The Eighties
The following sections of information were all written and intended to be included in Doctor Who: The Eighties. However, when layout started, it became apparent that there simply was not room for everything and so some things had, reluctantly, to be left out.
JOHN FLANAGAN AND ANDREW MCCULLOCH
WRITERSJohn Flanagan was educated at Ripley Tech and then trained as an actor for three years at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where he became friendly with fellow student Andrew McCulloch. After a year in repertory at the Bristol Old Vic, where he was assistant stage manager, Flanagan won his first television role in the Yorkshire TV series Parkin's Patch. This was followed by a year's work at the Stables Theatre, run by Granada TV, and fifteen months as a journalist carrying out assignments for the same company's Granada Reports programme. He then returned to acting, making appearances in TV productions as diverse as Play for Today, The Sounding Brass, The Sweeney, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Crown Court (as a regular for six years) and A Soft Touch and in films including Sweeney 2 (1978). Flanagan and McCulloch began their writing partnership in 1977. They specialised in comedy material, and early work included a pilot script for a sitcom called Bricks Without Mortar about the exploits of a firm of incompetent builders. Following their contributions to Doctor Who they continued to pursue parallel careers as writers - including for the theatre, on the HTV/Goldcrest series Robin of Sherwood (1986) and the BBC/Cinema Verity series Sleepers (1991) - and as actors.
ANDREW SMITH
WRITERAndrew Smith hails from Rutherglen in Scotland. His early work included scripts for BBC2's Not the Nine O'Clock News, Radio Scotland's topical comedy programme Naked Radio, Radio 4's satirical Week Ending and an original play called Thieves in Scottish Television's Preview series. At 18 years old he was the youngest ever writer to be commissioned for Doctor Who, a series of which he had long been a fan. In a 1981 fanzine article, he explained his aims for Full Circle (retitled from his original The Planet that Slept): 'A good Who story is, I think, one which is acceptable on a number of levels. This I tried to achieve with Full Circle. To those who wish, it is a straightforward 'monster' story with Our Heroes threatened by a group of hostile, bloodthirsty killer beasts. It is also, again to those that wish, I hope something a little jucier than that, an intriguing tale not only of xenophobia but of self-deceit, loyalties, and many other aspects.' Following his work on Doctor Who, he continued to pursue a successful writing career.
STEPHEN GALLAGHER
WRITERAfter graduating from Hull University, Blackburn-born Stephen Gallagher joined the presentation department of Granada TV. Two years later, in 1977, he began writing in his spare time. The success of a novel entitled Chimera, published in 1979, enabled him to leave Granada and pursue a freelance career. He began submitting scripts to radio stations and sold a six-part science fiction serial, The Last Rose of Summer, to Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. Another submission, Alternative to Suicide, was rejected by the BBC's Radio 4 but found its way to the Doctor Who production team, who subsequently commissioned Gallagher to write for the series. He wrote Target novelisations of his two Doctor Who stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker (one of the characters in Alternative to Suicide). Gallagher has since become a highly successful and internationally acclaimed novelist, his books including Oktober, Valley of Lights, Rain and Red, Red Robin. Gallagher has also adapted some his work for TV and film: Chimera appeared as a 1991 Anglia TV serial. More recently he has written for and been script consultant for the successful BBC series Bugs.
JOHNNY BYRNE
WRITERDublin-born Johnny Byrne moved to England in 1955 at the age of twenty and found employment in a baked bean factory in Wigan. He later moved to Southport and, after falling in with a group of beatniks, jazz artists and poets, stated performing his own material at various venues around the country. He shared a house with the Beatles in Liverpool for a time and in 1966 appeared at London's Marquee Club alongside, amongst others, the progressive rock group Pink Floyd. He had a novel entitled Groupie, co-written with Jenny Fabian, published in 1967 and scripted the Spike Milligan film Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall, released in 1972. In 1973 he was involved in developing the Gerry Anderson-produced series Space:1999, on which he subsequently worked as script editor and writer. Also for Anderson he wrote Into Infinity, a fifty minute pilot for an ultimately unmade science fiction series entitled The Day After Tomorrow. Later TV commissions included scripts for All Creatures Great and Small in the 1970s, Doctor Who and One by One (on which he also worked as script editor) in the 1980s and Heartbeat (which he developed for television) in the 1990s. His last Doctor Who-related work was on the aborted Coast to Coast feature film (see Chapter Twenty-Four), for which he wrote several drafts of a script in the early 1990s. Subsequent work has included a number of other film projects.
