50 Years of Doctor Who: 254 Spearhead from Space: Episode One

EPISODE: Spearhead from Space: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 254
STORY NUMBER: 051
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 03 January 1970
WRITER: Robert Holmes
DIRECTOR: Derek Martinus
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Derrick Sherwin
RATINGS: 8.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: Mannequin Mania Box Set - Spearhead from Space/Terror of the Autons
EPISODE FORMAT: 16mm colour film

"Since UNIT was formed, there've been two attempts to invade this planet. We were very lucky on both occasions. We had help from a scientist with a great experience of other life forms....."

And off we go again. A brand new era for Doctor Who in more was than one. And we'll start by doing something I've not been able to do before:

During a meteor shower the Tardis materialises in Oxley Woods, the Doctor falling out the door unconscious.

Local poacher Sam Seeley finds a meteorite and conceals it, returning for it later. The Doctor is taken to the nearby hospital where questions about his biology puzzle the Doctors leading an orderly to ring the local newspapers to say they have an alien at the hospital. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT arrives with his newly forcibly recruited scientific advisor, Liz Shaw from Cambridge, and they fight their way in through the press. However reaching the Doctor's bedside he doesn't recognise his old friend and leaves. The reporters waiting for the Brigadier find the phone cubical occupied by a man who leaves in a hurry when they disturb him. The Doctor is kidnapped from the hospital by beings dressed as hospital staff, but escapes from them making for the Tardis where he is accidentally shot by UNIT troops guarding it.

That summary was mainly written before I'd watched the episode for this blog! I checked it afterwards and the only detail I had to add was the poacher. OK maybe it helped that I'd seen it relatively recently when Mannequin Mania came out, but even then it was so familiar to me. Even without my wife's prejudice against black and white stories it's the colour ones and especially the Jon Pertwee & Tom Baker stories that I watch most often for pleasure. This story was an early video purchase too, and an early DVD release so I've seen it quite a few times over the years. It's the coldest start and fullest reboot that the series gets during it's run: we get a new Doctor who we've not seen before who spends most of the episode unconscious or gagged, a new companion and new foes. There's no Tardis interior to make us feel at home just the Brigadier who previously appeared in eleven episodes over a year previously. So writer Robert Holmes, creating his third story in the last five and cementing his reputation as the go to man for Script Editor Terrance Dicks, raids his own back catalogue to provide the backbone for this episode, a large amount of which resembles the plot of the 1960s low budget British sci fi film The Invasion: Aliens found in a wood are taken to a local hospital. The film script was written by Roger Marshall but it's from a storyline by Robert Holmes. If you can't steal from yourself who can you steal from? It's interesting that the threat in this story, the Autons, almost take a back seat in this episode until they, for reasons unrevealed, attempt to kidnap the Doctor. In every respect the new Doctor's arrival on Earth and the organisation he'll find himself in is put front and centre.

Because this is the first colour episode I've got my wife Liz with me who much prefers the colour episodes to black and white. She'll be here for the whole story (No, I'm not trying to emulate the superb Adventures With My Wife In Space. Her eye was caught by Sam Seeley doing "Gurning yokel number 1" but thought that anyone of his age would automatically think the meteorites were a bomb and wouldn't sling it over their back in a bag!

She thought Liz's coat was *VERY* silly and described it as a plastic jumbo crocodile skin!

We both cracked up at Pertwee's acting when kidnapped and in the wheelchair: she described the "Doctor escaping in the wheelchair" as more Some Mothers Do Have Em than Doctor Who!

Lots of firsts for this episode of Doctor Who.

From a technical point of view, it's the first story shot in colour, it's the first story to feature the new title sequence with the new Doctor's face.

It's also the first story to have an end title sequence with static captions over graphics and the "sting" ending to the end theme music instead of just fading away, it's the first story shot 100% on 16mm film and it's the first whole story to survive in it's original transmission format.

There's a big revelation actually in the story: this is the first episode which explicitly says that the Doctor has two hearts.

From the acting point of view this story is the point that Nicholas Courtney joins the cast full time as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. He'd previously appeared in The Dalek Masterplan, as Bret Vyon, before playing The Brigadier in The Web of Fear and The Invasion.

