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Serial 6F: Mawdryn Undead
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| Plot |
| Production |
The story originally pegged to introduce Turlough (and kick off the Black Guardian trilogy) was The Song Of The Space Whale, planned as the third story of Season Twenty. In 1978, comic book writer Pat Mills (whose credits included Judge Dredd for 2000AD) and his writing partner John Wagner had approached then-script editor Anthony Read about writing for Doctor Who. Read was not interested in the duo, but their inquiries did lead to them penning the comic strip portion of Marvel UK's new Doctor Who Weekly magazine, which premiered in 1979.
One of Mills' ideas for a comic was about a group of people living in the belly of a gigantic space whale, a concept his wife thought was strong enough to be expanded into a TV proposal. Wagner was less enthusiastic, but nonetheless worked with Mills to develop a storyline, called Space-Whale, submitted to the Doctor Who production office in 1980. Mills and Wagner, and Saward when he came on board the show in 1981, continued working on Space-Whale, amending it from a Fourth Doctor story to one featuring the Fifth Doctor. Finally, it was commissioned on December 2nd under the title The Song Of The Space Whale. At this stage, however, Wagner was becoming increasingly unhappy with the project, and he was released from his involvement.
Working solo, Mills made further progress with the serial, and when requested made the changes necessary to introduce Turlough (living amongst the whale colonists) and include the Black Guardian. However, disagreement arose between Mills and Saward as to the portrayal of several characters and ideas, and the scripts stagnated. Finally, it became clear that The Song Of The Space Whale would not be ready to serve as Turlough's introductory story. The scripts were not abandoned at this point, and Space Whale would be considered for inclusion in both Season Twenty-One and Twenty-Two (for which it was initially pencilled in as the second story). In the end, however, Mills' and Saward's differences could not be reconciled, and in July 1985 The Song Of The Space Whale was finally rejected.
Meanwhile, the late postponement of Space Whale meant that a replacement serial was needed at short notice. Peter Grimwade, who had previously contributed Time-Flight at the end of Season Nineteen, had been working on an idea inspired by the legend of the Flying Dutchman and the gimmick of action occurring in the same place at vastly different times. Entitled Mawdryn Undead ("Mawdryn" being a Welsh word meaning "undead"), this was under consideration for later in the year or perhaps the next. With the loss of Space Whale, Grimwade agreed to hurriedly prepare Mawdryn to serve as the third serial of Season Twenty; he was formally commissioned on May 27th, 1982.
Several changes to Grimwade's original concept were necessary in order for Mawdryn Undead to work as the first part of the new trilogy. Not only would Turlough and the Black Guardian need to be included, but Grimwade's initial plan for his two "time zones" to be centuries apart would have to be changed to a matter of just a few years. This would enable the inclusion of a character who would be present in both "time zones", who it was hoped might be a past Doctor Who companion. Grimwade's original thought was that William Russell might reprise his role as Ian Chesterton, one of the first companions from 1963 (this, in turn, inspired the school setting of the serial).
Unfortunately, the shooting schedule for Mawdryn Undead was in direct conflict with Russell's theatrical plans. The production team then contacted Ian Marter about returning to play Harry Sullivan, but Marter too had other plans. Nathan-Turner now turned to Nicholas Courtney, who had played the popular Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Nathan-Turner had met Courtney at Tom Baker's farewell party in early 1981, and at that time Courtney had indicated his desire to return to Doctor Who, having last appeared in 1975's Terror Of The Zygons. Courtney, it turned out, was available for Mawdryn Undead, and consequently the Brigadier was inserted into Grimwade's scripts -- now retired and teaching math. Unofficial fan adviser Ian Levine pointed out that having Lethbridge-Stewart employed as a teacher during the serial's two "time zones" -- 1977 and 1983 -- contradicted established Doctor Who history (in Pyramids Of Mars, Lethbridge-Stewart contemporary Sarah Jane Smith indicates she comes from 1980). The production team, however, ignored Levine's protests, preferring to retain the hook of setting part of Mawdryn Undead during Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee. What is perhaps Doctor Who's most notorious continuity error resulted.
