EPISODE: The Invasion: Episode Six
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 225
STORY NUMBER: 046
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 07 December 1968
WRITER: Derrick Sherwin &
Kit Pedler
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 6.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD:
Doctor Who: The Invasion
"It's the Cybermen! We've just seen hundreds coming out of the sewers!
Captain Turner arrives with UNIT troops who descend into the tunnels with Benton. Jamie, Zoe & Isobel hide at the side of the tunnel as the deranged Cyberman passes them. Captain Turner calls for Isobel but Jamie gets her to be quiet not to alert the Cyberman. The UNIT troops encounter a group of Cybermen, but these Cybermen are attacked by the deranged Cyberman. UNIT destroys two Cybermen with grenades but the deranged one survives killing a soldier. Jamie keeps guard as the others leave. Last out the manhole his foot is grabbed by the Cybermen, but Sergeant Walters clubs it with his rifle till it lets go then Benton drops a grenade on it. The Doctor examines the IE circuits at Watkins' house, the Brigadier asking him if he's had success. Isobel develops the photos that she took in the sewers, but the results are smeared and blurry. The Brigadier doesn't think they'll be good enough to convince UNIT command in Geneva. At IE Packer is worried about UNIT, but Vaughn says in a few hours time the invasion will be complete. Gregory brings Professor Watkins and the Cerebration Mentor machine. Vaughn tells Professor Watkins that Isobel is free. Vaughn uses the Cerebration Mentor on Professor Watkins to produce fear but Gregory intervenes. Professor Watkins says he'll kill Vaughn so Vaughn offers him Packer's gun which Watkins uses to shoots Vaughn, but the bullets don't penetrate his chest, leaving smoking holes on his shirt. Professor Watkins faints and is taken away. The Doctor works into night. Isobel brings him tea as Jamie sleeps. Captain Turner has set up base at Watkins' house. When UNIT control reports that Benton has seen guards taken Professor Watkins out of the building, Isobel & The Doctor persuade the Brigadier to mount a rescue mission using Captain Turner. Later Gregory reports what happened to Vaughn how UNIT grabbed Professor Watkins. Vaughn turns Gregory loose in sewers where he's killed by Cybermen. A shaken Professor Watkins tells the Doctor he doesn't know what the circuits are for and tells him about the Cerebration Mentor. The Doctor realises that Vaughn will use it as weapon to induce emotion, alien to the Cyber nervous systems and that the circuits are emotional controls. The Brigadier leaves for UNIT control. Cybermen patrol the sewers during the night. The Doctor discovers that the Cybermen will use communications satellite to activate the emotional circuits producing a cyber hypnotic force bringing everyone under Cyber control. The Doctor says they must build depolarisers to break Cyber control. The Cyber machine tells Vaughn that there is 1 hour till the invasion and that the Cybermen are moving into position. The Doctor tells the Brigadier to fit depolarisers to all his staff. Zoe can only make 3, so they hunt for more neuristors, the key missing component. The Cyber machine says there is 30 minutes to the invasion. Packer asks if Vaughn is sure he will control earth after the Invasion: Vaughn replies that he is certain. Morning: quiet, empty streets. Isobel looks out of the window of the house and tells Captain Turner how peaceful it is. An odd sound echoes through the air. The Doctor's depolariser falls off and he collapses as do people in the street. Captain Turner & Jamie see hundreds of Cybermen coming out of the sewers.
Manholes are flung back effortlessly as the Cybermen emerge all over London, walking down steps of St Paul's Cathedral as masters of the land.
Absolute cracker and, if all had gone to plan, might have been even better!
We start off with some action down the sewers, then we move to the waiting game as we get a real sense of the hours ticking by as the Doctor tries to solve the problem of the circuits and finally we get the invasion started with one of he seminal Doctor Who moments as the populace collapses and the Cybermen emerge from the sewers to walk down the steps of Saint Paul's Cathedral. This piece obviously owes a certain debt to the Daleks parading round London but it's just so good. The bit that does it for me is when the Cyberman coming out of the sewer throws the heavy man hole cover aside and it hits the floor with a resounding clang emphasising the strength of these creatures. I first saw this sequence on a 1982 edition of Did You See...? , which did an article on Doctor Who to celebrate the Cybermen's return in Earthshock (It's on the Earthshock DVD) and it made a big impression on the nearly nine year old me confirming the Cybermen as one of my favourite monsters.