SEASON 18 - STOCK FOOTAGE
Black and white stills of Powys Castle were used to represent the exterior of the Tharils' domain in Warriors' Gate. These were taken by Joyce on 1 and 2 September 1980.
A still photograph from Aerofilms was included in part 2 of Logopolis showing a black and white aerial view of London and a still photograph from Aviation Associates Ltd was included in part 4 showing a colour view of countryside.
Part 4 of Logopolis included a montage of the Doctor's enemies and companions. The enemies were the Master (The Deadly Assassin part one), a Dalek (Destiny of the Daleks episode four), the Pirate Captain (The Pirate Planet part four), a Cyberman (Revenge of the Cybermen part three), Davros (Genesis of the Daleks part five), a Sontaran (The Invasion of Time part five), a Zygon (Terror of the Zygons part three) and the Black Guardian (The Armageddon Factor part six). The companions were Sarah (Terror of the Zygons part two), Harry (The Sontaran Experiment part two), the Brigadier (Invasion of the Dinosaurs part two), Leela (The Robots of Death part one), K-9 (The Armageddon Factor part two), Romana 1 (The Stones of Blood part one) and Romana 2 (Full Circle part one).
MUZZLING K-9
Dave Martin wrote to John Nathan-Turner on 11 June 1980 explaining that he and Bob Baker, the co-creators of K-9, had received a number of press enquiries about their views on the rumoured plans for the robot dog to be written out of Doctor Who. He was interested to know what the official position was. In response, Nathan-Turner wrote to Martin on 16 June and to Baker on 1 July admitting that K-9 would be leaving with Romana in January 1981 but asking them to co-operate in keeping this secret by going along with the official line that 'there are no plans for K-9 to leave the programme but he may not appear in all twenty-eight episodes of the new season'.
LOVETT BICKFORD
DIRECTORLovett Bickford joined the BBC in 1965 as an assistant floor manager. Amongst the productions on which he worked in that capacity were two Doctor Who stories, The War Machines and The Moonbase. Shortly after this he was promoted to production assistant, as which his credits included The Man in the Iron Mask, Jude the Obscure, The Pallisers and David Copperfield. He became a BBC staff director in 1974 and handled episodes of series such as Z Cars and Angels as well as a Barry Letts-produced serialisation of H G Wells's The History of Mr Polly, transmitted in the spring of 1980. He then went freelance, and immediately began work on The Leisure Hive for Doctor Who's eighteenth season. After this he went on to a wide variety of other assignments - not only in television but also in the theatre, where assignments included John Nathan-Turner's Cinderella pantomime (1982) and The Mr Men's Magic Island (1988).
TERENCE DUDLEY
DIRECTOR/WRITERTerency Dudley was already a seasoned TV professional by the time he came to work on Doctor Who. He started out in the 1950s as a playwright and soon went into scriptwriting, his early credits including The River Flows East for the BBC in 1962. He became a BBC staff producer/director in the early 1960s and thereafter pursued parallel writing and directing careers. In 1963 he was invited by Doctor Who's original producer, Verity Lambert, to write the series' very first story (as a replacement for Antony Coburn's 100,000 BC), but declined. Directing credits included Maigret (1963), Dr Finlay's Casebook, The Troubleshooters (1966), Vendetta (1966-67), Softly, Softly (1967-68) and The First Lady (1968). Directing led on to producing, and he spent periods of time in charge of series such as Cluff (1964), The Mask of Janus (1965), Doomwatch (1970-72), The Regiment (1973) and Survivors (1975-77) - for some of which he also wrote and directed. After Survivors he left the BBC to become a freelance director. Apart from Doctor Who, other productions on which he worked in that capacity included Flesh and Blood (1980) and All Creatures Great and Small. He died on Christmas Day 1988 after a long battle against cancer.
