035 - The Faceless Ones

Broadcast:

8^th April - 13^th May 1967

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Ben, Polly, Jamie

Adversary:

Chameleons

Written by:

David Ellis, Malcolm Hulke

Director:

Gerry Mill

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

7.38m (8.0, 6.4, 7.9, 6.9, 7.1, 8.0)

Summary: Gatwick Airport is the gateway to adventure for many people but some of them are never heard from again. Meanwhile something sinister seems to be going on in one of the hangers. Could the two be related and will the missing people ever be found?

In the early stages of my Doctor Who collection I came across The Faceless Ones on the "Lost In Time" box set. Only two episodes exist (1 and 3) but they captured my attention with a fairly gritty style and very little science fantasy. It is set on contemporary Earth and has a strong drama base. It has since remained one of my most wished for Missing Stories so I was looking forward to at least seeing the Loose Cannon recon. As a six part story it is one of the longest with only two episodes in the archives, and the missing ones weren't presented in audio form on "Lost In Time". Since the existing episodes are both at the beginning of the story, there was a strong sense of mystery as the main truth of events simply wasn't there. There was potential for the recon to shatter the illusion, but it did not disappoint.

On the evening that the first episode of The Faceless Ones was broadcast, Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom with "Puppet On A String" while Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me" was on its final week of six at the top of the charts. Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra would replace him for two weeks with "Somethin' Stupid" before Sandie Shaw climbed to the top with her winning song. Manchester United won the first division title and Scotland beat England in the British Championships, ending their 19 game winning streak. Other achievements during the serial's run include the Surveyor 3 probe going to the moon (the first to include a soil scoop, which it used to dig trenches 7" deep before holding sample up to its camera), the first Boing 737 took it's maiden flight, and Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu. In Cuba, Fidel Castro announced that all intellectual property belongs to the people and that technical literature would be translated and published without compensation, while closer to home, Harold Wilson announced that the UK would be applying to join the EEC.

Protests and marches against Vietnam War continued and Muhammad Ali refused military service, leading to a conviction, loss of his boxing title and not being allowed boxing until the conviction was overturned in 1971. Greece was taken over by a military dictatorship that would last until 1974 and clashes between striking workers and police in Hong Kong left 51 dead and 800 injured - the riots would continue until December when 18 months of disputes finally came to an end. A plane crash in Cyprus killed 126 people, while 33 were killed by tornadoes in America's upper midwest. Finally, Vladimir Komarov became the first person to die on a space mission when the parachute of his space capsule failed during re-entry.

In the entertainment world, Tom Stoppard's play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" premierred at the Old Vic and cinemas were showing such films as Hombre staring Paul Newman, Caprice with Doris Day and Richard Harris, and The Double Man featuring Yul Brynner and Britt Ekland.

In the world of Doctor Who it was looking like Gatwick airport would feature two departures and an arrival but first the travellers had to escape security...

034 - The Macra Terror

Broadcast:

11^th March - 1^st April 1967

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Ben, Polly, Jamie

Adversary:

Macra, Oppressive regime

Written by:

Ian Stuart Black

Director:

John Davies

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

8.2m (8.0, 7.9, 8.5, 8.4)

Summary: In a colony where everything is just wonderful, something nasty lurks in the shadows but woe betide anyone who suggests such a thing exists

I first heard about the Macra when they featured briefly in 2007's Gridlock almost as an after thought because Russell T Davies thought it would be nice to have some proper footage of them, since their original appearance was lost and presumably gone forever. This gave them a certain amount of cult status so I was looking forward to finally seeing The Macra Terror, albeit in telesnap recon form. Fortunately, a couple of brief clips do still exist and were included, just enough to hint at how good they might have been, but also their potential to have been lumberingly inanimate. I needed to forget my hopes and expectations and view it in its own right...

