In another moment of Doctor Who 60^th anniversary madness, passengers at London’s Heathrow Airport were surprised to find a Dalek patrolling the corridors on last October, marking a new partnership between BBC Studios and British Airways. Yes, really!

The Dalek trundled over to assess the quality of human beings flooding through the Arrivals lounge, then — presumably having rejected them as unsuitable for robotisation — heading over to Departures to check in to a flight to Skaro, according to British Airways.

The arrival of the Dalek at Heathrow Terminal 5 celebrated this new partnership between BBC Studios and British Airways. Linking in with Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary, British Airways has launched a dedicated Doctor Who inflight entertainment channel, available on all long haul flights from 1^st November 2023. The new channel features thirteen episodes from the series. 

Sarah Bold, Head of Marketing, Scripted at BBC Studios, said:

“Doctor Who has been inspiring and entertaining audiences globally for an incredible 60 years and we couldn’t miss this opportunity to bring two iconic British brands together in style to celebrate. Travellers and subscribers will be able to enjoy a curated collection of content and the tie in will reach millions of people throughout the partnership.”

So which stories are best to watch while flying at 40,000ft? Okay, this deal only includes 13 episodes from Series 1 to 13, but we can ruminate… Time-Flight seems an obvious choice, but depending on where you’re going, The Aztecs, The Enemy of the World, City of Death, Arc of Infinity, The Two Doctors, The TV Movie, The Fires of Pompeii, A Town Called Mercy, and Smile should all make the cut too…

Just before Christmas, we set you 35 fiendish questions all about Doctor Who. We hope you had time to jot down your answers in between scoffing down the festive lunch, opening presents, and enjoying Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Because below, we have all the actual answers.

There’s still time to go back to the quiz and note down what you think. So without further ado, here are the…

Answers to The Doctor Who Companion 2023 Christmas Quiz!

1. She is converted into a Cyberman.

2. Bill Potts.

3. Antony Coburn’s original name for the TARDIS, in an early draft script of An Unearthly Child.

4. The Terileptil leader in The Visitation.

5. The TV Movie.

6. Betsy.

7. Pyramids of Mars.

8. The Fifth Doctor, as revealed in The Caves of Androzani.

9. He wears a stick of celery, which turns purple if the gases are present. He then eats the celery. (If nothing else, he’s sure it’s good for his teeth.)

10. The Master in The Power of the Doctor.

11. i. 140 years old.

ii. 125 years old.

12. No explanation is given on screen – it was a continuity mistake!

13. A Tharil in Warriors’ Gate.

14. The.

15. Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, and Bill Potts.

16. i. The Time Machine.

ii. War of the Worlds.

17. Brigade Leader.

18. Liz’s hair is dark brown or black in the parallel universe but blonde in ours.

19. All played by Pat Gorman.

20. A Zarbi.

21. A juke box.

22. The Fifteenth Doctor (as seen in The Giggle).

23. Jackie Tyler’s dog in the parallel universe (Rise of the Cybermen)

24. Clara and Joey.

25. The Empty Child.

26. Spider (or spiders).

27. Gamble with Time by David Fisher.

28. Paisley born David Tennant found the double “o” sound hard to reproduce when he was speaking the Doctor’s East London accent. Davies also gave him the testing line “Judoon platoon upon the moon” in Smith and Jones.

29. The Daleks (in, respectively, Victory of the Daleks and Dalek).

30. The Power of Three. Not technically Doctor Who, but half a point if you said Downtime.

31. By having them hanged, not shot.

32. Ray guns in the Dalek movies could only be realised by passing the printed film through an optical printer and adding the rays. This would have resulted in a deterioration of picture quality every time the Daleks fired their guns, so a practical effect was adopted instead.

33. i. The Invisible Enemy.

ii. The Sontaran Experiment.

iii. The Face of Evil.

iv. Battlefield.

v. Survival.

34. a – Noah watches as his arm is transformed into a Wirrn (Doctor Who and the Ark in Space)

b – Rose encounters the Autons in the Henrik basement (Doctor Who – Rose)

c – Sarah encounters a Zygon for the first time (Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster)

d – The Draconian prince (Doctor Who and the Space War)

e – Barbara attempts to escape from the Zarbi (Doctor Who and the Zarbi)

f – The Cybermen march towards the humans’ base on the South Pole (Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet)

g – Dr Quinn meets Okdel, leader of the Silurians (Doctor Who and the Silurians/ Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters)

35. Three! I have seen three!

How did you do? Let us know in the comments section below!

The Doctor leant back from the table, immensely satisfied. He had been regaling the Noble family with tales of his adventures for a full seven hours and the afternoon sun was now low in the summer sky. The Doctor was pleased to see that Donna, no doubt to limit the interference from extraneous stimuli and listen more fully, was resting her head on her hands and staring fixedly at the tablecloth. Sylvia – surely aware of alcohol as a sauce to any good story – had started on her sixth glass of wine, while Shaun, surely moved into inarticulacy by the Doctor’s tale, had his eyes closed and was breathing regularly and deeply. Poor Rose had retired to her room, pleading a headache, and Mel had gone to search for paracetamol. Strangely, this simple task had taken her over an hour. The Doctor jumped up and suggested a game: how would they all like a quiz about his adventures?

