260 Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode Three

EPISODE: Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 260
STORY NUMBER: 052
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 14 February 1970
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Timothy Combe
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface (The Silurians/The Sea Devils /Warriors of the Deep)
EPISODE FORMAT: 16mm b&w film recording recoloured using 525 off air video

"It was like a reptile, but it walked upright like a man!"

When the humanoid creature sees Liz it flees. The Brigadier orders a manhunt over the moor. Quinn arrives at the barn behaving suspiciously. Tracks for the creature are found and end at some tire marks. The Doctor visits Quinn at his cottage, finding the heating on full blast and it's owner uncooperative. Baker bursts into a meeting between UNIT and Dr Lawrence demanding a search of the caves. He's escorted back to the sickbay by Captain Hawkins while Dr Lawrence tells the Brigadier he is displeased with UNIT's performance and has summoned under secretary Masters from the ministry. The Doctor breaks into Quinn's office, discovering a globe depicting the Earth millions of years ago. He's discovered by Miss Dawson warns Quinn. Quinn says he will keep the creature captive until he gets the scientific information he desires. The Doctor visits Quinn's cottage again and finds him dead.

Taking the signal device from him, the Doctor activates it, summoning the creature into the room.

There's some great goggle eyed Pertwee gurning at the end of the episode as he sees the Silurian for the first time!

When I watched this episode for the daily Blog, my wife Liz turned to me at the end and asked how many were left. The look on her face when I said Four said it all. At the time I felt it was just so slow this story, taking ages to go anywhere, but this time round I liked this episode. Yes it's a slow burner but things develop during it.

First Quinn unexpectedly turns up at the farm and is rather evasive with the Doctor, setting his suspicions off so the Doctor makes a house call:

QUINN: Yes?
DOCTOR: I thought you were going straight back to the research centre.
QUINN: Yes, yes, I am.
DOCTOR: Only I saw your car was still parked outside. I thought perhaps you might have been taken ill again.
QUINN: No, no, I'm perfectly all right, thank you. I just had to come back for something, that's all
DOCTOR: What a charming place. Mmm, charming. Lovely old grandfather clock. Is this the living room? Oh yes, very nice. Very nice. Had the place long, have you?
QUINN: No, I bought it a few months after I got the job here. Look Doctor, I'm sorry but I really have to be
DOCTOR: Centrally heated too, eh?
QUINN: It gets very cold up here.
DOCTOR: Yes. Still, you do keep it very warm though, don't you?
QUINN: Yes, well, the thermostat's jammed, you see. I'm having it fixed.
DOCTOR: Perhaps you'd like me to look at it for you, I like tinkering with these gadgets.
QUINN: That's very kind of you but I've already sent for the people who installed it.
DOCTOR: Good, good. Only it is rather like the reptile house in the zoo, isn't it?
QUINN: What do you mean? Eh? What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Nothing. I was just referring to the temperature of the room.
QUINN: Doctor, I'm sorry but I really must ask you to leave. There's something very urgent I have to do before I go back to the centre.
DOCTOR: Oh? Yes, yes, of course. I'm so sorry to have taken up so much of your time.
QUINN: Not at all. I'm only sorry that I seem to have been rather
DOCTOR: My word, it's just as hot out here, isn't it? You really must get that thermostat fixed, you know. Anything wrong?
QUINN: Er, no.
DOCTOR: You'd save yourself a lot of trouble if you'd let me help you. They didn't catch it, you know.

Suspicions obviously still there, The Doctor and Liz burgle Quinn's office and make some discoveries:

LIZ: Look, what exactly are we looking for?
DOCTOR: Anything. I must know more about Doctor Quinn. Hand me that paper knife, Liz, will you?
LIZ: Yes, here.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
LIZ: What do you think you're doing?
DOCTOR: Breaking open the cabinet, m'dear. He's not going to leave anything important just lying around, is he? There we are. Now then, what have we got here? Pitons, notes. What's this? Let's have a look at these.
LIZ: What's that?
DOCTOR: Some kind of a ball. It's got some markings on it. Have a look.
LIZ: It's a globe. Surely that's the shape of the west coast of America. No. No, the land mass is all bunched together

