308 The Curse of Peladon Episode One

EPISODE: The Curse of Peladon: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 308
STORY NUMBER: 061
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 January 1972
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Lennie Mayne
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 10.3 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Peladon Tales: Curse of Peladon & Monster of Peladon
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"If the committee of assessment judges favourably, then Peladon will join the Galactic Federation!"

On the planet Peladon Chancellor Torbis is murdered as the delegates from the Federation arrive to access the planet for membership. The Doctor & Jo are taking the Tardis for a test flight: it materialises half way up a mountain and falls off the ledge just as Jo & the Doctor leave. They find their way into a tunnel which leads into a secret passage into the Peladon Citadel where the Doctor is mistaken for the chairman delegate from Earth by the other members of the commission: Alpha Centauri, Arcturus and Izlyr, the Ice Warrior delegate from Mars and his bodyguard Ssorg. The Doctor & Jo, who is pretending to be a princess, are presented to King Peladon and his high priest Hepesh. Leaving the throne room the delegates have a statue pushed off a ledge towards them.

Yeah, not bad at all. A nice variety of aliens all with well defined personalities and a planet struggling between sticking to it's traditions and improving itself on the galactic stage.....

Curse of Peladon is a story which is about something: Britain Joining the European Economic Community. Writer Brian Hayles, of the Celestial Toymaker, The Smugglers, The Ice Warriors and Seeds of Death, returns for his first story since 1969.

The argument he's trying to show looks similar in some ways to the Science vs Magic one shown in The Dæmons, religion is the force here trying to hold back progress and the argument is embodied by the High Priest Hepesh and the Chancellor Torbis in the opening scene:

TORBIS: The delegate from Alpha Centauri has arrived, your Majesty. He will present his credentials to you shortly.
PELADON: Thank you, Torbis.
TORBIS: We wait now only for the chairman delegate from Earth. Then the discussions can begin.
HEPESH: You will persist then in this folly? Nothing I can say will deter you?
TORBIS: Hepesh, you have already had your say in the Grand Council. The question has been discussed and decided.
HEPESH: Decided by you, Torbis, and the fools who support you! You mislead the King, you abandon the ancient ways of our people.
TORBIS: Nothing but ignorance and superstition.
HEPESH: You will bring the curse of Aggedor upon us!
TORBIS: It'll take much more than your childish mumbo-jumbo to frighten me.
PELADON: Enough! I will not have my Chancellor and my High Priest squabbling on the steps of the throne.
HEPESH: You Majesty is right to rebuke us, nevertheless I must persist
TORBIS: Must I remind you, Priest
PELADON: My friends! My good friends. You are more to me than my Chancellors, my regents, much more. It grieves my heart to hear such hate between two brothers.

I'd always interpreted this last line as "brother Pels", as in fellow noblemen of Peladon. But are Torbis and Hepesh actual brothers who've taken different paths in life? They look very similar but it could well be all older male Pels do. In some ways Torbis' early death is useful for the viewers as it avoids any confusion between the two!

TORBIS: May I speak, your Majesty?
PELADON: Very well.
TORBIS: It was not I who chose to quarrel. Ever since the death of his exalted Majesty, your father, I have been as a parent to you. If you should forget now all that I have ever taught you, if you should let the superstitious fear of this foolish man
HEPESH: The folly has not been mine but yours.
TORBIS: Your Majesty, my whole life would be a failure. As a sacred trust, I undertook to
HEPESH: Sacred trust?
PELADON: Hepesh, please! Torbis, I shall not betray you.
HEPESH: But sire!
PELADON: No, Hepesh! The decision has been taken. If the committee of assessment judges favourably, then Peladon will join the Galactic Federation. And I shall expect your loyal help and support at this difficult time.
HEPESH: Your Majesty.
PELADON: Torbis, please inform the others that Alpha Centauri has arrived.

Oh yes Alpha Centauri..... there's no escaping it we have to talk about Alpha Centauri's costume. The story has it that when the production team saw the costume they weren't 100% happy with it due to, and there's no other way of saying this, it looking like a green penis with six arms. So they added a cloak..... and now when you see the costume from behind it looks even worse. It's not helped by the obvious veins in the head or by the bobbing up & down motion as it moves either!

