224 The Invasion: Episode Five

EPISODE: The Invasion: Episode Five
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 224
STORY NUMBER: 046
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 30 November 1968
WRITER: Derrick Sherwin & Kit Pedler
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 6.7 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Invasion

"You will accept what I say or our partnership is at an end. The invasion will take place at dawn tomorrow!"

Seeing the Cyberman reactivated the Doctor & Jamie leave, returning to their canoe. Back at UNIT HQ Captain Turner asks Isobel out for dinner as the Doctor & Jamie arrive and tell them that the Cybermen are here. The UFOs sighted are Cyberman spaceships homing in on Vaughn's deep space dishes. The Doctor speculates if the people observed going into IE are now controlled by the Cybermen. Major General Rutlidge tells the Brigadier not to investigate IE any further. The Brigadier wants to know what hold Vaughn has on Rutlidge. The Brigadier says he will over Rutlidge's head and go to UNIT HQ in Geneva to allow him to proceed. When he leaves Rutlidge calls IE. Vaughn has ordered Gregory to work with Professor Watkins on the Cerebration Mentor. When Rutlidge calls he reports tat there will be UNIT interference. Vaughn instructs him to come to IE, worrying that his control over him is weakening. Vaughn interrogates Rutlidge, wanting to know how long it will take UNIT to take action: Rutlidge says one day. Vaughn orders the Cerebration Mentor taken to the warehouse where the Cybermen are being revived. Vaughn reports to the Cyber Machine in his office that he needs the invasion plans advanced to dawn tomorrow. More Cybermen are revived and told to proceed through sewers the to their positions. Examining maps of the area the Doctor concludes that the Cybermen are hiding in the sewers, but the Brigadier thinks that they need proof. The Doctor once again examines Jamie's radio, and asks the Brigadier if UNIT has any IE equipment. Vaughn has a Cyberman revived and uses the Cerebration Mentor on it to produce fear. The Cyberman goes mad and follows other Cybermen into the sewers. Isobel comes up with idea of going into the sewers for photos of the Cybermen. The Brigadier won't let her do it as she's a woman but she, Jamie & Zoe go anyway, getting Benton to take them to London. The Doctor finds additional circuits in all of UNIT's IE equipment and on examination finds the same circuit in every one. The Cyber machine plans for the conversion or destruction of all humans but Vaughn disagrees: This is not as planned, he will be in control of Earth and it's population after the Invasion. He says that while his body is now cybernetic, his mind stays human. Vaughn tells Packer that the IE staff will protected from Cyber control by an implanted capsule. The Doctor needs use Professor Watkins laboratory facilities at his home to analyse the circuits he has found. Preparing to leave for London he realises that Jamie, Zoe & Isobel missing. Benton has dropped them off but is ordered to find them and Capitan Turner is sent to help. Jamie, Zoe & Isobel descend through a manhole into the sewers but are spotted by a policeman. Benton arrives as the policeman also enters the sewers. The policeman calls out for them attracting the attention of a group of Cybermen who kill him. Jamie, Zoe & Isobel find themselves trapped between these Cyberman and the deranged Cyberman that is wandering the sewers......

ZOE: Doctor, any luck? What did you find out?
JAMIE: Some old friends of ours are here, Zoe.
ZOE: Who?
JAMIE: The Cybermen.
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm afraid it's true, Zoe.
ZOE: That's what you suspected, wasn't it?
ISOBEL: What on Earth are Cybermen?
DOCTOR: They're from another world. Inhuman killers.
TURNER: You mean they're from space, or something.
DOCTOR + ZOE: Yes.
ZOE: And that spaceship we saw on the other side of the Moon was obviously their craft.
ISOBEL: What are they? Little green men? Oh, you're serious?
ZOE: We've met Cybermen before and seen what they can do.
TURNER: Where exactly are they and how many?
JAMIE: At Vaughn's headquarters in London.
DOCTOR: Oh, there's hundreds of them, possibly thousands.
ZOE: So Vaughn's helping them.
DOCTOR: That deep space radio transmitter is obviously being used by the Cybermen spaceships to home in on.
TURNER: So that's what those UFOs were. But there have been hundreds of those sightings.
JAMIE: Aye, they must have quite an army by now. The thing is, where are they hiding them all?
DOCTOR: I don't know, Jamie. Captain, where's the Brigadier.
TURNER: At the Ministry of Defence. I better get on to him immediately and tell him what you've discovered.
DOCTOR: No, no, Captain. The people who went into Vaughn's headquarters were different when they came out, weren't they?
TURNER: Yes.
ZOE: Do you think they're being controlled, Doctor?
TURNER: Controlled?
ZOE: Yes, the Cybermen have means of controlling people's minds. They appear to be almost normal but they're not, they're controlled.
DOCTOR: Who is the Brigadier is immediately answerable to?
TURNER: Major-General Rutlidge.

