OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 238
STORY NUMBER: 049
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 08 March 1969
WRITER: Robert Holmes
DIRECTOR: Michael Hart
SCRIPT EDITOR: Derrick Sherwin
PRODUCER: Peter Bryant
RATINGS: 5.8 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Volume 5 (1967-1969)
"In this sector for some time now, Earth Government has been aware that a highly organised gang of criminals have been roaming the space ways, and preying upon defenceless cargo ships." For the first time this season we're listening on CD instead of watching an episode!
Space Beacons are being destroyed and plundered for the argonite used in their construction. A V-ship from Earth investigates and, having narrowly missed the gang of space pirates, starts putting teams onto the remaining space beacons in the area. The Tardis arrives on beacon Alpha 4 but so do the pirates who kill the team, led by Lt Sorba, that had been left there. The Pirates break the space station up with the Tardis crew trapped in a different section to their ship!
The Space Pirates: Not to be confused with the CBeebies show of the same name or the Doctor Who serial the Pirate Planet. In fact listening to it the thing that came to mind was Star Trek with the concept of a patrolling space fleet. However it's virtually impossible for Star Trek to have had an influence on this Doctor Who story as it hadn't yet been shown in the UK. That would soon change so it's not inconceivable that the Doctor Who team may have had a sneak peak at the BBC's new American import. Indeed there's something "Captain's Log" about Hermack's little scene setting speech:
HERMACK: "In this sector for some time now, Earth Government has been aware that a highly organised gang of criminals have been roaming the space ways, and preying upon defenceless cargo ships. The main target of these criminals is argonite, the most valuable mineral known to man and so far only found on the planets of the Fourth Sector. A government space beacon marking the approaches to the planet New Sarum has ceased transmitting its navigation signal. These beacons, as you know, are constructed of argonite. It is my belief that the criminals are attacking the government navigation beacons and plundering the argonite."The noise the pirates use to detonate the explosives sounds very familiar, I'm pretty certain it's the Yeti spheres' beeping communication noise.
The Space Pirates is a six part story but only episode 2 survives today making it the least complete season six story. Beyond that episode there are very very few visual references for this story as it was broadcast after John Cura stopped taking telesnaps for the program. However a small amount of model footage & a spacewalk sequence for this episode exists, most of which is from the opening moments of this episode, and can be found on the Doctor Who - Lost In Time DVD.
Some publicity photos were taken, which appear on the BBC website, and they give us our only look at Space Pirates Dervish & Caven, who's costumes make them look like refugees from a 1930s Flash Gordon serial!
Dervish, with the moustache, is played by Brian Peck. He'd been in the film version of Quatermass and the Pit as a Technical Officer and appears in the missing Doomwatch episode - Without the Bomb as Dr. James Fulton. One of his Z-Cars episodes, Appearance in Court, is one of a number from 1962 that feature Dudley Foster as Detective Inspector Dunn. Foster is playing the other Space Pirate here, Maurice Caven, but his CV features nothing else I've seen him in.
I'm always a little suspicious of IMDB entries for the first episode of a story as they appear to lump into them extras credits from other episodes. However we know there are other pirates with Caven & Dervish, not least the two in spacesuits that we can see footage of. A consultation with m'learned colleagues suggests the actors in question are John Caesar & Les Conrad. John Caesar was previously a Man in Market in The Romans, an Egyptian Warrior in The Dalek Masterplan, Monoid Four in The Ark, a Cowboy in The Gunfighters, a Guard in The Macra Terror and returns as C.P.O. Myers in The Sea Devils and the R / T Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He's also been in A for Andromeda as a MP Corporal in The Monster.
