Doctor Who 8x11

Directed by Michael Ferguson

Roger Delgado as The Master • Richard Franklin as Mike Yates • John Levene as Sergeant Benton • Fernanda Marlowe as Corporal Bell • Peter Bathurst as Chinn

When a mysterious object lands near the Nuton power complex, UNIT investigate and encounter the Axons, a group of aliens who offer the mineral axonite, which can duplicate matter, as a gift.

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1. "An Unidentified Flying Object lands on the English coast. UNIT investigates.

2. This episode was first shown on 13 March 1971, when it was seen by 7.3 million viewers.

3. In the early 1970s, this kind of graceful music was conventional for outer space scenes

4. In the script, they check the records first to establish that it's not a known comet,

5. and find that no comet is due this year (which is not the same year the serial was made and broadcast):

6. Comus-Sola passed Earth in 1969, Pons-Winnecke in 1970, Encke in 1971, and Westphal is due in 1975.

7. The script here calls for "a pulsating amoebic shape".

8. These shots were a late, unscripted addition.

9. The outer shell is "ridged, rather like the surface of the cerebellum," says the script.

10. In an earlier draft of the serial, Chinn was just a civil servant.

11. But a civil servant could not convincingly take charge of the situation later on,

12. so the authors were asked to make him an influential, right-wing Member of Parliament.

13. In the script, he has a longer rant:

14. "You seem to think UNIT is your own private army, Brigadier. Not so - emphatically not so!

15. "You forget that you are a guest of the British Government, paid for in part by the British taxpayer.

16. "As their elected representative, I must insist on your full co-operation with this enquiry.

17. In the script, there's a comic scene where Bill Filer asks Jo where he can find a chap called "Joe Grant".

18. At this point in the series' history, the Doctor is marooned on Earth, unable to operate the Tardis.

19. "How do you suspend someone who doesn't exist?" Asks the Doctor, mischievously.

20. This scene was a late addition in rehearsal,

21. as was the Doctor's line here.

22. The addition helped to re-establish the running theme of the 1971 series, UNIT's ongoing battle with the Master.

23. Producer Barry Letts felt Doctor Who needed a "Moriarty" figure motivating all the various threats to Earth.

24. which so excited them that they featured him in every upcoming serial.

25. ICBM stands for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile.

26. In other words, they're wondering if the UFO is actually an enemy first strike.

27. There isn't a direct line: The Brigadier just wants to get rid of Chinn.

28. The authors, Bob Baker and Dave Martin, had very little television experience before writing 'The Claws of Axos',

29. so the serial took them roughly a year to put together, from first storyline to final script.

30. Terrance Dicks shepherded them through umpteen rewrites,

31. and contributed more than a few ideas of his own.

32. The inclusion of "a curious rustic", for example, was at his suggestion.

33. Bristol-based Baker and Martin had begun writing drama in 1968,

34. working together in a disused barn full of rotting fruit.

35. About a month later, they were phoned by Trevor Ray, Doctor Who's assistant script editor,

36. who wanted to discuss a play they'd sent in:

37. A Man's Life, an unfinished comedy about a tank regiment,

38. which they had based on the army experiences of their friend Keith Floyd

39. Addressed simply to "BBC, London", the script did the rounds of Television Centre

40. and the writers came up with some ideas on the way back to Bristol that afternoon.

41. This line was scripted for the technician,

42. and this bit was a late addition after the location filming was disrupted by changeable weather from day to day.

43. "It's a fine, eerie location," Dicks wrote to Baker and Martin after visiting the filming,

44. "but bloody cold! Feeling is only now returning to my lower extremities!"

45. This sequence was filmed on the first day on location, Monday 4 January 1971.

46. The business on the rubbish tip was unscripted, worked out on the day by the actor and director.

47. Filming continued at various venues in southern Kent until the end of the week,

48. but, as you'll see, the foggy, snowy conditions didn't last - only the cold!