Torbis' mysterious death doesn't put the argument to rest as The King is determined to proceed with the plan

PELADON: I remember when you and Torbis first brought me to this throne room.
HEPESH: At first you refused to sit upon the throne. You said that rightfully it could only be your father's place.
PELADON: But Torbis lifted me up and set me here. And then you said
HEPESH: And then I said, though the royal blood that flows in your veins is mingled with that of strangers, yet you shall be Peladon of Peladon. Greater than your father, greater than any past or future king. And then the Earth woman
PELADON: And then my mother, Hepesh. She smiled and placed my left hand in yours and my right hand in Torbis's.
HEPESH: And together we made a boy into a king.
PELADON: And now Torbis is dead.
HEPESH: His task was almost done, as mine will be when once I have anointed you king.
PELADON: Why did he die, Hepesh?
HEPESH: He saw your future as a servant of the Galactic Federation. I see you as an independent ruler of a great and glorious kingdom.
PELADON: You really believe he was destroyed by Aggedor, don't you?
HEPESH: Yes, it was a warning.
PELADON: But the Federation delegates are here at my invitation. It should have been me that was struck down.
HEPESH: No. No, it was Torbis blind advice that would have destroyed your kingdom. You would have become a slave, not a king.
PELADON: But Hepesh, you were always telling me a king must choose and choose courageously.
HEPESH: Aggedor has shown the way.
PELADON: Backwards into superstition? It was you who taught me to fight, to ride, and to think. Help me to realise my dream. I know what is best for my people.
HEPESH: I do not trust these aliens.
PELADON: Well then, trust me.
HEPESH: I tell you, I know their minds. I will not let them lead you into a trap.
PELADON: But their motives are open and honest.
HEPESH: But to them, Peladon, we are merely savages. Savages to be tamed. They despise and distrust us.
PELADON: Then I will talk to them, convince them. Summon the delegates. Now, Hepesh!

Hepesh's "I do not trust these aliens" is a very telling line.....

Unfortunately the Doctor doesn't trust all the aliens either, walking into the situation and mediately being confronted by something he knows only too well:

JO: What was that?
DOCTOR: That, Jo, was an Ice Warrior. A native of the planet Mars.
JO: You've seen them before?
DOCTOR: Yes, indeed I have, and believe me, they're not very pleasant company.

The Ice Warriors showed up in both of Brian Hayles previous tales, The Ice Warriors and The Seeds of Death, both Second Doctor Patrick Troughton stories. This is the first time they've met Third Doctor Jon Pertwee and their first appearance in colour when we can see that they're green.

Oddly despite Torbis being killed, nobody is asking how he died and who killed him if it wasn't a supernatural warning as Hepesh insists:

PELADON: Thank you. By now, you all know of the tragic incident involving my Chancellor, Torbis. He was more than an advisor. He was, like Hepesh, a trusted friend.
IZLYR: And yet he was killed. Why?
HEPESH: It was a supernatural warning.
PELADON: My High Priest connects this death with one of our ancient legends.
ARCTURUS: Your Priest speaks of a warning. Perhaps it is more than that.
PELADON: Superstition, nothing more.
IZLYR: This incident could well mean a threat to us, and to the Federation.
PELADON: But it was Torbis who died. The legend only concerns my people.
ALPHA: Your legend seems violent and unpleasant, and rather too convenient.
HEPESH: The legend of the curse of Peladon has been handed down through countless centuries.
IZLYR: I think, perhaps, we should hear this legend.
HEPESH: It concerns the royal beast of Peladon, now extinct. It is written, Mighty is Aggedor, fiercest of all the beasts of Peladon. Young men would hunt it to prove their courage. His fur trims our royal garment. His head is our royal emblem. It is also written there will come a day when the spirit of Aggedor will rise again to warn and defend his royal master, King Peladon. For at that day, a stranger will appear in the land, bringing peril to Peladon. And great tribulation to his kingdom.

It's at this inopportune moment that the Doctor walks in and a case of mistaken identity ensues.

IZLYR: Chairman delegate from Earth, greetings. Delegate Izlyr from Mars. Sub-delegate Ssorg.
ALPHA: Delegate Alpha Centauri. The Galactic Committee is terribly in need of your experience and judgement.
ARCTURUS: I am delegate Arcturus. You are late.
DOCTOR: Late? Er, yes, my apologies to the Committee but, er, our space shuttle crash-landed down the mountain. I wonder if something could be done about rescuing it.
HEPESH: That will be arranged. I am Hepesh, High Priest of Peladon.
DOCTOR: How do you do?
HEPESH: Protocol demands that you should present formally your credentials to King Peladon. Hand them to me.
DOCTOR: I'm afraid that will not be possible. We have lost everything in the crash.

