305 Day of the Daleks: Episode Two

EPISODE: Day of the Daleks: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 305
STORY NUMBER: 060
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 08 January 1972
WRITER: Louis Marks
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 10.6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Yes, well, you tell Captain Yates not to worry. Everything's fine. And tell old Styles too, and the Prime Minister. Oh, and Brigadier? Don't forget to tell it to the Marines. Goodbye."

The three time travellers, Anat, Boaz and Shura, take the Doctor & Jo prisoner. The Brigadier tries to contact the Doctor on the phone which allows the Doctor to tip the Brigadier off that something's wrong. Jo threatens the soldiers with the time machine but accidentally activates it transporting herself to the future where she's captured by the Dalek's human allies who convince her that the time travellers are criminal terrorists. Shura is sent to fetch explosives but is knocked out by an arriving squad of Ogrons. The Ogrons attack forcing Anat & Boaz to leave and make their way back to the railway tunnel they arrived in. The Doctor, saved from the Ogrons by the arrival of the Brigadier, follows them into the tunnel and where he encounters a Dalek!

Yup, good stuff again, but like the previous episode the Daleks are very much in the background. I think for their big return I'd have liked more Daleks up front actually doing something.

The start of this episode is a little odd: when the reprise ends we get the sting from the start of the title sequence as the action moves on. Apparently this was a conscientious decision by the director. I'd always put it down as sloppy editing when I watched the original compilation video and was astounded to find it was intact on the episodic version.

While talking to the Controller, Jo confirms the day and month she left this time in but neglects to mention the year which would have been useful to those trying to date the UNIT stories!

CONTROLLER: However, there is a chance that I may be able to save your friend.
JO: Could you?
CONTROLLER: I can try. There are means but I shall need your help.
JO: How can I help?
CONTROLLER: Well, first of all, I shall want to know exactly where you came from and when.
JO: Well, we were at Sir Reginald Styles' house, about fifty miles from London.
CONTROLLER: Now, you've told me the year. Can you tell me the exact date?
JO: That's easy. It was September the 13th.
CONTROLLER: Excellent.

Oddly the controller does think she's told him the year, a cut to that scene perhaps?

The date is actually significant to the production of the story: 13th September 1971 was the when location filming started for this episode, at Drop More House in Buckinghamshire, the location used for Style's house. This was a late replacement for Osterley House in Middlesex which is closer to the other locations used in the story. Styles' house is called Auderley House in the story but scripts show an earlier name for it was Austerley House, reflecting the intended location. This name was used in Terrance Dicks' 1974 novelization.

The bridge & tunnel entrance over the Grand Union canal at Bull's Bridge in Hayes

The railway line carried over the bridge is the mainline out of London Paddington: I've ridden over this many times without realising!

The focus of this episode is on the group of guerillas from he future led by Anat, who is played by Anna Barry.

Scott Fredericks plays Boaz, will return to Doctor Who as Maximilian Stael in Image of the Fendahl. He later appears in Blake's 7, playing Carnell in Weapon.

Jimmy Winston is Shura, the guerilla sent back to th tunnel and injured by the Ogrons. He's been in UFO as a Rating in Destruction and appears in The Sweeney as Sid in Hearts and Minds.

From the Guerillas to the Gorilla like Ogrons. Chief amongst them is stuntman Rick Lester, who returns in he same role in both Carnival of Monsters & Frontier in Space. He was previously a stunt driver in The Italian Job, a role he also fills in The Sweeney episodes Chalk and Cheese, Big Brother and Stay Lucky Eh?. In Space: 1999 he was he stunt double for Martin Landau in 6 episodes but that pales before his work on the James Bond films where he's a guard in Dr. No and then performs stunts in From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights meaning he worked on the first FIFTEEN films in the series!

Deputy Ogron appears to be Maurice Bush: he's the only other to appear in episode one so we have our two suspects for "No Complications"! He's back for Frontier in Space as an Ogron and later appears in both The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi as the bounty hunter Dengar. His Empire Strikes back appearance is alongside Kenneth Colley who also features in his Inspector Morse appearance in Second Time Around where Bush plays Charlie Hillian and Colley plays Patrick Dawson, two policeman who had worked together.

Bruce Wells was an English amateur boxing champion who was once the holder of the ABA Light Middleweight and European Amateur Boxing Championship titles. He'd previously played a Cyberman in Tenth Planet and an Alien Guard / Union Recruit in the War Games and returns as an Ogron in Frontier in Space. He'd been in the Dr. Who and the Daleks feature film as a Thal. Geoffrey Todd also returns as a Frontier in Space Ogron: he can be seen elsewhere in The Sweeney episode Sweet Smell of Succession as Phil Nairn while David Joyce was previously in The Ambassadors of Death as a Technician (uncredited)