030 - The Power Of The Daleks

Broadcast:

5^th November - 10^th December 1966

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Polly, Ben

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

David Whitaker, Dennis Spooner ¹

Director:

Christopher Barry

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

7.8m (7.9, 7.8, 7.5, 7.8, 8.0, 7.8)

Summary: The Doctor has a new face, or is he a different person? On the human colony planet Vulcan a spacecraft made of untarnishable metal has been found in mercury swamps and contains some impressive machinery but is this alien technology really as good as the the scientists think or could it be put to bad use by a rebel group?

Among the most wished for missing stories, The Power Of The Daleks must surely rank near the top. It's a cracking story in its own right and has even been remade in recent years, but crucially, it is Patrick Troughton's real début as the Second Doctor. His face may have appeared at the end of The Tenth Planet but it wasn't until the next episode that viewers got to see him in full. The reprise begins at the start of the cross-fade in what we now refer to as the regeneration and thus William Hartnell makes as much of an appearance in this episode as Troughton did in the last (his face also appears in a mirror as the new Doctor examines himself though that was achieved with a photo). All of this, of course, is to remind viewers that the Doctor has changed, but is still the same man...

As The Power Of The Daleks commenced broadcast, 38 African states were demanding that the UK use force against the Rhodesian government and by the end, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith began negotiations aboard HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean. In between times, the actor Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California and would take office in January and would ultimately become the 40th President Of America 14 years later. In the Republic of Ireland, Seán Lemass retired as Taoiseach and was replaced by Jack Lynch. An attempted coup in Togo was crushed by the army and Barbados gained independence, whilst closer to home the Rootes Group launched the Hillman Hunter and unemployment took another rise of 100,000 people and passed the half-million mark.

In the cinemas were the likes of a ballet interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, a Cliff Richard musical Finders Keepers and a Hammer Horror The Witches (not to be mistaken for the Roald Dahl book adaptation of 24 years later!), while on television, a quarter of the British population would be watching the BBC's documentary-style drama "Cathy Come Home" which had a lasting effect on public attitudes to social issues relating to homelessness. The music charts saw the Four Tops complete their run at the top with "Reach Out I'll Be There" followed by two weeks of The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" and the start of a seven week run for Tom Jones "Green, Green Grass of Home". Unbeknownst to everyone, the Beatles were about to hit 'interesting' times as they began working on their highly acclaimed, multi-award winning concept album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and John Lennon met Yoko Ono...

As for Ben and Polly, they were about to have some life changing experiences of their own as they met two surprising characters... one of whom was their friend the Doctor!

021 - The Daleks' Master Plan

Broadcast:

13^th November 1965 - 29^th January 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner

Director:

Douglas Camfield

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

John Wiles

Average Viewers:

9.36m (9.1, 9.8, 10.3, 9.5, 9.9, 9.1, 7.9, 9.6, 9.2, 9.5, 9.8, 8.6)

Summary: The Daleks have formed an alliance and are intent on controlling the galaxy but they will have to catch the Doctor first!

The Daleks were big business in the UK. Fans were aching for more and boy were they about to get it! Unfortunately, international interest was not so hot and this epic twelve part story may have been too much for them to chew over, especially with its mature story elements (including what could be called the first and second companion deaths - more on that later) and consequently it became the only story never broadcast overseas (along with its prelude Mission To The Unknown). This all means that while it is among the most desired missing stories it is also among the least likely to be recovered, although viewing copies were sent to Australia so there is a tantalising thread of chance that they are still out there. Hope was renewed as recently as 2004 when a third episode was recovered but episode 7 "The Feast Of Steven" was regarded as a Christmas special, bore very little relevance to the story and was excluded from the international sales package so no viewing copy was ever made. Subsequently, when its video recording was among the first scheduled to be wiped in August 67 it was almost certainly lost forever.

While the Daleks were set on conquering the galaxy, the news was full of conflicts on Earth... The white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declared de facto independence of Rhodesia leading to trade embargoes and the breakdown of diplomatic relations and the Monday after the final episode was broadcast the UK ceased all trade. Central African Republic, Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso) and Nigeria all suffered political troubles and Tanzania and Guinea severed diplomatic relations with the UK. Meanwhile on the other side of the world things were seriously hotting up in Vietnam as the first major engagement between regular US and North Vietnamese forces began, tens of thousands of protesters picketted the White House, the Pentagon advised President Johnson that his planned actions required four times as many soldiers and Philippines President-elect announced he would also send troops.