As the first episode was broadcast, Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva had just defected to the USA and the Cambodian Civil War began between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. As the serial progressed, nine executives of the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal, creators of thalidomide, were charged with breaking drug laws (the trial wouldn't begin until the following year but would continue until December 1970 following a settlement in April that still sees the government and Grunenthal paying support to victims) Similar rulings and payments are made around the world and international drug regulations were revised as a result. The world's first supertanker, Torrey Canyon, ran aground midway between Land's End and the Scilly Isles, with around 32 million gallons of crude oil spilt, most of which ultimately headed east with a large quantity collected and dumped into a quarry in Guernsey to keep it off the beaches and still has an impact 47 years later, despite numerous clean-up attempts (suggested reading 1, 2.) Again, international regulations were changed as a result and the then little known botanist David Bellamy came to public prominence as an environmental consultant during the disaster and would go on to be a popular children's presenter in the 80s. Meanwhile, there was a military coup in Sierra Leone and a 'Be-in' in New York's Central Park consisting of 10,000 people.

In the entertainment world, The Who perform their first concert in the US, Lennon and McCartney received the Ivor Novello award for "Michelle" - Britain's most performed song in 1966 - and the Beatles as a whole posted for the "Sgt Pepper..." album cover. Just as iconically, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar at The Astoria London. Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me" remained at number one throughout the serial's broadcast, while cinemas débuted the likes of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Follow Me, Boys!, and The Viking Queen which featured a certain Patrick Troughton!

Finally, on the 11th March not only introduced a new Doctor Who serial, but also ushered in a new title sequence with a squarer appearance and featuring the Doctor's face for the first time, and future friend of the Doctor and head of Torchwood John Barrowman was born.

033 - The Moonbase

Broadcast:

11^th February - 4^th March 1967

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Ben, Polly, Jamie

Adversary:

Cybermen

Written by:

Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis¹

Director:

Morris Barry

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

8.33m (8.1, 8.9, 8.2, 8.1)

Summary: A mysterious plague is decimating the staff of a weather controlling station on the Moon and the afflicted start to disappear when unexpected guests arrive. Can the Doctor find the cure, prove his innocence and fend off an attack on the base?

As with the previous story, The Moonbase was written before Jamie was added to the list of travellers and had to be adjusted to include him. The easiest option was to knock him out and make him a victim of the mysterious illness. Frazer Hines felt like his character was being sidelined, but it gave him a gentle easing into the series and allowed for some heritage to be added (his clan's "phantom piper") as well as making him the centre of viewers concerns...

In the news, 197 pages of Leonardo da Vinci's workings were discovered in Spain, Jim Garrison claimed that the Kennedy assassination had been planned as part of a conspiracy in New Orleans and that he would solve the case, and Britain launched HMS Renown, its second nuclear armed submarine. Jamaica had a new Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago became the first Commonwealth nation to join the Organization of American States and the Soviet Union announced it had sent troops to the Chinese boarder. The Soviets also carried out nuclear tests in Kazakhstan and forbade satellite states from having diplomatic relations with West German (nearly a month after Romania established just that). In slightly lighter news, the home of Rolling Stone Keith Richards was raided by police ultimately resulting in him, Mick Jagger and art dealer Robert Fraser being charged with possession of drugs; Queens Park Rangers won the first League Cup to feature a single-match final, becoming the first 3rd Division team to win; the first North Sea gas was pumped ashore and the Queen Elizabeth Hall opened in London.

Cinemas at the time of broadcast were showing films such as Funeral in Berlin, Just Like a Woman and The Taming of the Shrew while the music charts saw The Monkees complete their four weeks at the top with "I'm a Believer" followed by Petula Clark's "This Is My Song" and then Engelbert Humperdinck began a six week run with "Release Me".

Meanwhile, the TARDIS is careering out of control as the Doctor tries to visit Mars...

032 - The Underwater Menace

Broadcast:

14^th January - 7^th February 1967

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Ben, Polly, Jamie

Adversary:

Mad Scientist

Written by:

Geoffrey Orme

Director:

Julia Smith

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

7.48m (8.3, 7.5, 7.1, 7.0)

Summary: The TARDIS lands on a stony beach but the Doctor can't determine where on Earth they are. However it soon transpires that they have arrived at the lost city of Atlantis in 1970 and a missing scientist is promising to rise it from the depths.

