David Bradley chats about playing William Hartnell in Doctor Who docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time and the responsibility to honour William Hartnell’s memory. In the interview David Bradley also reveals what he thinks about Peter Capaldi taking over from Matt Smith as the new Doctor in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary year at the 2013 Collectormania comic con.
Even with the recent recovery of nine missing episodes from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear, Patrick Troughton’s tenure as the Doctor still has 54 missing episodes, including four serials in which not a single episode is held – The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Macra Terror and Fury From the Deep. William Hartnell’s Doctor has 44 of his episodes missing, including six serials without a single episode – Marco Polo, Mission to the Unknown, The Myth Makers, The Massacre, The Savages and The Smugglers.
In the absence of so many stories, making an informed choice on the Top 5 serials for the First and the Second Doctors is both difficult and hypothetical. A brilliant soundtrack could mask poor visual representations, whilst a boring audio may hide a visually stunning masterpiece. Without seeing the moving pictures one can never be 100% certain that a story is as good as its reputation. All that being said, here’s the Doctor Who Mind Robber’s humble opinion of the Second Doctor’s Top 5 stories.
Is The Space Pirates really as bad as its reputation? Only the moving pictures can show for sure
The recovery of five episodes and release of all six parts of The Enemy of the World on iTunes recently quickly lead to a reappraisal of this story’s worth. Previously only episode three had been held in the BBC Archives and released on the triple DVD set, Lost in Time. That episode was somewhat unrepresentative of the other five and caused many to underestimate the serial’s true worth.
The Enemy of the World was the only Season 5 story without monsters and not of the “base under siege” genre. Patrick Troughton’s dual role as the Doctor and the evil would-be world dictator, Salamander, allowed him to show another side of his acting skills, notwithstanding the rather dubious Mexican accent. Enemy was also Barry Letts’ Doctor Who debut and heralded the show’s first action scenes involving helicopters and hovercraft. Such adventures would become second nature during the tenure of the Third Doctor.
Patrick Troughton plays the evil would-be world dictator, Salamader, in The Enemy of the World
This will undoubtedly be a controversial choice however it’s one of my personal favourites. Only episodes one and three are held in the BBC Archives. The last story of Ben and Polly’s tenure as companions, The Faceless Ones is set in the ‘present day’ and features excellent location filming at Gatwick Airport in London. Pauline Collins appears as Samantha Briggs, a young woman from Liverpool who is searching for her brother who did not return from a package holiday to Rome. A psychological thriller about identity loss, it was sure to have heavily influenced Mark Gatiss’ 2006 episode, The Idiot’s Lantern.
The Faceless Ones influenced the 2006 story The Idiot’s Lantern
One of the most highly regarded Sixties Dalek stories, The Evil of the Daleks was the first and only serial to be repeated in the UK during that decade. The repeat was written into the script of the Season 5 finale, The Wheel in Space, and the Season 6 premiere, The Dominators. The new companion Zoe was to view the Doctor’s thought patterns, presumably during the season break, and decide whether she wished to join the TARDIS Crew.
Yet another missing story, only episode two of The Evil of the Daleks is currently held in the BBC Archives. The story introduced the Dalek Emperor which was a direct spin off from the Whitaker penned Daleks cartoons in TV Century 21 magazine. The Dalek “human factor” is intriguing and like The Faceless Ones, undoubtedly influenced New Series Doctor Who. Robert Shearman’s Series 1 story, Dalek, has several nods to The Evil of the Daleks, whilst Gareth Roberts’ short novel, I Am a Dalek, revives the “human factor” in more than mere words.
The Evil of the Daleks was the first Doctor Who serial ever repeated and the first and only repeat to be scripted into serials
2. The War Games
Patrick Troughton’s last serial as the Second Doctor, The War Games is a 10 part epic which forever changed the history of Doctor Who. Although the name of his home planet is not yet disclosed, the Doctor is revealed to be a Time Lord. A renegade Time Lord, the War Chief, has given the secrets of time travel to an alien race which seeks to conquer the galaxy. In their quest to build the best fighting force, human soldiers have been transported from Earth to fight a number of simultaneous wars. These discrete battle zones see engagements from the First World War, the American Civil War, Russo-Japanese War, English Civil War, Boar War, Mexican Civil War, Crimean War, Thirty Year War, Peninsula War, and Roman and Greek war zones.
Being unable to return all the War Games participants to their own time and space, the Doctor reluctantly calls in the Time Lords. Having himself been a renegade since stealing a TARDIS and taking to the universe, the Doctor is at last compelled to face justice for breaching the Time Lords’ Non Interference Policy. Jamie and Zoe are returned to their own times, with all but the memories of their first adventure with the Doctor wiped, and the Doctor is sentenced to exile on Earth. His knowledge of the TARDIS’s time travel functions is denied him, and he is forced to change his bodily form. The term “regeneration” has not yet been coined. So ends the monochrome era of Doctor Who and Patrick Troughton’s three year tenure as the Doctor.