In lighter news, Craig Breedlove set a new land speed record (600.601 mph), The Soviet Union launched the Venera 3 space probe which would go on to become the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet (Venus), NASA's Gemini 6 and 7 performed the first space craft rendezvous (this should have been a docking mission but Gemini 6's intended target vehicle failed on launch so Gemini 7 became its replacement and docking was not possible). In Moscow the "glasnost meeting" became the first demonstration for civil rights in the Soviet Union - ignored by Soviet press but picked up by Western media, it became an annual event.

Back in the UK, the Death Penalty was suspended (and permanently abolished in 1969), The Race Relations Act became the first legislation to address racial discrimination, and the 70 mph speed limit was introduced. More importantly for Doctor Who, Mary Whitehouse founded the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association which would go on to criticise the show and thus proved some of its best publicity!

On television, "Camberwick Green" and "Jackanory" both débuted while cinemas were showing the likes of The Cincinnati Kid, Thunderball, and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold featuring Claire Bloom (who would go on to appear as The Woman voting against Rassilon's plans to free the Time Lords in The End Of Time) and the music charts were again dominated by the Beatles, this time with double A "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out"

019 - Mission To The Unknown

Broadcast:

9^th October 1965

Doctor:

(William Hartnell did not feature)

Companions:

(Vicki, Steven did not feature)

Adversary:

Daleks, Varga

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Derek Martinus

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.3m (single episode)

Summary: A rocket ship is stranded on a dark and fearful planet as mutant plants and Daleks close in. There is a grand plot afoot.

In the 1960s, television was a very different thing from today. Although Doctor Who was popular, nobody was making great lists of the stories or counting the adventures. Once an episode was broadcast nobody expected to ever see it again. Sometimes an episode would end in a way that expected you to watch the next to see what happened and sometimes there would be a sense of closure and you'd watch next week because you liked the show and knew things would go off in a new direction. Doctor Who stories generally fed into each other and although you knew when a new adventure started, there was no over-all title, just individual episode names. This all leads to an awkward pimple in lists and data sheets that would be drawn up in later years as fans (and BBC staff) started talking about the various adventures, because Mission To The Unknown doesn't fit neatly anywhere. Technically, it isn't an isolated story by itself, but it is surrounded by two unrelated adventures. In production terms it could be referred to as Galaxy 4 episode 5 because it has the same crew and was part of the same block, but it is an unrelated story with a different writer. But since it doesn't feature the Doctor or either of his companions it could be left out of adventure lists entirely... but it is a prelude to a later story and could perhaps be referred to as The Daleks' Master Plan episode 1, or if you prefer to count that story as 12 consecutive episodes starting 5 weeks after this one perhaps this is episode 0!

But as I said at the start, none of those concerns existed in 1965 when it was first broadcast. All viewers were aware of was that last week's episode concluded an adventure and the travellers wondered what was happening on the planet that now appeared on the scanner screen... In the news this week, more tragic deaths as first 150 train passengers died in South Africa then 209 fishermen from seven boats died in a typhoon. The Moors Murders finally came to an end as Ian Brady was arrested for the murder of Edward Evans, though police were still unaware of the previous killings. In lighter news Post Office Tower opened and would appear in Doctor Who 8 months later. Ken Dodd was still at number one with "Tears" while cinemas had the likes of What's New Pussycat and the not-quite-a-Carry-On film The Big Job featuring Wanda Ventham who would appear in The Faceless Ones (1967), Image Of The Fendahl (1977), and Time And The Rani (1987).

But the kids were excitedly expecting a new Dalek adventure...

016 - The Chase

Broadcast:

22^nd May - 26^th June 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.42m (10, 9.5, 9, 9.5, 9, 9.5)

Summary: The Daleks pursue the TARDIS and the Doctor in particular across time and space through desert, sea and jungle. Arriving on contemporary Earth provides a tempting opportunity for Barbara and Ian while a haunted house might be ideal for facing the Daleks head on...

As promised and teased, the Daleks were back for a third encounter with the Doctor. The public loved them and BBC heads wanted more of them but their creator, writer Terry Nation was not so keen and felt he had done all he could with them so The Chase was partly devised by its Director and Story Editor. Sadly some of Nations ideas and visual descriptions were rejected as either too intense or unachievable and the resulting rewrite (by Martin and Spooner) falls a little short and is a little muddled like The Space Museum before it. However, it does bring some interesting flavours to the show and hints at a world created from nothing but fear as well as mixing future alien threats with a historical context. Doctor Who was at a turning point. It was about to lose the last of the original companions, Dennis Spooner left as Story Editor after just 6 stories and producer Verity Lambert was preparing things for her departure as well...

