GRcade

Terry Nation had been commissioned by the previous production team to write another Dalek story. But being the cheeky sod that Nation was he tried to give them a story very much like he had written before. Letts and Dicks encouraged Nation to return to the origin of the Daleks whilst the new team of Hinchcliffe and Holmes allowed the tone of the story to darken. The Daleks had always been inspired by Nazi Germany but this opportunity gave Nation the chance to fully explore this part of there origin.
The opening scene was added by director David Maloney to set the atmosphere of the story. This scene featuring the death of uniformed soldiers in slow motion typically annoyed Mary Whitehouse who deemed it too violent for children.
Of course this story not only gave us the creation of the Daleks but our first meeting with Davros, the creator of the pepper pots. Nation felt that giving dialogue to a more "human" character would be more interesting to listen to then a Dalek. The design for Davros was partly inspired by The Mekon. Michael Wisher was cast as Davros and prepared for the part by performing in a wheelchair with a paper bag on his head in rehearsal. The bag had small holes for the mouth and eyes and as a heavy smoker the bag also featured 2 holes at the top for smoke to escape! During filming wore kneepads and a kilt! Yes Davros is a Scotsman.
Wisher is strawberry floating INCREDIBLE as Davros.
The intro with the Time Lord asking the Doctor to interfere with the Daleks creation could be considered the very first act of the Time War. The Time Lords shot first?
This is the first story to have the Daleks shoot rays.
In 1998 the story was rated the greatest Doctor Who of all time by readers of Doctor Who Magazine.

So as season 13 starts Harry goes. and thus one of the great TARDIS trio's would end. Up there with 2, Zoe, Jamie and 11, Amy, Rory. When the character of Harry was devised it was expected the part of the Doctor would go to an older actor and so Ian Marter was cast to do the action stuff. But when Tom Baker was given the role he had no problem throwing himself about and breaking his collar bone. So Harry was sidelined and departed after just one season.
This was the first appearance of UNIT for a whole season and marked the end of an era for the Brig and co. The Fourth Doctor would move away from the Earth based stories of the Third Doctors time and so inevitably would see the end of the regular guest cast of UNIT. For 5 years they had been an integral part of the show and of course would continue to appear in some form. Lets take a mo to remember our heroes....



Dont worry though. I'm sure we will see one or two of those faces again.

Most of Scotland is in fact West Sussex. John Woodnutt (Broton/Duke of Forgill) had previously appeared as Hibbert in Spearhead from Space!
Despite their success and popularity this would be the only time the Zygons appeared in classic Who! Not returning until the 50th anniversary story. Although they would get more then a few mentions before then. So would THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!



One of my absolute favs of all time. Child TWA was mesmerized by this story and still gets goosebumps when he hears the music. The image of the nurse being something I'll take take to my grave. The cliffhanger to the first ep. When "Harry" turns on Sarah. The sounds Broton makes at the end.

Seriously. That score!




bloody goosebumps. Amazing.

The performance of Gabriel Woolf as the voice of Sutekh, is chilling and effectively netted him the role as Satan in series 2's The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit some 30 years later........



Sarah wears a dress that the Doctor tells her belonged to Victoria. You will remember her from Tomb of the Cybermen, a nod to another heavily Mummy influenced story.
This sees Michael Sheard as Laurence Scarman, the actor famous for many things including being Hitler in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, would appear in 6 Doctor Who stories! Maybe his face will appear again in our journey?
The Mansion used in filming was owned my Mick Jagger at the time.
*CLAXON* INFAMOUS BLOOPER ALERT *CLAXON* When Sutekh finally stands you can see a hand hold his cushion in place.