DOCTOR: What's that? Let me have a look at that. Of course. This is the world as it was before the great continental drift, two hundred million years ago. And these notes, well, they're calculations on the age of the earth, with particular reference to the Silurian era.
DAWSON: What are you doing in here? This is Doctor Quinn's private office! I shall have to inform the Director about this.
DOCTOR: That won't help Doctor Quinn, will it?
DAWSON: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: I'm talking about the caves, Miss Dawson.
DAWSON: What about them?
DOCTOR: There's something down there, and I think Doctor Quinn knows what it is. Now look, you must tell me what you know, Miss Dawson, before anybody else gets killed. Maybe even Doctor Quinn.
DAWSON: Oh, I warned him.
DOCTOR: Warned him? Warned him about what?
DAWSON: I promised not to tell anyone, but if Doctor Quinn is in danger, I
BRIGADIER: Ah Doctor, we're due for a meeting with
DOCTOR: Yes, Miss Dawson?
DAWSON: I'm sorry, Doctor, I can't help you. If you'll excuse me.
BRIGADIER: What was all that about?
DOCTOR: Never mind, Lethbridge-Stewart, it's too late now.

Miss Dawson then goes to warn Quinn and his motives and greed for scientific fame stand revealed!

QUINN: What do you want?
DAWSON: That Doctor, the one with UNIT, I caught him searching your office.
QUINN: He had no right.
DAWSON: You can't go on like this. Don't you realise? People are being killed, and it's your fault. You've got to tell someone.
QUINN: No. Not until I'm ready.
DAWSON: Oh John, please. Please, let me tell this Doctor. He'll believe you. He wants to help you.
QUINN: He's a scientist, too. He only wants to steal the credit for my discoveries.
DAWSON: What discoveries? They haven't told you anything yet.
QUINN: They will now. I can make them.
DAWSON: You can't make them do anything.
QUINN: I've got one of them here. The one they were hunting. I've got it locked up.
DAWSON: But it might kill you. It's already killed that farmer.
QUINN: That creature in there is a scientist. With the knowledge it can give me, I can prove
DAWSON: It won't give you anything!
QUINN: Unless I get it back to the caves it will die. And I won't take it back until it tells me what I want to know.

And that desire is what presumably has led to his death, which is a shame because I rather liked his character.

BAKER: Everything! I saw this man. He must have been a saboteur. I took a shot at him, and then. And then I. Everything went black. Oh look, isn't the Brigadier taking any action?
LIZ: I'm sure he is. Just leave it to him. Look, I must go.
BAKER: Miss Shaw. Please, I have got to see the Brigadier.

Of the rest of the centre's staff Major Baker's annoying me with his insistence on saboteurs being responsible for the centre's problems and Doctor Lawrence is annoying me with his officialness, hindering UNIT's investigation, which is a shame as I enjoy other performances by both the actors involved!

DOCTOR: Look, I tell you, gentlemen, that the interference is definitely coming from those caves!
BAKER:Exactly, Doctor. This centre is being sabotaged.
BRIGADIER: Major Baker, you are supposed to be in the Sickbay.
BAKER: I am perfectly all right, thank you. I propose that we move down there in force, sir.
DOCTOR: That, Major Baker, is precisely what we must not do at this present time.
BAKER: I insist that you take some positive action.
BRIGADIER: I shall decide what action I shall take, and you, Major Baker, will return to the Sickbay and remain there till I send for you.
BAKER: Oh, this is ridiculous!
BRIGADIER: And that will be all, Major Baker. Captain Hawkins, you will accompany Major Baker to the Sickbay and see that he remains there.
HAWKINS: Sir!
LAWRENCE: Do I now take it you have arrested my security officer?
BRIGADIER: Major Baker isn't himself.
DOCTOR: I must say, Brigadier, that I'm delighted that you didn't agree with him.
BRIGADIER: Oh but I do. I intend to send for more men and mount a full scale search of those caves.
DOCTOR: Now look if you'd just give me a little more time
BRIGADIER: I'm sorry, Doctor. My mind is made up.
LAWRENCE: I advise you to do your best to achieve some kind of results in the time available to you.
BRIGADIER: Sir?
LAWRENCE: Masters, the Permanent Under-Secretary, is coming down here to conduct a personal investigation. Unless you can impress him more than you impress me, you may well find yourself transferred to some simpler duties, more within your scope.
BRIGADIER: Doctor Lawrence, as I believe I have told you before
DOCTOR: Stupid bumbling idiots, the pair of them.