While the Doctor goes along with the opportunity, Jo improvises to safeguard her position and in the process attracts an admirer:

PELADON: We can deal with protocol later, Hepesh. Present the chairman delegate from Earth, and his companion.
HEPESH: I presume this female is of royal blood?
DOCTOR: Well, naturally. Why, why do you bother to ask?
HEPESH: We are standing in the royal throne room of Peladon. Only men of rank and females of royal blood may set foot here. The penalty for trespass is death.
JO: Doctor, I do not deal through intermediaries. Kindly present us to our royal host.
DOCTOR: Yes, of course. Will you excuse me. Your Majesty, as delegate from Earth, I greet you. May I present Her Royal Highness, the Princess Josephine, of Tardis.
PELADON: Greetings, Princess. I'm sorry to hear that your journey ended so uncomfortably.
JO: The whole affair was most deplorable. The pilot was exceedingly inefficient.
PELADON: Well, I'm glad it was nothing more. You bring a welcome beauty to a serious occasion.
JO: Thank you, your Majesty.
IZLYR: Royal Highness. What are your powers on the committee of assessment?
DOCTOR: The Princess is here in the capacity of a royal observer only.
IZLYR: Ah, as on my planet, you still retain the aristocratic process.
DOCTOR: Yes, in a democratic sort of way.
ARCTURUS: Chairman delegate from Earth, we are not here to indulge in social diplomacy.
DOCTOR: No, no, of course not, I
ARCTURUS: We are here to consider admitting this somewhat primitive planet into the Galactic Federation.
DOCTOR: Yes, thank you for reminding me. I
ALPHA: Unfortunately, the success of our mission in threatened, violently.
DOCTOR: Threatened? Perhaps you'd be kind enough to explain that to me from the beginning?

And off the Doctor goes ..... a least until someone tries to tip a statue on him!

Playing King Peladon is David Troughton, the son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, who we've seen previously as a Guard in Enemy of the World & Private Moor in the War Games. He'll return years later as Professor Winfold Hobbes in Midnight. Among his many acting achievements is Bob Buzzard in A Very Peculiar Practice alongside Fifth Doctor Peter Davison & Horns of the Nimon guest actor Graham Crowden. At around this time David Troughton was sharing a flat with another young actor named Colin Baker who we will see more of later....

Geoffrey Toone, here playing Hepesh, was Temmosus in the film version of Dr. Who and the Daleks. He can be seen in Yes Minister as R A Crichton in The Greasy Pole and appears in three episodes of Jeeves and Wooster, Wooster with a Wife (or, Jeeves the Matchmaker), Aunt Dahlia, Cornelia and Madeline (or, Comrade Bingo) and Honoria Glossop Turns Up (or, Bridegroom Wanted!), as Lord Bittlesham.

Henry Gilbert, briefly playing Torbis, is one of the few actors involved in this serial not to have another Doctor Who credit on their CV !

After an entire story, Day of the Daleks, on 625 line video we're back to watching reverse standard converted 525 line video for this story and the start of the next. The 525 line colour copies of this story which, only existed in black & white films in the BBC archives, were returned from BBC Toronto in 1981.

307 Day of the Daleks: Episode Four

EPISODE: Day of the Daleks: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 307
STORY NUMBER: 060
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 22 January 1972
WRITER: Louis Marks
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 9.5 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"The Daleks have discovered the secret of time travel. We have invaded Earth again. We have changed the pattern of history. The Dalek empire will spread through all planets and all times. No one can withstand the power of the Daleks!"

The Controller interrupts the Daleks' interrogation of the Doctor saving his life so that he can be questioned about the resistance. The Daleks, then the Controller relate how the Daleks invaded Earth and enslaved the population. The resistance storm the Dalek HQ with several casualties including Boaz who dies saving Anat from a Dalek. The Doctor & Jo are rescued, the Doctor persuading the resistance to spare the Controller. In our time Unit is still searching for Jo & The Doctor. The Resistance want the Doctor to return and kill Styles, who they believe killed everyone at the conference with explosives leading to world chaos. The Doctor works out that the explosion was caused by the missing resistance member Shura using the explosives the team took with them. The Controller sets an ambush up for the resistance in the tunnel, capturing the Doctor & Jo, but the Doctor talks his way to a release enabling them to return to the present day. The Controller is observed by his deputy who reports him to the Daleks causing his extermination. The Daleks travel themselves to the 20th century and attack Auderley House. Warned by the Doctor, the Brigadier evacuates the house. Once the Daleks are within the house Shura detonates his explosives killing him and destroying the Daleks & Ogrons and giving the peace conference the impetus to succeed.

There's a lot to get into in this episode: The Doctor's been asked before why if they don't succeed they can't go back and have another go.

DOCTOR: Jo, every choice we make changes the history of the world.
JO: I just don't understand. I mean, why don't they go back to September the 12th if that's where they want to be. You know, have another go.
DOCTOR: Ah, that's the Blinovitch limitation effect.
JO: The what?