PETER GRIMWADE
DIRECTOR/WRITERPeter Grimwade was educated in Cornwall and attended the University of Wells following which he did a post-graduate course in Bristol studying drama. He joined the BBC in Bristol as a trainee and then moved to London to work as a trainee film editor. Peter had always wanted to be a writer and worked on this while persuing a career within the BBC. He worked as a Production Manager on Z-Cars and was subsequently commissioned to write for that show on the strength of a sample script. His first association with Doctor Who was as Production Manager on Spearhead from Space, a role that he was ultimately not to take when the production became affected by strikes. He subsequently worked as Production Manager on The Daemons, Robot - Pyramids of Mars and Horror of Fang Rock before getting on the BBC's director's course. His Doctor Who credits as director are Full Circle, Logopolis, Kinda and Earthshock, and he wrote the stories Time-Flight, Mawdryn Undead and Planet of Fire. Other credits include writing and directing The Come-Uppance of Captain Katt, an episode of the Dramarama series which parodied the behind-the-scenes production of a television space-adventure series not dissimilar to Doctor Who. Peter Grimwade died on 15 May 1990.
PETER MOFFATT
DIRECTORPeter Moffatt was in drama school training to be an actor when the Second World War broke out and he was called up into the Royal Air Force. He subsequently became a prisoner of war at Stalag-Luft 3 in Germany, and during his two years there occupied his time by acting and directing in the prison camp theatre. On his return to England he worked for some ten years in repertory. Then, when the ITV network was set up in 1955, he broke into television at Associated Rediffusion in London, initially as a floor assistant and occasional actor. After about two years he moved into directing, gaining credits on Top Secret (1961-62) and Crane (1963-64) amongst others. This was followed by spells at Yorkshire, working on series such as Hadleigh and Kate, and at ATV, where his credits included episodes of The Power Game (1966), Crime of Passion and Thriller (1974). In the early 1970s he began to work for the BBC, his assignments there including Melissa (1974), Dial M for Murder (1974), All Creatures Great and Small, Doom Castle (1980), Juliet Bravo (1980 and 1982) and Love Story. One of the colleagues with whom he worked on All Creatures Great and Small was John Nathan-Turner, who subsequently invited him to direct for Doctor Who. He handled five stories between 1980 and 1984 as well as the twentieth anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983. Since the late 1980s he has been living in semi-retirement at his London home.
PAUL JOYCE
DIRECTORPaul Joyce was asked to direct Warriors' Gate for Doctor Who's eighteenth season on the strength of his handling of a BBC Play for Today entitled Keep Smiling, transmitted on 10 January 1980. Having gone straight into directing rather than - as was more usual - gradually working his way up through the system, he found it very restricting to have to follow the BBC's established and sometimes inflexible procedures. The experience was consequently not a happy one for him. Since his brief association with Doctor Who he has continued to pursue a very successful television career, both as a director and more recently as a producer.
JOHN BLACK
DIRECTORScots-born John Black was a relatively new BBC staff director when he came to work on Doctor Who, although he had previously been responsible for three episodes of the popular police drama series Softly, Softly: Task Force. He was recommended to John Nathan-Turner by Amy Roberts, one of season eighteen's regular costume designers. During the period of his association with Doctor Who - which saw him directing The Keeper of Traken for season eighteen, Four to Doomsday for season nineteen and the K-9 and Company spin-off special - he also became involved in establishing with Longman Video a video publishing organisation specialising in children's educational and entertainment titles, including The Famous Five. In addition, he took up a post as Executive Director of W H Smith Video. He continues to pursue an active career as a freelance director and writer.
