Doctor Who 8x8

Directed by Timothy Combe

Roger Delgado as The Master • Richard Franklin as Mike Yates • John Levene as Sergeant Benton • Michael Sheard as Dr. Summers • Fernanda Marlowe as Corporal Bell

With the Doctor and Jo being held prisoner, the Master convinces Mailer to help him steal the Thunderbolt.

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1. "The Doctor realises the full horror of the creature inside the Keller Machine.

2. "The Master goes ahead with the next stage of his plan - the theft of the nerve gas missile..."

3. This episode was first shown on 20 February 1971, and was seen by 7.4 million viewers.

4. In the breakdown, the Doctor is cornered by the monsters that the box has materialised in the room.

5. All he has to fight them with is the power of logic: He "assumes an attitude of Andromedic Yoga",

6. and reasons that, as the creation of evil, the monsters must necessarily be hallucinations.

7. Finally the monsters disappear, leaving the Doctor safe and the box seething with frustration.

8. Don Houghton was asked to substitute a less cerebral resolution - and here it is.

9. The Dalek dialogue in the attack sequence was unscripted, and there is no record of who performed the voice.

10. It appears to have been added in post-production by one of the behind-the-scenes team.

11. The intended implication here is that one of the Doctor's two hearts has stopped.

12. "He looks quite relieved," directs the script, when the Master hears that the other one is still beating.

13. Again, a curious ambiguity is suggested in the relationship between the two Time Lords.

14. How long has it taken the Master to hatch his plan to take over Stangmoor using the Keller Machine?

15. In Episode 1, the Prison Governor told the Doctor that the Machine was installed there nearly a year ago.

16. The Master already had Chin Lee under his power at that point, so he must have met her at least a year ago.

17. Before that, it must have taken him some time to establish his false identity as Professor Keller.

18. So has more than a year passed since the events of 'Terror of the Autons'?

19. The Master could not have travelled back in time, because the Doctor disabled his Tardis.

20. or perhaps the programme-makers did not attach much significance to such considerations!

21. To simulate perspiration, water was dabbed on Jon Pertwee's face while the preceding scene was being taped.

22. Jon Pertwee was initially very wary of Roger Delgado, perceiving him as a rival for his status as the leading man.

23. Partly this arose from a lack of self-confidence: Pertwee's background was more in showbiz than straight drama,

24. Moreover, when not giving a performance, Delgado was a quiet, reserved man, which unsettled the ebullient Pertwee.

25. Later on he realised that Delgado was just quiet by nature, not sinister,

26. but the strong rivalry he felt in the early months fed into both actors' performances.

27. and felt confident that he could handle a production involving lots of action scenes.

28. Combe became a director in 1969 after taking the internal BBC directors' course.

29. Z Cars producer Richard Beynon wanted him to do many more episodes of that show,

30. but Head of Serials Shaun Sutton offered him a Doctor Who instead, and he accepted, seeing this as a step up.

31. He was introduced to producers Derrick Sherwin and Peter Bryant,

32. who were in the early stages of planning 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' before moving on to produce Paul Temple.

33. Beynon was so disgruntled by Combe's desertion that he subsequently refused to talk to him!

34. During rehearsals it was found that this episode, like the last, was overrunning.

35. These included an exchange between Mailer and Vosper at the end of this scene.

36. Mailer's scripted voice-over line here was "We'll go along with him for the time being. See yer..." -

37. so the prisoners intend to obey the Master only for so long as they find it expedient.

38. Another location sequence was cut from the early part of this episode:

39. The missile convoy in motion, shot on Pineham Road, Pineham, Kent, near RAF Swingate, again on 30 October 1970.

40. Vosper alludes to Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the Crimean War nurse.

41. In the draft, the Master notices that the box has changed position since he was last in the room.

42. This is another of the scenes pre-recorded on the Friday evening of the studio session,

43. once again because it involves an attack by the Keller Machine.

44. We are about to learn the Master's greatest fear...

45. but the lines about the Master bringing the creature to Earth to feed were added only in the camera script.

