026 - The Savages

Broadcast:

28^th - 18^th June 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven, Dodo

Adversary:

Scientists

Written by:

Ian Stuart Black

Director:

Christopher Barry

Music:

Raymond Jones

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

4.98m (4.8, 5.6, 5.0, 4.5)

Summary: Some time in the future, an advanced society live inside a perfect city with the ability to revitalise life. Outside the city, however, savage primitives are left to fend for themselves.

It is such a shame that the video for this story is among the missing. It is perhaps not the greatest Doctor Who story, but it is the first commissioned and fully controlled by the Lloyd/Davis team and therefore the first to have an over-all title and episodes simply being called "Part 1" etc. Very quickly, it feels different to pretty much everything that has gone before and with hindsight it is clearly a sign of things to come. They could finally start to sweep away the cobwebs in their attempt to revitalise the show and the final two stories of the season would see each of the companions bow out... and the star lead would soon learn that his position was no longer guaranteed either!

In the news, Fidel Castro declared martial law in Cuba in fear of a U.S. attack, The Nigerian government outlawed all political activity until 1969 (in fact, military rule would effectively prevail until 1998), and a tornado devastated Topeka, Kansas killing 16, injuring hundreds and was the first to cause $100m worth of damage. The US Supreme Court, meanwhile, introduced the 'Miranda Rights' requiring suspects to be informed of their rights before questioning (similar but unrelated legislation would arrive in Britain twelve years later). Closer to home, Guyana gained independence from UK and Éamon de Valera was re-elected as Irish president. Comedy series "Till Death Us Do Part" had it's TV début, while The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black" handed the number one spot over to Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" in the music charts. Finally, cinemas were showing, among other things, A Patch of Blue, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and The Trouble with Angels.

For Doctor Who viewers, the TARDIS had last been seen departing from the Wild West and arriving, according to the Doctor, in a time of great advancement and prosperity... but the scanner screen showed a primitive looking man in animal skins...

025 - The Gunfighters

Broadcast:

30^th April - 21^st May 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven, Dodo

Adversary:

The Clanton Brothers

Written by:

Donald Cotton

Director:

Rex Tucker

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

6.25m (6.5, 6.6, 6.2, 5.7)

Summary: Arriving in the Wild West, the Doctor finds himself mistaken for Doc Holliday and becomes the target of the Clanton Brothers' revenge. It's time for the gunfight at the O.K. Corral...

The Gunfighters represents some interesting points in Doctor Who's history. It is the last commissioned by the team of Wiles and Tosh, and therefore the last that Lloyd and Davis had to wrangle to fit their own style. Related to this is the fact that it is the last story to feature individual episode titles. As an historical adventure focusing on specific events, it is the first to contain serious misrepresentation of the facts (aside from the travellers' presence of course) and the last to focus on real events. It infamously received the lowest Audience Appreciation Index (though later figures were calculated differently and may not be comparable), the final episode in particular which also had one of the lowest number of viewers. On a brighter note, Anthony Jabobs who plays Doc Holliday, is the father of Matthew Jacobs who visited him on set and went on to write the TV Movie (where the Doctor returns to America and dons a Wyatt Earp costume!)

Around the world at the time, various political and military struggles continued. US troops in America reached a quarter million, while tens of thousands picketed the White House in protest. Mao Zedong issued the 'May 16 Notice' beginning the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic Of China and intending to enforce communism by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society. It would last ten years and cripple the country politically, economically and socially.

In the UK, the Moors Murders trial ended with Ian Brady being found guilty of three murders, each carrying a life sentence, while Myra Hindley was found guilty of two murders and an accessory to the third. It would be almost twenty years before they were officially connected with their other two victims. A two month strike began by seamen, Liverpool won the First Division title while Everton won the FA Cup by scoring three goals in the last 16 minutes to overcome Sheffield Wednesday's 2-0 lead.

Musically, The Beach Boys released their "Pet Sounds" album, Bob Dylan released "Blonde On Blonde" and the British charts were topped by Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo" and the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black". Meanwhile cinemas were showing Elvis Presley's Frankie And Johnny, Othello which featuring future Master actor Derek Jacobi, and most fittingly Westerns Ride Beyond Vengeance and Gunpoint. But how would the Doctor, Seven and Dodo cope when faced by pistol swinging, Stetson wearing, liquor swigging cowboys on a tight TV budget...?

024 - The Celestial Toymaker

Broadcast:

2^nd - 23^rd April 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven, Dodo

Adversary:

Celestial Toymaker

Written by:

Brian Hayles (Extensively rewritten by Donald Tosh)

Director:

Bill Sellars

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

8.3m (8.0, 8.0, 9.4, 7.8)

Summary: Trapped by the Celestial Toymaker, the travellers must play his games to win their freedom, but will he play fairly?