The Noble clan was immediately enthusiastic: they urged the Doctor to go into the TARDIS and make a start at once. They impressed upon him the need to take his time: if three or four hours’ writing and researching the quiz were required, then three or four hours it should be. Wouldn’t they miss him? the Doctor asked, concerned. The Nobles earnestly assured him that he shouldn’t give that another thought: he must set about his task at once. Emboldened, encouraged and pleased, the Doctor went into the TARDIS and did just that.

Shaun has kindly passed a copy of the quiz to The Doctor Who Companion, which we present to you, suitably edited, as…

THE DOCTOR WHO COMPANION 2023 CHRISTMAS QUIZ!

No prizes: as ever, this is just for fun. Note down your answers somewhere and keep the sheet to one side, as the answers will be published on Boxing Day…

1. The parallel world Pete Tyler marries Jackie Tyler from our world. But what happens to Jackie Tyler in the parallel world?

2. Which of the Doctor’s companions suffers the same fate?

3. What is a CADESCU – a Change and Dimensional Electronic Selector and Extender?

4. John Nathan-Turner wanted the sonic screwdriver written out on the grounds that it enabled the Doctor to get out of difficult situations too easily. But who destroyed the sonic screwdriver, and in which story?

5. And in which story did the sonic screwdriver next appear?

6. The Third Doctor’s Edwardian roadster was, of course, called Bessie. TV Comic, however, misnamed it, as…?

7. In which story does the relative continuum stabiliser of the TARDIS fail?

8. Who is allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum?

9. How does this individual attempt to combat this allergy?

10. Who dances to a 1978 hit by Boney M?

11. How old is Romana in:

i. The Ribos Operation?

ii. City of Death?

12. What explanation is given on screen for the discrepancy between her ages?

13. Which alien is a leonine mesomorph?

14. What is the Meep’s preferred pronoun according to The Star Beast?

15. Dolls of which companions were shown by the Toymaker to the Doctor in The Giggle?

16. Which novel by H.G.Wells:

i. is the Doctor reading in The TV Movie?

ii. is the Master reading in Frontier in Space?

17. What is the title of the Brigadier’s counterpart in the parallel world in Inferno?

18. In the same story, what colour is Liz Shaw’s hair and how does this differ from her hair colour in our world?

19. What connects: a Yeti; a Cyberman; an IMC guard; one of Ashe’s colonists; a Thal soldier; a security guard at Think Tank; the Marshal’s pilot; and one of Count Scarlioni’s goons?

20. Which alien did Mark Gatiss want to include in An Adventure in Space and Time but couldn’t because he was told it would be too expensive?

21. Which technological device did Cassandra mistakenly call an iPod in The End of the World?

22. And which Doctor has such a device in the TARDIS control room?

23. There have been three characters called Rose since 2005. Rose Tyler was one; Donna’s daughter was another, but who was the third?

24. Name the two clowns who are Steven and Dodo’s opponents in the Celestial Toyroom.

25. In which story does Rose Tyler wish the Doctor to show more of the attributes of Star Trek’s Mr Spock?

26. Which word is forbidden by the rulers of Metebelis III?

27. What was the working title of the story which became City of Death and who wrote it?

28. Russell T Davies gave the name Judoon to his space police as a joke for David Tennant. But what exactly was the joke?

29. Which aliens are mistakenly named Ironsides or the Metaltron by humans?

30. Which Doctor Who story features the first appearance of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart?

31. The Kaleds are short of ammunition in Genesis of the Daleks. How does General Ravon propose to conserve ammunition when executing the Doctor and Harry?

32. The producers of the Peter Cushing movies considered using the optical effect of rays for the Daleks’ guns but opted, in the end, for a practical effect of the guns blasting carbon dioxide from fire extinguishers. Why did the producers decide against rays?

33. Identify the stories from their working titles:

i. The Enemy Within

ii. The Destructors

iii. The Day God Went Mad

iv. Storm over Avalon

v. Catflap

34. What is being described in the following extracts from novelisations of television stories and which novelisation does each description come from?

a. “The deep tear in the sleeve was filled with a greenish bubbling pus which, as he watched, seemed to be absorbed into his arm so that only the blackened gash in the sleeve remained.”

b. “The top-half turned its head to look up at her. The naked female bisected top-half. Three feet tall, punky black wig, lips painted scarlet. It looked at —-. It craned its head to one side as though considering her.”

c. “Facing her was a squat, powerful figure about the size of a small man. Orange-green in colour, it had small, claw-like hands and feet. There was no neck: the big high-domed head seemed to grow directly from the bulbous torso.”