We saw the Brigadier's superior Major-General Rutlidge in the previous episode in animated form but this is the first time we see him as he appeared on screen. He's played by Edward Dentith who'd be in the Out of This World episode Vanishing Act as Major Bentley. He's one of several members of this story's cast who go on to be in the first Doomwatch episode The Plastic Eaters where he's the Engineer in Second Airline Crew. You can see that episode on The Doomwatch DVD. He later appears in The Professionals episode Old Dog with New Tricks as a High Ranking Police Officer. This was the first episode filmed and acts as a good introduction to the series but the Camfield directed Private Madness, Public Danger aired first with Old Dog, new Tricks being broadcast third.

Rutledge is a particularly annoying part of the plot. As an MOD official he's effectively the first in a long line of civil servants that frustrate both the Doctor & Unit. He's introduced in the previous episode, shown to be one of those who's visited Vaughn's HQ falling under his control, which is again demonstrated here, although the control appears to be faltering:

VAUGHN: Rutlidge. Rutlidge!
PACKER: What's the matter with him?
VAUGHN: Listen to me, Rutlidge? Listen! You will obey my commands. You understand?
RUTLIDGE: Your commands.
VAUGHN: You will leave your office and come here to me.
RUTLIDGE: To you.
VAUGHN: Immediately. Do you understand?
RUTLIDGE: I must. Your commands.
VAUGHN: Do you understand?
RUTLIDGE : Yes. I understand. I understand.
VAUGHN: Good fellow.
PACKER: What was the matter with him?
VAUGHN: Our control over him is weakening.
PACKER: Well, that could be dangerous. If he doesn't obey your orders to come over here, he might
VAUGHN: Oh, he will, Packer, he will.

Summoned to Vaughn's office he gets a right grilling:

VAUGHN: I must know, Rutlidge. You must tell me. How long? How long before the UNIT forces can take action!
RUTLIDGE: I. One day, maybe two.
VAUGHN: Good. Time enough.
PACKER: Well, I don't like it. Supposing the UNIT forces move faster than that? Suppose they want to come over
VAUGHN: Let me do the supposing, Packer.
PACKER: Yes, Mister Vaughn.
VAUGHN: Now, just to be on the safe side, I think we'd better conduct an experiment.
PACKER: What do you mean?
VAUGHN: Have the Professor's machine taken down to the warehouse. Wait outside. I'll join you later.
PACKER: What are you going to do?
VAUGHN: Wait and see, Packer. Wait and see.
PACKER: Yes, sir. What about him?
VAUGHN: Oh, leave him to me.

He then sits there gawping while Vaughn has another discussion with the Cyberplanner and that's the last we see of him, he completely disappears from the story. The insinuation is Vaughn's had him killed but, like the Super Strong workers in the warehouse it's another plot element that isn't specifically followed up on. I don't mind a little work to fill in the gaps but too many questions when there's obvious time wasting elsewhere is annoying!

With the mystery element removed there's a little bit of sag this episode until the trip down the sewers at the end. Sadly even though the Cybermen are revealed you still don't see that much of them with most of the communication still being done through the machine in Vaughn's office, though relations are becoming increasingly frayed:

VAUGHN: There has been some difficulty. We must alter our plans.
PLANNER: Report the difficulty and we will assess it.
VAUGHN: We must bring the invasion forward.
PLANNER: Our invasion force is not yet complete.
VAUGHN: The invasion must take place in fifteen hours time, otherwise we may have to face the combined forces of the entire world.
PLANNER: Wait while the report will be assessed.
VAUGHN: You will accept what I say or our partnership is at an end. The invasion will take place at dawn tomorrow.
PLANNER: It has been agreed. The data will be computed and the invasion details transmitted to you. Discussion terminated.

Neither side appears happy with decisions the other is making:

PLANNER: One hour before invasion, the Cyber-transmitter units will be launched into orbit around Earth.
VAUGHN: The effect will be immediate?
PLANNER: Yes. Transmissions will penetrate all areas.
VAUGHN: And if it doesn't work?
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!
PLANNER: It has been decided.
VAUGHN: We agreed that I should remain in control of Earth. In return, I supply the minerals you require. You will honour that bargain, otherwise there will be no invasion!
PLANNER: To control, you must undergo complete conversion and become one of us.
VAUGHN: No! My body may be cybernetic but my mind stays human. That is final!
PLANNER: It has been agreed. Discussion concluded.

