Doctor Who 8x13

Directed by Michael Ferguson

Roger Delgado as The Master • Richard Franklin as Mike Yates • John Levene as Sergeant Benton • Peter Bathurst as Chinn • Paul Grist as Filer

The Doctor and Jo are being held prisoner by Axos while Chinn is forced to organise the worldwide distribution of axonite and the Master returns to the power complex to try and steal the TARDIS.

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1. This episode was first shown on 27 March 1971.

2. It was seen by 6.4 million people - making it the lowest-rated episode in the entire 1971 series of Doctor Who.

3. Three frenzied weeks of intensive work in late October and early November 1970

4. saw the authors writing the draft scripts for episodes 2, 3, and 4.

5. The script calls for the arriving Axons to be closer to human form,

6. with "faces partly dissolved" but also "tendrilly hands".

7. In the script, Filer makes a rush at the Axons and is swept aside.

8. Under the studio lights, the Axon costumes were stiflingly hot for the actors inside.

9. With horror in Doctor Who suddenly a live issue,

10. 'The Vampire from Space', a title suggested by the production team in October 1970,

11. became a problem for them in January 1971.

12. Letts and Dicks made a pre-emptive strike in a memo to the Head of Serials,

13. explaining that they had never been "entirely happy with" the title, especially the word "vampire":

14. Horror connotations aside, it gave away too much too early.

15. So the serial became 'The Claws of Axos' on 28 January.

16. In the script, the Axon says that the Doctor and Jo have been killed as well as Winser.

17. He goes on to remark: "The danger of the experiment was exceeded only by its stupidity.

18. "The Axonite supplied to you was programmed for a specific range of purposes.

19. "Accelerate its growth in this way and the reaction becomes critical. The results you can see.

20. "Your whole complex could have been destroyed - had we not arrived when we did."

21. In an earlier version, the power station was actually blown up.

22. The "claws" reference here was added at this late stage.

23. which was more or less what he'd told the authors about 'The Vampire from Space'!

24. 'The Clause of Axos'!

25. In the script, the Doctor tells Jo that Axos is "able to adapt and mutate at will",

26. and remarks that being inside "must be just how Jonah felt... in the belly of the whale".

27. As usual with Doctor Who, some costumes had to be specially made,

28. but Jo Grant's clothes were bought off the peg from fashionable shops, including Biba,

29. and the rest, including the army uniforms, were hired from costumiers.

30. At the start of rehearsals, this scene was marked for omission,

31. but its crucial importance to the plot meant that it was soon reinstated.

32. Chinn calls this blackmail, but to the Minister it's politics.

33. Recognize the nurse?

34. She's played by Gloria Walker, who also appeared as a secretary in the first episode.

35. so civil servants became soldiers, and laboratory technicians turned into Axons.

36. The message to the United Nations was not sent by any member of UNIT, he reasons,

37. so someone must have an ulterior motive for sending Axonite around the world.

38. So now the roles are reversed:

39. The Brigadier tries to get the distribution stopped, and Chinn busily tries to speed it up.

40. "You haven't a shred of evidence," he tells the Brigadier.

41. but Chinn isn't interested in anything Filer might have to say.

42. He has already made up his mind what happened:

43. Obviously the Doctor was attempting sabotage, and Winser died trying to stop him.

44. Dicks suggested this bit.

45. In the script, the Master calls it a "mouldering, moth-eaten, clapped-out pile of obsolete old junk".

46. "THE VERY WONDERFUL MICHAEL FERGUSON" (as he was called by the wit who typed up the camera script)

47. Joined the production as director in the first week of November 1970.

48. He realised at once the need to spend some time investigating visual effects,

49. so an experimental studio session was arranged.

50. This took place on 22 December in Television Centre's tiny Studio 7.

51. Model shots were recorded and electronic wizardry performed.

52. For this effect, they tested a "blue rice mix", a CSO effect:

53. The patchy mix from one face to the other is achieved

54. by dropping blue rice

55. Onto a black base.

56. Extra Clinton Morris was engaged to model the Axon costumes and make-up,

57. and an unsuccessful attempt was made to use the CSO process with the blue of a person's eyes.

58. That's because the Tardis is now at the Nuton Complex,

59. and "the Doctor would never have abandoned the Tardis willingly".

60. The script calls for Axon tendrils, sprouting from the base of the eyeball, to grow into the Doctor's skull.

61. One early idea was to overlay the "moving membrane" pattern onto the humanoid Axons' bodies.

62. This had to be dropped: It wasn't technically feasible.

63. In November 1970, pre-production on the serial began in earnest:

64. and, as film cameraman, A. A. Englander (known affectionately as "Tubby" - which he wasn't).

65. But Ferguson didn't get everyone he wanted:

66. In December, the design departments began getting things ready for filming early in the New Year.

67. ready to be transported down to the location in Kent on 3 January, just three weeks later.