Continuing Doctor Who's transition, The Celestial Toymaker was the first under new producer Innes Lloyd and with Gerry Davis he wanted to refresh the show and take it in new and exciting directions. However, due to the show's almost constant production they would first have to get past stories inherited from John Wiles and Donald Tosh. The credit for The Celestial Toymaker is given to Brian Hayles but his original draft fell short of what Wiles and Tosh had wanted and was therefore rewritten (with the agreement that Tosh would receive the main credit while Hayles would receive a "From an idea by" credit - this would have been possible because Tosh knew he would no longer be Script Editor when it was transmitted). However, Lloyd wasn't happy with it when he took over and chose to have further rewrites carried out by Davis, including an idea to write out and replace William Hartnell. Unsurprisingly, Donald Tosh was unhappy with the new scripts and refused to have his name associated with it so the credit fell back to Brian Hayles despite bearing very little relation to his work!

While children were watching Steven and Dodo playing the Celestial Toymaker's twisted games, their parents were following political developments as Prime Minister Harold Wilson bolstered his fragile and unworkable majority by winning a snap election with an extra 91 seats. In Russia, Leonid Brezhnev became General Secretary of the Soviet Union, as well as Leader of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. while the Soviet space probe Luna 10 became the first man-made object to enter orbit around the moon. Back in the UK, Barry Butler, captain of Norwich City F.C. was killed in a car accident, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley finally went on trial and Hoverlloyd inaugurate the first Cross-Channel hovercraft service. The music charts were topped by "Somebody Help Me" (The Spencer Davis Group) and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (Dusty Springfield), while cinemas were showing the likes of Battle of the Bulge, The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (the fourth in the series) and The Ugly Dachshund.

When viewers had last seen the Doctor at the end of The Ark he was fading out and had become invisible so they would have been eager to find out what was going on...

023 - The Ark

Broadcast:

5^th - 26^th March 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven, Dodo

Adversary:

Monoids

Written by:

Paul Erickson, Lesley Scott¹

Director:

Michael Imison

Music:

Stock, Tristram Cary²

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

John Wiles

Average Viewers:

6.48m (5.5, 6.9, 6.2, 7.3)

Summary: When the TARDIS lands on an ark ship carrying the last of Earth's inhabitants, Dodo's cold puts them all at risk of being as extinct as her namesake. Just convincing her to use a handkerchief is not enough for the Doctor to save all humanity!

The Ark is something of a transitional story. It is the first fully script edited by Gerry Davis, the last produced by John Wiles, the first full adventure for new companion Dodo (who's accent goes through a change of its own!) and the first turn around in viewing figures since The Daleks' Master Plan was approaching its climax (though just like with that occasion it wouldn't last). Greater changes were also around the corner as the incoming producer would make sweeping changes to the cast so really this was just the start of a transitional period.

In the news, the British Government had just announced plans to decimalise the pound (though not for 5 years) and the BBC announced plans to start broadcasting in colour (BBC 2 would be the first in July 67). John Lennon made his infamous "more popular than Jesus" comment (though it would be five months before it caused controversy when it received its American publication), Austria won Eurovision (the UK entry came 9th), US manned craft Gemini 8 made the first space docking and Soviet probe Venera 3 reached Venus (but failed to land successfully). The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from an exhibition and found in a garden by a dog named Pickles a week later, the top half of Nelson's Pillar in Dublin was blown up by former IRA volunteers and the Irish Army engineers caused greater damage and disruption when they blew up the remaining stump to clear the unrepairable ruins. Two plane crashes in Japan took 188 lives in two days - the first crash when trying to land in Tokyo at night with poor visibility, the second hit turbulence over Mount Fuji shortly after taking off from Tokyo. Finally, there were protests in America (against the Vietnam War), Indonesia (against communism), and South Vietnam (against government policies)

Cinema releases during this story included The Reptile, Born Free, and Our Man Flint, and the music charts were still topped by Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" until The Walker Brothers began their own four week run with "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". Oh, and influential and career launching satirical comedy show "The Frost Report" started.

022 - The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve

Broadcast:

5^th - 26^th February 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven

Adversary:

French Catholics

Written by:

John Lucarotti, Donald Tosh

Director:

Paddy Russell

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh, Gerry Davis

Producer:

John Wiles

Average Viewers:

6.43m (8, 6, 5.9, 5.8)

Summary: Steven finds himself in a vulnerable position at a very dangerous and pivotal time in French history with shocks and surprises throughout.

Love them or hate them, historical stories were a standard part of Doctor Who's early years. Love them or hate them, 'Doctor light' stories have been a part of the revived show (though limited to one per series and only for a few years). The point is, love it or hate it The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve is both of these things rolled into one. It is intriguing and dull at the same time, unless you know about 16th century France, but as a lesson aid it draws you into the period atmosphere ready to listen to and understand what your teacher is telling you, or embark on your own research.