The Planner wasn't in the last episode but seeing here again reminds me that it was a bit of a visual clue that Vaughn's allies are the Cybermen as it very much resembles the Cyber Controller from Wheel in Space:

Were Vaughn and his allies getting along in the months leading up to the invasion or is it purely the Doctor's arrival and disruption that's causing this? I'm not so sure it is 100% down to the Doctor because Vaughn's obviously been planning to use Watkins' teaching machine as a weapon, which he gets to test this episode:

PACKER: It's gone mad. It could have killed us all.
VAUGHN: Possibly, but I think we've proved that the Professor's machine can be effective. Get him to work on it, Gregory. I want twice as much power and I want directional control.
PACKER: Yeah, but what about that one? You can't let it roam down there alone!
VAUGHN: Why not?
PACKER: Well, it'll kill anything that gets in its way.
VAUGHN: Good. Anyone fool enough to be down in those sewers deserves to die.

The Cybermen in the sewers are obviously reminiscent of the Yeti in the Underground but although comparisons are frequently made between The Invasion and it's predecessor The Web of Fear, especially the element of having the army/UNIT with the Doctor, they're quite different. In Web the Invasion has happened and London stands isolated. In the Invasion we're witnessing the build up to the alien invasion and trying to prevent it.

Two new cast members this week: Peter Thompson is a Workman, presumably the one who speaks in Vaughn's warehouse who I think is the one on the left. He'll be back as a Primord in Inferno and is yet another cast member to appear in Doomwatch: The Plastic Eaters where he plays an Airline Passenger. Every time I look at that Doomwatch episode I think it must be directed by Douglas Camfield as I can see so many of his rep company involved, but it isn't! There's Kevin Stoney, here as Tobias Vaughn, as Prof. Hal Symonds, Edward Dentith, Major General Rutlidge, as the engineer on the second airline crew plus Richardson Morgan, Corporal Blake in The Web of Fear, as the engineer on the first airline crew and Tony Sibbald, Huckle in Terror of the Zygons, as the Captain of the first airline crew!

Dominic Allan plays the ill fated Policeman who chases Zoe, Isobel & Jamie into the sewers. He can be seen in two The Tomorrow People stories, Castle of Fear and Achilles Heel as Bruce Forbes.

Locations: if episode four existed we'd have seen the Regent's Canal there as it was used for the canoe scenes of the Doctor & Jamie rowing into Vaughn's HQ at the end of the last episode and the start of this. These scenes were recorded 13th September 1968.

The location where Benton pulls over in the Land Rover to let his passengers out is Moor Lane. Moor Lane in turns joins onto Fore Street where the scenes with the Manhole cover & Policeman were filmed. Footage at both locations was recorded 8th September 1968.

Looking at the link above I'm very pleased to see there's still a manhole cover in the same street!

The "Cybermen in the sewers" element is resurrected in the Eric Saward/Ian Levine "Attack of the Cybermen" along with elements from Tenth Planet and Tomb of the Cybermen.

This episode is the first of a run of 14 existing episodes. It's the best existing run since the 23 episodes (1-3-6-2-4-6-1) at the end of season 1/start of season 2. The start of the series has a run of 13 existing episodes to Edge of Destruction 2, there's a 19 episode existing run from the start of Keys of Marinus to episode 3 of Reign of Terror. Episode 6 of the same story starts the 23 episode run, the longest in the sixties, which ends with Crusade 1. The Space Museum 1 to Time Meddler 4 give a 14 episode run. After that the longest run of existing episodes in seasons 3-5 is the 11 episodes in season 5 made of the last three of The Ice Warriors, all six of Enemy of the World and the first two of Web of Fear. There's another 11 episodes from the last episode of season 5, Wheel in Space 6 to season 6's Mind Robber 5. This current run takes us past the end of the Invasion, through all of the Krotons and up to the end of Seeds of Death. The following story, The Space Pirates, has one exiting episode, the second. After that we reach the War Games and from there onwards every episode exists.

223 The Invasion: Episode Four

EPISODE: The Invasion: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 223
STORY NUMBER: 046
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 23 November 1968
WRITER: Derrick Sherwin & Kit Pedler
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 6.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Invasion

"Doctor. If you can hear me, listen. You have ten minutes, Doctor. Ten minutes to relinquish your freedom. At the end of that time, your young friend Zoe will pay the consequences of your foolish and totally pointless opposition. Ten minutes, Doctor, ten minutes!"