68. Cape Canaveral in Florida was called Cape Kennedy between 1963 and 1973.

69. Most of the places named are associated with either military research

70. Or the space programme

71. Lop Nor is in the Sinkiang Province of China.

72. In the script, Chinn goes on to specify some more locations:

73. The Axons caused a number of delays during recording

74. when their "ping-pong balls" kept unexpectedly falling off their eyes.

75. Early directing assignments included such '60s television staples as

76. the soap Compact and the 1966 Doctor Who serial, 'The War Machines'.

77. Later in his career, he worked as a producer,

78. notably on the ITV espionage series, The Sandbaggers (1978-80),

79. and yet more television staples: Casualty, The Bill, and EastEnders.

80. Early in rehearsals, a more idiomatic version of the next line was considered:

81. "Will one of you Miss Nightingales get me my pants?"

82. Several versions of the Axon monster costumes were made,

83. representing different levels of transmutation.

84. This is the "globby" version.

85. The "globbiness" is modelled in foam rubber.

86. The costumes were exceptionally expensive

87. because the base material was chamois leather.

88. The leather was necessary for safety reasons:

89. Latex would have been cheaper, but was considered a fire risk.

90. and one of them reappeared, after a respray,

91. in the 1976 Doctor Who serial, 'The Seeds of Doom'.

92. This is the "tendrilled" version of the Axon costume.

93. "Omigawd!"

94. The Axon costumes were designed and made by freelance contractor Jules Baker.

95. Initially it was intended to give him an on-screen credit,

96. but it was withdrawn the week before studio recording.

97. This was because the BBC Design Department had a policy

98. never to credit outside contributors,

99. no matter how significant their work might have been.

100. The credit will appear, in its intended wording and position,

101. as part of the information text subtitles for this episode.

102. Note the blue roundel on the wall.

103. It's the Tardis scanner screen.

104. In earlier years, a television monitor served as the scanner,

105. but for this serial it was decided to experiment with the new Colour Separation Overlay technique

106. and "key in" the image onto the blued-out roundel.

107. It worked!

108. Variations of the same effect continued to be used throughout the 1970s.

109. and so the Master's presence is discovered.

110. The script describes Hardiman as ex-RAF,

111. but the actor who plays him, Donald Hewlett (1922-2011) Is better known for his army roles,

112. notably the Colonel in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot, Mum (1974-81).

113. Hardiman was the last of the leading roles to be filled:

114. Hewlett's contract was issued on 29 December, a week before he was required on location.

115. The other leads were cast earlier in the month:

116. Chinn, Filer and Axos, and Winser.

117. Several of the guest actors shared agents with series regulars:

118. Richard Franklin's agent also represented Peter Bathurst,

119. Roger Delgado's also looked after Bernard Holley,

120. and Katy Manning's agent also had Kenneth Benda On her books.

121. In the script, the Master puts on his General's voice and asks Benton, "No salute, Sergeant?"

122. Those handcuffs led to an awkward incident during recording

123. when the key was temporarily mislaid, leaving Roger Delgado unhappily immobilised.

124. The reactor "has suddenly acquired a mind of its own", says Hardiman in the script.

125. "Not a mind of its own," replies the Master; "the mind of Axos."

126. but by the start of December, a fifth day had been squeezed out of the schedule and budget.

127. The crew travelled down to Kent on the afternoon of Sunday 3 January.

128. The actors followed on a BBC coach the next day,

129. though Pertwee, Grist, and Hewlett all opted to drive themselves down.

130. Work continued until 5.30 p.m., with a fifteen-minute break each morning and afternoon

131. and an hour for lunch, served by the location caterers, Cinefood.

132. Filming wrapped at 6 p.m. On the Friday, 8 January, and the unit returned to London.

133. This scene was substantially restructured in rehearsal by the actors and director.

134. The Master's technical explanation was moved up from the end of the scene,

135. so that Roger Delgado could use his impeccable comic timing in the line coming up.

136. The "claws" of Axos (the waving tentacles which appear again in the next scene)

137. Were operated like glove puppets by effects assistants Dave Havard, Colin Mapson, and Jim Ward:

138. One problem with this arrangement was that they had no way of seeing what they were doing,

139. Another difficulty arose from the fact that the effects men had other duties on set:

140. They had the undulating Axos walls to operate, not to mention the eye,

141. so they couldn't always be on standby, ready to thrash their tentacles.

142. On the first take of this scene, they arrived in position

143. to find the floor manager already cueing Jon Pertwee.

144. Pertwee duly whizzed past with the effects men still struggling into the claws.

145. "I'm just salting up the renewal mechanism," says the Master in the script.

146. One inspiration for the Axos visuals was the BBC's long-running chart show, Top of the Pops (1964-2006).

147. contributed by Crab Nebula Light Show, a specialist group run by Pat Chapman.

148. That's because Crab Nebula did them both!

149. Also seen in this episode were:

150. Mildred Brown

151. Clinton Morris

152. Victor Croxford

153. David Aldridge, Steve King

154. Douglas Roe, Clive Roger

155. Nick Hobbs

156. And now, the missing credit:

157. Monsters by

158. Other uncredited production contributors included:

159. Ros Parker

160. Chris Fox

161. Alec Wheal