Well here the Daleks appear to have done just that:

DALEK: The Daleks have discovered the secret of time travel. We have invaded Earth again. We have changed the pattern of history.
DOCTOR: You won't succeed, you know.
DALEK: The Dalek empire will spread through all planets and all times. No one can withstand the power of the Daleks!
CONTROLLER: Take him away.

The "the pattern of history" they're referring to is, presumably, the failure of the Dalek Invasion of Earth, also set in the 22nd century.

We've seen Daleks with time travel before in The Chase & Dalek Masterplan. Masterplan is set in the year 4000, with the Dalek elements of The Chase looking contemporaneous, so I'm guess that's when these Daleks are from too.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth is a frequently referenced event in Earth's future history as it progresses down it's normal path so somehow the Daleks travelling back from the far future must have ended up in an alternate near future created by the resistance killing Styles, which is itself undone when The Doctor returns to the past!

Doctor Who is always against altering established history yet here an entire future is changed: the get out clause allowing them to do it here is that the future shown with the Daleks ruling isn't the correct one. As I'm writing this I have two other Doctor Who stories in mind, the McGann movie and the abhorrent Last of the Timelords where what we see on screen is undone. Here it feels OK, because the future already established is one where the Daleks invade in 2164 and are defeated, the Day of he Daleks future is the wrong one. It the other two stories it doesn't feel OK and makes you think that what you've seen onscreen is a waste of time because it's been undone.

This episode features one of the major short comings of the story: the Daleks attack on Auderely House. It's soooooooooooo slow! The Daleks are having obvious trouble moving over the grass and, once again, the Ogrons are having to amble as to not outpace them. It's also painfully obvious during this sequence that there are just three Dalek props available to film with, a position made worse by one of them, a third of what you can see on screen, being painted a different colour!

Thankfully this sequence has had some love & attention lavished on it for the special edition on the DVD in terms of CGI & newly filmed sequences. Two grey Daleks now becomes a multitude:

The extermination effects have been beefed up too with the traditional negative being replaced by the more modern "reveal the skeleton" first used in Remembrance of the Daleks, and infamously omitted from the original version of the DVD

Earlier in the story there's some extra tower block shots to emphasise the bleakness of the future: these look great but don't quite match the environment we see in the location footage shot at the time

We're back on location at Harvey House in Brentford for the scenes of the rebel guerillas attacking the Daleks headquarters.

There's a number of Guerillas involved in these scenes which both the DWAS Production File ad IMDB claim are in episodes 3 and 4. Can I spot any of them in episode 3? NO! This becomes relevant because one of them, Emmett Hennessy, is replaced by another actor, Brian Justice for this episode! Justice later appears in The Sea Devils, the next story filmed, as Castle Guard Wilson and then in The Green Death as Yate's Guard. Hennessy meanwhile *IS* in episode 4 but in a different role!

Jim Dowdall, a stuntman, returns as a Thal Guard and a Kaled Elite Guard in Genesis of the Daleks and a Warnsman in Frontios. He's also in Blake's 7 as a Space Rat in Stardrive, The Empire Strikes Back as a Bespin Guard and The Professionals as a Man in Spy Probe.

The guerilla with the most form on the show is Steve Ismay who'd been a BBC3 TV Crewmember in The Dæmons, a Sea Devil in The Sea Devils, Varan's Bodyguard in The Mutants episode one, a Presidential Guard in Frontier in Space, a UNIT Soldier in The Time Warrior, an Army Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, a Guard in The Monster of Peladon, a Metebelis 3 Guard in Planet of the Spiders, a Guard in The Deadly Assassin, a Gracht Guard in The Androids of Tara, a Citizen in Full Circle and a Cyberman in Earthshock. He also plays another role in this episode! Outside of Doctor Who he's in Blake's 7 as a Scavenger in Deliverance, Guard in Dawn of the Gods, Convict in Moloch and a Hommik in Power while in Doomwatch he plays a man in Flood and The Islanders. He's in The Tomorrow People twice as a Vesh Rebel in Worlds Away and a S I S Sergeant in The Dirtiest Business, The Sweeney as a Policeman in Cover Story, a Driver in Golden Boy and a Villain in Stoppo Driver, and in Porridge he plays a Prison Warden in A Night In and a Gardener in Happy Release.

After it not appearing in episode 3 we're back at Drop More House in Buckinghamshire, the location used for Style's house. Gathered outside the house in the background are a group from the media all made up people who appear elsewhere in the story! Pat Gorman is the Film Cameraman, he was a Guard in episode 3, while his soundman is Robert Bauld, a Slave in the same episode. There's three Stills Cameramen : Donald Baker, the other Guard in episode 3, Len Saunders, another Slave, and Steve Ismay, who'd a guerilla elsewhere in this episode!