Jamie tells the Doctor something moved in crate. The Doctor & Jamie hear that Zoe & Isobel are to be moved and follow. Vaughan berates Packer for not finding the Doctor & Jamie. Vaughan tells Packer he will be in control after Invasion, using Professor Watkins' machine to produce emotions and destroy the Invaders. Does P wish to be totally converted? V thinks even if they fail they could escape in the Doctor's Tardis. The Doctor & Jamie see Isobel & Zoe's crate taken inside, and notice the UNIT helicopter nearby. Captain Turner reports the activity to the Brigadier. Packer thinks Doctor is with UNIT. Vaughan makes a loud speaker announcement giving the Doctor 10 minutes to surrender or Zoe will pay the price. Isobel & Zoe are trapped in a room high in the building. Isobel wonders why they are being kept there. They see the Doctor & Jamie out of a window. The Doctor & Jamie climb a ladder to the roof. Isobel & Zoe realise they're being watched by a camera. The Doctor warns the Brigadier that they may need some assistance from the helicopter. Vaughan & Packer see the helicopter approaching and Vaughan orders it shot down. The helicopter lowers a rope ladder, which Jamie climbs down, opening the window in Zoe & Isobel's room allowing them all to escape up the rope ladder. The Brigadier is concerned but Captain Turner reports mission's success. Packer is angry at the UNIT helicopter. Vaughan orders the Cerebration Mentor brought to London: he is bringing the Invasion plans forward for 24 hours time. He calls the Ministry of Defence and asks to speak to Major General Rutlidge. Vaughan tells him to stop UNIT from interfering. On the Hercules The Brigadier says they were lucky to get away with it, while Isobel wishes she had her camera for some photos which Captain Turner says would have provided proof of Vaughan's activities. The Doctor is concerned by who fired missile at them and why there are deep space radio transmitters at Vaughan's compound. Sergeant Walters wonders if it's linked to recent UFO sightings, which the Doctor asks for pictures of. Vaughan tells Professor Watkins, who still believes Vaughan holds his niece, that he has 24 hours to complete the Cerebration Mentor or Isobel will be hurt. The Doctor thinks the UFO pictures are significant. They started about a year ago but the UFOs vanish over South England, roughly the area covered by Vaughan's factories. He asks Jamie if he recognised what's in crate, guessing it was brought in on UFOs and then taken to Vaughan's London headquarters. The Doctor looks at map and finds underground river into Vaughan's London HQ. The Doctor & Jamie canoe in and enter the headquarters. They witness a cylinder being worked on by technicians. There is a pulsing noise and light as the thing inside begins to move, a tall silver figure bursting out of it's container: A Cyberman!

A nice little present at the end there to celebrate Doctor Who's fifth birthday as one of it's favourite monsters returns!

This episode is all about two of the big sets pieces in the story: the helicopter rescue and the reveal of the monsters. We can't see moving pictures of what happened with the helicopter of course and have to rely on the animators' interpretation, but my faith in Douglas Camfield's abilities makes me think it looked rather good. Although there's no Telesnaps for this story there's a large number of publicity photos, some of which are on the DVD, which include several of the helicopter rescue sequence. I can remember seeing some in The Invasion archive feature in the 1982 Doctor Who magazine winter special when I was younger.

Fraser Hines tells a story that when the helicopter scene was filmed the female members of the cast were having trouble with their skirts being blown up and the camera angles inevitably showing their underwear. Not so our Scottish character: he'd had lead weights sewn into his kilt!

But before that there's a major piece of dialogue between Vaughan & Packer:

PACKER: The whole compound's under alert, Mister Vaughn.
VAUGHN: And?
PACKER: Well, er
VAUGHN: You haven't yet found them.
PACKER: Well it's only a matter of time.
VAUGHN: Is it? I doubt it, Packer. This Doctor's far too clever a fish for you to net.
PACKER: Well, if you'd let me take care of them properly in the first place and obeyed the orders of our allies, you might
VAUGHN: Orders? Me, Packer? I told them and I'll tell you. I give orders, not take them.
PACKER: You told them that?
VAUGHN: The invasion's under my control, and when our purpose has been achieved I shall still be in control.
PACKER: You can't fight them.
VAUGHN: Packer. Why do you think I kept that old fool Watkins alive.
PACKER: Well, to work on his machine of course.
VAUGHN: And why did you think I wanted him to do that?
PACKER: Well, you. I don't know.
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.