Meanwhile, casting was being undertaken for the role of the new companion. This eventually went to Mark Strickson, whose television work to date had included Strangers and Juliet Bravo. Strickson turned down a regular role on Angels to join Doctor Who. Unfortunately, Strickson was visually very similar to Peter Davison -- especially his blond, longish hair -- so Nathan-Turner asked Strickson to shave his head to play Turlough. Strickson agreed, on the condition that he receive six months' extra pay while he waited for his hair to grow back. Balking at this, Nathan-Turner turned to make-up designer Sheelagh Wells, who came up with an efficient way of dying Strickson's hair ginger; Strickson's hair was also cropped shorter than Davison's. Strickson's casting was revealed to the press in September.
As had been done the previous season, there was an eleven-week break prior to the start of production on Mawdryn Undead to allow Davison to make the third (and, as it transpired, final) season of the sitcom Sink Or Swim. Filming for Serial 6F finally began on August 24th, under the auspices of director Peter Moffatt, who had last worked on The Visitation a year earlier. Location work took place on the Trent Park campus of Middlesex Polytechnic at Cockfosters in Hertfordshire. Courtney was made up slightly differently to play the two versions of the Brigadier. The 1977 edition retained the character's familiar moustache, while the 1983 Brigadier was clean-shaven; the 1983 Lethbridge-Stewart also had greyer hair, including a bald spot.
Mawdryn Undead moved to the studio for a two-day session beginning on Wednesday, September 8th. Joining the cast at this point was Valentine Dyall, reprising his role as the Black Guardian. Costuming problems arose when the headpieces fashioned by visual effects designer Stuart Brisdon for Mawdryn's mutants, showing their brains partly erupting from their skulls, were found to blend poorly with Wells' make-up. Wells asked Nathan-Turner and Moffatt if the relevant scenes could be remounted in the second studio block, a three-day session beginning on Wednesday, September 22nd. In the interim, costume designer Amy Roberts fashioned metal headbands for the mutants to wear to hide the join between the headpiece and the actor's head.
For the third year running, Nathan-Turner decided to feature a montage of old clips in Mawdryn Undead, this time highlighting the Doctor's past relationship with the Brigadier. The clips used came from The Three Doctors, The Web Of Fear, The Invasion, The Claws Of Axos, Day Of The Daleks, Spearhead From Space, Robot, and two from Terror Of The Zygons.
| Details |
| Episode | Date | Time | Duration | Viewers | Audience App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st February 1983 | 6.51pm | 24'03" | 6.5m (103rd) | 67% |
| 2 | 2nd February 1983 | 6.46pm | 24'33" | 7.5m (83rd) | 70% |
| 3 | 8th February 1983 | 6.50pm | 24'32" | 7.4m (84th) | 67% |
| 4 | 9th February 1983 | 6.47pm | 24'33" | 7.7m (78th) | 68% |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Script Editor | Eric Saward |
| Writer | Peter Grimwade |
| Director | Peter Moffatt |
| Designer | Stephen Scott |
| Costume | Amy Roberts |
| Incidental Music | Paddy Kingsland |
Principal Guest Cast: David Collings (Mawdryn), Valentine Dyall (Black Guardian), Stephen Garlick (Ibbotson), Roger Hammond (Doctor Runciman), Angus MacKay (Headmaster).
Novelisation: Mawdryn Undead by Peter Grimwade (book 82), August 1983; photomontage cover; rerelease cover by Alister Pearson (1992).
Video Release: Mawdryn Undead, episodic format, November 1992; PAL (BBC Video cat.# 4547) and NTSC (Warners cat.# E1204) formats available; cover by Andrew Skilleter.
Rankings: 76th (68.77%, Doctor Who Dynamic Rankings website, 22nd June 1999); 48th (70.05%, DWM 1997 Annual Survey).
| Sources |
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