Also returning is director Derek Martinus who'd previously been in charge of Galaxy Four, Mission to the Unknown, The Tenth Planet, Evil of the Daleks and The Ice Warriors.

More importantly there's two big débuts here: A new Doctor and a new companion.

Jon Pertwee (b 7 July 1919) came from an acting and performing family. His father was a playwright and his cousin, Bill Pertwee, is familiar to television audiences as Air Raid Warden Hodges in Dad's Army. His Godfather was actor Henry Ainley, the father of future Doctor Who villain Anthony Ainley and his first wife was the actress Jean Marsh, who already has two Doctor Who credits to her name by this point. Pertwee had made a name for himself as a comedy actor & performer on stage, television and radio. He was at this point appearing in the radio show The Navy Lark when his friend and co-star Tenniel Evans, who we'll see in a few years time, pointed out to him that the BBC were looking for a new Doctor Who. Pertwee's agent rang the BBC on his behalf and was pleased to find his client's name near the top of their shortlist. Other actors considered were Ron Moody, famous for playing Fagin in the 1968 film Oliver! and Stratford Johns, another future Doctor Who villain, who was at this point appearing in Z-Cars. Pertwee's casting was announced with a press call featuring a Yeti which gave rise to the "Yeti on a loo in Tooting Bec" line that the actor would use to illustrate how having monsters in a familiar setting was scary.

Caroline John had mainly worked on the stage when she was cast as Liz Shaw, initially due to a publicity photo of her that caught the attention of producers Peter Bryant & Derrick Sherwin which caused them to call her for interview. She's married to Geoffrey Beevers who, once again, will appear as a future Doctor Who villain.

There's a familiar faces making a minor appearance in this episode: On Who début as one of the reporters at the hospital is Prentis Hancock, who'll find fame as Paul Morrow in Space 1999. He makes three return appearances to Doctor Who as Vaber in Planet of the Daleks, Salamar in Planet of Evil and the Shrieve Captain in The Ribos Operation. He was also in Survivors as McIntosh in A Little Learning and plays Arnold Meyer in Chocky's Children & Chocky's Challenge, both written by this story's script editor Anthony Read He achieves a rare double by appearing in The Professionals as the Army Major in Lawson's Last Stand in 1982 and then 17 years later in CI5: The New Professionals a Carl Dietrich in Souvenir. You can hear him interviewed in Toby Hadoke's Who's Round #129.

His reporter colleague, named as Wagstaffe in the titles, is played by Allan Mitchell. He's in the same episode of The Professionals as Prentis Hancock, Lawson's Last Stand, playing The Professor and can be also seen in Inspector Morse: The Death of the Self playing The Coroner.

Also seen as members of the press are Dave Mobley, John Hughes and Alan Cooper, who have no further association with Doctor Who, Vicky Maxine, who's a Nurse elsewhere in this episode, and June Jenson, Trevor Cuff & Hugh Wood, who I can't find on IMDB or elsewhere in the Doctor Who production file.

The Speaking Nurse is Helen Dorward, who was in Are You Being Served? as The Irish Lady in Hoorah for the Holidays, Hi-de-Hi! as a woman in Marry Go Round and No Place Like Home: The Summons as Mrs. Pugh. Her non speaking nursing colleague is Vicky Maxine, who's also one of the Press in the episode.

I can't find any of the actors playing the patients in this episode, who are Rachel Hipwood, Arthur Judd and Marie Johnson, on IMDB and none has any other Doctor Who role. Hospital Receptionist Walter Dalby I can find on IMDB but I can't see anything I've seen him in on his CV.

The Nurses outside hospital are Lindy Russell, who I can't find on IMDB, and Rosemary Turner, who was in Doomwatch as Miss Jones in Train and De-Train.

There's two Autons disguised as Hospital Porters:

Roy Brent had been a Man in Firing Squad & Prison Sentry in The War Games and returns as a Control Room Assistant & UNIT Soldier in The Ambassadors of Death, a UNIT Soldier in Claws of Axos, a Miner in Monster of Peladon, a Double for Noah/Libri in Pallet in Ark in Space, one of the Collector’s Escort in The Sunmakers, a Shrieve in The Ribos Operation a Guard in Creature from The Pit, a Skonnan Elder in Horns of the Nimon and a Resistance Fighter in Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp. In Monty Python's Flying Circus he was an Armoured Knight in Njorl's Saga.