Bit of a clue there perhaps as to who Vaughan's allies are? But it's also hanging Chekov's Gun on the wall for later in the serial.

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.

More clues there, I think many would have guessed by now! This particular clue ties into the workers with superhuman strength we saw in episode 2.

VAUGHN: So, we must use their force and their might and then discard them.
PACKER: And you're sure that this machine can do it?
VAUGHN: Even if we fail, we could escape. The Doctor. We must secure this spacecraft of his.
PACKER: Oh yeah, I see. Insurance.
VAUGHN: Exactly, Packer.

A few other things that have happened in the story are bought into the big picture:

JAMIE: Doctor? Hey, Doctor, what's the matter?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Jamie, that object on the other side of the moon.
BRIGADIER: Other side of the?
ZOE: Yes. The Tardis went wrong, you see, and we had a sort of, well what, Doctor? A forced landing?
DOCTOR: Mmm? Yeah.
ZOE: And then they fired a missile at us.
BRIGADIER: Who?
ZOE: Well, whoever it was who was on that spaceship on the other side of the moon.
BRIGADIER: Spaceships? On the other side of the Moon?
DOCTOR: And then there was that deep space radio transmitter. I wonder.
TURNER: Look, sir. I know this may sound ridiculous, but could those reported sightings of UFOs have anything to do with this?
JAMIE: UFOs? What's that?
ISOBEL: Unidentified Flying Objects. Flying saucers?
TURNER: But these weren't saucers. All of the sightings were quite clear on that.
DOCTOR: Did anyone, by any chance, photograph any of these objects?
TURNER: Oh yes, we've got several in the files. Shall I get them?
DOCTOR: Oh, if you would be so kind.
TURNER: Right.
DOCTOR: Unidentified Flying Objects.....

Then we return to the thing moving in the crate, which leads us to Vaughan's London HQ:

BRIGADIER: Mean anything to you, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Possibly. How long ago were these objects first sighted?
BRIGADIER: Reports have been drifting in for well over a year now. We sent up fighter planes to investigate, but nothing ever came of it.
TURNER: The odd thing about these sightings is that they usually seem to disappear somewhere over south east England.
ISOBEL: But isn't that where all those factories and laboratories of Vaughn's are?
TURNER: Exactly. That's why I brought it up.
DOCTOR: Jamie, when you were hiding in that crate, you say something moved?
JAMIE: Aye, it was wrapped up in that gauze stuff.
DOCTOR: Did you recognise it at all?
JAMIE: No.
ZOE: What do you think it was, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I don't know. We've got to find out and quickly.
ZOE: How?
DOCTOR: Well, obviously they bring these things, whatever they are, up from the factory in the country to the London premises. That's where we're going to find the answer.
JAMIE: You mean go back to Vaughn's place?
BRIGADIER: I don't think that's wise, Doctor. You're been lucky so far.
JAMIE: Aye, if you think I'm going back inside there
DOCTOR: Jamie, we have to find what is inside these crates. Brigadier, have you got a map? Including the London premises.
BRIGADIER: Yes, yes, I think so. Sergeant Walters!
WALTERS: Sir.
BRIGADIER: May we have map number eight please?
WALTERS: Yes, sir.
TURNER: I'll get it, sir.
BRIGADIER: Thank you. Here we are. Now this, this is the whole area in detail. London offices, warehouse area and surrounding buildings.
DOCTOR: Oh yes, I see.
JAMIE: But Doctor, you can't go back the same way again. They'll be waiting for us this time.
DOCTOR: Oh my word. How very fortunate.
BRIGADIER: Anything I can do to help?
DOCTOR: Brigadier, you don't, by any chance, know where I can find a canoe?

The long awaited monster reveal at the end of the episode we can see as it's on the reprise at the start of episode 5. They've been hinting at it being the Cybermen all along: the device in Vaughan's office is similar to the Cyberplanner, the insinuation with the packaging crates and Vaughan's comment to Packer is that Vaughan's staff, Packer included have already been partially converted to Cybermen like Toberman was in Tomb of the Cybermen while the form moving in the crate is reminiscent of the Cybermen in storage in both Tomb and Wheel in Space. We know the Cybermen have no emotions so using emotions against them is a sensible trick and another hint.