The Underwater Menace is an odd duck. Metaphorically. I've written about thirty one adventures so far and it seems that a significant number of them either hold honorary positions for various reasons, or are marked by dubious honour of some form. The Underwater Menace is yet another, but on multiple layers. Most importantly at the time of writing is the fact that it includes the only existing episode not to have been released on DVD, yet it has been due for well over a year and a few months ago appeared to be dead in the water (if you'll excuse the pun) It was one of the key arguments in support of the so called 'omnirumour' that many more 'missing' episodes, if not all of them, have been discovered and are secretly being withheld (for a number of suggested reasons). After all, why else would an incomplete story be so quietly delayed especially after being included in a "Coming Soon" trailer. A couple of hours after watching the recon, I read that BBC Worldwide had issued a statement hoping that The Underwater Menace would be released next year with the missing episode replaced by animation. This was quite a relief, but not concrete enough to quash the rumours...

Meanwhile, focussing on the serial itself, scripting issues meant that the episodes were only recorded the week before they were broadcast! News events at time of broadcast may never have been more relevant...

Just ahead of the first episode, Dr James Bedford died and became the first person to be cryonically preserved and there was a military coup in Togo. In San Francisco, a mass peaceful protest at the Golden Gate Park took place, partly in reaction to the banning of LSD, and was dubbed the Human-In. It included Timothy Leary's famous "Turn on, tune in, drop out" speech and set the stage for the Summer of Love as well as starting the -in suffix ("love-in" "sit-in" and even "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" comedy television show). Meanwhile in the UK, Parliament decided to nationalise 90% of the British steel industry, began negotiations for joining the EEC, and founded Milton Keynes as a New Town.

In Munich, the trial of Wilhelm Harster began, as leader of German security police during the occupation of the Netherlands he was accused of the murder of 82,856 Jews and would ultimately be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin was in the UK for an eight-day visit including a meeting with The Queen on 9 February, while demonstrations outside the Soviet embassy in Beijing got out of hand, three US Astronauts died during a launchpad test of Apollo 1 on the same day that the US, UK and USSR signed the Outer Space Treaty.

In the entertainment world, news reported in the Daily Mail inspired the Beatles song "A Day In The Life" and The Monkees topped the charts with "I'm a Believer". Cinemas were full of spy movies The Quiller Memorandum, Murderers' Row, and The Spy in the Green Hat made up of two episodes from "The Man From UNCLE" that hadn't been broadcast in the UK. Other movies included the sequel Return of the Seven and The Night of the Generals.

In the Doctor's world, things were about to get a little odd and a new companion was having his first TARDIS experience"

031 - The Highlanders

Broadcast:

17^th December 1966 - 7^th January 1967

Doctor:

Patrick Troughton

Companions:

Ben, Polly

Adversary:

British Red Coats

Written by:

Elwyn Jones, Gerry Davis

Director:

Hugh David

Music:

None

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

7.05m (6.7, 6.8, 7.4, 7.3)

Summary: Englishman in the highlands of Scotland who weren't part of the British Army in 1746 must be part of the Jacobite rebellion, so falling in with the locals puts the travellers in a dangerous predicament.

The Highlanders is noted for three reason. Primarily, it is the last truly historical adventure. Although the TARDIS would land in Earth's history several more times before the show was cancelled, never again would the Doctor encounter known events or face genuine human adversaries. The closest the show would get to this once staple type of adventure would be in 1982's Black Orchid which only featured humans in a historical setting but without any history lesson to tell. Secondly, it introduces new companion Jamie who would remain with the Doctor until he was forced to regenerate at the end of War Games, making him the longest standing companion of the show's original run (Sarah Jane Smith beats him by half a series, but is outnumbered by adventures and episodes, while the Ponds are the only companions to have more adventures but with fewer series and a fraction of the episodes). Thirdly if features no music or even special sounds beyond the bagpipe music used over the title-card, though there is a moment, as in Power Of The Daleks where the Doctor plays his recorder. Additional to these, though less noticeable, it was written entirely by story editor Gerry Davis. Despite being commissioned and receiving a credit, Elwyn Jones was in fact unavailable to work on the story.

