Reverse The Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era
Part One - Season 7
You come to Doctor Who in 1970, and it feels in every sense like a new series, it has a new doctor, it has a new title sequence, it's in colour, the doctor has been condemmed to live on earth in the 20th century so the outer space is gone.
Towards the end of the Patrick Troughton era, the audience ratings and interest in Doctor Who was unfortuntly decreasing, and it was the decision of producer Peter Bryant and script editor Derrick Sherwin to take the show into a new direction.
They had planned to exile the Doctor to earth, meaning that all the stories take place on earth, which in terms of production is cheaper than having to build an alien planet or the inside of a spaceship every other serial. The 1968 story "The Invasion" was a trail and error dummy run of this idea to test the waters, of what it would be like for the Doctor to have action adventures set on Earth, with the assistance of UNIT. (United, Nations, Intelligence, Taskforce)
Doctor Who's seventh season was one of the most important in the show's history. Patrick Troughton's final season (Season 6) had suffered poor audience ratings, and without significant improvement, Jon Pertwee's first season could have seen the end of Doctor Who for good.
There would have been no Tom Baker, or David Tennant, or Jodie Whittaker. Doctor Who would probably have ended up being one of those classic TV shows of the 1960's that just faded away in the mists of the abise.
However, fortuntly, that wasn't to be the case. As it was the collabrative effort of the new team of producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, and leading actor Jon Pertwee which made the series a huge success all over again. The iconic moment from "Spearhead from Space" where all the shop window dummies come alive and start rampaging the streets of London has to be one of the most memorable moments in televison history to date.
SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE
Spearhead from Space was to play a big part in Doctor Who's history. Not only was it Jon Pertwee's first story, and the first story of season 7, but it was to be the first Doctor Who story to be filmed in colour.
However, the majority of audience members watching it at home at the time still had black and white televison sets.
It was also the first story to feature the Autons to the series, who would go on to be a memerable and popluar Doctor Who monster.
Let's not forget that it was the beginning of the formation of the UNIT Family and the start of UNIT as the form of support whilst the Doctor was living out his exile on Earth, after being condemmed to stay there by the time lords at the end of Patrick Troughton last story 'The War Games'.
The cast included Nicholas Courtney reprising his role Brigadier Lethbrigde Stewart and re introduced him as a full time cast memeber, Caroline John as Dr. Liz Shaw - The Doctor's new assistant, and John Levene as Sergant Benton.
At least to start off with, however, the UNIT Family was to grow in later seasons of the Pertwee era.
The story was set in Essex and London, was shot on 16mm colour cameras.
Industrial action by certain elements of BBC staff meant that this serial was filmed almost entirely on location, with the majority being undertaken at BBC Wood Norton and the pub in nearby Radford.
Lacking videotaped studio material, this also meant that it was the only story, to date (excluding the TV movie), to be shot entirely on film.
Other stories in the original series intercut material from either source as required or, especially in the last four years when film was eschewed even on location, were entirely on tape.
The change to colour production also necessitated changes to the programme’s opening titles. Designer Bernard Lodge, who had produced the previous sets of titles used up until Spearhead from Space, originally intended to produce a new set using the same 'howlaround' technique that he had for the previous titles.
Tests showed, however, that the technique did not produce satisfactory results when used with colour equipment and so the final set were produced in black and white before being manually tinted. These were completed in August 1969, a month before work began on the serial.
The new titles also introduced a new logo for the series. Unlike the logos used for the First and Second Doctor's eras, which used a generic typeface, the new logo was an attempt at being more stylised, particularly in the presentation of the initial "D" in "Doctor" and the "H" in "Who." This logo would be used until the final episode of The Green Death in 1973.
DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS
Set in an English moorland, the cave system below it, and London. Doctor Who and the Silurians, focused on the alien time traveller the Third Doctor attempting to brake peace between humanity and the Silurians, an intelligent bipedal race of reptilians that ruled Earth before humans.
The idea of this story came about when Terrance Dicks, the script editor, was in discussion with his writing friend Malcome Hulke, who he knew as Mac and he explained to him the direction in which Doctor Who was going and in responce to that it was Malcome Hulke which came to conclusion that there are two scinarios in this situation 'Alien Invasion' or 'Mad Scientists'.
A clever twist to this, is that the aliens have been there all along. They were here before man. They went into hybernation and have suddenly woken up to find that their planet as they still believe it to be has been swamped by human pests, which they wish to extinguish.
The story is the first appearance of the Silurians, for whom the Silurian hypothesis in science is named.
After the previous story, producers Derrick Sherwin and Peter Bryant (who was originally to have the producer's credit on this story) were transferred to the television series Paul Temple, and the BBC intended for Barry Letts to become producer. However, Letts was committed to another production, and could not be released until after the location work on Silurians was completed. Script editor Terrance Dicks and his assistant Trevor Ray shared the production responsibilities for the location work.
The incidental music for the serial was composed by Carey Blyton, who would also contribute music for Death to the Daleks (1974) and Revenge of the Cybermen (1975).
This story is the first to be recorded using colour studio cameras. The previous serial, Spearhead from Space, was the first in colour, but was shot entirely on location (i.e., outside the electronic TV studio), and on film (as opposed to videotape, the standard method for recording Doctor Who). Due to the move to colour, the production team made use of a technique known as Colour Separation Overlay (CSO, or Chroma key), which allowed images to be superimposed over each other using colour separation. This was used extensively in the series for many years, beginning with this serial.
