330 The Three Doctors: Episode One

EPISODE: The Three Doctors: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 330
STORY NUMBER: 065
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 30 December 1972
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Lennie Mayne
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 9.6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3: The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Three Doctors & The Robots of Death
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Oh, so you're my replacements - A dandy and a clown!"

For no obvious reason it had been a few years since I last saw the Three Doctors before I watched it this time for the blog....

At the Minsbridge Wildlife Sanctuary, Warden Arthur Ollis is guarding a crashed experimental balloon. Doctor Tyler arrives to collect his equipment, speaking to Mrs Ollis and waving at her husband as he parks. However there is a crackling and Mr Ollis vanishes before Doctor Tyler reaches him. A concerned Doctor Tyler calls UNIT. He explains to the Brigadier, Doctor & Jo what has happened and that his cosmic ray monitoring device has been producing odd results. He's left to develop the latest results but when he opens the box containing the device he vanishes and a glowing substance emerges. Coming out of the drains it attacks a returning Doctor & Jo, who've been to see the crash site & Mrs Ollis, causing Bessie to vanish. They shelter inside UNIT HQ. The Doctor finds the developed photographic plate from the device which Doctor Tyler had been working on. On it is a distorted picture of the missing Mr Ollis. The Doctor concludes that the thing is hunting him and has taken first Ollis, then Tyler and finally Bessie by mistake. Blobby clawed creatures appear and attack UNIT HQ. The Brigadier orders a withdrawal but Sergeant Benton is trapped in the lab with the Doctor & Jo when the original thing returns. They retreat into the Tardis. Trapped, the Doctor sends an SOS to the Time Lords..... The Time Lords, however, are suffering a massive power drain on their resources. Unable to help him directly they summon the Second Doctor. Our Doctor, the Third, hears a materialisation noise and finds a recorder moments before the Second Doctor appears, whom Sergeant Benton recognises from The Cyberman Invasion. The Third Doctor telepathically explains situation to the Second. They argue, and the Time Lords decide to send the First Doctor to supervise. He becomes trapped in the space time vortex but appears on the monitor screen advising them that the thing is a space time bridge and they should cross it. Tossing a coin to decide who gets to go, the Third doctor leaves the Tardis, pursued by Jo and they vanish.

There's some good stuff in here. It seems like it's a fairly standard Doctor Who story until the moment when the Second Doctor arrives and acts everyone else, his successor included, completely off the screen. There's an energy to him.

THIRD DOCTOR: That's odd. Nobody touched anything did they?
BENTON + JO: No.
THIRD DOCTOR: But you heard it though, didn't you?
JO: Yes, and felt it too. Could it be that stuff outside?
THIRD DOCTOR: No, I don't think so. Hello, what's this? It seems strangely familiar. Is it yours, Jo?
JO: A flute? No.
THIRD DOCTOR: Well, properly speaking it's a recorder.
SECOND DOCTOR: Thank you. I was wondering where that had got too. You haven't been trying to play this have you? Oh. I can see you've been doing the Tardis up a bit. Hmm. I don't like it!

A little sly reference there to this being the debut of the revamped Tardis set.... which actually takes it back to much closer it's original appearance than what we saw in The Time Monster!

SECOND DOCTOR: Oh my word. Oh dear, we are in trouble, aren't we. Just as well I turned up!
JO: Doctor, who on earth...
BENTON: Doctor! Where did you spring from?
SECOND DOCTOR: Now don't tell me. Corporal Benton, isn't it?
BENTON: Sergeant Benton now.
SECOND DOCTOR: How do you do, my dear fellow.
BENTON: Nice to see you.
SECOND DOCTOR: I haven't seen you since that nasty business with the Cybermen.
BENTON: It happened all those years ago.
JO: Who is he and how did he get in here.
THIRD DOCTOR: Well it's a bit difficult to explain, Jo.
JO: He's not one of them, is he?
THIRD DOCTOR: Well, not so much one of them as one of us. One of me to be precise.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, my dear, I hate to be contrary but I can see he's a little bit confused, poor old chap, and I do feel you should have the correct explanation. You don't mind, do you.
THIRD DOCTOR: Yes.
SECOND DOCTOR: I didn't think you would. You see, Jo. I may call you Jo, mayn't I? You see, he is one of me.
JO: Oh, I see. You're both Time Lords.
SECOND DOCTOR: Well quite. Well, not quite.
JO: Oh.
SECOND DOCTOR: Not, not just Time Lords. We're the same Time Lord.
THIRD DOCTOR: Now please, you're only confusing my assistant. Jo, it's all quite simple. I am he and he is me.
JO: "And we are all together, goo goo ga joob?"
DOCTORS: What?
JO: It's a song by the Beatles.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, how does it go?
THIRD DOCTOR: Oh, please be quiet.
JO: Look, is he really you?
THIRD DOCTOR: Yes, yes, I'm afraid so.
BENTON: I think he is Miss Grant. You see, when the Brig and I first met the Doctor, he looked like him.
JO: How?
THIRD DOCTOR: Yes, that's what I'd like to know. You've got no right to be here.
SECOND DOCTOR: Perhaps
THIRD DOCTOR: What about the First Law of Time?
SECOND DOCTOR: Perhaps I could explain?
THIRD DOCTOR: Perhaps you could.
SECOND DOCTOR: Well, our fellow Time Lords out there are just as much under siege as we are.
THIRD DOCTOR: What?
SECOND DOCTOR: And they couldn't send anyone to help you. But they did summon up enough temporal energy to lift me out of my bit of our time stream and pop me down here, into my own future, so to speak.
THIRD DOCTOR: Why?
SECOND DOCTOR: My dear fellow, you are being a bit dim, aren't you? Your effectiveness is now doubled!
THIRD DOCTOR: Halved, more like.
SECOND DOCTOR: Now, now. There's no need to be ungracious. Suppose we have a look at our problem, shall we? Er, you don't mind, do you?
THIRD DOCTOR: Oh, be my guest.
SECOND DOCTOR: Oh, thank you.