49. So freak weather conditions were declared - to cover the fact that the visuals didn't always match up.

50. By then, bits and pieces of dialogue had already been reassigned to Corporal Bell,

51. The props department had supplied some high tech miniature televisions for this sequence,

52. but they had to make do with these tatty old monitors

53. after the tellies were stolen during the lunch break!

54. The technician is "too amazed to use the jargon", says the script.

55. The document was as thick as a complete script,

56. full of high-concept inspiration, but unworkably light on connecting story.

57. The monitors here show stock film supplied by the British Aircraft Corporation.

58. 7-part serials had been abandoned in a change of production policy, so it was now to be a 6-parter.

59. The script finally came in on 6 April 1970, three months late.

60. The authors were immediately asked to start again from scratch with a fresh storyline.

61. Pigbin Josh is played by stuntman Derek Ware.

62. He'd been contracted for the role only four days earlier.

63. He was the founder of the Kilburn-based stunt co-operative Havoc, who styled themselves "specialists in hazards".

64. Havoc had been Doctor Who's usual stunt team during 1970,

65. so 'The Claws of Axos' was to be their last regular engagement on Doctor Who.

66. In the script, the Doctor points out that, despite the missile attack, the UFO has offered no retaliation:

67. In fact, it shows "a singular lack of aggression".

68. Terrance Dicks asked the authors to characterise Chinn as a "Little-Englander".

69. His aim here, says the script, is to "preserve any possible glory for Britain".

70. As scripted, the next scene begins with a monstrous figure clawing its way out of the undergrowth.

71. It turns out to be Josh, cursing in an unusual dialect:

72. "Furge-thangering muck-witchellers rock-throbblin' this time o' day.

73. "Ur bin oughta gone put thickery blarmdasted zoines about, gordangum, diddenum?

74. "Havver froggin' law onnum, shouldnum? Eh? Eh? Arn I?"

75. A root-like tendril slithers out from underneath the object,

76. then rears up and strikes like a snake when Josh steps over it:

77. "There is a crackle like static, and Josh goes limp."

78. This was scripted as a dark green American Ford on the motorway.

79. It began with an extended space battle:

80. Axos is forced out of the sky

81. and crash-lands in Hyde Park one lunchtime, burying itself in the earth.

82. The "spacedome" that remains visible above ground eerily resembles a human skull:

83. It has two holes above, like eye-sockets,

84. and a larger, mouth-like entrance at ground level.

85. In the script, Josh screams, "and cracks appear in his face as in dry mud".

86. Meanwhile, Filer finds one of the old man's mittens outside.

87. They hadn't allowed for the limitations of a typical Doctor Who budget.

88. Down the London to Bristol telephone line came a robust response from Terrance Dicks:

89. "We're not MGM!"

90. Axos had to land in a deserted area: There could be no Hyde Park, no chase through Battersea Funfair,

91. and demolishing parts of central London was absolutely out of the question!

92. Keen to develop a strong sense of authenticity, Barry Letts also vetoed the alien "skull",

93. though the term "spacedome" survived through every subsequent rewrite.

94. It's even said at one point in the finished programme: See if you can spot where.

95. The Ministry of Defence felt that early 1970s Doctor Who portrayed the army in a positive light,

96. so it often helped out with the loan of army personnel and equipment.

97. For 'The Claws of Axos', the production team had the use of a mounted Wombat gun,

98. a Land Rover, and ten soldiers,

99. all supplied by Risborough Barracks in Shorncliffe, near Folkestone.

100. The Central Electricity Generating Board was no less co-operative,

101. and filming facilities were granted at the Dungeness "A" Nuclear Power Station.

102. Built as recently as 1965, the station was a prime example of modern technology,

103. so it was considered eminently suitable for Doctor Who.

104. Dicks sent Baker and Martin back to the storyline stage partly to make them focus on the narrative,

105. but partly also to get them back to their fundamental ideas which had been so strong.

106. One of those ideas was a new take on the "alien invasion" concept, something Doctor Who badly needed

107. now that every serial was set on modern-day Earth.

108. Hence the new title, 'The Friendly Invasion': The aliens seemed benevolent,

109. but turned out to have less altruistic objectives in mind as the story developed.