Location filming took place at Marylebone station in London on 12 November 1969, but after the prints were damaged, the scenes were reshot on 24 November after the rest of the serial had been finished. Other location work was undertaken in Surrey, with the heathland scenes filmed at Hankley Common.
THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH
David Whitaker was a writer that was appointed by Peter Bryant and Derrick Sherwin to write a script for Patrick Troughton's final season. However, whatever ideas or story concepts Whitaker produced, they were in the eyes of Bryant and Sherwin not strong enough. After further heated debates and constant re writes, the production team found themselves in a difficult situation which was resolved in Whitaker being paid off and having to walk away from the project entirly.
The Ambassadors of Death was written by Trevor Ray, Terrance Dicks, and Malcome Hulke and was credited to David Whitaker on television. This story was directed by Michael Ferguson and was to be the second installment of seven part serials, which again was an idea put through by Bryant and Sherwin as another money saver idea, stretching the length of stoires would give them more engagment with the audience and would spread costs of using props and sets over a longer period and saves the production a little money.
The serial is set in London, Hertfordshire and the Earth's orbit. In the serial, the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee and the international organisation UNIT investigate the disappearance of astronauts who have lost contact with Earth. They become involved in a conspiracy and meet alien ambassadors who have been sent to Earth, who seem to have ill intentions. It's a story of espionarge, visitors from mars, and outer space science. Something a bit more adult, compared to the demographic of a younger audience that would have enjoyed Patrick Troughton's era.
This story was initially developed to feature the Second Doctor and his companions, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. As such, it was set well into the future, and did not include UNIT.
When all three actors left the programme at the end of the sixth season, it was rewritten to fit the consequential revamp.
Working titles for this story included The Invaders from Mars, and The Carriers of Death.
The opening titles of this story start with the normal music and graphics, yet immediately fade after the Doctor Who title caption. There is a short "teaser" for episode one, and episodes 2–7 feature a reprise of the previous episode's cliffhanger. This is followed by a "scream", accompanied by a zoom-in on the words "The Ambassadors", concluding with "of Death", and a "zap" effect.
The experiment was not repeated after this story. This was the first story to feature the sting or "scream" into the end title theme. It was added by Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to improve and shape the closing credits.
Location filming took place during January and February 1970 at Blue Circle Cement in Kent, Marlow Weir in Buckinghamshire, Southall Gas Works in Middlesex, and various sites in Aldershot, Hampshire. Studio recording then took place during February and March 1970. The alien underneath the spacesuit was achieved by layering the actor's face with blue make-up, tissue and latex rubber. Because it was uncomfortable for the actors, the make-up was applied shortly before they had to go on set.
As the story was supposed to take place in the late 1970s, the spacesuit was designed as a futuristic version. Caroline John's husband, Geoffrey Beevers, briefly appears as a UNIT radio operator, credited as "Private Johnson".
INFERNO
Inferno, which was also known as 'The Mole Hole Project' was to be the concluding story to Season 7, and to be Liz Shaw's swan song. Even though the actress Caroline John wasn't to know that at the time.
From the point of veiw of the production team, and Jon Pertwee himself, the relationship between the Doctor and Liz Shaw didn't quite match up. Liz was a highly qualified scientists from Cambridge, who's interlect and intellegence was on a similar level to the Doctor's. Something which Pertwee felt wasn't going to work long term.
Barry Lett's the producer, thought so too, and as such, Inferno was to be Liz's last story.
A group of eccentric scientists are planning to reach a remarkable scientific discovery by penetrating the Earth's crust via a huge drill, burrowing down into the centre of the Earth. The Doctor wishes to try out the TARDIS console and in doing so, transports himself to a parallel version of the world he lives in where the drilling project causes catatrophic amounts of heat and force which result in the desruction of the world.
The characters we know and love, we witness the darker sides to their characters had they been evil. The Brigadier is the Brigade Leader and has a scar on his face and an eye patch over his eye.
Given the destruction of the world was a big disaster, it became clear that the story needed a monster for viewers to relate the story to, which is why the Primords were included. A monster with green skin and hair with sharp teeth and claws and were ravashing like starving dogs or wolves.
Scriptwriter Don Houghton was a personal friend of the Doctor Who script editor, Terrance Dicks: they had worked together for Lew Grade at ATV in the 1960s, on the TV soap opera Crossroads.
During a train journey, Houghton discussed with Dicks his idea for a serial based on the real life drilling project known as Project Mohole. Budgetary limitations eventually led to the concept of the parallel world, so that the same actors and sets could be used for seven episodes, rather than the four episodes in Houghton's original story breakdown, in order to cut costs.
Despite Douglas Camfield receiving sole credit as director, episodes 3 to 7 were directed by producer Barry Letts, due to Camfield suffering a minor heart attack on April 27, 1970.
Letts later stated that Camfield's preparations were so meticulous, he merely followed Camfield's plans for Episodes 3 and 4, but the latter three episodes were largely his own work. Camfield remained credited as director, as BBC regulations at the time forbade Letts from being credited for more than one production role, but, more importantly, Letts did not want Camfield's illness to become widely known lest it harm his career.
In a round about sort of way, it brings Season 7 to an epic conclusion and was to shape the start of a very successful era of Doctor Who, with many great achievements to follow.
NEXT TIME: We take a look at Season 8, and the introduction to one of the most iconic Doctor Who villians of all time!
