roles like the Greek doctor in I Claudius (1976).

89. At this time it wasn't unusual to see a white actor playing a Chinese part,

90. because there weren't very many Chinese leading men working in Britain.

91. Unsurprisingly, Bennett had the earliest make-up call of all the actors.

92. Each day, it took more than two hours to apply the latex prosthetics to make his eyelids epicanthic,

93. so on location he was a little put out to discover that autograph hunters still recognised him as John Bennett!

94. The Palace of Jade on the K'un-Lun Mountain is the equivalent of heaven in Chinese mythology.

95. It admits only the most exalted of the dead.

96. The Doctor's quicker on the uptake in the script:

97. "Boot Street?" he asks. "Boot Lane? Boot Alley?"

98. "Boot Hill?" suggests Leela.

99. The dragon was carved from huge blocks of expanded polystyrene using hot wires.

100. It was made by a freelance sculptor,

101. who worked round the clock for six days to get the prop completed in time for the studio.

102. Ho is played by Vincent Wong, who was originally booked as an extra for the film scenes.

103. His distinctive viperish face is often seen on screen, notably in Jonathan Creek (1998) And Die Another Day (2002).

104. In the script, Weng-Chiang pulls his staser on Ho and then restrains himself.

105. In this shot, Jago is played by a double, Ronald Musgrove.

106. When the shot was filmed on Tuesday 14 December 1976, Christopher Benjamin had not yet joined the cast.

107. This scene was recorded in the studio eight weeks later, on Wednesday 9 February.

108. See if you can spot the ways the studio set doesn't quite match the location insert.

109. "Decorate the mahogany" was Christopher Benjamin's contribution during rehearsals.

110. The sign in the background suggests that Weng-Chiang's lair was recently a downmarket restaurant.

111. Professor Litefoot is played by Trevor Baxter (born 1932).

112. Like most actors of his generation, he began his career in the repertory theatre,

113. notably including a spell at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1952.

114. He first met David Maloney in 1955, when the future director was also working as an actor in rep.

115. Since then much of Baxter's career has been on the classical stage, often playing aristocrats and churchmen.

116. He is also a playwright, author of Edith Grove (1973) And The Undertaking (1979).

117. During the production, Louise Jameson did him a favour, and typed up one of his plays for him.

118. (Louise had trained as a typist at her parents' insistence,

119. to give her another skill to fall back on should acting work ever dry up.)

120. What unimaginable horror lies beneath Weng-Chiang's mask?

121. A black chin, that's what.

122. The lower part of Michael Spice's face, from the nose down, was blacked out by make-up, to hide any telltale flesh tones.

123. The start of the next scene was completely reworked in rehearsal.

124. As originally written, it begins with the Doctor reading Jago's note while Leela looks in the bag.

125. Leela reasons that Weng-Chiang will probably not be back to collect it:

126. "I think he would not have left it if there were anything important here."

127. The Doctor agrees: Most of the equipment is probably duplicated at the House of the Dragon.

128. He then speculates that Weng-Chiang must have had engineering training, but not much science.

129. "Very dangerous," he says. "What is?" asks Leela.

130. "A little knowledge," he replies, misquoting Alexander Pope's poem An Essay on Criticism (1711).

131. "Eureka" (or, strictly, "Heureka") Is actually Greek for "I have found it,"

132. and was famously shouted by Archimedes (c. 287-c.212 BC) in his bathtub on discovering a scientific principle.

133. This part of the scene was also substantially rewritten.

134. Originally the Doctor and Leela were to search for Jago and Litefoot at the theatre, then return to Litefoot's house.

135. This would have meant remounting the theatre cellar set for just one scene in the second recording block,

136. So this sequence of Holmesian reasoning was written in to bypass the need to leave the house in the first place.

137. Originally the Doctor replied, "It's certainly time we met him anyway."

138. In the script, Jago speculates: "now that Chang no longer procures for his evil appetite", the task must fall to Weng-Chiang's "yellow fiends".

139. This line was originally written for Litefoot,

140. and this one for Jago,

141. and this one for Litefoot again.

142. The lines were switched in rehearsal to suit the characters.

143. It was an enjoyable rehearsal period for Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter,

144. who shared a tremendous capacity for giggling during their scenes together.