Like the Dæmons we get to see a BBC television reporter on screen & involved in the action in this story. However Alex MacIntosh was an actual BBC presenter as well as being the voice over on the first ever television advert !

The African Diplomat is played by Sam Mansary who'd previously appeared in Mission to the Unknown as an Alien Delegate, who Delegate Detective thinks is Beaus, and The War Machines Episode 1 as a Journalist. He was in A for Andromeda as a Fitter in The Murderer and in Doomwatch as a Man in Public Enemy. His aide is Glen Whitter, who was a slave in episode 3.

The Chinese Diplomat is Basil Tang who'd been the Office Foreman in Mighty Kublai Khan & Assassin at Peking, the sixth and seventh episodes of Marco Polo. He returns as a Coolie in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. His aide is Vincent Wong, making his Doctor Who debut and he returns as Ho in The Talons of Weng-Chiang and the Chinese Captain in Enlightenment. He was in Space: 1999 playing a Medic in Force of Life & Alpha Child and Toshiro Fujita in Black Sun & End of Eternity. These may or may not be the same character! In Monty Python's Flying Circus he's Mr. Kamikaze in How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body, the ninth episode of the second series. He's a Japanese Tourist in The Sweeney episode Supersnout, appears twice in The Professionals as a Kidnapper in Take Away and Colonel Lin Foh in Discovered in a Graveyard and is Pan Duc Lao in the Jonathan Creek episode Black Canary. On the big screen he plays a Casino Croupier in Diamonds Are Forever, a Paramedic in Pink Floyd - The Wall, a Crimelord in Batman and General Li in Die Another Day.

Charles Adey-Grey is the American Diplomat: he's back in The Talons of Weng-Chiang as the Theatre Doorkeeper and can be seen in the Doomwatch episode Friday's Child as the Male Magistrate. His aide is Emmett Hennessy, who is supposedly a gorilla in episode 3 but replaced as a guerilla here! He'd been a Tavern Customer in The Massacre, an Inferno Customer in The War Machines and a Roman Soldier in The War Games. He returns as a Prison Guard in Frontier in Space and also plays a Technician in the Moonbase 3 episode Outsiders.

The Russian Diplomat is Alan Cope and his aide is Brychan Powell who was a guard in the first 3 episodes of this story.

We have the return of Sir Reginald Styles this episode, played by Wilfred Carter, but his secretary Miss Paget is missing for the studio scenes: actress Jean MacFarlane had been taken ill and her lines for episode 4's studio sessions go to Desmond Verini, who plays Styles' Aide.

However Paget is visible in the location footage alongside her studio replacement Desmond Verini, who was a slave in episode 3 and played a Plain Clothes PC on location. Harry Tierney is another Plain Clothes PC: he'd been in The Smugglers as a Villager at Inn / Pirate and The War Games as a Resistance Man.

Actually Jean MacFarlane's absence raises an interesting question: why reuse the house sets for a couple of very brief scenes with mostly the same personnel in this episode? Why not record them all in one go for episodes one and two?

Lots of UNIT Soldiers this episode, most of which have popped up throughout the story. Christopher Holmes is on debut here and returns as a Guard in The Time Monster, a Miner in The Monster of Peladon, a Muto in Genesis of the Daleks, a Traveller/Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Citizen in Full Circle, a Plasmaton in Time Flight, Ambril's attendant in Snakedance and a Genius in Time and the Rani. In Blake's 7 he was a Federation Trooper in The Way Back, a Prisoner in Space Fall, a Prisoner in Cygnus Alpha, a Mutoid in Duel & Project Avalon, a Star One Technician in Star One and a Hi-tech Patient in Powerplay. Derek Hunt was a British Soldier The War Games, a soldier in Spearhead from Space, a UNIT Soldier in The Silurians and a technician in Inferno. He returns as Prison Guard in Frontier in Space, a guard in Planet of Spiders, an Android mechanic in Android Invasion, a Bi-Al member in Invisible Enemy, a Time Lord in Invasion of Time, a Citizen in Pirate Planet, a Passenger in Nightmare of Eden, James the footman in Black Orchid, a Dinner Guest, a guard in Planet of Fire and a Time Lord in Trial of a Timelord. David Melbourne was a Gond in the Krotons, a Resistance Man in The War Games, a UNIT soldier in The Silurians and returns as a UNIT soldier in The Three Doctors, an extra in Robot, a Gallifreyan in Invasion of Time and a crew member in Earthshock. He's also in Doomwatch as a Man in Flood, Moonbase 3 as a Technician in Castor and Pollux & View of a Dead Planet and Blake's 7 as Technician in Dawn of the Gods. <Terence Brown was Abu in The Krotons. Nick Hobbs will shortly play his most famous Doctor Who role as Aggedor in Curse of Peladon, we'll do his full credits there.

