Dr Who: The War Machines (2CD)

THE PROGRAMME: With the departure of astronaut Steven Taylor to help unite two cultures at the end of The Savages, Dodo Chaplet was the Doctor's sole companion when the TARDIS materialized in present day London close to the modern miracle of architecture, the General Post Office Tower, where a malignant force was at work... The notion of a terrible menace emanating from the GPO Tower was one which story editor Gerry Davis often presented to prospective writers, and he found that the idea intrigued scientist Dr Christopher Pedler during one interview session. A noted ophthalmologist, Kit Pedler had no experience of scriptwriting, but his ideas of a computer controlling people via a telephone network were taken and developed during March 1966 by writer Pat Dunlop. Unfortunately, Dunlop had other commitments on the BBC serial United! and, after he had drafted a first episode, the story of Doctor Who and the Computers was recommissioned from Ian Stuart Black, who had just finished writing The Savages. The scripts were delivered by the end of April 1966, and saw the Doctor having his first major adventure in a recognizable London of the present day, working with the authorities and the military to save the world yet again. Retitled The War Machines, the story was allocated a substantial location shoot in central London to deliver some impressive amounts of authentic-looking material, emphasizing to viewers that the adventure could be happening here and now. On Sunday 22 May, the War Machine prop was seen on the rampage at venues such as Berners Mews, Maple Street and Charlotte Place, while the TARDIS landed in Fitzroy Square in close-up and Bedford Square - also the venue of the Royal Scientific Club - in long shots. Many warehouse scenes were filmed on Stage 3 and the backlot of the BBC's Television Film Studios at Ealing for the next three days, before further filming in London was conducted on Thursday 26 showing the Doctor trapping a War Machine at Cornwall Gardens and shots of Covent Garden Market. As usual, the majority of each episode was videotaped on a weekly basis, with recordings at the BBC's Riverside Studios on Fridays from 10 June to 1 July. The contemporary music played at the Inferno night club in Episode 1 comprised six tracks from the library LP Mood Modern including Frantic Fracas, The Eyelash, Beat to Begin, Browbeater, Latin Gear and Rhythm n' Beat all composed by Johnny Hawksworth, while the penetrating hypnotic sound of WOTAN was represented by the piece Hypnotique by Eric Siday from a collection of Musique Electronique. To add authenticity to the serial's climax, news bulletins on television and radio were presented by two recognizable members of BBC staff: television newsreader Kenneth Kendall and radio announcer Dwight Wylie. The serial was issued on home video by BBC Worldwide in June 1997. Changes to the regular cast during this adventure meant that the Doctor departed Swinging Sixties London with different company than he kept on arrival. And as the TARDIS left Fitzroy Square it was bound for Cornwall, and an encounter with The Smugglers some centuries earlier... Programme notes compiled by Andrew Pixley.