110. Several scenes scripted as exteriors, including the rest of this one,

111. were relocated inside the mobile HQ, to reduce the amount of material to be filmed on location.

112. In the script, the soldiers' response to the opening aperture is "a ragged volley of shots" -

113. despite the Brigadier's order to hold their fire.

114. "We need to feel the underlying tension coming through from the characters, even the Doctor."

115. Tension and horror in Doctor Who had been a matter of public debate on and off since 1964,

116. Suddenly Doctor Who was under pressure not to "go too far",

117. so this sequence, with Josh's face deflating under Yates's fingers, became a problem.

118. A collapsing wax model of the face was made for the effect,

119. but in post-production it was decided to censor the shot, like this.

120. Watch for another example in the next episode.

121. On location, a BBC outside broadcast van stood in for the mobile HQ, with UNIT markings added

122. and tape hiding the BBC logo.

123. Two members of the cast felt the wintry conditions more than most.

124. The other was Katy Manning, for obvious reasons.

125. The beach was so cold that, on arrival, they found the shingle all frozen together,

126. that she couldn't get the boots off unaided.

127. When she did, it was discovered that she'd been perilously close to getting frostbite.

128. Long johns

129. (which were pink, to the dismay of the otherwise all-male cast).

130. At least, between takes, Katy had the benefit of a fur-lined coat to snuggle in.

131. In a few moments we'll meet the Axons, in a sequence that was substantially rethought by Terrance Dicks.

132. In the authors' draft script, the Axons are revived with radioactive isotopes.

133. But, Dicks pointed out, two 1970 Doctor Who serials had featured similar events:

134. In 'Doctor Who and the Silurians', dormant reptile men are revived with radiation from a nuclear reactor,

135. and 'The Ambassadors of Death' featured a race of isotope-dependent alien astronauts.

136. Dicks therefore proposed that the Axons should just wake up spontaneously,

137. as Axos begins to suck the energy and life-force from its immediate environment.

138. This is, says the script, "the ad-man's dream 'Coca-Cola' family".

139. They are wearing silver spacesuits, and grouped in "a rather emotional Victorian-type pose".

140. The "father" has difficulty speaking: He is "gradually getting used to the 'alien' tongue".

141. His accent is "colourless" and "mid-Atlantic".

142. "All our worlds are totally and permanently entropised," he tells them,

143. In these close-ups, look at the Axon's neck.

144. You can see where the gold make-up ends at the collar-line.

145. After the recording, the actors went "from gold to beetroot"

146. The Axon goes on to explains Axonite further:

147. "Its sub-atomic particles behave in an ordered rather than a random fashion.

148. "They can be programmed and organised so that every molecule acts as a micro-computer,

149. "which is, in turn linked to every other molecule."

150. Axonite was the "gift" of the serial's earliest title,

151. and remained the conceptual centre of the plot throughout every one of the rewrites.

152. The initial idea was of an alien brain (which was why the spacedome's first manifestation resembled a skull):

153. A brain which could project its multifarious ganglia into many different forms,

154. fooling its hosts with a spurious appearance of humanity,

155. and so enabling the "friendly invasion" of the second title.

156. Terrance Dicks devised this sequence, originally with a laboratory rat.

157. and this was a good opportunity to show them a trick.

158. A terrified Winser tries to run away from the inedible six-foot amphibian, but stumbles and falls.

159. The effect works by the "blue-screen" Colour Separation Overlay process: The camera on the toad zooms in and out,

160. but the background, keyed in on the blue screen, remains constant.

161. In the script, the Axon shrinks the toad down to "a mere dot on the floor".

162. Also seen in this episode were:

163. George Howse, Pierce McAvoy

164. Gloria Walker

165. Roy Brent, Bill Hughes

166. Steve Emerson, Stuart Fell

167. Reg Harding, Derek Martin

168. Uncredited production contributors

169. Bill Paget

170. Les Collins

171. Alec Christison

172. David Evans

173. Peter Logan

174. Andrew Rose, Robert Springett

175. Linton Howell-Hughes