d. “The Ambassador, dressed in black robes with high pointed shoulders, had the typical —- face, green scaly skin and tapering ears.”

e. “Then to her right the hideous sleek shape of a —- reared on its hind legs out of the gloom, glaring down, and with a slithering sound began to scramble towards her…The pass ahead of her and to her right was swarming with these loathsome creatures, and the chirruping sound they made…”

f. “Three lights were moving towards them through the murk…Again the radiophonic bubbling sound, now slightly raised in pitch, drifted across the frozen waste… The three lights were slowly changing into three tall, straight figures which were moving forward…with a slow deliberate step, and the perfect unison of guardsmen on parade.”

g. “—- looked at the reptile face in front of him. It was impossible to tell whether —- was angry or forgiving. It was the first time he had really looked closely into —-‘s scaly green face because the sight of it made him want to be sick.”

h. “Then, suddenly, a small doll-like creature seemed to swim up from the flames, its tiny white hand raised…The Doctor found his arms released, and the Primitives who had held him began backing away from the creature that had materialised…”

35. How many Nimon have you seen today?

Check back on the DWC on 26th December 2023 for all the answers!

Both the David Tennant fronted BBC4 documentary, Talking Doctor Who, and the musical celebration Doctor Who@60 are now available on BBC iPlayer.

Talking Doctor Who features rare archive footage, much of which will be new to many fans, including: interviews with Jon Pertwee about buying a caravan to keep warm on location; Tom Baker talking about his casting as the Doctor, even before Robot was first aired; and Tom Baker on location in Sussex, pretending to be Scotland, while filming Terror of the Zygons.

Many of these clips are sourced from local BBC news programmes and only received a regional airing back in the 1970s. David Tennant is a warm and enthusiastic host of this documentary and often comes off script to talk about his memories of the show: how, for example, he loved K9 as he was “exactly the right age” for K9 to appeal to him back in 1977. 

You may have already heard the musical celebration Doctor Who@60 when it aired on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, but the video of the concert, which features the premiere of Murray Gold’s new arrangement of the theme tune for Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, is also available on iPlayer.

If this weren’t enough, the documentary Who Are We? Doctor Who – The Classic Years is expected to hit BBC Sounds soon. Part one of this two part documentary was due to air on 21^st October, though was delayed. According to the synopsis, the documentary takes “a trip through … the Doctor Whoniverse … to find out how the changing attitudes of Britain have been reflected through the TARDIS… It’s a tale that features Dalekmania, Dad’s Army, Mary Whitehouse, Ridley Scott, the Cybermen, Hans Zimmer, The Beatles, and the JFK assassination, as the Doctor and his companions are thrown into a world of sexism, racial tensions, and the rise of fan fiction.” The documentary includes archive interviews with Chris Chibnall, Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat, and many of the actors who have played the Doctor. 

In this anniversary year, our cups truly overflow with Doctor Who goodness!

Pull to Open is the second beautifully researched, scholarly investigation into Doctor Who by Paul Hayes. His first, The Long Game, documented the attempts to bring the show back after the 1996 TV Movie failed to lead to a series stateside. That book, highly recommended, offered us completely new material and showed us a BBC that, far from hating Doctor Who and wanting to bury it forever, was full of Who fans desperately searching for a way to bring it back but floundering on rights issues (everyone thought that Universal had the rights to Doctor Who after the TV Movie, which wasn’t actually true).

So The Long Game told us new things. Paul Hayes’ second book, Pull to Open, tells the story of the programme’s creation and gestation back in 1963. The difference between the two books is, of course, that the earlier story has been told many times before. So, is there anything else much to say?

The answer is yes. And there is new material here. This book isn’t just a story about the creation of Doctor Who: it’s a fine piece of social history in its own right. Hayes ties the Who story into the context of the time. He carefully links events in the show’s creation with the world of the early 1960s: for example, the resignation of Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan; the Cuban Missile Crisis; and the conviction of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Hayes beautifully and imaginatively recreates the mechanics and atmosphere of a television studio in 1963 and the experience of watching television in British homes on that dark November day when Doctor Who was first transmitted. Hayes’ writing is impressive and his vignettes are often very touching.

Hayes’ scholarship and research are impressive, too. He gives detailed biographies of all those involved in the series. Even Alice Frick (remember her?) gets a biography: she co-authored reports for BBC Drama on the feasibility of science fiction as a television genre, which led, in part, to the creation of Doctor Who.

There is new information here. We all know the contribution that Sydney Newman made to the programme but Hayes highlights the role of co-creator Donald Wilson. Hayes digs up nuggets of gold. Who knew that Wilson served in the liberation of the concentration camp of Belsen in 1945? Or that Peter Brachacki fought in the Polish resistance, first against the Germans and then against the Russians, and ended the war in Dachau?