Like episode one, this episode is missing from the BBC archives. You've got to feel sorry for the Cosgrove Hall animators who produced these episodes: Given a famous Doctor Who monster story to work with this is the only occasion they get to animate the monster and the bit they get to do already exists so will inevitably suffer in comparison!

The Cybermen have had a major makeover since the Wheel in Space: The chest unit is a similar design to the Wheel in Space and stays the same way up with the circle at the top, but the top of the unit is now rounded. The rods on the limbs are changed but are broadly similar to the Wheel in Space Cybermen but the connectors between the rods are hemispheres. A new large head has been cast for the Cybermen adding some ribbed padding to the side of the head which completely changes the look. This head will be the basis for all Cybermen from now on appearing in Revenge of the Cybermen with some extra ribbed tubing round the head pipes and used as a starting point for the Earthshock style heads. Interestingly the Revenge chest units are the same as the older Moonbase/Tomb ones and mounted that way up with the circle at the bottom.

Inside the Cyberman seen at the end of this episode is our old friend Pat Gorman. He'd previously been a Freedom Fighter in Dalek Invasion of Earth, a Planetarian, on of the alien delegates, in Mission to the Unknown, a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, a Guard in The Massacre, a Worker in The War Machines, a Monk in The Abominable Snowmen and a Guard in The Enemy of the World. He returns as (deep breath, cos he's about to appear very regularly from now on) a Military Policeman in The War Games episode two, a Silurian in Doctor Who and the Silurians episode 2-4/Silurian Scientist in episode 5-7, a Technician in The Ambassadors of Death, a Primord in Inferno , the Auton Leader in Terror of the Autons, Primitive and Voice in Colony in Space episode one & two, Long in Colony in Space episode three, a Primitive in Colony in Space episode four & six and a Colonist in Colony in Space episode five, a Coven Member in The Dæmons, a Guard & Film Cameraman in Day of the Daleks, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, a UNIT Soldier in The Three Doctors, an Earth Guard/Presidential Guard in Frontier in Space, a Sea Devil in Frontier in Space episode six, a Global Chemicals Guard / 'Nuthatch' Resident in The Green Death, a UNIT Corporal in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon and a soldier in Soldier in Planet of the Spiders. That takes us up to the end of Jon Pertwee's time on the series, he returns in Tom Baker's first story playing the Gate Guard in Robot, a Thal Soldier in Genesis of the Daleks, another Cyberman / Dead Crewman in Revenge of the Cybermen, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom, a Soldier/Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Chancellory Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Medic in The Invisible Enemy, a Kro in The Ribos Operation, the Pilot in The Armageddon Factor, a Thug in City of Death, Gundan in Warriors' Gate, a Foster in The Keeper of Traken, Grogan in Enlightenment, a Soldier in The Caves of Androzani, a Slave Worker in Attack of the Cybermen part one and finally a Cyberman in Attack of the Cybermen part two.

The first entry on IMDB for him has him appearing in Edgar Wallace Mysteries in 1962 as a Police Constable in Time to Remember. From there he goes onto appear in absolutely everything including The Prisoner, as a Hospital Orderly in Hammer Into Anvil, Doomwatch, as a Man in Hear No Evil, Fawlty Towers, as a Hotel Guest in The Builders, Porridge, as a Prison Officer in The Desperate Hours (He walks into the gents as Fletcher is conducting the sampling of his home brew), The Tomorrow People as a Vesh Hunter in Worlds Away and a US Marine in War of the Empires, the Douglas Camfield directed The Nightmare Man as The Killer, The Day of the Triffids as a Blind Man, Blake's 7 as a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Federation Trooper / Rebel in Voice from the Past, the Trantinian planet hopper Captain in Gambit, a Death Squad Trooper in Powerplay, a Federation Trooper in The Harvest of Kairos & Rumours of Death, a Hommik Warrior in Power, a Helot in Traitor and a Federation Trooper in Games & Blake. For The Professionals he was a Golfer in Killer with a Long Arm, a CI5 Agent in Close Quarters & Servant of Two Masters, a Security Man in Weekend in the Country and the Police Superintendent at inquest in Discovered in a Graveyard. He was in The Young Ones as a Policeman in Interesting, the Camfield Beau Geste as a Legionnaire, Russell T Davies' Dark Season as a Heavy in the first episode and Agatha Christie's Poirot a Desk Sergeant in The ABC Murders & a London Man in The Case of the Missing Will.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg of everything he's done!