So Day of the Daleks: good story, cracking in fact. Unfortunately it's not a triumphant return for the Daleks. All the story's problems surround them: they're confined to the background for the most part, sounding wrong and made to look ridiculous in the closing battle scenes. I think it would have worked perfectly well without them as the story was originally written. It's one of the better Pertwee stories, better than I remember it being. I'd not watched it for some years prior to viewing it for the Blog but I've seen it twice in the last week now and it was great both times.

What Day does do is give the Pertwee era another solid link with it's past. Apart from UNIT and the occasional mention of the Tardis & the Time Lords, the Third Doctor's reign has felt like a different show to what has gone before. Now the Daleks are back, and will be back every year for the next three years, the show starts to play a little more with it's heritage. The next story involves Tardis travel & returning foes the Ice Warriors, we'll make two more trips in the Tardis after that this season and we won't see the Brigadier & Unit HQ again till the last story of the season. The show is starting to feel a bit more like old Doctor Who.

Day of the Daleks was repeated on BBC1 as a 60-minute compilation on 3 September 1973.

It was novelised by Terrance Dicks and released in April 1974. The Day of the Daleks paperback was one of the first Doctor Who books I owned, being given a copy by my parents for my 9th birthday in 1982 along with Destiny of the Daleks and the first volume of the Programme Guide.

Day of the Daleks was released as a compilation video in July 1986. It was the first Pertwee story to be released on video, initially costing £24.95 and was the last Doctor Who video to be released on Beta Max as well as VHS. An episodic version was released in April 1994 by which point Doctor Who videos were a much more palatable £9.99 each!

Day of the Daleks is one of just six Doctor Who stories to be released on Laserdisc in the UK: The others are Revenge of the Cybermen, Brain of Morbius, The Five Doctor, The Ark in Space & Terror of the Zygons.

A 2 disc special edition DVDDay of the Daleks was released on September 12th 2011, the same day and month which Jo says she left earlier Time, and 40 years almost to the day since location work was started on the story. The DVD contains the restored original version of the story and, as mentioned above, a new special edition with enhanced effects, newly filmed footage and replacement Dalek voices provided by new series Dalek voice artist Nicholas Briggs. You can see a trailer for the special edition on YouTube while another is included on The Sun Makers DVD.

306 Day of the Daleks: Episode Three

EPISODE: Day of the Daleks: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 306
STORY NUMBER: 060
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 15 January 1972
WRITER: Louis Marks
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 9.2 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"When I meet a regime that needs to import savage alien life forms as security guards, I begin to wonder who the real criminals are!"

Fleeing from the Dalek the Doctor is transported to the future with Anat & Boaz. Becoming separated from them he emerges onto the surface and sees the deprivation of the enslaved humans. The Daleks are enraged when they hear that the Doctor is in their time and order his extermination. Anat & Boaz report to their superior Monia who tells them of Jo's capture. The Doctor is swiftly apprehended by Ogrons and taken for interrogation while Jo is wined and dined by the Controller plying her for information. A more friendly Interrogator questions the Doctor but is interrupted by the Controller who takes the Doctor into his custody as "an honoured guest". The Interrogator reports what has happened to the resistance before being caught & killed by the Ogrons. Reunited with Jo the Doctor is also plied with food & drink but is critical of the future regime. Jo & The Doctor stage an escape but are swiftly recaptured. The resistance learn of his capture & decide to rescue him. The Doctor is strapped to the Mind Analysis to prove his identity.

Apart from the reprise of episode 2's conclusion at the start, this episode is entirely set in the future and, thanks to some fab location work, it looks a horribly bleak place. Both the tower block exterior and the area the slaves are working in was shot as Harvey House in Brentford, which is close to Bull's Bridge in Hayes and Osterley House in Middlesex, the intended location for Styles' house. It's very close to two other Dalek locations Kew Bridge Steam Museum, the Totters' Lane scrap yard in Remembrance of the Daleks, and Kew Railway Bridge, from the opening of Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The waste ground seen when the Doctor materialises and again during the chase is near the bridge & tunnel entrance over the Grand Union canal at Bull's Bridge in Hayes, used in the other episodes of this story.