In the middle of this episode is an incident that's thoroughly downplayed in the story. It's shocking at the time but is completely unexplained and not referred to again!
WATKINS: This is madness. That machine is a deadly weapon now.
VAUGHN: Really?
WATKINS: The modifications were quite unnecessary. It worked perfectly well as it was.
VAUGHN: For your purposes, perhaps, Professor. I have a somewhat different use for it.
WATKINS: All right, all right. Do with it what you will. The machine's yours now. Now, will you let me get out of this place? And let Isobel go free as you promise?
VAUGHN: But my dear fellow, she is free.
WATKINS: Free? Where? Where is she?
VAUGHN: Probably sitting quite comfortably at home. Now then, how does one operate this?
GREGORY: Careful, Mister Vaughn. Don't point it at anyone.
VAUGHN: No? Dangerous is it? Fear, Watkins. Do you know what fear is?
WATKINS: No, don't! Don't do that! Don't!
GREGORY: Mister Vaughn, you'll kill him! Stop!
VAUGHN: Perhaps we should try the effects of the machine on you, Gregory! At full power!
GREGORY: No, no, Mister Vaughn. I was only afraid that if we still needed the Professor
VAUGHN: I'm aware of that. Unfortunately I suppose that I still need you, otherwise I. Pick him up.
VAUGHN: Professor, you'll be taken back to the factory compound. I want these machines on the production lines immediately. Do you understand?
WATKINS: Vaughn, obviously I can't choose but to work for you. If I refuse, you'll torture me or kill me. I know I can't stand up to torture, and I don't want to die. You're an evil man, Vaughn. You're sadistic. You're a megalomaniac. You're insane. I pity you, but if I get half a chance, I'll kill you.
VAUGHN: Kill me? Would you? Give me your gun, Packer. Take it. There you are. Take it.
VAUGHN: Now you're free to shoot me, Professor. Shoot. Shoot! Come on, the gun's loaded, or haven't you got the courage to pull the trigger?
At this point Watkins does shoot, but the bullets just leave smoking holes in Vaughn's shirt.
So what's going on here? You can put the pieces together from earlier episodes. Vaughn's workers, which we saw carrying the crates in the earlier episodes, are super strong. Then there's this scene in episode four:
VAUGHN: Our allies appear to find the Professor's machine somewhat disturbing, so much so in fact that when they saw the prototype they ordered us to destroy it and all similar machines.
PACKER: You mean they're frightened of it?
VAUGHN: The teaching power of the machine didn't worry them, but when I generated some emotion pulses. I'm convinced, Packer, that emotion could be used to destroy them.
PACKER: That's only a guess.
VAUGHN: A gamble, Packer, a reasonable gamble, and after all we are playing this game for very high stakes, are we not?
PACKER: Well, I think you're taking too big a chance.
VAUGHN: Do you wish to be totally converted? Would you prefer to be one of them? Completely inhuman?
PACKER: Oh, no! But
VAUGHN: That's what'll happen if they take over. We will cease to be human. So, we must use their force and their might and then discard them.
And this in five:
PLANNER: Humans cannot resist Cyber-control. Our forces will penetrate all areas and select suitable humans for cybernetic conversion.
VAUGHN: Conversion to Cybermen?
PLANNER: Yes. The unsuitable humans will be destroyed.
VAUGHN: No! This is not as we agreed!