You wonder if the Cybermen could have been revealed a little sooner in the story and suspect when the story was stretched to eight episodes their reveal was delayed. I can see the reveal as being in the middle of the story still. If we take Peter Bryant's advice and cut the story down to four episodes then I see episode one ending with Jamie in the crate, episode two being similar to the existing episode four and ending with the Cybermen's reveal and episode three climaxing in the famous sequence from the end of the existing episode six. There's lots of padding from episodes 1-3 that could go leaving episode 4 at Vaughan's London HQ. It's been a few years since I watched the Invasion so I'm not sure what could easily be excised from episodes 5 & 6 but I recall there's a lot of waster in episode eight spent mucking around with missiles.

222 The Invasion: Episode Three

EPISODE: The Invasion: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 222
STORY NUMBER: 046
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 16 November 1968
WRITER: Derrick Sherwin & Kit Pedler
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 7.1 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: The Invasion

"You really are beginning to try our patience, you know!"

The Doctor & Jamie explain to Vaughan they're looking for Isobel & Zoe. Vaughan says they left denying they were put in the box. Vaughan says he'll show them inside a box but as they arrive at the train yard the boxes are drawing away on a train. Vaughan takes them to his other factory to meet train. Benton sees them leave in Vaughan's car who reports back to the Brigadier who gets Captain Turner sent to monitor things in a helicopter. The Doctor, Jamie, Vaughan & Packer arrive at factory where they go to Vaughan's office, an exact duplicate of that in London. The Doctor gets his circuits back. Jamie spots the UNIT Chopper through a window, while the Doctor sees what looks like a deep space communications array. Taken to see Professor Watkins, the Doctor blocks monitoring device with magnet so they can talk to Professor Watkins who shows them his Cerebration Mentor, a teaching device that can induce emotions. Vaughan sends Packer to get them but they give him the slip escaping in lift, then when it's stopped climbing the shaft onto the roof, then escaping down fire escape. They make their way back to the railway sidings searching for Isobel & Zoe but are found by guards. Jamie hides in a crate and is alarmed when the contents start moving .....

The ending to the episode is absolutely top drawer, Jamie is trapped in the crate with "something" that starts to move. This might be a bit of foreshadowing reminding you of previous stories.

Patrick Troughton & Fraser Hines are between them very much driving the story this week. Wendy Padbury, who played Zoe, was due her first week off so she's absent and with her guest star Sally Faulkner, which is explained away by Vaughan having kidnapped them last episode which in turn drives The Doctor & Jamie hunting for them in this!

WATKINS: But what can we do? If, as you say, they have Isobel and your young friend then we're entirely at their mercy.
DOCTOR: No, no, not entirely. There's my friend the Brigadier, remember.
WATKINS: Do you think he can help us?
DOCTOR: Possibly. But quickly, tell me, what is Vaughn up to? What's he doing here?
WATKINS: I know no more than you do. He's a ruthless man, without morals or principles. His object, I'm sure, is to get complete control of the electronics industry of the world!
DOCTOR: I wonder. I've a nasty feeling he's aiming somewhat higher than that.

Considerably higher as it happens! But it's now episode 3 and we still don't know who the Vaughan's allies are yet! This story is taking it's time to tell us. There are some hints though:

DOCTOR: That's odd. That's very odd.
JAMIE: What is it?

DOCTOR: Well, it looks like a deep space radio communication system. What's it's doing here?
JAMIE: Don't ask me, you're the brains.

So we know Vaughan's working with people from outer space.

VAUGHN: This strange Doctor's been on another planet, Packer.
PACKER: That's not possible.
VAUGHN: It is a fact, Packer. He has some sort of machine. Now let's see if we can learn more about it, shall we?

People who have met the Doctor on another planet.

VAUGHN: Has the information been considered?
PLANNER: The images of the two humans have been analysed and registered. They are known and are hostile.
VAUGHN: Hostile? How can that be? Have you been on Earth before?
PLANNER: No, they have been recognised on Planet Fourteen. They are dangerous and must be destroyed.
VAUGHN: Planet Fourteen? But how?
PLANNER: They must be destroyed.
VAUGHN: Yes, I'll deal with them.
PLANNER: Plans for invasion are nearing completion. Nothing must be allowed to interrupt them.
VAUGHN: Don't worry. Nothing will.
PLANNER: Nothing must be allowed to interrupt them.

Albeit one we've not heard of. If they'd said, for example "they have been recognised from Skaro" we'd know who the aliens were!