The bleakness is reinforced by The Doctor's treatment by his human interrogators:

And then his conversation with the controller, where the Doctor decides to tackle him on the status quo of the time period:

CONTROLLER: Some more wine, Doctor?
DOCTOR: No, thank you, no, not for me. Though I must admit, it's an excellent vintage. Well, it's the finest I've tasted since, er, well, since we had dinner at old Styles' house. Do you remember, Jo?
JO: It seems a long time ago.
DOCTOR: It was. Two hundred years to be precise. And quite frankly, I wish I was back there now.
CONTROLLER: Naturally, you prefer the twentieth century, Doctor. After all, it is your own time.
DOCTOR: Oh, I've known many times, and some of them much more pleasant than others.
JO: Well, I quite like it here, I must say. Everyone's been most kind.
DOCTOR: Well, I met some people today who were far from kind.
CONTROLLER: That was a simple mistake, Doctor, I assure you. You must not jump to conclusions.

DOCTOR: Well, better than jumping from the crack of a whip from some security guard. Do you run all your factories like that, Controller?
CONTROLLER: That was not a factory, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh? Then what was it?
CONTROLLER: A rehabilitation centre. A rehabilitation centre for hardened criminals.
DOCTOR: Including old men and women, even children?
CONTROLLER: There will always be people who need discipline, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Now that's an old fashioned point of view, even from my standards.
CONTROLLER: I can assure you that this planet has never been more efficiently, more economically run. People have never been happier or more prosperous.
DOCTOR: Then why do you need so many people to keep them under control? Don't they like being happy and prosperous?
JO: You're being a bit unreasonable, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Am I now?
JO: Well, look, the Controller wants to help you.
DOCTOR: Does he? I wonder why?
JO: You're not on the side of the criminals, surely? They wanted to kill you.
DOCTOR: When I meet a regime that needs to import savage alien life forms as security guards, I begin to wonder who the real criminals are.
JO: Those creatures aren't really savage.
CONTROLLER: Exactly. They are simply guard dogs. They just do what I tell them.
DOCTOR: You mean there aren't enough humans around that will follow your orders so blindly?
CONTROLLER: That is not what I was saying.
DOCTOR: Isn't it? Then what you're saying is that the entire human population of this planet, apart from a few remarkable exceptions like yourself, are really only fit to lead the life of a dog. Why?
CONTROLLER: You have no right to say that!
DOCTOR: Haven't I? Who really rules this planet of yours?
CONTROLLER: I'm sorry, I must go. I have work to do. You will excuse me.

JO: You shouldn't have spoken to him like that. You don't know the whole picture.
DOCTOR: Neither do you, Jo. Neither do you. That man is no more than a superior slave himself. Humans don't rule this world any longer, Jo.
JO: Then, who does?
DOCTOR: The most evil, ruthless life form in the cosmos. The Daleks.

The Daleks looks superb in the tunnel at the start of the episode, I always think they look good when you put them in dark confined spaces. There's some similar shots in the Daleks in Manhattan which are one of the few things about that story which really work for me! Unfortunately they are so dark they don't lend themselves to being screen capped that well!

Jo's "screams" to attract the guard's attention don't sound like she's afraid or scared .......

The Trike she & the Doctor escape on is obviously a gadget Pertwee sighted and wanted to use in the show but they are so slow that it makes the Ogrons ambling after them look completely stupid.

DALEK: The prisoners have escaped. They have broken through the outer perimeter.
DALEK: Find and exterminate them!
CONTROLLER: We need them alive!
DALEK: The prisoners will be recaptured and returned here for mind analysis!

As the Daleks announced what they intended to do to the Doctor Liz and I turned to each other and chorus as one "No,Not the Mind Probe!". A scene ruined by a future Doctor Who story, which is a shame as during it you get a glimpse into the Doctor's past with the faces of his former self appearing on the screen of the Mind Analysis Machine over the Pertwee end title sequence - a conscious decision or a CSO keying mistake?

Evidence suggests the latter as, uniquely, the music starts playing and Jon Pertwee's credit appears over the closing action. Like the previous episode this one starts with the reprise ending with the sting crashing in before the new action starts.

This story is the first appearance of the Daleks in colour in Doctor Who, but they previously appeared in colour in their original silver colour scheme with blue skirt balls in the now missing third season Out of the Unknown episode Get Off My Cloud.

Here they sport new grey paint schemes with black skirt balls whereas their leader's primary colour is gold, used previously in the film Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. for one of the leader Daleks there. Returning inside the shells are veterans John Scott Martin & Murphy Grumbar with newcomer Ricky Newby making up the numbers inside the third Dalek.