Yes your eyes are not deceiving you, that is who you think it is playing Captain Hawkins, the UNIT Officer leading the search on the moorlands. Ladies and Gentlemen, the great Paul Darrow appearing in his first Doctor Who story. He was in the previous episode, but more in the background there and I struggled to get a decent shot of him!

He is of course best known as Avon in Blake's 7. He'll be back as Tekker in Timelash where he hams it up dreadfully extracting revenge on Colin Baker's performance in the Blake's 7 episode "City at the Edge of the World". We'll here a lot more about Blake's 7 later on but you can read my Blake's 7 blog where I watched all of that series.

Several of the Blake's 7 cast show up in other Doctor Who episodes: Peter Tuddenham (Zen/Orac/Slave) is in Ark in Space, Masque of Mandragora & Time & the Rani as various voices, Michael Keating (Villa) is in the Sunmakers, Brian Croucher (the Second Travis) is in Robots of Death and Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan) is in the Two Doctors. Blake's 7 was created by Terry Nation (of Daleks fame), produced by David Maloney (frequent Who director, most recently seen by us directing the War Games), script edited by Chris Boucher (who we'll hear from later) and had episodes written by Robert Holmes. The cast shared by the series is sop extensive I'd be here forever listing them all so as each of the Blake's 7 regulars listed above shows up in Doctor Who I'll list the shared cast for each of it's four seasons.

Ha! Just got the joke behind Paul Darrow's character name. The Brigadier's revolving door of Captains in his first few stories is frequently referred to as "The Interchangeable Jimmys" (Jimmy Turner in the Invasion & Jimmy Monroe in Spearhead from Space). If this character was a Jimmy too he'd be Jim Hawkins!

We get a much more extensive look at the Hankley Common location this episode as UNIT conduct their search:

The scale of the operation is made obvious by some overhead shots filmed using the same helicopter seen in the story:

It's not 100% clear on-screen, and indeed I can see one sit that thinks otherwise, but publicity photos taken at the time make it clear the helicopter used here G-AWFL is the same helicopter used in The Invasion and which returns in the next story, The Ambassadors of Death

The exterior filming at Hankley Common on Monday the 17th and Tuesday 18th November 1969 and at Sheep Hatch Farm the previous Friday, 14th November features a large number of soldiers played by different supporting artists to those used in episode 2, who were used for the studio session in the cave set on Monday 15th and Sunday 21st December 1969.

Reg Cranfield is the very first actor seen in Doctor Who: he played the policeman at the start of An Unearthly Child, replacing Frederick Rawlings who fulfilled the same role in the pilot. Cranfield then went on to play a Parisian Man in The Massacre, a settler in the Gunfighters, an Atlantean Priest & Man in the Market in The Underwater Menace and a UNIT Soldier/Bunker Man in The Invasion. He returns as a Solonian in The Mutants, a Villager in The Green Death and a Time Lord in the Deadly Assassin. He also plays a Soldier in the Adam Adamant Lives! episode D for Destruction.

Kevin Glenny had been a Thal in The Daleks as had Vez Delahunt and==> who went on to play a Galley Slave & double for the Centurion's Corpse in The Romans.

Jay McGrath was a Soldier in The Reign of Terror, and a Worker & Soldier in The War Machines. He returns as a Colonist & possibly a Primitive in Colony in Space, a SRS Scientist and a SRS Bouncer/Officer/Audience Member in Robot, a Man in Image of the Fendahl, a Priest in Androids of Tara, a Patient in Frontios, and a Dead Androgum in The Two Doctors. In Adam Adamant Lives! he was an RA Camp Guard in D for Destruction and Carry On Doctor he's a Visitor. He's in both The Sweeney, as a Detective and Contact Breaker, and it's first big screen version Sweeney! as a Man in Street. In Yes Minister he's a Restaurant Patron in Jobs for the Boys and inOctopussy he's an Auction Patron.