Hayes draws on new interviews with the original production team and on Waris Hussein’s recently published diaries. He covers ideas for an alternative time traveller series called “The Troubleshooters” (never made). He also goes through the earliest production documents with a fine toothcomb, showing how the show evolved from memo to memo and from draft to draft. Did you know that Anthony Coburn wrote four drafts of the first episode, An Unearthly Child ? These are now held in a private collection but Hayes has had access to them. Coburn first called the Doctor’s time machine a Change And Dimensional Electronic Selector and Extender, which doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue or make for an effective acronym (“Quick! Back to the CADESAE!”). The “and extender” bit seems redundant – what did it actually extend? – but the first five words give us the acronym CADES, which sounds a bit like TARDIS if you break it into two syllables – CAD-ES – so maybe this first attempt led Coburn to coin the more successful and enduring version? Who knows, dear reader? Now that the BBC is apparently going to post thousands of pages of memos, drafts, and documents onto its website in this s60th anniversary year, we may soon be able to complement our reading of Hayes’ book by looking at the original documents ourselves.

Ten Acre Films has published some excellent, thoughtful, and scholarly Doctor Who books over the years (Richard Marson’s Totally Tasteless – The Life of John Nathan-Turner; Andrew Cartmel’s Script Doctor diaries, to name two). Pull to Open is a worthy addition to its range. It may well be the best new book you will read about Doctor Who in this anniversary year.

Strongly recommended.

Pull to Open: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who is available now from Ten Acre Books.

Many DWC readers will remember affectionately Tim Quinn and Dicky Howlett’s Doctor Who? strip, which ran for fifteen years in Doctor Who Magazine.

The strip poked affectionate fun at the series on screen and behind the scenes. Quite astonishingly, it ran from issue 64 to 225, with some special strips published for the 350th and 500^th issues. Years after the strip finished its run, Tim Quinn and Dicky Howlett have returned to the strip in Who’s 60, a new book which features brand new strips focusing on the Doctors who have graced the show since the original strip was cancelled, plus their own pick of the best of the original comic strips.

Who’s 60 is published by Viking Press Comics, which also publishes Quinn and Howlett’s The Fantastic 400: The World’s Largest Super Hero Team, in which Tim and Dicky take advantage of their long association with Marvel comics to lampoon Marvel’s superheroes and villains.

Who’s 60 is part of the events celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who.

• Who’s 60 is available now, published by Viking Press Comics | ISBN: 978-1912587865 |

• The Fantastic 400: The Worlds Largest Super Hero Team is also available now, published by Viking Press Comics | ISBN: 978-1912587889

From an interview conducted by Simon and Frank Danes (seen here with the Doctor).

Aged 14 and studying for our O levels, Simon and I wrote to Tony Harding c/o the BBC visual effects department, and asked if he would be interested in doing an interview for our fanzine, Fendahl. He replied, said he would, and recorded his answers to our questions in great detail on cassette tape. Looking back, I’m impressed at Tony Harding’s great kindness in giving up so much of his time, for free.  

The interview was originally published in April 1980 and was basically a transcript of Tony’s tape. I’ve lightly edited the original version to clarify some passages and points. I’ve also added a few explanatory remarks in square brackets. – Frank Danes, now aged 57, and not 14 any more. 

I was freelance before I worked at the BBC and on Doctor Who. I started as an animator, doing TV adverts, and then moved on to Century 21 in the days of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. After that, I spent a bit of time working on various feature films before applying to the visual effects department at the BBC and getting a job there.  

I’ve worked on quite a number of Doctor Whos, as it’s our biggest customer, but the first one I ever did was The Green Death. The giant maggots… Well, they were made around a metal spring, covered with foam and two layers of latex. The outer layer was translucent, to give the slimy effect. The front and rear were modelled. They were operated in different ways: some were worked on rods from beneath the set, through a slot. Others were completely mechanical and just twitched. They moved along of their own accord, as it were! We had some maggots which had a bladder inside and we inflated it to make the maggots expand and contract. The slime they oozed out of was, quite simply, Polycell wallpaper paste with a green dye added. We mixed up buckets of the stuff and poured it everywhere.  

The scene where the maggots hatched out of their eggs… as far as I remember, the eggs were made from fibreglass, glued together very lightly. The actual maggot hatching out was done with a glove puppet, and with a clever piece of cutting, we switched to a complete maggot, probably pulled out on lines. Then we introduced yet another cut, switching to a third maggot which was operated from beneath, by rods. 

When the miners pulsed green, we covered their anatomy with a substance called front axial screen material. This is a plastic sheet covered with minute glass balls. Light beamed onto them, of any colour, photographed at exactly the same angle, gives the impression that the object is glowing or pulsing. We had a number of live maggots — on a smaller scale, of course — placed on a model mound. They kept escaping and vanishing into different corners of the studio. In fact, for some time afterwards, everyone was complaining about all these bluebottles flying around! 