Only in the 1960s could you get something as trippy and psychedelic as this
An almost psychedelic trip through the land of fiction, The Mind Robber is just about as good as Doctor Who gets. This five part serial sees the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe caught in the world of children’s fairytales. They encounter Lemuel Gulliver, brilliantly portrayed by Bernard Horsfall, Princess Repunzel, Medusa, a Unicorn and a cast of Who created characters. Far from being what it seems, nothing is reality. Zoe and Jamie are transformed into fictional characters after Jamie had earlier had his physical appearance altered. The TARDIS explodes for the first time and the Doctor and his crew find themselves drifting in space. Zoe shows that being small in stature is in no way detrimental to fighting a 21st Century cartoon superhero, and Repunzel’s hair really is the strongest and most effective way of quickly scaling rocky cliff faces. It’s all brilliant stuff!
The Doctor, Zoe and the re-faced Jamie meet up with wind-up tin toy soldiers in The Mind Robber
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
Doctor Who’s first Director, Waris Hussein, has given an extensive interview on the genesis of Doctor Who to the Radio Times. Hussein, who directed the debut serial An Unearthly Child, together with the missing seven part epic Marco Polo, speaks candidly about Verity Truman, Who’s first producer, Sidney Newman, the Canadian born head of BBC drama and the First Doctor, William Hartnell. You can read the first part of this enlightening interview here.
The second part of Waris Hussein’s interview, in which he discusses Mark Gatiss’ drama, An Adventure in Time and Space, can be found here.
[In reference to the Conscience of Marinus]: I don’t believe that man was made to be controlled by machines. Machines can make laws, but they cannot preserve justice. Only human beings can do that.
The Conscience of Marinus – a machine with the power to not only judge good and evil, but also to permeate the minds of citizens, eradicating all evil thoughts and intentions, and replacing them instead with only good and honourable deeds.
9. The Romans
[After escaping an Assassin]: Alright? Of course I’m alright, my child. You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition. I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction of the gentle art of fisticuffs.
The Doctor displays his finely tuned fighting skills whilst in battle with a would-be assassin in The Romans
8. The Aztecs
[Speaking to Barbara, who is masquerading as the Yetaxa]: You can’t rewrite history. Not one line!
The Doctor with Barbara, who is masquerading as the reincarnated priest, Yetaxa in The Aztecs
[Referring to his adventures with Ian and Barbara]: It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and now it’s turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure.
The Doctor and Ian in The Sensorites
Our lives are important — at least to us — and as we see, so we learn… Our destiny is in the stars, so let’s go and search for it.
The Doctor masquerades as a district official in The Reign of Terror
5. The Savages
Jano: Do you not realize that all progress is based on exploitation?
The Doctor: That, sir, is protracted murder!
The Doctor and Jago, the Elders’ leader in The Savages
[To Ian and Barbara]: Have you ever thought what it’s like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet – without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day….
The Doctor and Susan with the unwilling companions, Barbara and Ian in An Unearthly Child
3. The Chase
[Ian and Barbara’s farewell as they prepare to leave in the Daleks’ time machine]
Barbara: We’re not idiots! We want to go home!
Ian: Yes! Home! I want to sit in a pub and drink a pint of beer again! I want to walk in a park, and watch a cricket match. And above all, I want to belong somewhere, and do something! Instead of this aimless drifting around in space!
The Doctor: AIMLESS?! I tried for two years to get you both home!
Ian: Well you haven’t been successful, have you?
The Doctor: How dare you, young man! HOW DARE YOU, SIR! I didn’t invite you into the ship in the first place! You both thrust yourselves upon me!
Barbara: OH, DOCTOR! STOP IT!
The Doctor: Oh, for heaven’s sake! I’ve never heard such nonsense!
Barbara: Look. I know we’ve thrust ourselves upon you! But we’ve been through a great deal since then! And all we’ve been through will remain with us always! It could be the most exciting part of my life. Look, Doctor, we’re different people. And now we have a chance to go home. We want to take that chance. Will you help us work that machine?
The Doctor: …No. No! I will not aid and abet suicide!
Ian: Oh, he’s as stubborn as ever!
Vicki: Doctor.
The Doctor: . Hmm?
Vicki: Doctor, you’ve got let them go if they want too. They want to be back in their own time.
The Doctor: Don’t you want to go with them, child? Hmm?
Vicki: What for? Why would I want to be back in their time for? I want to be with you! Doctor… You’ve got to help them.