Derek Chafer was a Saxon in The Time Meddler, a Greek/Trojan Soldiers/People in Square in The Myth Makers, a Guard in the Massacre, a Settler in The Gunfighters, a Cyberman in The Moonbase, a Guard in Fury from the Deep, a Cyberman in The Invasion and a Miner, Issigri HQ in The Space Pirates. He returns as a Military Policeman & a Unit Soldier in The Ambassadors of Death, a Prisoner in Mind of Evil, a Primitive in Colony in Space, a Guard in Curse of Peladon, a Warrior in the Mutants, an Exillon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in Monster of Peladon, a Soldier, Armourer & Brethren in Masque of Mandragora, a Levithian Guard in Ribos Operation a Gracht Guard in The Androids of Tara, a Skonnan Elder in Horns of the Nimon, Doctor Body Parts & a Pangol Doctor in The Leisure Hive and a Gundam in Warriors Gate. In Out of the Unknown he was a Man in 1+1=1.5 and in Doomwatch he was a Man in Project Sahara, Re-Entry Forbidden & The Red Sky. In Monty Python's Flying Circus he was a gasman in Dinsdale!

Vic Taylor was a Saxon in The Time Meddler, the Cardinal's Guard in The Massacre, a Worker/Soldier in The War Machines, an English Soldier in The Highlanders, an ATC Technician in The Faceless Ones, a Guard on Fire Escape in The Enemy of the World, and a Technician in Fury From The Deep. He returns as a Man in Pub/Coven in The Dæmons, and a Solonian in The Mutants. His Doomwatch roles were a man in Burial at Sea and a Police Constable in Fire and Brimstone. He was in Adam Adamant Lives! twice as an S.S. Man in A Sinister Sort of Service and a TA Soldier in D for Destruction.

Bill Lodge was a Rill in Galaxy Four. He returns as a Villager in The Dæmons, a Functionary in Carnival of Monsters and one of Irongron�s Men in The Time Warrior. IMDB has him down for two Doomwatch appearances as a Lab Assistant in the first episode The Plastic Eaters and a man in Spectre at the Feast.

Les Conrad had been a Tavern Customer in The Massacre, a Unit Soldier in The Invasion, a Pirate in The Space Pirates and a 1862 Union Soldier and an Alien Guard in The War Games. He returns as a UNIT Soldier, Control Room Assistant & Policeman in The Ambassadors of Death, a RSF soldier in Inferno, a UNIT soldier again in Terror of the Autons, a Prisoner & Military Policeman in The Mind of Evil, a Colonist in The Colony in Space, a UNIT Soldier in Time Monster, a Technician/Guard/Citizen in Pirate Planet, a Policeman in Timeflight, a 1983 Schoolmaster in Mawdryn Undead, a Gunrunner in Caves of Androzani, a Jacondan Guard in The Twin Dilemma, which also features his twin sons as the Sylvest twins, and a guard in Vengeance on Varos. He'd been a British Soldier in The Andromeda Breakthrough: Gale Warning, a man in Doomwatch: Burial at Sea, appears in the Blake's 7 episode Gold as a Space Princess Guard/Passenger, is a soldier in The Day of the Triffids and is a Legionnaire in the Douglas Camfield helmed classic serial of Beau Geste.

Arthur McGuire was a guard in The Massacre, an English Soldier and Scotsman in The Highlanders and a Guard on Fire Escape in The Enemy of the World. In Adam Adamant Lives! he's a Partygoer/Tourist in Death Has a Thousand Faces while in Dad's Army he was in the Backrow of the Platoon in Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret & War Dance.

Charles Erskine was a Passer-by in The Massacre, and a Workman in The Faceless Ones. He returns as a Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks. In Adam Adamant Lives! he was a TA Soldier/RA Guard in D for Destruction (1966) and in Doomwatch he was a Man in The Battery People.

Victor Munt was a Guardian in The Ark, an Inferno Customer in The War Machines, a Guard in Power of the Daleks and a UNIT Soldier & Bunker Man in The Invasion. His Man in Doomwatch is in the episode In the Dark and in Adam Adamant Lives! he was a Partygoer/Tourist in Death Has a Thousand Faces.

Crawford Lyle had been the Airport Police at the Immigration Desk in The Faceless Ones, a Warrior Monk in The Abominable Snowmen, a UNIT Soldier and a Bunker Man in The Invasion and a Technician in Seeds of Death. He returns as a UNIT Soldier in Ambassadors of Death,

Charles Finch was a Llama in The Abominable Snowmen, a Guard in Fury from the Deep and a Cyberman, UNIT Soldier and Bunker Man in The Invasion. He goes on to play a Medical Orderly in Mind of Evil, a Colonist in Colony in Space and a Man in Pub/Coven & a Villager in The Dæmons.