But we do know they are a race the Doctor has met before:

VAUGHN: Our friend the Doctor's a resourceful man. No wonder our allies fear him.
PACKER: Our allies know him?
VAUGHN: Oh, yes. I was ordered to destroy him. But first I must learn the secrets of this extraordinary machine of his.
PACKER: If you're been ordered to destroy him
VAUGHN: I don't take orders, Packer, I give them! Now, I think the time has come to stop playing games with this Doctor!

And it seems The Doctor's mere presence is driving a wedge between them and their human ally.

Don't forget that someone fired a missile at the Tardis from beyond the moon in episode one either!

JAMIE: Hey! Doctor, it's
VAUGHN: Confusing, isn't it?
JAMIE: It's exactly the same as your office in London.
VAUGHN: In all basic essentials, yes, it is. That's the secret of my success, you see. Uniformity, duplication. My whole empire is based on that principle. The very essence of business efficiency.

Nice touch having identical offices, which means the same set can be used again, albeit with a different window backdrop! I wonder if there's an alien machine behind the wall of this one too?

I know that at eight parts The Invasion is a little longer than expected or planed. In fact when Producer, and former Script Editor, Peter Bryant saw the material Kit Pedler had supplied for a six parter he reckoned that Derrick Sherwin should turn it into a four parter but when Paul Wheeler's “The Dreamspinner” went Tango Ultra on them, the Invasion ended up being stretched to eight parts and the "reserve script" Terrance Dicks had been knocking into shape got brought into play. Given this you might expect the Invasion to have a little padding. So when I see characters escaping from a stalled lift through the roof and climbing out which is the oldest trick in the book I'm pretty sure I'm able to identify some of the padding (and when you think about it was all the stuff with the lorry driver necessary?) Fortunately it's terribly good padding and everyone involved is sticking to the adage "if you're going to do something do it well".

Troughton and Hines are on fine form, the latter getting to have a bit more comic fun as he gets in the back of the car, leaps out the other side and climbs in the front!

As per previous episodes there's plenty of location work. In fact this story has the largest location shoot so far!

The former Guinness Brewery in Park Royal provides the Railway sidings seen in this story and work for the second & third episodes was filmed there on 11th September 1968. I've got a 1955 railway atlas of the UK but am struggling to find precisely where the railway siding are on the London Map, despite knowing exactly where Park Royal is from the Underground Station. I guess it links to the main line somewhere near Paddington Station. The story has it that Patrick Troughton & Fraser Hines enjoyed a fine lunch courtesy of the Guinness directors and had some trouble with the one brief scene they filmed in the afternoon requiring them to look round a corner. Troughton would later be sent a Christmas Pudding from the company, laced with their famous product, which exploded in his agent's office!

The same location is also used for the sequence with Vaughan's car arriving at his country offices.

However the front gate to the offices, which the car is seen arriving at, is marked as "location unknown" in Richard Bignell's Doctor Who on Location.

We know the sequences of the Helicopter tracking the car were filmed as Kingston Minerals in Kempsford, Gloucestershire on 5th September 1968, were the guards looking at the helicopter taken at the same location?

The guards themselves represent a small problem too: we don't know who they are. IMDB, which admittedly isn't the most reliable resource at times, doesn't say who they are and a quick glance by m'learned colleagues at the paperwork only list one guard, Maurice Brooks, of Lethbridge-Stewart's boots in Web of Fear episode 2 fame, as having been on location this episode.

The gate itself offers an intriguing possibility: is this the location where the truck is stopped in the missing episode one, and then followed by motorcyclists? I can't see them going to the trouble of using two sets of gates for the same complex. M'learned colleagues say that Dave Carter, a regular extra on the series from this point onwards, and Terry Duggan are the two guards on location for episode one. We know what Carter looks like from his other Doctor Who appearances and several people I've spoken to are reasonably sure it's him on the left.

Later on in the episode the rooftop sequence with The Doctor & Jamie is filmed at Associated British Maltsters in Walingford, also on 6th September 1968.

DOCTOR: Professor, tell us about what you're doing here.
WATKINS: Oh, it's very simple, really. I've been developing a new kind of teaching machine.
DOCTOR: Oh yes? A teaching machine?
JAMIE: What's it called?
WATKINS: I call it the Cerebraton Mentor.
JAMIE: Oh, aye?
WATKINS: The main difference from the other teaching machines is that it is able to induce emotional changes in the subject.
JAMIE: Oh.

Joining the cast this episode is Edward Burnham as Professor Watkins. He'll return to Doctor Who as Professor Kettlewell in Tom Baker's first story, Robot. Prior to this he'd been in the Quatermass and the Pit episodes The Wild Hunt & Hob as an Official.