In the news at the time were a bloodless coup in Algeria, Australian troops joined the Vietnam War and Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston with the "Phantom Punch". West Ham became the second British team to win a European trophy, the British Government announced plans to introduce blood alcohol limits in the fight against drink-driving and two mining incidents barely a week apart took over 500 lives (274 in India and 237 in Japan).

Cinemas were showing the usual mix of horror and humour: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Knack ...and How to Get It, When Strangers Meet and The Skull featuring Peter Cushing. The music charts were topped by "Where Are You Now (My Love)" (Jackie Trent), "Long Live Love" (Sandie Shaw), "Crying in the Chapel" (Elvis Presley), and "I'm Alive" (The Hollies). It was a good month for The Beatles as they were about to appear on Doctor Who and receive MBEs from the Queen - the first popular entertainers to do so, which ruffled a few feathers - though the two were not exactly related!

010 - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

Broadcast:

21^st November - 26^th December 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Francis Chagrin

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

11.9m (11.4, 12.4, 11.9, 11.9, 11.4, 12.4)

Summary: In the year 2164, the Daleks have invaded Earth (England) wiping out much of the population with a plague and converted suitable survivors into Roboman slaves. As they dig to the Earth's core only a small resistance group and the TARDIS travellers stand in their way.

This was it, the big rematch that cemented Doctor Who as a continuing success that could run for many years. The Daleks had ensured the show's initial success a year earlier and allowed production to continue to the full intended series when it was the second serial broadcast. Now it was the dastardly dustbins time to return in the second series, again in the second serial slot, and really work their magic. This kind of 'sequel' was practically unheard of at the time but their initial success let the production team know that they were onto a winner and The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was soon lined up for commission. What followed became known as Dalekmania, like Beatlemania before it the country would be swept away with enthusiasm, merchandise and a couple of films. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Although The Dalek Invasion Of Earth spanned six weeks, there is very little news to report in setting the scene. Kenya became a republic exactly a year after gaining independence from the UK and the Beatles earned their second Christmas number one with "I Feel Fine". Other number ones included The Supremes "Baby Love" and The Rolling Stones "Little Red Rooster" (But not The Go-Go's "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" which failed to chart!) In the cinemas were two contrasting films Black Sabbath and Mary Poppins. Two events that are worth noting but of which the public would not have been aware are the abduction and murder of 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey - the fourth moors murders victim (the second having been 12 year old John Kilbride, rather poignantly for Doctor Who fans, in the early evening of 23 November 1963) Police began their search on 26th December but it would be another year before the perpetrators were identified. Something else that would have its own impact but a delayed awareness, and strangely relevant to The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was the first flight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a secret aeroplane built for stealth and speed with unusual triangular wings, it would lead to reports of UFO sightings in America and feed the belief that aliens were out there and on their way!

Meanwhile, in Doctor Who, they were already here...

002 - The Daleks

Broadcast:

21^st December 1963 - 1^st February 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Christopher Barry, Richard Martin

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.97m (6.9, 6.4, 8.9, 9.9, 9.9, 10.4, 10.4)

Summary: A petrified forest, pacifist farmers and mutants determined to wipe them out. A post apocalyptic tale where nuclear threat is still a reality. The travellers find themselves stuck on a radiation soaked planet, captured by one faction and determined to help the other.

Doctor Who has gained reasonable interest so far and while the world has come to terms with the loss of JFK the Cold War is very much still weighing it down. As 1963 draws to a close The Beatles are still at No. 1 with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" followed by "Glad All Over" (Dave Clark Five) and "Needles And Pins" (Searchers). At the cinema are It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Pink Panther. On television, satirical comedy show That Was the Week That Was came to an end after two years (to avoid any clashes with the coming years general election), and Top Of The Pops was broadcast for the first time and would run for 42 years. Sticking with music television, viewers who stayed with BBC Television after episode 5 of The Daleks would have seen Carole Anne Ford on the panel of Jukebox Jury!

Audiences didn't know it, but they were about to meet the most enduring adversaries the Doctor would ever face. Even as the second episode was broadcast and the Daleks made their first appearance the BBC's Head Of Drama, Sydney Newman, still wasn't convinced - Verity Lambert had assured him that there really was no choice but to use them and their story because nothing else was ready. It wouldn't be long before he graciously admitted to being wrong and the shows future was assured by the huge success of this story...