Victor Croxford Returns as a Laboratory Technician in Claws of Axos a Peasant in woods in State of Decay and a Villager in The Visitation.

Mullins, the real hospital porter that rings the newspaper, is played by Welsh actor Talfryn Thomas. He'll be back as Dave in The Green Death, which features every Welsh sounding actor living within 20 miles of Shepherd's Bush. He can be seen in Doomwatch as Mr. Hetherington in The Human Time Bomb and Prisoner Warren in Fire and Brimstone. He also plays Private Cheeseman in Dad's Army, the character which replaces Private Walker following the death of James Beck and is in the first season of Survivors as Tom Price.

UNIT's Captain Munro is played by John Breslin. He'd worked with the previous Doctor Patrick Troughton playing Alan a Dale to Troughton's Robin Hood and was also in UFO as Dr. Charles Reed in the The Dalotek Affair.

Playing Corporal Forbes, the UNIT sentry at the Tardis, is George Lee. He'll return in The Time Monster as The Farmworker and can be seen in Blake's 7: Traitor as Igin as well as appearing in two Fawlty Towers episodes: The Builders as the Delivery Man and Communication Problems as Mr. Kerr.

Brian Nolan is the UNIT Soldier at the Hospital. He'd already been an IE Guard in The Invasion and a Confederate Soldier & Resistance Man in The War Games. He returns as a UNIT Soldier in the Silurians, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, a Solos Guard in the Mutants, a Prison Guard in Frontier in Space, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom and the TV Cameraman in The Deadly Assassin. He was also in Doomwatch as a Man in Flood.

There's a few other UNIT soldiers in the episode: Pat Milner was a Foot Soldier, Resistance Man & German Soldier in The War Games He plays a Security Guard in The Silurians, a Unit Corporal in The Daemons, an Army Solider in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Android Unit Soldier in The Android Invasion and a Marine in Seeds of Doom, for which he also supplied a dog! You can also see him in Fawlty Towers as a CID Officer in A Touch of Class - there's a picture from that on his Avelyman entry which makes him easier to spot later but here and in The Silurians he's lacking his distinctive moustache!

Antonio de Maggio was a Warrior Monk in Abominable Snowmen and returns as a UNIT soldier in The Silurians. I can't see anything else on UNIT Soldier Iain Smith's CV that I recognise and David Dewhurst, who plays he soldier Munroe names as Hawkins, isn't on IMDB.

The UNIT Driver & an Ambulance Driver in this episode is Dennis MacTighe who returns as a UNIT Driver & Ambulance Man in The Silurians. In Monty Python's Flying Circus he plays Superman's Bus Driver in How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away.

Tessa Shaw plays the UNIT Officer at the Radar Station: she is in the Doomwatch episode Hear No Evil as Mrs. Lucy Reid & the Voice of the Secretary.

Her technician is played by Ellis Jones, who also voices Dr Lomax in this episode. He goes on to become a director and teacher at RADA.

Given Jon Pertwee's fondness for doing his own stunts, as long as heights weren't involved, I'm surprised to see a Stunt Double for Doctor Who listed in The Production File. Michael Horsburgh had been a Stunt Pirates in The Smugglers and returns as a Heavy in Ambassadors of Death, a Stuntman/Primitive & Stuntman/IMC Guard in Colony in Space, a Stuntman/Guard in Curse of Peladon, and a Castle/Château Guard, Sailor & Stuntmen/Sea Devils in The Sea Devils. He was in Adam Adamant Lives! as the Chauffeur in A Slight Case of Reincarnation, an uncredited role in Death Begins at Seventy and as an S.S. Man in A Sinister Sort of Service.

Lots of location work in this episode: The Tardis landing site and surrounding woodland was filmed at RHS Wisley. I hate Wisley, I was dragged round it too many times as a child by my garden loving father!