What a sweet, gentlemanly thing to do. From the commentary for the 1975 episode, "The Ark in Space," Part 1. I own no rights to anything in this video.
They did all work wonderfully together. As to why they got rid of him, they had originally written in his part as a young guy to do the physical type scenes when they thought they were going to hire someone older for the Doctor's part. When they got Tom, they thought Harry was no longer needed and wrote him out. The writers later said they made a mistake in ousting him so quickly. At least we got him for as long as we did!
Much as I like Ian and Barbara with Dr#1, and Jamie and Zoe with Dr#2, if asked to name the best WHO team of all, this is the one: Sarah, Harry and Dr#4. They were only together for 6 shows, from Robot to Terror of the Zyons, but 4-of-6 of those shows are WHO masterpieces: Ark in Space, Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, and Terror of the Zygons. In all her commentaries on Season 13 DVD's Elisabeth Sladen is so sweetly appreciative and affectionate of Ian Marter in her memories.
I have this DVD, it was the first Doctor Who DVD I bought back in 2002. The commentary is excellent, it has Tom at his best. Well worth tracking down on eBay or Amazon.
@63DW89A Yes, out of all the three-person teams, this ones outshines them all. And it's hard to define why; something about the contrasts and complements of each character to the other two is wonderful. Pure chemistry.
The best Doctor Who team ever! Harry and Sarah had fantastic chemistry and they all worked so well with Tom, I don't know why they got rid of Harry! I liked him a lot... and the whole skirt thing I noticed the first time I watched it and I remember thinking that was a very gentlemanly thing to do ^_^
I remember a story that Lis told once that a very eager fan, after seeing this episode, sent her a letter requesting the white knickers that were inadvertently visible as Harry and the Doc put Sarah on the couch. Lis didn't have the exact pair and sent a similar article of underwear instead. As with all such stories, it is tricky to ever know for sure if it is/was entirely true. Similar to the tale of Wendy Padbury bumping into a Vicar in a church hall in her knickers (as recounted on the Cybermen - the Early years video) during rehearsals.
@waterfieldV I respectfully disagree; I think his chemistry with Sarah Jane and Tom's Doctor was fantastic. They worked well as a threesome, and the writers even later expressed regret for getting rid of his character so soon.
