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?

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...

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!

015 - The Space Museum

Broadcast:

24^th April - 15^th May 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Moroks and Time

Written by:

Glyn Jones

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.2m (10.5, 9.3, 8.5, 8.5)

Summary: When time seems to be misbehaving, the travellers make some shocking discoveries in a giant space museum and find themselves in the middle of another revolution as they try to change their own fate and make it out safely.

If The Crusade is a reminder of how lucky we are to have some great serials surviving in good quality when most episodes were supposed to have been destroyed, then The Space Museum is a reminder of how arbitrary the chance of survival was. It is unfair to class it as a bad serial, but it was the first to truly be made on the cheap. The Crusade that came before and especially the six part The Chase that would follow, were necessarily expensive to produce and the money had to come from somewhere. Unfortunately for Glyn Jones it was his story that would suffer that loss and he is present on the DVD commentary to defend his story with numerous pointers as to where the good bits and relevant plot points were taken out. New series writer Robert Shearman is also on hand with a more reflective defence that presents it as a knowing self parody. Personally, I see it as a cracking first episode that shows great potential with immense intrigue and mystery but is followed by an airy and underachieving triplet of episodes. I like it and it's easy to watch but there is a great sense of a missed opportunity and rushed production with loose ends that are never quite tied up.

Although revolution had been a fairly dominant part of background news for some time, as noted in previous reviews, it is perhaps ironic that during this particular revolution story there was relative calm and the news feels a little empty like the episodes of The Space Museum. Manchester United and Liverpool won the Football League First Division and FA Cup respectively, West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations and the Pennine Way was officially opened, stretching 267 miles north from the Peak District to just beyond the Scottish border. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were starting work on their now classic "Satisfaction" in a Florida hotel room and the US Hot 100 listed 9 British acts in its top 10. The British chards were topped by Cliff Richard "The Minute You're Gone", The Beatles "Ticket to Ride" and Roger Miller "King of the Road". Cinemas were showing She co staring Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins, and the controversial The Party's Over which was banned within its first week (having already been delayed by three years trying to get passed the censors). Daleks were alo in the air at this time. Peter Cushing was filming the first movie and TV audiences were being teased about an imminent return of the Doctor's arch rivals to the show... but not just yet. In fact episode three was even delayed but not by the Daleks - The BBC were broadcasting the 20th anniversary of VE-Day which finished 20 minutes later than expected.

014 - The Crusade

Broadcast:

27^th March - 17^th April 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

El Akir - A rogue Saracen

Written by:

David Whitaker

Director:

Douglas Camfield

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.38m (10.5, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5)

Summary: The travellers find themselves in 12th century Palestine and get caught in the crossfire of the Third Crusade. Barbara is captured by a Saracen so the rest try to ally themselves with Richard The Lionheart to save her.

Doctor Who was on its first period of decline and despite modern opinions being favourable The Crusade would be the least welcomed serial for twelve months (based on average Audience Appreciation figures). The appreciation index average dropped below 50% for the first time and viewing figures went below 10m for the first time since Planet Of Giants at the start of the series - though they were still higher than the bulk of the previous series. The boost provided by the return of the Daleks had subsided and the show was set to remain at its current level for the rest of the year until part way through the third series. The Crusade was a solid history piece with the TARDIS and its passengers laid on top. With few exceptions, David Whitaker wrote both the Christians and Muslims fairly and the only sense of enemy for the viewer comes from the fact that Barbara is taken early on. This coupled with the audio-only presentation of episodes 2 and 4 on the "Lost In Time" DVD set made for quite a dull first viewing 10 years go but the Loose Canon reconstruction breathed some life back into it...

Viewers watching the original broadcast would have done so with the knowledge that NASA had launched their first 2 man orbiter, the Intelsat "Early Bird" became the first commercial communications satellite (though it wouldn't come into service for a couple more months) and protests of the time included a third civil rights march to Alabama with a crowd of 3200 growing to 25,00 over a four day period and the same number of students protested against the Vietnam War. The pop charts handed the Number One spot over from The Rolling Stones to Unit 4 + 2 with "Concrete and Clay" and then Cliff Richard's "The Minute You're Gone". Cinemas were screening The Sound of Music, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Masquerade, while Morcombe And Wise were The Intelligence Men. Anyone wanting to stay in on Wednesdays could now tune in to antiques gameshow "Going For A Song" which started the week after episode one...