The Doctor: Don’t you realise, child, of the enormous risks?
Vicki: But it’s up to them!
The Doctor and his companions outside of the Dalek time machine in The Chase
2. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
[As he prepares to leave Susan on Earth]: During all the years I’ve been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me. You are still my grandchild and always will be. But now, you’re a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David you will be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do. Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear.
The Doctor speaks to Susan from inside the TARDIS just prior to it dematerializing in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don’t quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we’re too small to realise its final pattern. Therefore don’t try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe. [Steven leaves the TARDIS] Steven… Even after all this time, he cannot understand. I dare not change the course of history. Well, at least I taught him to take some precautions; he did remember to look at the scanner before he opened the doors. And now, they’re all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton — Chesterton — they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home. Back to my own planet. But I can’t… I can’t…
The Doctor and Steven enjoy a quiet ale in the lost serial The Massacre
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
An article posted today in the TV & Radio Blog of UK newspaper, The Guardian, has brought hope to some fans that the BBC may be withholding confirmation of missing episode finds. In the post by Charles Norton it has been revealed that the rediscovered interview with William Hartnell was actually located by researcher Richard Bignell four years ago in 2009. It had long been believed that no television interviews with William Hartnell existed. The interview, which had been held in the Bristol office of the BBC, was not digitized until the summer of 2011 and withheld from the public until a suitable DVD release. It will now be included as a special feature in The Tenth Planet DVD which is due to appear in November 2013.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of this find is Richard Bignall’s comment concerning keeping it a secret. “It’s been quite a difficult thing not to say anything about it”, said Bignell. One is left wondering what else the BBC is not letting on that it has. Four years of clock and dagger secrecy about a three minute television interview is bizarre, to say the least.
You can read Charles Norton’s blog post here. It also includes a quite fascinating insight into William Hartnell’s personality. My post about the BBC’s Hartnell interview discovery can be read here.
A fan produced mock DVD sleeve for The Tenth Planet. Source http://blog.project76.tv/2006/06/5506/
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
Thank you to Frivolous Monsters for your tip off to the breaking news that a 1967 television interview with William Hartnell has been found and will be released on The Tenth Planet DVD in November 2013. As mentioned in my blog yesterday, until now there have been no known interviews with Hartnell out of character.
The find, which has been confirmed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team member Steve Roberts, can be read about in an article in Doctor Who News here.
Rumours of the recovery of missing episodes of Doctor Who still continue but to date there has been no evidence produced of any finds.
The Yeti’s second adventure in The Web of Fear is rumoured to have been found
An also rumoured recovery is a television interview with the First Doctor, William Hartnell. To date no interviews with Hartnell, out of character, are known to exist. The opportunity to hear Hartnell speak in his normal accent is widely sought after.
The Enemy of the World is one of the rumoured Missing Episodes finds. In this serial Patrick Troughton plays the dictator Salamander who is the spitting image of the Doctor
Outpost Skaro has reported on its Twitter feed that a “mate of mine is saying that people are beginning to see Enemy of the World … hope it’s true!” The most commonly bandied around number for returned episodes is 17, although claims that as many of 94 of the missing 106 have been returned, have been made. The oft quoted 17 returned would probably entail all seven episodes of Marco Polo, and five each of The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear. Episode three of Enemy and episode one of Web are held in the BBC Archives and have been released on the triple DVD set, Lost in Time.
Episode 3 of The Enemy of the World and Episode 1 of The Web of Fear are held in the BBC Archives and have been released on the triple DVD set, Lost in Time
Given the decimated nature of the archival material of Patrick Troughton’s tenure as Doctor, it would be an incredible coup to have returned two complete and consecutive Season Five serials. Season Five hitherto has one complete serial, The Tomb of the Cybermen, and four out of the six episodes of The Ice Warriors. The two missing episodes of The Ice Warriors have been animated and the complete serial is being released on DVD later this month.
The Ice Warriors is to be released in late August 2013. Included on the DVD release will be the four episodes held in the BBC Archives, together with two animated missing episodes
Anyone interested in an in depth analysis of 1960s Doctor Who and the missing episodes is advised to track down the updated edition of Richard Molesworth’s seminal work Wiped! Doctor Who’s Missing Episodes. The revised edition was released by Telos Publishing Ltd earlier this year . Wiped! is presently available for purchase online through The Book Depository UK.
The updated edition of Richard Molesworth’s book Wiped! was released by Telos Publications Ltd earlier this year
You can find my first article on the Missing Episodes Hysteria here.
Vivien Fleming
©Vivien Fleming, 2013.
And so I say farewell to William Hartnell and welcome Patrick Troughton. Join me as I continue my adventures with the Second Doctor.
The Doctor Who Mind Robber 