Making a monster look realistic and “fleshy” depends, really, on what the thing’s for, and how it’s going to be used. If it has an actor inside it, of course, you have to make it a lightweight thing. If it’s something dragging along the floor, or slithering through the mud, then another technique is used. As a general rule, we carve the object out of polystyrene for actor-operated monsters. Then a cast is taken from fibreglass or, in the case of Kroll [The Power of Kroll], latex. The “fleshy” look was the result of careful dressing over the top. Stick latex-covered tissues over the tentacles, for example, or inserting bladders, or modelling with foam rubber or plastic… It varies, considerably.

One of the annoying things on The Green Death was when we were lying under the set, operating the maggots: every time the actors walked, a cloud of dust would fall on us from above. When we emerged, we looked like real coal miners, much to the amusement of everyone else. 

I only worked on a couple of episodes of The Monster of Peladon but Aggedor was produced by the costume department. We had nothing to do with it, although it was partly mechanical. They have specialist contractors who build costumes of this nature. The same applied to Alpha Centauri, which consisted mainly of a fibreglass headpiece. The arms were strung together with very thin nylon so that you couldn’t actually see them being operated. The Ice Warriors, once again, were made by the costume department. We had little to do with them.  

Generally speaking, the only occasion we have anything to do with the monster costumes, or anything of that nature, is when they have to explode, or disintegrate, or collapse, or when they have some really specialist function. We’re often called upon to carve or sculpt the heads, which are eventually cast. When a monster is completely mechanical, and isn’t operated from within by an actor, such as Kroll, it’s all up to us. 

When we do get to design a monster, an awful lot of thought is given to the comfort of the actor inside. As you can imagine, humping around in a rubber suit under the hot studio lights can be very difficult and unpleasant. In the case of the Nucleus in The Invisible Enemy, the actor had to continually stop and have a rest because the fumes from the fibreglass, from which it was constructed, were slightly overwhelming. 

Arcturus was built completely by us. He was operated in much the same way as a Dalek. There were lots of buttons and switches and lights for the actor to operate. If I remember correctly, we had airlines going into the glass containers on each corner, causing bubbles to form in the liquid. 

Genesis of the Daleks: in those days I was only an assistant, so I didn’t actually design Davros, only help in his construction. This was one of the instances where our department was completely responsible for the costume, because of its specialised nature. The head was sculpted in our sculpture department and the idea of making his wheelchair half a Dalek was to relate him to the actual Daleks, which, of course, he was supposed to have created. 

One very amusing thing about Davros. Michael Wisher rehearsed his part sitting in half of a real Dalek, and to get into the feel of the part, he insisted on wearing a brown paper bag over his head, with a couple of eye holes! 

The Daleks are now maintained by our Enterprises department [presumably BBC Enterprises, the forerunner of BBC Worldwide]. They spend most of their lives making guest appearances at fetes and other functions. Enterprises are now, I believe, responsible for looking after them and keeping them painted. I think there must be half a dozen complete Daleks but for Destiny of the Daleks, a number were made from plastic, specifically to be blown up.

Normally, we only repair the Daleks if they become damaged in the actual programme. 

The [Genesis of the Daleks] Dalek creatures were, once again, made of latex, which was poured over various forms of bladder, balloons generally!  These were connected to airlines and then submerged into tanks of liquid. By switching the air on and off, we could create movement. They were dressed to look rather nasty with polystyrene tubes to represent veins, and some of them were filled with Polycell slime. 

The Kaled dome, I think, was not the same one that Ravon showed the Doctor on the map [in episode one]. It was a wire frame, supported through the bottom of the set with rods. As we detonated the explosives, the rods were pulled down, and the whole thing collapsed. 

What do I think of the Daleks? Well, they’re all right, once you get to know them! But seriously, I think they’ve served their purpose, and it’s time for them to go. 

Regarding deviations from the original script: just about every Doctor Who I’ve worked on has altered immediately, as we start to record it. This is largely due to the impossibility of achieving what the script writers require. 

Revenge of the Cybermen: as usual, our department had little to do with the design of the Cybermen, although we did adapt the helmet to fire the small charges. They were operated by the actors within the costumes, electronically. They consisted of a small amount of flash wool, fired by an electrical fuse. The actor was protected, as the container for the charge was carefully isolated by a metal plate. The Cybermats were loosely based on the ones from Invasion, with certain modifications. They were mostly controlled on nylon wires, but one or two were radio controlled.  

I honestly can’t remember why stock film of a rocket was used [for the launch of the Skystriker]: probably because we were running out of time or money to do it as a model. 

The size of spaceship models varies enormously. It all depends on just what you are trying to achieve. A small ship in the distance is obviously a small model. A larger section of the ship is a much bigger model! A typical example is the Liberator from Blake’s 7, which is about three feet from tip to tip.  