Bobby Beaumont was a Llama in The Abominable Snowmen, a Technician in Fury from The Deep and a UNIT Soldiers/Bunker Men in The Invasion.

Gary Dean was a Technician in The Ice Warriors, a Guard in The Enemy of the World, a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion, a German Soldier in The War Games and a Regular Army Soldier in Spearhead from Space. He returns as an Earth Control Guard in The Mutants, a Lunar Guard in Frontier in Space, a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, a guard in Pirate Planet, a Technician in The Armageddon Factor, a medic in Nightmare of Eden, a Passenger in Time-Flight and a Pallbearer in Remembrance of the Daleks. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in Project Sahara and Fawlty Towers as a Hotel Guest in Communication problems.

Walter Turner returns as a Primitive in Colony in Space, a Palace Guard in Androids of Tara and a Logopolitan in Logopolis. In Blake's 7 he was a Crimo in Hostage while in Doomwatch he was a Man in You Killed Toby Wren and in the 1972 Doomwatch film he was Mr. Murray.

Lionel Sansby returns as one of the Complex Personnel in Hand of Fear and a Passenger in Nightmare of Eden. He would have been a Krarg in Shada but that story was cancelled, Afterwards he returns as a Cricketer in Black Orchid, a Passenger in Time Flight, one of the Men in the Cave Crowd in Snakedance, and as a Lazar in Terminus. In Blake's 7 he was a Federation Trooper in Seek-Locate-Destroy and in Doomwatch he was a Man in No Room for Error.

Colin Thomas returns as Sole in The Face of Evil, a Mentiad in The Pirate Planet, a customer in Cafe in The City of Death, a Don in Shada - is he the only person apart from Tom Baker and James Muir in all three Douglas Adams stories, a Foster in Keeper of Traken, a Logopolitan in Logopolis, a Gallifreyan in Arc of Infinity, an Elder in Planet of Fire and a Pallbearer in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Paul Barton was the Injured Silurian's Voice in episode 2: see there for his credits. He plays a Silurian later in this story.

Tony McKinnon is in Doomwatch as a Man in Burial at Sea which also features, as another man, Brian Scott who later appears as a man in Burial at Sea and Spectre at the Feast.

Bill Leonard was in the Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes The Buzz Aldrin Show as a Hench-vicar and It's a Living as a Guest at Award Ceremony. In Doomwatch he was a Man in Project Sahara.

Charles Elkin, Ladbrow, Laurence Norburne & Raoul Johns all have no further appearances in Doctor Who

The UNIT Dog Handler is Graham Warwick from Animal Kingdom.

Three of the actors on location are down as UNIT Soldiers/Policemen 3:

Jay Neill, was previously a Kanowa Guard in The Enemy of the World. He returns as an IMC Guard in Colony in Space, a Pikeman in The Masque of Mandragora , Silvey in The Invisible Enemy and Guard Klimt in The Underworld. He made several appearances in Doomwatch as a Man in Project Sahara, Laing in The Battery People, a Man in By the Pricking of My Thumbs..., a Young Man in Flight Into Yesterday and a Man in Flood. In Monty Python's Flying Circus he was an Armoured Knight in Njorl's Saga, in Fawlty Towers he's a Bar Guest in The Wedding Party and in Yes Minister he's a Bodyguard in The Death List.

Bruce Cox is on his Doctor Who debut and returns as a Jeep Driver in Ambassadors of Death, a Driver in Inferno and an Army Driver in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

This is the only appearance by Peter Blackburn in Doctor Who.

Likewise there are two actors down playing UNIT Drivers/Ambulance Men on location in this episode:

Dennis MacTighe was the UNIT Driver & an Ambulance Driver in Spearhead from Space. 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.

Richard Pickford, who's also a Police/Ambulance Man in episode 5, and then returns as a Jeep Driver in Ambassadors of Death, a Chauffeur in Day of the Daleks and a Lorry Troop Driver in The Time Monster.

Finally there's two new Technicians in this episode who both return in the next: Olive MacNeill played a Female Savage in The Savages. while Pat Matthews, who was a Gond in The Krotons, also plays a Plague Victim in episode 6 and then returns as a Technician in Inferno. If the numbers in the DWAS Production file are right they are the only technicians in this episode and both return next episode with some of the Technicians from earlier episode.

Two day after this episode was broadcast the second Doomwatch episode Friday's Child was shown on BBC1.