SHADA
A number of attempts were made during the early part of 1980 to remount Shada - the Douglas Adams-written story originally scheduled as the six-part conclusion to season seventeen but dropped after industrial action by BBC technicians interrupted its studio recording sessions. At one point plans were drawn up to complete it in revised form as a Christmas special in two fifty-minute episodes. These came to nothing, however, and in June 1980 the story was officially cancelled. The majority of the completed footage would eventually see the light of day many years later, in the form of a Tom Baker-narrated BBC Video compilation released in 1992.
ANTHONY STEVEN
WRITERAnthony Steven was a well respected television writer with many series, dramas and plays to his credit before he died in 1990. His credits include Maigret (1963), Redcap (1964), Virgin of the Secret Service (1968), The Man in the Iron Mask (1968), The Regiment (1972), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971 and 1973), Fanny By Gaslight (1981) and All Creatures Great and Small (1979).
SEASON 22 NOTES
Munching Minnows
The marsh minnows that Sil habitually munched during the story were chopped
peaches dyed green.
Maggot Moment
The Rani's chemically impregnated maggots were realised both with real
maggots (for the shots of them squirming) and with marzipan (for scenes
where they had to be eaten by actors.)
Guest Appearance
Director Peter Moffatt and costume designer Jan Wright were seen as
customers sitting outside the Bar Hosteria del Laurel in part three of The
Two Doctors
THE LATE CLIVE JAMES
Speaking on the 20 April edition of the Channel 4 chat show The Late Clive James, Michael Grade gave the following justification for the cancellation decision:
'The truth about Doctor Who is that it was a target for a cut, because the show's not doing very well. It's overly violent. It's losing audiences. Its appeal is not what it was. It's not getting new generations of children. We needed time to take it off the air and get it right.'
SEASON 24 NOTES
Mel's Double
For the sequences in Paradise Towers where Mel fought with a pool cleaner
robot in the swimming pool, Bonnie Langford was doubled by actress Ellie
Bertram.
Dog's Life
John Nathan-Turner's dog, Pepsi, appeared as Burton's dog.
FAN AID
Inspired by the Band Aid pop record and the Live Aid concert, the Fan Aid campaign was launched in the mid-eighties by fan Paul Cornell with the aim of raising money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Cornell, along with many helpers and assistants, organised a successful convention in Bath and released some interesting and informative fanzines, managing to raise a total of GBP 32,165.
REPEATS
The following is a list of all stories repeated from the start of season eighteen in 1980 to the end of 1989.
Full Circle 1981 The Keeper of Traken 1981 100,000 B.C. 1981 The Krotons 1981 Carnival of Monsters 1981 The Three Doctors 1981 Logopolis 1981 The Curse of Peladon 1982 Genesis of the Daleks 1982 Earthshock 1982 The Visitation 1983 Kinda 1983 Black Orchid 1983 The King's Demons 1984 The Awakening 1984 The Five Doctors 1984Following The Five Doctors in 1984, no further Doctor Who stories were repeated on terrestrial television in the UK until 1992, when The Time Meddler was re-shown.
