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Serial 6J: The King's Demons
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| Plot |
| Production |
In late November, during the second studio block for Earthshock, Gregory and Padmore gave a demonstration of the robot prototype for Nathan-Turner and Saward. The producer was duly impressed, perceiving in the android the possibility of another K-9-type success. He therefore approached scriptwriter Terence Dudley, who had just finished writing Black Orchid, about developing a storyline to introduce the machine. This decision was met with disapproval by Saward, who was not a fan of Dudley's work; the pair had squared off over Dudley's pilot script for the spin-off K-9 And Company. Dudley was interested in the concept, and around Christmas a second demonstration was held which the writer attended. At this point, Nathan-Turner formally agreed to use the robot, although he requested that Padmore continue to improve upon it, particularly with a regard to making the android more mobile.
In addition to introducing the robot in his two-part serial, Dudley was also asked by Nathan-Turner to bring back the Master. Saward disputed this, believing character to be inferior. Anthony Ainley had been contracted for one serial a year (a decrease from Nathan-Turner's original vision of two appearances by the archvillain every season), but no Master story had yet been touted for Season Twenty. Consequently, Dudley returned to an old idea he had had for Doctor Who prior to writing Black Orchid, which took the TARDIS to the thirteen-century England of King John. Keeping in mind the limitations of the robot, Dudley made it a shapeshifter, so that an actor could play the role whenever necessary; it was also Dudley who coined the name Kamelion. The Android was formally commissioned on February 22nd, 1982. Other working titles which have been ascribed to the serial (albeit without verification) include The Demons and A Knight's Tale; some publicity photos also bear the name Demons Keeper. By April, however, the final title of The King's Demons had been decided upon.
The young director assigned to Serial 6J was Tony Virgo, whose had previously helmed episodes of The Bill. Cast as both the voice of Kamelion and King John was Gerald Flood, whose television work included Crane, The Rat Catchers, and the science-fiction series Pathfinders In Space and its sequels, produced by Sydney Newman, who would go on to create Doctor Who. Location work for The King's Demons took place in the midst of a labour dispute with the BBC's electricians union, beginning on December 5th. Although Dudley's script specified the location as Odiham Castle near Basingstoke, Hampshire, that structure is in fact largely in ruins. The venue used instead was Bodiam Castle in Sussex, whose construction actually occurred in 1385, nearly two centuries after the events of the story. Anthony Ainley joined the cast at this time, marking his return to Doctor Who after an absence of nearly a year. Two pseudonyms were employed to mask his appearance this time around: in his masquerade as a French knight, the Master calls himself "Sir Gilles Estram" ("Estram" being an anagram of "Master"), while the credits for episode one would list Estram as being played by "James Stoker" (an anagram of "Masters joke").
Studio work was then slated to get under way on December 18th. In the wake of the industrial action, however, this appeared to be at risk, and for a time it appeared that The King's Demons -- along with the serials before and after it, Enlightenment and The Return -- would not be completed at all. In the event, only The Return was lost; this necessitated Saward rewriting The King's Demons's final scene. Originally, this saw the TARDIS being trapped in a Dalek time corridor, leading into The Return; Saward's new version was a lead-in to The Five Doctors, a special episode which was then in the planning stages, which would celebrate Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary in November 1983.
The King's Demons did indeed go into the studio on the 18th. It was supposed to be completed on the 20th, with the intervening day being given over to a remount of Terminus. Unfortunately, serious problems had arisen with Kamelion. Power was killed in a boating accident, and Nathan-Turner learned that no one else possessed a complete understanding of Kamelion's software. The robot's walking mechanism still had not been perfected, and it took weeks for Padmore to program in all of the dialogue. Furthermore, Kamelion constantly broke down and lost synchronisation with Flood's prerecorded dialogue. As a result, not all the required material could be completed by the end of the 20th, forcing Nathan-Turner to schedule a remount on January 16th, 1983, just before the first rescheduled studio session for Enlightenment. Because of this, Jonathan Gibbs was asked to handle the incidental music for the serial in place of Peter Howell. Howell did contribute some material to the programme, however, including the lute music played by the King (the lyrics for which had been composed by Dudley).
The King's Demons was Terence Dudley's last contribution to Doctor Who. He passed away on December 25th, 1988, after a long illness. The broadcast of its second episode on March 16th brought a premature end to Season Twenty. It had been an uneven season, with viewing levels down sharply on Season Nineteen -- part one of The King's Demons, in fact, scored the lowest rating since Tom Baker's disastrous final season. Meanwhile, given the many problems associated with Kamelion, Nathan-Turner had already made the decision to write the android out of the series as soon as possible. Any thought of Kamelion playing an active role in each story had been entirely abandoned.
| Details |
| Episode | Date | Time | Duration | Viewers | Audience App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15th March 1983 | 6.55pm | 24'48" | 5.8m (107th) | 65% |
| 2 | 16th March 1983 | 6.47pm | 24'27" | 7.2m (66th) | 63% |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Script Editor | Eric Saward |
| Writer | Terence Dudley |
| Director | Tony Virgo |
| Designer | Ken Ledsham |
| Costume | Colin Lavers |
| Incidental Music | Jonathan Gibbs |
| Peter Howell |
Principal Guest Cast: Anthony Ainley (The Master), Isla Blair (Isabella), Michael J Jackson (Sir Geoffrey), Christopher Villiers (Hugh), Frank Windsor (Ranulf).
Novelisation: The King's Demons by Terence Dudley (book 108), February 1986; cover by David McAllister.
Video Release: The Five Doctors Special Edition/The King's Demons (NTSC title: The Five Doctors Collector's Edition/The King's Demons), episodic format, November 1995; two tapes; PAL (BBC Video cat.# 5734) and NTSC (Warners cat.# E1113); cover by Colin Howard (PAL release), Alister Pearson (NTSC release).
Rankings: 114th (59.95%, Doctor Who Dynamic Rankings website, 22nd June 1999); 140th (56.26%, DWM 1997 Annual Survey).
| Sources |
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