Doctor Who 8x7

Directed by Timothy Combe

Roger Delgado as The Master • Richard Franklin as Mike Yates • John Levene as Sergeant Benton • Pik-Sen Lim as Captain Chin Lee • Raymond Westwell as Prison Governor

Realising Chin-Lee has been using the power of the Keller Machine to carry out assassinations, the Doctor heads back to Stangmoor, only to find the Master has teamed up with Mailer to stage another riot.

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1. This episode was first shown on 13 February 1971, and was seen by 7.5 million viewers.

2. Back in the breakdown, we left the Doctor standing next to Chin Lee's about-to-explode briefcase.

3. Sometimes you just can't get rid of a bomb:

4. But the sonic detonator is the clock in the conference room: Stop the clock, stop the bomb.

5. He does it with a few seconds to spare: Mischief managed.

6. Is Senator Alcott really afraid of pink dragons?

7. Barry Letts later argued that the dragon was a symbol of his fear rather than a literal materialisation of it.

8. His true fear, according to Letts, is Chinese communism.

9. In the draft, the Doctor immobilises the devil-faced Chin Lee with a "Venusian pressure hold".

10. In the script this became a karate chop to the neck, before being dropped altogether.

11. The worries about Doctor Who's new adult orientation only kicked in the month after this serial was made.

12. (referring to the knockout "nerve pinch" used by Mr Spock in Star Trek).

13. Back to the breakdown now, and it's time we learned the secret of Jo Grant's greatest fear.

14. She's locked in the process chamber, but she's no claustrophobe.

15. As the warders try to break the door down with axes, out of the box comes

16. This scene then begins with Fu Peng insisting that Chin Lee be punished for the harm she has done.

17. This time it was in Television Centre Studio 6.

18. Timothy Combe aimed to complete all the visual effects and stunts between 8.30 and 10.00 on the Friday evening.

19. As we shall discover, things did not go entirely to plan.

20. She has just asked, "What has happened? Where am I?" in Cantonese.

21. The phonetic Cantonese dialogue was again provided by Pik-Sen Lim.

22. Mailer was based on the Kray twins,

23. the London gangsters who were sent to prison for life in 1969.

24. In the draft, he's serving three life sentences.

25. The Governor describes him as a psychopathic killer, which can't be a valid medical opinion,

26. or he'd be in Broadmoor rather than Stangmoor: A secure psychiatric hospital rather than a prison.

27. "Beddy-byes" was William Marlowe's rehearsal sophistication of the scripted "sleep".

28. The presence of the milk float here indicates that it is early the next morning.

29. This is another of the location scenes filmed in Cornwall Gardens on 2 November 1970.

30. using the blue-screen Colour Separation Overlay (CSO) process for the background.

31. But that was not the original intention here.

32. Timothy Combe and his team had done a day's filming on 30 October 1970 at RAF Swingate in Dover, Kent.

33. This was because the episode was found to be overrunning,

34. and these location sequences were considered inessential to the narrative.

35. The CSO studio scene was inserted to cover the gap.

36. He attributed the overrunning to script problems, which he felt should have been sorted out during pre-production.

37. It is notable, however, that the ultimately unused film sequences do not feature in the surviving draft script.

38. and The UNIT convoy makes a precarious crossing of a weak bridge.

39. It seems there was another iteration of the draft script, no longer extant,

40. in which the sequences Combe shot at RAF Swingate were substituted for those in the surviving draft.

41. They must likewise have been substituted in a rewrite-before also being omitted

42. from the final camera script and finished programme for a different reason.

43. This would accord with Combe's recollection of the production suffering script problems.

44. The Chinese uniforms were specially made for this production.

45. This was ultimately done in a rush after costume designer Bobi Bartlett encountered a problem.

46. The newly freelance contractor she had hired to do the job had been remanded in prison

47. after his former employers, costumiers Bermans & Nathans, had accused him of theft.

48. Bartlett tried in vain to find her costumes amongst the contractor's impounded stock.

49. She then visited the prison and demanded access to the contractor.

50. She was allowed to speak to him over an internal phone, and learned that he had not even started work on the job.

51. There were only two weeks to go before the frocks were needed, so this entailed much overtime and extra expense.

52. In the draft, the Chief Prison Officer is armed, and the discussion concerns whether or not to shoot the rioters.

53. Summers is distressed: "I couldn't condone a murder."

54. "And that's why I'm the Governor of this prison, doctor, and not you," replies the Governor.

55. "She's a soldier!" he says in the draft, in which she is sometimes called "Lieutenant Grant".

56. He was now enjoying his role again, and had by this point developed a good working relationship with Jon Pertwee.

57. It doesn't do much for his relations with the Doctor when he finally passes it on...

58. Back now to the main Saturday evening recording for this scene on the Governor's office set.

59. CPO Powers is played by Roy Purcell , who later took a more notable Doctor Who role

60. as the Time Lord President in 'The Three Doctors' (1972-3).

61. Now back to the Friday evening recording.

62. In the draft, it's a martial arts throw that leaves Mailer on the ground.

63. Don Houghton imagined Jo as a more obviously military lady, in the uniform of an army lieutenant.

64. The fights were arranged by stuntman and future actor Derek Martin.

65. The camera is bolted onto the side of the car.

66. But the Master's car is a Rolls Royce,

67. whereas the Doctor's driving an "old banger", and suffers his aforementioned roadside breakdown.