The Beatles song Jo quotes is I am the Walrus, released five years prior to this story but two years after the Beatles appearance in The Chase.

Then the First Doctor pops up, distant, removed but with a better grasp of the situation than either of his successors. Fabulous.

SECOND DOCTOR: Well, you've been fiddling with it, haven't you?
THIRD DOCTOR: It was perfectly all right until you touched it. Now if only you'd leave things to me.
SECOND DOCTOR: If we were to leave things with you, my dear fellow, we'd be in a fine pickle, wouldn't we.
THIRD DOCTOR: Look, you lost the image, not me.
BENTON: There they go again.
SECOND DOCTOR: I did not loose the image!
THIRD DOCTOR: I set this thing up
JO: Doctor, look. Both of you!
THIRD DOCTOR: What?
JO: Look.

FIRST DOCTOR: Ah, there you are. I seem to be stuck up here. Hmm? Hmm? Oh, so you're my replacements. Huh. A dandy and a clown. Have you done anything?
SECOND DOCTOR: Well, we've, er, assessed the situation.
FIRST DOCTOR: Just as I thought. Nothing.
THIRD DOCTOR: Well it's not easy, you know.
SECOND DOCTOR: It's not as if we know what that stuff is.
THIRD DOCTOR: No.
FIRST DOCTOR: Then I'll tell you. It's a time bridge.
SECOND DOCTOR: It's a what?
THIRD DOCTOR: I see.
FIRST DOCTOR: Now, what's a bridge for, eh?
SECOND DOCTOR: Well, er
THIRD DOCTOR: Crossing?
FIRST DOCTOR: Right. So stop dilly-dallying and cross it!

I saw this scene many many years ago on Blue Peter, in 1981 or earlier, and watched it trying to figure out which of the men I could see on screen was the Doctor.... Little did I know!

The Doctor's got a new lab in this story, replacing the old brick one, last seen in Day of the Daleks, and this seems likely connected to a move for UNIT HQ at some point.. The Unit headquarters we see here appears to be out in the country whereas the older one, seen during the first few Pertwee years might of been in central London. Both of the UNIT regulars in this story, Mike Yates being absent, get some fine stuff to do starting with the famous reaction from the Brigadier having realised the Doctor's just given a scientist he met five minutes previously the run of the place!

DOCTOR: Tell me, Professor, is this machine of yours functioning properly?
TYLER: Far as I can tell. Haven't developed that latest plate yet, of course.
DOCTOR: Then I suggest that you do so immediately and let me know the result of your findings. Jo, you and I are going to take a look at the scene of the crime.
JO: Right.
DOCTOR: I think you'll find everything you need here.
TYLER: Oh, right. Er, thanks Oh, I can manage now, thank you.
BRIGADIER: I'm delighted to hear it. Make yourself at home. We're only supposed to be a top secret security establishment. Liberty Hall, Doctor Tyler. Liberty Hall.

That's an odd fluff by Jon Pertwee in this episode: Everyone else refers to Tyler as Doctor Tyler yet he calls him by the more senior academic rank of Professor.

DOCTOR: Right, force field on.
JO: You were going off without me, weren't you?
DOCTOR: Well, Sergeant, aren't you going to say it that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Everybody else does.
BENTON: It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Anyway, nothing to do with you surprises me anymore, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh, thank you for the complement.