Another thing that varies is the amount of detail you apply to the surface. For a close shot, the detail is very fine. Plastic dressing from model kits is often used. In the case of the Cybership, it was supposed to be quite an ancient looking vessel, and, at the end, it was required to explode. So we made one which was almost entirely polystyrene, which exploded, and one other was used for the docking sequences.

I understand from my colleagues in the Costume Department that the Cybermen costumes were made from scratch. The Invasion Cybermen had deteriorated so much that they were beyond repair. No doubt that’s now the state of the ones we used for Revenge… 

As far as credits are concerned, it’s up to the producer and director who deserves a credit and who doesn’t, which is why the [actors playing the] Cybermen were not credited. Also, a monster may be operated by the Visual Effects Department, so we are not entitled to a credit, either.  

One or two things went badly wrong and indeed could have been quite tragic. We filmed Voga in Wookey Hole [a cave system in Somerset, England] in a cavern known as the Witches’ Grotto, which was supposed to be haunted. The first incident concerned Lis Sladen, who was playing Sarah. She was supposed to be travelling along on a powered water ski, along a subterranean river, and she actually fell off. It was fortunate that the stunt man who was on hand was a life saver and was able to catch hold of her before she was swept into an underground cavern. 

The second incident concerned an electrician in the same cavern. He was fixing some lights high up; the ladder he was standing on gave way, and he tumbled down a flight of rock steps and broke his leg.  

Finally, a very standard pyrotechnic effect which was used over and over again, with 100 percent success, refused to go off. We decided that there could be something pretty odd about Wookey Hole. Quite frankly, we were delighted to leave that particular location. 

Moving on now to The Invisible Enemy. I must admit I was not actually involved in any of the spaceship effects — they were all handled by Ian Scoones. I took over around the time K9 made his appearance and, as you probably know, I was responsible for K9’s design. 

The set of the interior of the brain was a combined effort between ourselves and the set design department. However, we were responsible for such things as the phagocytes and their operation. The costume designer, Raymond Hughes, designed the Nucleus, and it was operated from inside by John Scott Martin.  

As for the grievances about K9… Well, details like getting him in and out of the TARDIS were of secondary importance as we built him in three weeks flat! We knew we could do a cut there [as K9 entered the TARDIS] and at no time were we required to redesign him. Since the original K9 was built, there have been numerous modifications. One of the latest is that he can travel over rough ground, and a colleague of mine is currently building a K9 for that purpose.  

The oscilloscope was specifically asked for in his first story. We did it with a CSO [colour separation overlay, i.e., blue screen] blue panel. If anyone needs it again, we have the facilities to repeat it!

As you know, K9 was affected by the stray signals sent out by the [electronic studio] cameras and wouldn’t do what was required of him. It’s near perfect now, but back then…! There was one scene in which K9 was required to travel down a passageway, instead of which he reversed, poked out his antennae, and fired his gun! That sort of thing happened quite often in the early days. His receiving aerial has now been screened almost totally from stray signals.  

The Power of Kroll was the last Doctor Who story that I ever worked on. Kroll was, once again, basically fibreglass and latex. Inside him was a series of rods, levers, and cables, and he was operated from behind by three or four different people. All the levers operated different functions. The palps on the front were attached to an airline, to make them expand and contract. Water was pumped through the mouth parts to give the drooling, slavering effect. The technique used for filming him was split screen. We filmed the live action with the Swampies running about in the foreground and then filmed the monster at our model stage. Unfortunately, the dividing line between the two pictures was too hard and gave the game away. We could have hidden the line with a different technique but it was out of our control.  

Kroll was about 12 feet from tentacle tip to tentacle tip. The central dome was about two foot six inches in diameter. The Refinery was a four foot model but due to poor tank facilities, it was filmed at the wrong angle. We did not get the best value from that particular model. I must confess that I was very disappointed about that whole sequence.  

We employed several methods for operating the full sized tentacles [used in the studio and on location]. Frequently, a shot would be reversed, just pulling them away from the actors, which gave the impression that the tentacles were swinging out and wrapping round them. Mainly, Kroll’s tentacles were operated on lines and rods, and swung and humped around by us. They were about fifteen to twenty feet long and consisted of a coiled wire in a foam and latex outer skin. As you can imagine, after dragging them around in the swamps, they became awfully heavy and difficult to control. 

We were working in a tidal marsh alongside the Maltings in Suffolk. You can imagine the problems this presented. At the beginning of a sequence, we would be on dry land, and at the end, up to our necks in water. Because of this, there were great problems with continuity and it just so happened that we chose the few days of the year when the whole area was affected by the spring tides, and the tide came up twenty or thirty feet further than it normally would have done.  

We did have some luck. For a week, we had nothing but brilliant sunshine, and we then had to film a sequence in a storm. The skies opened and it poured. Our rain simulation equipment was hardly needed. 

What sort of budget are we allocated? Well, this varies from story to story. The average is about £1000 [apparently £7340.19 in today’s terms] in terms of materials, and it’s up to each individual effects man to calculate the man hours. When you stop and consider that this is for four or six half-hour episodes, the same as a feature film, the budget is very light. Our main problem is to achieve good effects using as little money as possible.