Regular Dalek Operator John Scott Martin made his Doctor Who début in The Web Planet as a Zarbi graduating to Dalek Operator in The Chase three stories later a role he'd repeated in Mission to the Unknown, The Dalek Masterplan,Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks. He'll return as a Dalek in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Five Doctors, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. He also plays a Mechanoid in The Chase, the Robot in Colony in Space, Charlie & a Coven Member in the Dæmons, a Mutant in the Mutants, a Gel Guard in The Three Doctors, Hughes in The Green Death, a guard in Robot, Kriz in Brain of Morbius and the Virus Nucleus in Invisible Enemy. His distinctive hair makes him a familiar figure amongst bit part actors in many television roles: he was in Quatermass and the Pit as a T.V. Technician in The Wild Hunt and A for Andromeda as a Lab Assistant / Man in Pub in The Message. He appears in the missing Out of the Unknown episode The Naked Sun as a robot but misses out when The Daleks turn up in Get Off My Cloud. In Doomwatch he's a Man in The Islanders and e appears in the first episode of The Tripods as the Schoolmaster. Away from science fiction he was in I, Claudius as Julia's Lover in Waiting in the Wings and a Slave in Some Justice and appears on the big screen in Pink Floyd - The Wall as a Dancing Teacher.

His appearances as the Robot in Colony in Space, Charlie in the Dæmons and a Dalek here mean he has been in three consecutive stories.

Alongside him is his frequent colleague Murphy Grumbar. He was first a Dalek, credited as Peter Murphy, in The Daleks & The Dalek Invasion of Earth, then as Murphy Grumber he's Dalek in The Space Museum, Mechanoid in The Chase, a Dalek in The Evil of the Daleks & Day of the Daleks and Arcturus in The Curse of Peladon He returns as a functionary in Carnival of Monsters, a Dalek in Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks and, as Murphy Grunbar, in Death to the Daleks.

They are joined as Dalek Operators by Ricky Newby, later to appear as a Mutant in the Mutants and a Gell Guard in the Three Doctors. There's a lot of comedy on his CV including an appearance in The Young Ones: Cash.

The voices are provided by Oliver Gilbert & Peter Messaline neither of which quite hit the right tone throughout. It's their only appearance voicing Daleks: Michael Wisher, a Who regular in the seventies, would provide voices during their next four appearances frequently alongside long time Doctor Who voice artist Roy Skelton. Dissatisfaction with the Dalek voices here was one of the major motivations behind producing a special edition of this story on DVD where the Dalek voices are provided by new series Dalek voice artist Nicholas Briggs.

We meet Monia, the rebel's superior in this episode and he's played by Valentine Palmer. You can see him in The Sweeney as Carew in Visiting Fireman and The Professionals as a News Reporter in Heroes.

The Manager, who is reporting to the rebels but is then discovered, is played by Peter Hill who was in The Professionals episode Weekend in the Country as an Onlooker.

The Senior Guard interrogating The Doctor is Andrew Carr who I've not seen in anything else!

The chief guard at the work centre is George Raistrick. He was in The Professionals as Smith in Operation Susie, Inspector Morse as Sir John Balcombe in Happy Families, To Play the King as Gropeham and the 90s revival of The Tomorrow People as Chester Toms in The Living Stones.

His Guards, who spot the Doctor are played by Donald Baker and our old friend Pat Gorman! Both reappear in episode 4 as a stills cameraman and a film cameraman respectively.

For the number of slaves that appear onscreen there are an awful lot of people listed in in the DWAS Production File and on IMDB. Robin Baldwin, Paul Huckin, Jeanne Doree, Beverley Grant, Anne Priestley, Jane Cousins, Pat Taylor, Gaynor Jackson and Suzanne Jackson all don't bother us any further but Iris Fry had been a Guardian in The Ark 1: The Steel Sky, appears in Doomwatch as a woman in Invasion and The Islanders then plays Mrs. Sharp in Fawlty Towers: The Germans while Eileen Winterton appears in State of Decay as a Peasant and Betty Cameron is also in Doomwatch as a Woman in The Islanders.

Then there's a bunch of slaves who, like Pat Gorman & Donald Baker above, appear in episode 4 in different roles: Len Saunders, who'd been a Dalek Operator in the Dr. Who and the Daleks film, plays a Stills Cameraman in episode four, Desmond Verini is Styles' Aide, Robert Bauld is a Sound Man and Glen Whitter, who was an Egyptian Slave in Dalek Masterplan 10: Escape Switch, plays the African Aide. You can also see him in Flash Gordon as an Ardentian Man.

During this episode we also get our clearest look at Deborah Brayshaw, the speaking female Technician, and Brychan Powell, the control room guard. Powell, like several of the slaves, is back in episode 4 where he plays a Russian Aide.