The story title gives you a jumping off point for understanding or researching the setting. On the eve of St Bartholomew's day 1572 (the night of August 23rd) French Catholics assassinated a number of prominent Huguenots in Paris and general Catholic mob violence followed with several thousand deaths. A rather poignant coincidence saw about 2000 civilian villagers massacred in Tây Vinh and Gò Dài (Vietnam) during the broadcast of this story.

Lighter news included the Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 making the first controlled landing on the Moon and Australia moving to decimal currency and introducing their Dollar. Topping the music charts were The Overlanders' "Michelle" and Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", while cinemas had such films as Never Too Late, Bunny Lake Is Missing, and by another similar coincidence The Great Sioux Massacre.

Since this story is completely missing from the archives, it is unclear how each of the writers and story editors were credited and various memories are conflicting. It is unlikely that Donald Tosh would have been allowed to receive credit for both writing and editing the story and it is presumed that he only has credit (or at least copyright, based on surviving documentation) for writing due to extensive rewrites of John Lucarotti's work and Lucarotti's alleged displeasure at them. Gerry Davis was the in-coming Story Editor and may simply have shadowed Tosh and received the credit because Tosh could not... So if the story itself doesn't leave you confused or bemused then the story behind it probably will!

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"

020 - The Myth Makers

Broadcast:

16^th October - 6^th November 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Vicki, Steven

Adversary:

Greeks, Trojans

Written by:

Donald Cotton

Director:

Michael Leeston-Smith

Music:

Humphrey Searle

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

John Wiles

Average Viewers:

8.35m (8.3, 8.1, 8.7, 8.3)

Summary: The TARDIS lands outside Troy near the end of the Greek siege. The travellers become separated and captured by different sides of the war as spies. Their freedoms are only assured if they can bring down the opposition, effectively pitting them against each other!

If Mission To The Unknown had shocked viewers by not featuring the regular cast, then The Myth Makers would shock them by leaving that story unresolved. Instead of seeing Daleks turning their attention to 3000 AD Earth, the episode opens with a sword fight around 300 BC (both dates are approximations) until the TARDIS interior is finally seen after two and a half minutes. The Doctor and Vicki are still looking at the scanner screen as they had been two weeks earlier and we are reminded that Vicki has a sore ankle... exactly as if no time has past since we last saw them. So have the Daleks built a new time machine and we will see them bringing their allies to ancient times for an easy victory?

Also shocking audiences at the time was news that a girl's body had been found on Saddleworth Moor, identified as 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey who hadn't been seen for nearly ten months. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are suspected having already been charged with the murder of Edward Evans the previous week. Within another week they were remanded in custody and the body of 12 year old John Kilbride was also found, having gone missing the afternoon of Doctor Who's first episode nearly tree years earlier.

In international news, political unrest was rapidly growing in Rhodesia with both UN and African nations requesting British action to avoid rebellion and unilateral declaration of independence, followed by a Soviet offer of support for African countries should such an outcome occur. By the end of The Myth Makers, martial law had been declared but would prove ineffective within a further week. Meanwhile, Pope Paul VI made an announcement that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ, and Corgi released a James Bond model of the Aston Martin DB5 as featured in Goldfinger the year before (it would gone on to be their most successful model ever). "The Magic Roundabout" and "Call My Bluff" had their TV débuts to entertain kids and adults while Ken Dodd continued to dominate the music charts with "Tears" before finally giving way to The Rolling Stones as "Get Off of My Cloud" began its own domination before the final episode of The Myth Makers aired. Finally, cinemas were showing films such as The Great Race, Marriage on the Rocks and Crack in the World which featured a hint at a later Doctor Who classic theme - drilling too far into the Earth and threatening the whole of humanity!

So how would the Greeks and Trojans react to the arrival of the TARDIS...? And how would new producer John Wiles's first story fair?

018 - Galaxy 4

Broadcast:

11^th September - 2^nd October 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Vicki, Steven

Adversary:

Drahvin, Rill, Chumblies

Written by:

William Emms

Director:

Derek Martinus, Mervyn Pinfield

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.93m (9, 9.5, 11.3, 9.9)

Summary: Two stranded spaceships are at war but urgently need to escape a doomed planet. The Doctor's arrival gives both sides hope but can he help save everyone in time?