The theme of converting Humans to Cybermen has been present since their very first appearance in The Tenth Planet, where it's quite explicit, and especially returned to in The Tomb Of The Cybermen, with Toberman. But over time it's been somewhat downplayed with mind control almost replacing it in The Moonbase, Wheel In Space and here. However, even though it's not explicitly stated on screen, it would seem the Vaughn, Packer and many of the IE staff have been partially converted already. I'm interested as to why this is very much downplayed here. Indeed it's a theme not returned to for some time, effectively reducing the Cybermen in he meantime to a bunch of robot soldiers. Even Earthshock, great though it is, doesn't really touch on the idea of the Cybermen wanting to make other humans Cybermen, though does talk about them once being human. It's only in Attack of the Cybermen that we return to the idea, in full graphic detail, where it comes as quite a shock but yet it's one that's been present all along. Was it the horror aspect that led to it being played down, following complaints about Tomb? Or did somebody not like the idea? I suspect that one or both of the new Script Editor
Terrance Dicks and soon to be producer
Barry Letts didn't like the creatures because there isn't a Cyberman story during their joint time in charge, I wonder if this aspect of them was why?
This episode would have featured more location work , including a battle between UNIT troops and and Vaughn's forces leading to the freeing of Professor Watkins. This is built up by the dialogue in advance:
TURNER: Hold on a sec. Right, the Brigadier's listening now. Go ahead, Sergeant.
WALTERS: Benton on routine observation reports two guards and another man leaving with the Professor. He's on their tail now, sir. Over.
TURNER: Hold on, Sergeant. Look, sir, we could intercept and release the Professor.
BRIGADIER: Well, officially we
ISOBEL: Oh do. Please, do.
DOCTOR: Brigadier, if you could rescue him, he might be able to help us with our problem.
BRIGADIER: All right. Your shindig Jimmy.
TURNER: Sergeant, tell Benton to stay with them. I'm on my way now. I'll contact him on route. Over.
WALTERS: Wilco. Over.
BRIGADIER: Jimmy, don't take any chances. Vaughn's lot know we mean business so they won't be playing games.
TURNER: No, sir, neither will I. I'll take the full assault platoon with me.
BRIGADIER: Right.
TURNER: Sergeant, alert the full assault platoon. I'll relay instructions on route. Have you got that, over?
WALTERS: Yes, sir. Over.
TURNER: Good. Over and out.
ISOBEL: Good luck.
TURNER: Thanks.
BRIGADIER: Yes, good luck, Jimmy.
TURNER: Sir.
TURNER: I think Mister Vaughn is going to have quite a scrap on his hands.
Unfortunately Camfield's days on location didn't go 100% to plan and the sequence was dropped leading to Gregory, who would have been killed in the battle, retelling the sequence to Vaughn:
GREGORY: There were at least thirty of them, all UNIT men and all armed, Mister Vaughn. We didn't stand a chance. Out of nowhere. They just came out of nowhere.
VAUGHN: And they just took the Professor?
GREGORY: What could we do? There were at least
VAUGHN: Thirty of them, you say?
GREGORY: It was hopeless. They shot the two guards, and they'd have shot me if
VAUGHN: If you hadn't run away.
GREGORY: Well, yes.
VAUGHN: You realise of course that without the Professor's assistance it will not be possible to get the Cerebraton Machine on the production line.
GREGORY: No, Mister Vaughn, I can. Given a little time, I'm sure I can!
VAUGHN: But you have no time, Gregory. No time at all.
Gregory is then killed in the sewers by The Cybermen as punishment for his failure. This extra piece would have changed the tone of the episode considerably turning it more into an all action piece instead of having the quieter middle it does.
Watkins' freedom allows the Doctor to work out what Vaughn wants the teaching machine for:
WATKINS: I'm sorry. I can't tell you.
DOCTOR: You've no idea what these micro-monolithic circuits are for?
WATKINS: No.
DOCTOR: Oh, my word.
WATKINS: I couldn't understand why Vaughn wanted the modifications to the machine.
DOCTOR: You say he's going to mass produce these machines?
WATKINS: Yes.
BRIGADIER: Why should he want a weapon like that if he's got the Cybermen to fight for him?
DOCTOR: I've no idea. Unless. Professor! You say that you developed this machine to produce excessively powerful emotional pulses.
WATKINS: Yes, that's true.