46. In the draft script, the Master says, "You can't harm me! Nightmares are my business!"

47. "umpteen images of the Doctor appear before his eyes - to mock and taunt him."

48. The mocking Doctor was not taped separately.

49. Like the other scenes featuring Keller Machine attacks, this was time-consuming to achieve.

50. and vision mixer Mike Catherwood had to ensure that the superimposition effect was correctly set up.

51. After this shot of the Master, the action returns to the main Saturday evening recording.

52. In the draft, the Doctor is only feigning debilitation.

53. He has stolen the gadget the Master used to fix the telephone system.

54. He asks Jo for a hairpin, but she can't oblige. (And he's surely not trying to pick the lock of the cell door... )

55. "That's the trouble with modern girls," begins the Doctor.

56. Jo then fumbles inside the waistband of her trousers and produces a safety pin.

57. "I'm pleased to see that elastic is still as unreliable as always," smirks the Doctor.

58. The Doctor needs the pin to fiddle with the Master's gadget: A "sonic tone device".

59. He's trying to adjust it to emit a higher tone, but he has to be careful: Too high and it could kill.

60. He produces a frilly handkerchief and, regretfully, tears it up into strips to make ear plugs.

61. "I hope she realises this is a necessity, wherever she is," says the Doctor sadly.

62. The gadget is used to disintegrate the lock in the cell door - and also, apparently, Vosper's eardrums.

63. As they leave, Jo relieves the unconscious convict of his sub-machine gun.

64. "Do you know how to handle that thing?" Asks the Doctor.

65. "I am a fully trained UNIT officer, you know!" retorts gun-toting Jo - and off they go into danger.

66. Recording broke after the high shot, even though the scene isn't over,

67. in order to match up the faces

68. for this mix into the next scene.

69. "The Master is pale and shaken from his ordeal," notes the script.

70. Don Houghton was brought onto Doctor Who as a writer by Terrance Dicks the previous year.

71. Dicks knew him from their earlier work together on the ITV soap opera Crossroads,

72. where their roles had been reversed: Houghton had been the script editor, Dicks an episode writer.

73. 'The Mind of Evil' was Houghton's last contribution to Doctor Who.

74. He also scripted a number of Hammer horror movies including The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973),

75. and in 1980 created the long-running ITV soap opera Take the High Road.

76. His ITV children's serial The Doombolt Chase (1978) Somewhat recalled 'The Mind of Evil':

77. It featured a villainous scientist trying to sell a missile control system to the Chinese.

78. Houghton was born in Paris on 2 February 1930 and died on 2 July 1991.

79. The name "Thunderbolt" was given to the missile only in the final script.

80. In previous versions, it is called the "NRM" , and the scenario is different.

81. It is being moved from the factory where it was constructed to the military base where it is to be deployed.

82. The Master told the convicts that he would only threaten to blow up the peace conference,

83. to barter for their freedom.

84. But in fact he intended to fire the missile anyway.

85. That ultimately proved to have a restorative effect on his health - as will turn out to be the case here.

86. This became a regular narrative device during Jon Pertwee's time as the Doctor.

87. It also happens in 'The Dæmons' (1971), 'Planet of the Daleks' (1973) and 'The Monster of Peladon' (1974).

88. Invariably the Doctor's companion is shown to be deeply worried about his state of health...

89. only to have her concerns confounded when he suddenly revives.

90. Dozens were needed, but they could all be obtained quite readily,

91. either from BBC stock or hired in off-the-peg from outside costume houses.

92. The Doctor's new clothes came from Bermans & Nathans.

93. His plan to destroy the peace conference was held back as a revelation for Episode 5.

94. The Doctor, though, has no prior knowledge of the Master's plan,

95. and is about to make a Sherlock Holmesian deductive leap.