The other spacesuited pirate is Les Conrad. He was previously a Tavern Customer in The Massacre and returns as an 1862 Union Soldier in The War Games episode four, an Alien Guard in The War Games episode seven, a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Ambassadors of Death & Terror of the Autons, a Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, a Thal Survivor in Genesis of the Daleks and Mestor's Guard in The Twin Dilemma. That story features a pair of twin with the same surname and m'learned colleague Mr Hadoke confirms that they are his sons. He was in the A For Andromeda squeal The Andromeda Breakthrough as a British Soldier in Gale Warning, Doomwatch Burial at Sea as a Man, Blake's 7: Gold as a Space Princess Guard / Passenger and the Douglas Camfield Beau Geste adaptation as a Legionnaire .
The most notable person in this episode that we don't have a picture of is Nick Zaran who plays Lieutenant Joe Sorba, the head of the team deposited & massacred on Beacon Alpha Four. No can see pictures of him from other productions on aveleyman.com.
There's a few uncredited Space Guards in this episode who are possibly the team left with Sorba on Alpha 4. Peter Roy was a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, an Extra in The Highlanders, an Airport Police Sergeant in The Faceless Ones, a UNIT / Bunker Man in The Invasion and a Guard in The Seeds of Death. He returns as an uncredited extra in Doctor Who and the Silurians, Technic Obarl in Hand of Fear, a Guard in The Face of Evil, an Extra in The Sun Makers, a Gallifreyan Guard in Invasion of Time, a Gracht Guard in The Androids of Tara, a Guard in The Armageddon Factor, a Policeman in Logopolis, an Ambulance Man in Castrovalva, a Man in Market in Snakedance and a Walk on in Resurrection of the Daleks. Like many extras used by Doctor Who in the seventies he has Blake's 7 form too appearing as a Citizen / Prisoner in The Way Back & Space Fall, an Alta Guard in Redemption, an Albian Rebel in Countdown and a Federation Trooper / Rebel in Rumours of Death. In the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy he plays the Limousine Chauffeur in episode 2. He's got a notable role in the James Bond film Thunderball where he played British Secret Agent 006. He has a less obvious appearance in Return of the Jedi as Major Olander Brit but that hasn't stopped the character from getting a Wookipedia page!
It's Clive Rogers first Doctor Who appearance that IMDB is aware of. They think he returns as a Sniper in The War Games episode two, a Resistance Man in The War Games episode five, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora and a Mentiad in The Pirate Planet as well as appearing in the second season Doomwatch episode The Iron Doctor as a Visitor which you can see on The Doomwatch DVD.
Among the Space Corps Technicians, presumable the Spaceship crew, we supposedly have Neville Simons, also making his Doctor Who debut. He'll be back as in the War Games as a German / Roman Soldiers / Alien Student (IMDB can't make it's mind up) and as Michaels and his Alien Astronaut counterpart in The Ambassadors of Death. Now this credit make me think. The other two astronauts both appear in The Seeds of Death, directed by Michael Ferguson as is The Ambassadors of Death. There's also a number of people credited on IMDB for episode 4 of this story that we know were in Seeds of Death, because the location paperwork says so, and aren't credited there. So I have a little doubt as to if this chap is actually here!
It's a quick return to scripting duties for Robert Holmes here, fresh from his debut show the Krotons. While this serial was in production Terrance Dicks was busy sorting out The Seeds of Death and writing The War Games with Malcolm Hulke so Derrick Sherwin is one last time credited as Script Editor. However he's by this point effectively producing the show due Peter Bryant's ill health. This is the last story for which Bryant will be credited as Producer.
First time Doctor who director Michael Hart is in charge for this serial. Although he spent a decent amount of time working at the BBC, including directing both Compact & Z-Cars, this is his only engagement for the show.
This episode is the last one recorded in Lime Grove Studio D which had been a regular recording venue for the series since the very first episode. From now on the series would be usually recorded at BBC Television Centre. This story also sees the first work on the show for floor assistant John Turner. More commonly credited as John Nathan-Turner, he would become Doctor Who's producer a decade later.
Given what will come later it's only fair I tell you that when I blogged this episode the first time I listened to it at 8am one Saturday morning riding a number 13/14 bus to the Morrisons in Swindon. That saddens me a bit as it makes me realise quite how much my mobility has decreased in the intervening years.
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