68. generally by way of a convoluted "master plan".

69. Superheroes need supervillains.

70. If the Doctor, with his sidekick Jo and his car Bessie, is somewhat akin to Batman, with Robin and the Batmobile,

71. then the Master equates to Batman's foes such as the Joker and the Penguin.

72. This and the following scenes with the Master and Mailer were others earmarked for pre-recording on the Friday evening.

73. so they were remounted during the studio session for Episodes 5 and 6 and edited in later.

74. "The place is clean," he says. "How very reactionary."

75. The sets, including these realistic prison interiors, were designed by Raymond London.

76. He had designed for Doctor Who twice before, on 'The War Machines' (1966) And 'The Krotons' (1968),

77. but the number and scale of the sets required made this his most demanding Doctor Who assignment yet.

78. Particularly ambitious was the dual-level construction of the interlinked prison corridor area,

79. with its staircases connecting one level to the other.

80. This was primarily to enable shots to be taken of the upper level of the prison corridor composite set.

81. However, it also allowed Timothy Combe to capture an unusual high-angle shot of this cell on the lower level -

82. here.

83. The explosions and smoke effects were supervised by visual effects designer Jim Ward.

84. He had also handled effects on Combe's previous serial as director, 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' (1970).

85. Barnham's opening line here was added during rehearsals.

86. This scene, unlike those either side of it, was done as part of the main Saturday evening recording.

87. Now we're back to the scenes remounted during the studio session for Episodes 5 and 6.

88. More realistic mayhem and violence here of a kind rarely seen in Doctor Who.

89. Richard Atherton also doubled as the police inspector seen in the earlier scenes in the Governor's office.

90. Les Conrad, Les Clark, and Gordon Stothard were the prison officer extras.

91. The location used for all the Stangmoor Prison exteriors was Dover Castle

92. All the scenes involving Bessie were done on the first day, 26 October.

93. There was another problem with the car: It arrived with a damaged fibreglass wheel trim, spoiling one shot.

94. This caused the loss of 30 minutes' filming time on what was already a short day.

95. meaning it could not be used as originally intended.

96. "The Master looks cheated," says the script.

97. This was the second of five consecutive serials featuring the Master -

98. so viewers would become progressively less surprised as well.

99. This was the first time Doctor Who had featured the same villain throughout an entire series.

100. The Master's closest Doctor Who forerunner was probably the War Chief from 'The War Games',

101. The War Lord, another character from the same story, may also have been significant:

102. His bearded countenance and dark Nehru suit anticipated the Master's own familiar look

103. (although, unusually, the Nehru suit is not seen in 'The Mind of Evil').

104. 'The Mind Robber' (1968) even featured another character called the Master,

105. but he was a human author forced by an evil computer to be the Master of the Land of Fiction.

106. This shot of Yates talking to the Brigadier on the phone is the only part

107. of the RAF Swingate filming retained in the finished programme.

108. He would then have been hypnotised by the Master into ordering the missile convoy to stop by the prison.

109. The water spillage was unplanned - and it made the painted set floor very slippery indeed.

110. In the draft, the Doctor seizes one of the ceremonial military swords from the wall and hurls it at the Master.

111. The Master ducks, and the blade embeds itself in the wall where he was standing.

112. Once outside, the Doctor jumps into his car - but can't get it to start.

113. There follows a chase sequence through the prison, with the Doctor pursued by convicts with sten guns.

114. Les Conrad was also an extra on film in this episode; and Francis Williams was again seen as the Master's chauffeur.

115. but he had much enjoyed it.

116. Another high-angle shot from Camera 5.

117. This scene was scripted to be lit rather differently:

118. "The Doctor enters fast. The room is dark and appears deserted.

119. "A shaft of light appears from the console area. The Master stands behind the door."

120. The reason was a familiar one:

121. His protests during the making of this serial earned him a rebuke from Jim Ward at one point.

122. The idea of the Master needing the Doctor's help to control the Machine

123. recalls how they worked together to repel the Nestenes in 'Terror of the Autons'.

124. Then, in 'Colony in Space', the Master will offer the Doctor a share in power over the cosmos.

125. It was implausible to have a succession of alien monsters seemingly queuing up to attack the planet.

126. Don Houghton specified four of them: Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, and the Primords from 'Inferno'.

127. We start with a Silurian and then ...

128. a Zarbi,

129. Slaar the Martian Warlord ,

130. a War Machine ,

131. a Cyberman.

132. Other uncredited production personnel on this story included:

133. John Griffiths

134. Sue Hedden

135. John Elliott

136. John O'Shaunessy

137. Graham Southcote,

138. Mike Catherwood airs.

139. But, before I let you control this machine for me,

140. which I fully intend that you shall,

141. it'll be very interesting to see exactly how long you could hold out against it.

142. Now, somewhere, you have, erm... A-ha.

143. Now, this little device, as you know,

144. transmits and amplifies the power of the machine.

145. What you may not know

146. is that it can be adjusted to turn that power against the wearer,

147. like this.

148. You know, this is all very tiresome.

149. Is it?

150. Oh, I really would like to stop and watch your nightmares.

151. Then why don't you?

152. I have other business, as you know. Will you excuse me?

153. Destroy! Exterminate!

154. Annihilate!

155. Destroy!