Benton's reaction to the inside of the Tardis is fabulous though, refusing to say that it's bigger on the inside because it's obvious and nothing to do with the Doctor surprises him any more. Interestingly the Brigadier who hasn't been shown to go into the Tardis on the screen yet: His sergeant gets there first.

The story put about for several years was that the genesis for the Three Doctors came about when William Hartnell stuck his head round the Doctor Who production office door while looking for work at the BBC. In fact Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks had had many letters over the years wanting a multi Doctor team up so decided to celebrate the program's tenth anniversary by doing so. The anniversary itself was still nearly a year away but this was the start of the show's tenth season so..... They rang Hartnell at home and asked him to take part and he agreed. However his health wasn't good suffering from a condition called arteriosclerosis which limited what he could do. His wife rang Barry Letts, concerned at what her husband had agreed to do and the script was crafted accordingly. In the event Hartnell's appearances are limited to him appearing on the monitor screen where he's sat in a chair and reading his lines off of cue cards but somehow this ends a remote gravitas to his performance. He, Troughton & Pertwee are in the same place just once: for the publicity session and cover photograph for The Radio Times which are now believed top have been taken at Ealing Studios, probably on Monday 6th November 1972 when Hartnell's filmed inserts were shot along with a fight scene featuring Jon Pertwee for episode three. Barry Letts had learnt from his experience with the Terror of the Autons Radio Times cover, featuring Roger Delgado's Master in the middle which earned the show's star's wrath, and had a quiet word with the photographer placing Pertwee in the centre of the picture.

Of the guest cast in these episodes we'll assume you know who William Hartnell & Patrick Troughton are......

Rex Robinson, playing Doctor Tyler, will return as Gebek in The Monster of Peladon, and Dr. Carter, also in The Hand of Fear. All 3 of his appearances are directed by Lennie Mayne who evidently takes the Camfield/Letts approach to casting actors he knows and is comfortable working with! He was also in The Professionals as the Superintendent in Cry Wolf and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace as the Subway Engineer.

Rex Robinson is married to Patricia Prior who plays Mrs. Ollis!

They'd worked together several times before including on the Mickey Dunne episode No Flowers by Request where they play a Man & a Woman. This is once again directed by Lennie Mayne and also features Laurie Webb, who plays Mr. Ollis in The Three Doctors as Lennie Carson and John Scott Martin, one of this story's Gell Guards, as Sergeant Lowther! Robinson & Prior appear again together in the Mogul episode - Some of the Mud Is Bound to Stick, also directed by Mayne, as Roshida & the Secretary respectively - I see Hand of Fear's Renu Setna in the cast there. Robinson & Webb appear together in the Brett episode The Trump Card (director L Mayne!) as a Prisoner Officer and Senator Loman respectively - Our Time Lord President Roy Purcell is in that as is David Billa, a regular extra and UNIT soldier here! Robinson has a recurring role in Warship as Lieutenant Commander Junnion: he meets Webb in Hot Pursuit, where he plays a Customs Officer, and Prior in A Standing and Jumping War where she's Diana Bennett. No prizes for guessing who directed those episodes! Many years later Robinson & Prior make a final acting appearance together in One by One where they play Charlie & Elsie Gates in Changing Places. No Lennie Mayne there, but the series creator Anthony Read, episode writer Johnny Byrne and director Andrew Morgan all have Doctor Who form! You can hear Prior & Robinson interviewed together on Toby Hadoke's Who's Round #45

As we've said Laurie Webb plays Mr. Ollis. In addition to his collusions with Mayne, Robinson & Prior listed above he appears as the Dog Owner in the surviving Doomwatch episode The Inquest which you can see on the The Doomwatch DVD. Yes, it was directed by Lennie Mayne! You can hear him interviewed in Toby Hadoke's Who's Round #156

The speaking UNIT soldier in this story in Corporal Palmer played by Denys Palmer. Under him are a number of soldiers played by regular extras Pat Gorman, David Billa Leslie Bates, Terrance Denville, David Melbourne and Terry Sartain.

The majority of the locations used in this story feature in this episode with most found near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire where filming took place between 7-9 November 1972.

Springwell Lock & Springwell Lake are seen on Doctor Tyler's journey to find his weather balloon and he talks with Mrs Ollis at Summerfield Bungalow.

The UNIT HQ scenes were filmed at Denham Manor on the 10th November 1972. The same location serves as UNIT HQ over ten years later for the Five Doctors, the 20th anniversary story.

This episode was repeated as part of the Five Faces of Doctor Who on Monday 23 November 1981 at 17:40. Immediately following that on BBC2 at 18:05 the fourth episode of series 2 of The Adventure Game aired. The guests for this episode were Tessa Hamp, Nerys Hughes & Derek Griffiths. Then on BBC One at 19:20 was the ninth episode of Blake's 7's fourth season Sand.