ARCHIVES
During the seventies, much Doctor Who material was purged from the BBC archives and in 1978 the process was halted. The BBC appointed an official Archive Selector, a post initally held by Sue Malden, and the task of trying to catalogue and 're-discover' material that had been destroyed began. The first task was to bring together all the material known to be held. Thus material from BBC Enterprises and the British Film Insitute was obtained and catalogued alongside that which the BBC Film and Video library already held. Other gaps were plugged with material returned from Canada and from off-air NTSC U-Matic domestic video recordings made in the USA. Between 1980 and 1989, there were several items returned to the BBC from private film collectors, overseas television stations and from being found in unlikely places in England:
1982: The Abominable Snowmen 2, The Reign of Terror 6 1983: Invasion of the Dinosaurs 1 (black and white copy), Colony In Space, The Sea Devils, The Daleks' Master Plan 5 and 10 1984: The Celestial Toymaker 4, The Wheel In Space 3, The Time Meddler, The War Machines and a complete print of The Web Planet 1985: The Reign of Terror 1, 2 and 3, Inferno, Frontier in Space 1987: The Faceless Ones 3, The Evil of the Daleks 2, The Time Monster 6 (black and white copy) 1988: The Ice Warriors 1, 4, 5 and 6
By the end of the eighties, the following episodes of Doctor Who were not known to exist in viewable form:
Marco Polo (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) The Reign of Terror (4,5) The Crusade (1,2,4) Galaxy 4 (1,2,3,4) Mission to the Unknown (1) The Myth Makers (1,2,3,4) The Daleks' Master Plan (1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,12) The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1,2,3,4) The Celestial Toymaker (1,2,3) The Savages (1,2,3,4) The Smugglers (1,2,3,4) The Tenth Planet (4) The Power of the Daleks (1,2,3,4,5,6) The Highlanders (1,2,3,4) The Underwater Menace (1,2,4) The Moonbase (1,3) The Macra Terror (1,2,3,4) The Faceless Ones (2,4,5,6) The Evil of the Daleks (1,3,4,5,6,7) The Tomb of the Cybermen (1,2,3,4) The Abominable Snowmen (1,3,4,5,6) The Ice Warriors (2,3) The Enemy of the World (1,2,4,5,6) The Web of Fear (2,3,4,5,6) Fury from the Deep (1,2,3,4,5,6) The Wheel In Space (1,2,4,5) The Invasion (1,4) The Space Pirates (1,3,4,5,6)
With the exception of The Tomb of the Cybermen which was returned, complete, in 1991, no other missing episodes have to date been returned to the BBC.
OVERSEAS SALES
Doctor Who continued to be sold abroad and in the eighties it was one of the BBC's most popular exported programmes. It was very popular indeed in the American market with numerous Public Broadcast Stations buying the rights to screen it from the BBC's American distributor, Lionheart.
By February 1987, Doctor Who had been sold to and screened in the following countries. This list was produced internally by the BBC and it is not known from what date the sales were detailed. It would appear not to include the sales detailed in the previous book in this series: Doctor Who: The Seventies. The number following the country name indicates how many individual stories were bought by that country:
Abu Dhabi (1), Australia (93), Bahrain (7), Bangladesh (5), Barbados (12), Brunei (43), Canada (64), Chile (23), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (3), Dominica (7), Dubai (37), Gibralta (44), Greece (5), Guatamala (24), Holland (20), Honduras (24), Hong Kong (34), Italy (9), Japan (3), Jordan (4), Korea Republic (4), Lebanon (5), Malasia (8), Malta (4), New Zealand (71), Nicuragura (24), Nigeria (4), Phillipines (13), Quatur (3), Rhodesia (4), Saudi Arabia (25), Seychelles (7), Sri Lanka (9), Swaziland (30), Tiwan (6), Trinidad and Tobago (11), USA (118), Yugoslavia (3) and Zimbabwe (4)
SATELLITE SCREENINGS
Satellite and cable television became widespread during the late eighties, and the first channel to pick up Doctor Who for transmission was SuperChannel. This started transmitting Doctor Who on 24 March 1987 with Robot, followed by The Ark in Space, Revenge of the Cybermen, Terror of the Zygons, Genesis of the Daleks, The Android Invasion, The Brain of Morbius, The Seeds of Doom, The Masque of Mandragora, Pyramids of Mars, The Hand of Fear and The Deadly Assassin.
They then repeated The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen as omnibus editions before again showing the episodic Robot, The Sontaran Experiment (for the first time) and The Ark in Space.
Following these stories, they again repeated Robot, followed by The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, Revenge of the Cybermen, Terror of the Zygons, Pyramids of Mars, Planet of Evil, The Android Invasion and The Brain of Morbius.
In addition to the weekday screenings, Genesis of the Daleks and The Seeds of Doom were repeated over the weekends. SuperChannel also gained the rights to screen up to the end of the fifteenth season, and continued to transmit Doctor Who until the rights were picked up by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) in 1990.