Following the recent discovery of behind the scenes photos from 1973’s The Green Death comes news of another trove of unpublished photos from another Season 10 story, Frontier in Space, and the highly acclaimed 1975 story, Genesis of the Daleks.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