DOCTOR: Well, that's it! Vaughn going to use it as a weapon against the Cybermen once he has no further use for them.
BRIGADIER: What, the Professor's machine?
DOCTOR: Yes. Emotion is alien to the Cybermen's nervous system. It'll destroy it.
This thread has been running through the story, leading to the creation of the deranged Cyberman in the sewers. We're not done with it yet either!
New to the story this episode, and leaving it too, is Stacy Davies as Private Perkins. He'll return to doctor who as Veros in State of Decay but can also be seen inThe Professionals: Backtrack as Sammy Blaydon.
Now that The Cybermen are out in force we're joined by a few more actors playing them.
Derek Chafer is the one with the largest Doctor Who CV. He's worked for Douglas Camfield on Doctor Who before playing a Saxon in The Time Meddler, which was his first appearance on the show. He returns as a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in The Massacre, a Lynch Mob Member in The Gunfighters and previously played a Cyberman in The Moonbase episode 3.He'll return as an Extra in The Space Pirates, a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians episode, a Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, a Guard in The Curse of Peladon, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon and and the Armourer in The Masque of Mandragora.
The year after this episode was shown he'd appear in the missing third season Out of the Unknown
episode 1+1=1.5 as a Man and has three Doomwatch appearances as Men in Project Sahara, Re-Entry Forbidden and The Red Sky all of which can be seen on The Doomwatch DVD.
Ralph Carrigan had previously been an Extra in The Myth Makers, Monoid Two in The Ark: The Return, a Cheerleader in The Macra Terror and a white Robot in The Mind Robber.
It's first Doctor Who appearances for Charles Finch, who'll be a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians and a Villager in The Dæmons, and John Spradbury, who'll return as a Foot Soldier and Alien Technician in The War Games and another UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians.
Terrance Denville had previously been a double for Captain Blade in The Faceless Ones.
He is also a War Games Foot Soldier/Alien Technician, a Waxwork visitor/replica in Spearhead from Space, a Technician & UNIT Soldier in The Silurians, a UNIT trooper in The Three Doctors, a Cyberman again, briefly, in The Carnival of Monsters, a Guard in Frontier in Space, a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, an an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks and an Ice Warrior in The Monster of Peladon. He plays a Technician in Moonbase 3 Departure and Arrival, Behemoth and Outsider, appears as a Russian Security Council Member in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond film GoldenEye and appears in the Miranda episode Before I Die as an Old Man.
This episode uses a lot of location work to set up the Cyberman Invasion. There's a series of brief establishing shots to start with, the first of which was filmed at Cumberland Terrace on the Outer Circle, Regent's Park on Wednesday 11th September 1968. Another part of the Outer Circle, Cambridge Gate (south), was later used for a similar shot in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
The remaining shots and sequences were all recorded Sunday 8th September 1968 with two static shots at Ludgate Hill & Australia House.
Then a number of scenes of people collapsing are shot at Distaff Lane.
The man walking to work, woman, driver & man in bowler hat are all at different parts of the same street.
The Window cleaner however was filmed on Queen Victoria Street which is the same location used for the Cybermen flinging the man hole back.
Of the many locations used in the course of this story the most famous one is St Peter's Steps to St Paul's Cathedral has been substantially changed in recent years to improve disabled and Dalek access to the site.
Publicity shots were taken on location and a black and white shot of a Cyberman, with two others behind, walking down the steps of St. Peter's Hill, with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background, accompanied the Radio Times programme listing for episode one, bearing the title Invasion and with the accompanying caption "Dr. Who starts a new adventure today at 5.15 — one that will bring him face to face with some of his deadliest enemies, the Cybermen" thus giving away the monsters early and spoiling one of the most iconic sequences Doctor Who has produced.
The shot has been emulated many times by fans, appears using Earthshock style Cybermen in Thirty Years In The Tardis and was recreated for the modern series in the Peter Capaldi story
Dark Water.
Finally the closing shot of the Cybermen walking by the shops is filmed on Knight Rider Street.