145. The dumbwaiter business coming up caused them especial difficulty.

146. A dumbwaiter was a miniature lift shaft designed to carry hot food quickly from kitchen to dining room,

147. so this lock-up was evidently once the kitchen.

148. In rehearsal, the actors never got through a complete run of this sequence: They just couldn't stop laughing!

149. In the studio, however, they did it perfectly in a single take.

150. To be precise, it's a quotation from Part 2 of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1684).

151. The entire dumbwaiter business was a late addition to the script.

152. It was written in after the last two episodes were restructured by changing the cliffhanger.

153. Part 6 was under-running badly, so the closing minutes of Part 5 were relocated.

154. This left Part 5 in need of some padding, so Holmes inserted the dumbwaiter scenes.

155. They were devised as a comic "loop" sequence with no real effect on the development of the story.

156. That's why Litefoot and Jago end up back where they started,

157. incarcerated in the lock-up (with the dumbwaiter padlocked, as you'll see next time).

158. In the original version of this scene, the Doctor's not that interested in Leela's search for weapons.

159. What he wants to find is a street directory:

160. "A book. Not for hitting people with."

161. The Battle of Agincourt (1415) Was one of England's greatest victories in the Hundred Years War.

162. We're coming up to another Phantom of the Opera moment now.

163. The script specified that the eye-holes on Weng-Chiang's leather mask were positioned to suggest "some gross deformity".

164. The coolies were played by

165. Jimmy Ang, Dennis Chin, Sabu Kimura,

166. Arnold Lee, Fred Lee Own,

167. Dennis Matsuki, Basil Tang, and Kim Teoh. nother of this combination.

168. That means he's gone to the theatre!

169. - Come on! - Hold it!

170. But, Doctor, Professor Litefoot and Mr Jago are our friends!

171. We must help them! You know what will happen if Weng-Chiang finds them!

172. I do. Look... Litefoot likes a good fire.

173. He's been out of the house a long time.

174. We can't go rushing all over London looking for him.

175. It's better to wait for Weng-Chiang to come here.

176. - We know he has the cabinet. - Yes, but he doesn't have the key.

177. Always stay one step ahead of your enemies, my girl!

178. When he finds the key is missing

179. and Professor Litefoot and Mr Jago are keeping watch,

180. he will make them tell him where it is?

181. - You're thinking - excellent! - You thought of that all at once?

182. - Well, almost. - Then I am sorry.

183. - What for? - For thinking that you were afraid.

184. - That's all right. - Where shall we lay our ambush?

185. - What? - Ambush!

186. It's time we did battle with this underground crab, Doctor!

187. (JAGO) Are they dead?

188. Drugged, I think.

189. You know why they're here.

190. Poor creatures! They can't be a day over 16!

191. He must send his fiends to kidnap them off the streets.

192. This is a nightmare! What can we do for them?

193. No more than we can do for ourselves.

194. - At least they'll die quickly. - He must be the devil incarnate!

195. What unspeakable horror lies behind that mask, do you suppose?

196. He's not exactly a dobbin masher with it!

197. Dammit, Jago, I don't see any way out of this.

198. - I think we're done for! - You're forgetting the Doctor!

199. - How can he find this place? - A fleck of mud, a speck of paint,

200. clues that speak volumes to an investigator like him!

201. I'll wager he's on our tracks this very minute!

202. - Look at this! - What of it?

203. - Don't you see? It's a dumb waiter! - Frankly, I'm not very peckish.

204. How can you think of food?

205. I'm not thinking of food!

206. I'm thinking that if we take that shelf out and squeeze ourselves in,

207. we can make a surreptitious exit via the dining room!

208. By jiminy, you're right!

209. We'll teach those blighters a lesson yet!

210. They picked the wrong man when they decided to cross swords with me!

211. After you, Mr Jago.

212. Those ropes don't look too sound, do they?

213. "He that is down need fear no fall!"

214. - Hmm? - A quotation - Bunyan.

215. (JAGO) Very comforting!

216. - Mind your elbow, Professor! - Sorry!

217. (BOTH SHOUT) Heave!

218. - This isn't the dining room! - This isn't the way out either.

219. We must trap them in the crossfire, Doctor, in the open where they cannot find cover.

220. What sort of crossfire? Hazelnuts? Bread pellets?

221. A house this size must have protection.

222. The professor will have weapons in fixed positions to guard the approaches.

223. I brought you to the wrong time, my girl. You'd have loved Agincourt!