It is, of course, the right of the producer and director to examine and reject our designs. They don’t often exercise this right, except when cost rears its ugly head. They usually accept that we have arrived at our decision after much care and thought.  

Computer consoles are usually hired from various contractors. However, if a particular panel has to perform a specific function, then we’re involved, and get fed up wiring up flashing lights! 

The new design for the TARDIS set, which first appeared in The Invisible Enemy, was in fact a copy of the old one. It was made from different materials: mainly fibreglass. We weren’t, as a department, responsible for the design, but we did redo and rebuild the TARDIS console. 

I sometimes have a shrewd suspicion that script writers have no idea what they want. Usually references are extremely vague and the end design is sprung by a conference between ourselves, the producer, the director, and, occasionally, the script writer too. 

The rays for space guns are usually provided by the inlay operator, sometimes called the electronic effects operator. We do discuss the effect required and desired, and in certain cases we put a small charge on the end of the gun as a form of emission for the ray. Quite often, there is another charge for where the ray strikes an actor or a wall.  

For falling masonry, several different techniques are employed. For small objects, debris and dust, we use large boxes called dropping boxes which are electrically operated to hinge open at the bottom, dropping huge amounts of dust etc.. For larger things like walls and archways, we suspend them from electrical devices called bomb releases, and then we drop small and large objects simultaneously. Also, we use small charges to blow things over create dust and smoke.  

Filming model spaceships has so many different techniques that I’d need at least ten pages to explain them all, coupled with model filming. We do often use wires and double exposure so that in the first exposure we can hide all the mechanics supporting the model, and in the second we reveal the sky or the planet or whatever behind it. Different types of shots, as I say. Sometimes we track the camera towards a static spaceship, masking off all the surrounding features; sometimes we “fly” a model towards a camera, or around or above it. If we include an explosion, then we have to carefully hide all the wires that lead up to the charge. 

Generally speaking, the ships are made from fibreglass or in some instances balsa wood, or maybe plastic drainpipes… you name it, we use it! We do have problems from time to time with motors burning but we have methods of isolating the flame source and thus protecting our models.

Up until recently, I had my doubts about the use of CSO but I was involved in an SF/comedy show called Come Back, Mrs Noah [does anyone remember this? It starred Molly Sugden and Ian Lavender and, as I remember, reused the Ark model from The Ark in Space as a space station – Frank] and CSO was very useful in achieving quite complicated model shots. The opening sequence showed the spaceship circling round. By using CSO, it saved an awful lot of time that would have been spent had we done it on film. The thing about CSO is that you can see the end result immediately: you don’t have to wait for the following day’s rushes. If the thing wasn’t successful, you can go back and do it again.  

Up until I joined the Visual Effects Department, I was an ardent fan of Doctor Who, and I still watch it… I must confess I am a little disappointed about the effects. So many sequences could have been so much better, had there been more time and money available. Doctor Who is often compared, special effects-wise, to things like Star Trek, but American series do have higher budgets and probably much more time to shoot them. I was surprised that Doctor Who has caught on in the USA, in fact, as it is nowhere near as glossy and slick as their SF. 

Despite all this, there is an element in Doctor Who that all the other SF operas seem to lack. There’s a humour and spontaneity which is, I’m sure, the reason it’s continued for so long. Against things in a more serious vein, like Blake’s 7, I think Doctor Who will outlast them all and maybe go on forever! 

I wouldn’t really like to comment on the quality of the scripts! Actually, I have tried writing a script myself, and it’s very difficult to avoid all the usual cliches. So, although one can criticise, it takes a very keen mind to write an interesting and successful Doctor Who story. 

News for fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: yes, the TV version will include live actors. In fact, a colleague or mine, Jimmy Francis, will be doing the series (he’s just finished working on Blake’s 7). He’s already started reading the scripts and planning and comparing designs.  

At the moment, I’m working on several different programmes. An amusing drama called The History Man for BBC Birmingham, another programme about a charter company called Buccaneer, and I’m moving on to – wait for it – Doctor Who! But they haven’t bothered to tell me anything yet, and all I can tell you about the new season [Tom Baker’s final season – Frank] is that only two scripts are in so far. 

Best wishes to you all,

TONY HARDING  

March 1980 

Star Wars actor John Boyega is the latest big name actor to state that he would love to play the Doctor.

Speaking to Radio Times, Boyega said he would “love” a cameo appearance in the show. Boyega played Finn in the last three Star Wars films of the so-called “Skywalker Saga”.

The 31 year old actor agreed that diversity is improving in the film and television industry:

“It is opening up. You get inspired by things like Ncuti Gatwa playing the Doctor in Doctor Who – that is special to me. The glass ceiling can’t limit us. It’s exciting to see what comes out of this new stage of film-making and entertainment.”