Galaxy 4 has an interesting place in the Doctor Who virtual archive. It is the earliest story to have just one episode remaining (but of course Marco Polo is missing completely and The Reign Of Terror has two of its four missing), it is the first story of the third season (but was produced within the second season's recording block) and Story Edited by Donald Tosh (but he was also credited on The Time Meddler although little work was required because it was written by the outgoing Story Editor), it is also the last serial to be produced by Verity Lambert (but the 'Dalek Cutaway' episode Mission To The Unknown was truly her last episode, acting as a teaser episode for The Daleks' Master Plan), and its viewing figures increased with each episode rather than gently dropping off (not the first story to achieve this but the first since The Daleks). The missing first episode has nearly 6 minutes in tact thanks to the excerpt being considered for inclusion in Whose Dr. Who in 1977 (only 30 seconds were actually used but the rest of the clip was rescued by a production advisor) making it the largest remaining clip from an otherwise missing episode! It also has the dubious honour of containing the Chumblies as quite comical but sincere creatures (actually, they are robots) that are both adorable and pathetic... which sums up my general feeling for the whole adventure!

In the six weeks that Doctor Who had been off air, both the Maldives and Singapore became independent; America stepped up aggression in Vietnam with their first major ground battle and fighting flared between Pakistan and India while China announced it would reinforce its troops on the Indian border but a week later protested against Indian provocations in the area! Three natural disasters took over 300 lives - 90 by a Swiss avalanche, 76 by Hurricane "Billion Dollar Betsy" in New Orleans (the last major hurricane there until Katrina 40 years later), and the majority by a volcano in the Philippines. A further 34 lives were lost during race riots in Los Angeles, while 66 former SS personnel received life sentences at the Auschwitz trial. In the UK, cigarette advertising was banned on TV (though pipe tobacco and cigars continued until 1991), Elizabeth Lane became the first female High Court judge and Peter Watkins's drama-documentary The War Game due to be broadcast as part of BBC1's 'The Wednesday Play' was pulled following government pressure, concerned about its traumatically honest portrayal of nuclear strike aftermath - It would go on to receive a cinematic release, earning it an Academy Award in 1966 and was finally broadcast in 1985 (presumably thanks to the previous year's TV movie Threads which was essentially the same idea)

In the cinemas were two 'intelligent chimp' movies Bikini Beach and The Monkey's Uncle as well as a number of war films and westerns while future Doctor Who companion Bernard Cribbins could be seen in You Must Be Joking (along with many other British greats) and of course Peter Cushing was the Doctor himself in Dr. Who And The Daleks. The Beatles performed the world's first stadium concert at Shea Stadium, met Elvis Presley and released their second film Help! accompanied by an album and single which spend three weeks at number one. Other songs topping the charts were "I Got You Babe" (Sonny & Cher), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones), "Make It Easy on Yourself" (The Walker Brothers) and Ken Dodd started an impressive five week run with "Tears". Meanwhile Bob Dylan shocked many fans by 'going electric' at the Newport Folk Festival.

Television also saw some classics born in the shape of "Tom & Jerry" and "Thunderbirds"... All this excitement and all Doctor Who had to offer its television viewers was the weak Galaxy 4. But let's take a closer look and understand why I say that...

017 - The Time Meddler

Broadcast:

3^rd - 24^th July 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Vicki, Steven

Adversary:

Meddling Monk

Written by:

Dennis Spooner

Director:

Douglas Camfield

Music:

Stock, Charles Botterill

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.43m (8.9, 8.8, 7.7, 8.3)

Summary: England in 1066 has a well established place in most British citizens' knowledge and it is not a place for gramophones and electric toasters so something is clearly wrong! The Doctor must discover what is going on before he can set things right and there is only one possible cause... could it be that he is not the only time traveller there?

Although loved by those involved and often picked as their favourites, the historical stories had never gone down particularly well with viewers who would rather skip on to the next science fantasy of the future and preferably see the Daleks again. It had been a tradition and indeed a stated intention to alternate between historical fact and science fantasy to balance entertainment and education but times were changing. The Romans had quite successfully added humour into the mix and The Time Meddler was about to throw fantasy into a history story a well... with a mixed reception, but setting up a whole world of possibilities for the series as producer Very Lambert released the reins.

Science fact was taking a more prominent role on television as well with "Tomorrow's World" beginning on BBC1 during The Time Meddler run and Mariner 4 became the first spacecraft to bring us pictures of Mars as it made a fly-by. In more Earthly news, the Mont Blanc tunnel was inaugurated, Ronald Biggs (Great Train Robber) escaped from Wandsworth Prison and US aircraft were attacked and one shot down over Vietnam for the first time. Meanwhile The Beatles received a record five Ivor Novello Awards and former Boxing champ Freddie Mills was found shot on the day episode 4 was broadcast - he was declared dead the following day and while exact motives remain uncertain, the verdict was suicide.

As Summer rolled out there was plenty of choice in the cinemas including British film Rotten to the Core, The Art of Love, and Tickle Me starring Elvis Presley who also topped the music charts with "Crying in the Chapel" - swapping back and forth with The Hollies's "I'm Alive" and ultimately replaced by The Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man". Against that background, Doctor Who was about to conclude its second series but William Hartnell still managed to get a week off!

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!