96. Elementary, my dear Jo.

97. In the breakdown, the missile is captured by slightly different means.

98. The Master sends the hypnotised Brigadier to stop the convoy.

99. Yates questions his new orders: He was previously told that the route must not be varied under any circumstances.

100. Only then do the convicts attack.

101. The breakdown envisaged the events of the episode happening in a somewhat different sequence:

102. In the draft script, Yates is shot in the chest, but his "pocket transceiver" stops the bullet.

103. The familiar UNIT call-signs, based on dog racing, had not yet been established.

104. Here they use a system based on the Roman pantheon:

105. Mike Yates is Venus, goddess of love,

106. and the Brigadier is Jupiter, ruler of the gods.

107. In the breakdown and the draft script, Yates manages to jump onto the tailboard of the truck carrying the missile.

108. The hi-jack sequence itself was filmed the following day on Archer's Court Road in Whitfield, just outside Dover.

109. Terry Walsh took a bad tumble doing one stunt and lay prostrate on the ground -

110. Prisoner and UNIT extras featured on location were:

111. The pin in the lower right of the map marks Dover Castle.

112. The three pins in a triangle are just north-west of where the hi-jack was filmed.

113. So the fictional settings are close to the real locations!

114. This exchange of dialogue between the Brigadier and Corporal Bell was shortened during rehearsals.

115. So in the versions where the missile goes back to the prison, what happens to Mike Yates?

116. From their vantage point in the Governor's office, Jo and the Doctor see him getting down from the truck.

117. He sneaks into "Q Block".

118. And then: Captain Yates, meet the Keller Machine...

119. He's rescued by Barnham.

120. During this filming, the back doors of the Black Maria van developed a fault and became very hard to shut.

121. It was later noted that the van had been used for the unauthorised purpose of transporting props;

122. when these were being unloaded, the doors blew back on their hinges in the wind, causing the damage.

123. All the stuntmen used on this story were supplied by the agency Havoc, run by Derek Ware.

124. Ware had numerous Doctor Who credits to his name, back to the very first serial.

125. Don't bother looking for him this time.

126. That was part of the filming carried out at Dover Castle on 27 October 1970.

127. Had it been included, it would have followed this scene.

128. The scripted scene ends with the Brigadier jumping into his helicopter and flying off. Stangmoor!

129. In the breakdown, the Prison Governor and the Brigadier are also present here.

130. The still-hypnotised Brigadier has returned to Stangmoor with the party of prisoners who hijacked the missile.

131. The Doctor snaps the Brigadier out of it, leaving him horrified at what the Master has forced him to do.

132. The alien creature inside the box was introduced only in the final script.

133. In the breakdown, Don Houghton had it materialising a hideous "Gorgon-type" monster embodying all its stored evil.

134. He envisaged this as a traditional man-in-a-suit Doctor Who monster.

135. This is another Dover Castle insert from 27 October 1970.

136. Francis Williams once more plays the Master's chauffeur.

137. It would seem that Jo has not known the Doctor for all that long, if she is unfamiliar with his aversion to weapons!

138. We now see that the Machine has acquired the power to teleport, denoted by a picture ripple effect.

139. Subsequent instances will be described as "strawberry ripple" and "blackcurrant ripple".

140. because of the video effects and the time needed to set them up.

141. However, all the intercut shots of Charlie and the stationary Machine,

142. including those overlaid with an unscripted video effect, were recorded on the Saturday.

143. a variant on the "roll back and mix" technique used to make objects dematerialise.

144. It's curtains for Charlie.

145. Vosper "spins round, his gun spraying bullets all over the place," says the draft.

146. The cliffhanger is completely different in the breakdown.

147. The Doctor and Jo are making their way through the prison, but find their way barred by the riot gates.

148. They are cornered by a posse of armed convicts sent after them by the Master.

149. The prisoners raise their rifles, preparing to shoot down our heroes in cold blood.

150. Doctor Who at this point held a regular 5.15 p.m. Saturday transmission slot,

151. as it had for most of the previous two series.

152. Every episode of 'The Mind of Evil' began transmission within a minute of that scheduled time.

153. Doctor Who was preceded on BBC-1 by the afternoon sports round-up Grandstand,

154. and followed by the early evening news bulletin.