In the news at the time, matters in Rhodesia had led to a UN approved embargo, though South Africa refused to join in, Harold Wilson announced that he would now only agree to independence with a Black majority government but Ian Smith declared that Rhodesia was already a republic. Further north in East Germany, Premier Walter Ulbricht discussed negotiations about German reunification, though it would be another 22 years before it happened.. Meanwhile, closer to home millions' worth of paintings were stolen from the Dulwich Art Gallery in London. Footballers Alf Ramsey and Bobby Moore received a knighthood and OBE respectively in the Queen's New Year Honours while land and water speed record breaker Donald Campbell lost his life in his latest attempt on Coniston Water and would posthumously be awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct two weeks later. Also departing this world were animation visionary Walt Disney and Jack Ruby, the man famous for killing the man who killed Kennedy - having been initially sentenced to death for Oswald's murder, a retrial had been granted but he was taken by natural causes before a date was set.

In the entertainment world, Charlie Chaplin launched his final film, A Countess from Hong Kong, major drama "The Forsyte Saga" was broadcast on BBC Two and would become the first British program to be sold to the USSR, and more importantly for children, "Trumpton" received its first of many broadcasts and was the second program to be filmed in colour for BBC One. The music charts were topped by Tom Jones's "Green, Green Grass of Home" (having reached the top the week before The Highlanders began, it would remain there for two weeks after it finished), the Doors released their eponymous album and The Jimi Hendrix Experience released "Hey Joe", their first single in the UK. Two television shows received cinematic spin-offs, Thunderbirds Are GO and Batman: The Movie, along side history based classics One Million Years B.C. and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the latter of which starred comedy legends Buster Keaton, Roy Kinnear, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford.

Things were not looking so humorous for the Doctor and his companions though...

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!

029 - The Tenth Planet

Broadcast:

8^th - 29^th October 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ben, Polly

Adversary:

Cybermen

Written by:

Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis¹

Director:

Derek Martinus

Music:

Stock Only

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

6.75m (5.5, 6.4, 7.6, 7.5)

Summary: A mysterious new planet appears in the sky and is draining power from space craft orbiting Earth. Cybernetically enhanced men arrive on Earth wanting to take over as their planet is doomed, But the Doctor may be too ill to help either planet...

The Tenth Planet is an important and ground-breaking serial in many ways. It was the first produced in the fourth production block (The Smugglers was the first broadcast story of season four but had been held over from the end of the previous block), the last to feature William Hartnell as the lead and therefore the first to feature a regeneration. It was also the first real change in story style as Lloyd and Davis swung the show away from fanciful wonder and towards scientifically grounded drama. It introduced the Cybermen and the 'isolated base under siege' format that would be re-used for years to come, as well as a strongly international cast of characters working together. Sadly, the final episode is missing from the archives but thanks to a 10th anniversary feature on Blue Peter, the actual regeneration moment does survive, though it is very tightly clipped. A few other short clips exist thanks to off-air recordings and they provide a tantalisingly ropey glimpse at the build up. For the DVD however, the whole episode has been lovingly recreated as animation, though the lipsynch is somewhat questionable.

Running practically in parallel with The Tenth Planet was a four-part serial called "Talking to a Stranger" which would go on to be acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s. Meanwhile, unemployment went up by 100,000 on the previous month (a rise of about 30%), the Montreal metro system was inaugurated and the United States made LSD illegal, even shutting down controlled studies. France and the Soviet Union signed a cooperation treaty for nuclear research, Basutoland gained independence, was renamed Lesotho and along with Botswana joined the UN two weeks later. Dominating the news however, must have been a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan which killing 116 children and 28 adults when the slurry engukfed a school. It was caused by an excessive build up of water and the previous disregard by the Nation Coal Board of warnings that the site was unsuitable for tipping. This lead to the creation of legislation regarding mine and quarry tips which had hitherto been unregulated.

In the cinemas were such films as The Chase, Fantastic Voyage, and the Elvis film Spinout while Jim reeves completed his five week run at the top of the music charts with "Distant Drums" and the Four Tops began their three week run with "Reach Out I'll Be There"

Oh and the current Prime Minister David Cameron was born.