Would he like to play the Doctor? Boyega responded enthusiastically:

“I would love that! But get me in an episode where I’m one of the many Doctors in many timelines so I can just cameo it. Or I’d be the assistant, whatever. I’d show up – but just for one episode.”

It feels like he’s seen Fugitive of the Judoon, doesn’t it? Or is a fan of multiverse storytelling…

Either way, it sounds like he isn’t too keen on joining another huge franchise and sticking with it for an extended period of time. So maybe, just maybe, he could show up as a guest character, not the Doctor or a companion.

Following the recent discovery of behind the scenes photos from 1973’s The Green Death comes news of another trove of unpublished photos from another Season 10 story, Frontier in Space, and the highly acclaimed 1975 story, Genesis of the Daleks.

Last year, a full reel of photos from episode five of Frontier in Space was discovered in the personal collection of the late Don Smith, a BBC staff photographer. Don took the photos during camera rehearsals for the story on Wednesday 1st November 1972 in Studio 3 at BBC Television Centre in London. They prominently feature the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and the original (and to this author, the definitive) Master, Roger Delgado, in his final appearance in the role. Also depicted are the Draconian Emperor (John Woodnutt), the Draconian Prince (Peter Birrell), the President of Earth (Vera Fusek), and General Williams (Michael Hawkins).

One small but intriguing detail is revealed for the first time by the pictures. The Master often used aliases (Emil Keller, the Reverend Mr Magister, Professor Thascales etc.), but in Frontier in Space, he was posing as the unnamed Commissioner for Sirius Four.

However, although it was never spoken or seen on screen, a specific name was dreamt up by the production team: G R Xsathos – legible in a close-up detail of a document bearing the Master’s fake credentials, held by actor Michael Hawkins.

Photos from Genesis of the Daleks were also found in Don Smith’s collection. These were taken during the studio recording of episode two on Tuesday 28th January, 1975 in Studio 1 at the BBC television centre. The photos feature the first appearance of Davros, demonstrating his Mark III travel machine (question: what did marks I and II look like?) in a ruined building. Gharman (Dennis Chinnery) is in shot but not wearing his costume. One photo shows Michael Wisher revealing his left hand as he is assisted by a member of the crew; another close up reveals a small bulb held by Wisher. Connected to a wire, it is thought that it might have operated Davros’s flashing blue eye in the middle of his forehead: something that only seemed to work intermittently during shooting of the story. Other photos feature Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan, Tom Baker as the Doctor and James Garbutt as Ronson.

You can look at all these photographs via the Radio Times.

UPDATE: Yes, as some of you might’ve guessed, this is an April Fool’s gag — but we reckon we fooled a couple of you at least credible though, right? Stay tuned to the DWC for some actual news every other day of the year…

ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOLLOWS:

!In a development likely to perplex and even anger some Doctor Who fans, a Bad Wolf press release has indicated that Disney’s influence on Ncuti Gatwa’s first season is likely to be much more radical than at first thought.

Russell T Davies assured millions of Doctor Who fans that the nature of the show will not change under Disney, its new worldwide distributors. RTD explained that any editorial involvement from Disney (and Sony, who are also involved in producing new episodes of Who) has been kept to an absolute minimum. “Yes, they give us notes but they are good notes. One note asked us to change the order of scenes in an opening sequence and you know what? They were absolutely right. There isn’t a programme that reaches your television screens which has got there without notes from its American production partners.”

In what some might see as a complete reversal of this position, a Bad Wolf press release reveals that Disney’s influence on the new season is profound enough to change the nature of Doctor Who in radical and potentially far reaching ways. An extract from the press release reads:

“What better way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and the enduring appeal of Disney’s wonderful characters than by teaming up the good Doctor with some of Disney’s most loveable creations?

“In some special sequences, recorded in the Bad Wolf studios in Wales and completed by our animators in the US, the new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson)  step from the TARDIS to discover themselves in a magical land, walking once upon a dream! Expect to see the Doctor build a snowman with Frozen’s Olaf, Ruby mine for pearls with the Seven Dwarfs, and both to sing their hearts out with the mice from Cinderella!”

Further details of the story, which appears to be a Christmas episode, have not been released but speculation is already mounting that it is a sequel to the 1968 episode The Mind Robber, set in the Land of Fiction and ruled by the Master (no, not that one: the Master of the Land of Fiction).

Lest fans should be too dismayed by the potential Disneyfication of Doctor Who , a “spokesman close to the production team” was quoted in the Daily Mirror (which often gets accurate scoops on Doctor Who) as saying:

“Fans shouldn’t worry. They need to remember that this is Doctor Who. Who’s to say that Olaf won’t transform into a rabid, carnivorous alien and bite the Doctor’s bloody head off? And as for the Seven Dwarfs, they get blasted to kingdom come.”

We at DWC can only await the Disney crossover with… excitement and anticipation!