❤️ Become a Patron and Help Us Make More Videos 👉 / dalek6388 👉 ko-fi.com/dalek6388 Advertising enquiries: communicate@dalek6388.co.uk Doctor Who's first ever Christmas special is very strange indeed, but it has fascinating origins...
Christmas 65 was a classic TV xmas. I recall my Grandma moaning that the Doctor wishing everyone a merry xmas "had ruined it." But also later that evening, The Avengers "Too many Christmas Trees" aired on ABC and that scared the hell out of me!
It's particularly sad that this episode is missing and presumably beyond recovery as it clearly relied for much of its impact on visual humour. Despite the best efforts of Loose Cannon we can get only a faint echo of what I would imagine was a thoroughly enjoyable episode. I don't recall seeing this episode at the time although I do have memories of other parts of the Master Plan. It would have been our normal family custom at around that time on Christmas Day to be settling down to a game of cards with my Grandmother who was an inveterate card player, so I probably wouldn't have been watching--so the producers correctly forecast behaviour, at least in our household.
@@harrywilliams1127 At nearly 60 years remove I can't claim to remember Sara's demise, .but I do remember the excitement of discussing this epic adventure at school. None of us young kids had ever experienced such a long form story and, of course, never knew it would be so long (although, looking back at archived copies, listings magazines might have had 1/12 etc, as young viewers we just made sure to get in front of the TV at the appropriate time each Saturday evening!). Indeed, a five hour plus long story would still be exceptional in 'family'' drama, such being more typical of adult-oriented mini-series. I do recall that we were shocked by the ending which was far from the happy success that we had come to expect. In retrospect, there were many very dark elements woven in, not least of which was Sara's rather casual killing of her brother, Brett Vyon. On a rather more frivolous not, I'd also have to comment on the contrast between the character Jean Marsh plays here (Sara) and the character she played in the series which she co-created, 'Upstairs Downstairs' (Rose). Given a choice I'd go with action woman Sara Kingdom far ahead of prissy parlourmaid Rose!
@@thelastmotel The soundtrack was recorded off-air by fans by the simple expedient of propping the mic of their reel to reel tape recorders next to the television speaker! These are the recordings used by the BBC for its animated reconstructions as they had none of their own archived. The reconstructions have been informally sanctioned by the BBC over the years. So long as they were not circulated for profit the BBC turned a blind eye. On a technical note, broadcast programmes weren't covered by copyright in the UK until sometime in the mid 60s so it's possible these early serials would not have been protected anyway.
Yeah, this sounds watchable and in Classic Who fashion wouldn't even have been that long. I have yet to sit through the Holiday Special as it actually drives me crazy by the halfway point of the Wookie scene. Seriously, at LEAST give us subtitles...
Ok, hot take, but I have sat all the way through the holiday special at least 5 times. I find it fascinating in a lot of ways honestly, and actually siphon a little humor from it (for the completely wrong reasons, mind you) in the more nonsensical scenes. It's like a bad fever dream, and one that in a strange twisted sense, I end up enjoying.
@@Icelandic_Sand It's a perfect example of the slow, agonising death of TV variety as a format to me. TV Variety had arisen as a replacement for live variety shows which were from the music halls, so by the late 70s it was a genre that was appealing only to an old, dwindling audience who had grown up with that comedian-singer-juggler-piano player-dancers style of live entertainment and to youngsters (e.g. I was 11 in 1977 when Star Wars came out) it was tedious beyond belief but still hogging a lot of prime time (I was in the UK but I think the US is similar in that respect). The SWHS is a valiant attempt at repackaging for a younger audience a format that was already dead but hadn't realised it yet and was wandering around like a zombie. People these days talk about the Good Old Days of TV but that's because we only remember the great stuff that stood the test of time and forget the endless tedious filler that was on.
This makes up for Doctor Who not being on Christmas Day anymore, your films are a joy to watch. Do you think one day you’ll ever go over each Dalek story in detail about their productions or do a film about the Daleks props?
If they were to do that, they would probably have to animate the rest of The Daleks Master Plan due to the fact it continues the cliffhanger from Coronas of the Sun
I'm sure I remember reading somewhere (maybe it was the first print of Jessica Carney's 'Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell'), that Hartnell himself had a copy of the episode on film that he would screen for his family and friends at Christmas over the years?! Not too sure how likely that is, though. Thank you for an entertaining and interesting Christmas Special, a real treat.
I believe he did have a short segment of film of one episode as a keepsake but it sadly was not this episode. I like to think he did have the episode which he played when he wanted everyone to leave the house like Carrie Fischer putting the Star Wars holiday special on.
One of the best thing about Doctor Who DVDs and Blu Rays are the bonus docs. You guys make docs that are at least on par if not better than theirs. Happy Christmas from America!
One note on the pie fight: it survives in the novelisation, "The Mutation of Time", which covers episodes 7-12 of "Master Plan". Which, I think it's safe to suppose in all likelihood makes it the world's first and only work of fiction in which somebody involved in a pie fight horrifically ages to death trying to save the universe... ...The first two chapters should have been released separately as a standalone short story I think.
That's interesting. I have a digital copy of the 'book on tape' version of The Mutation of Time which I 'imagine' I want to listen to one day but I've not played a word of it over the many years which have passed since I acquired it. Oddly enough learning of the pie fights inclusion has rekindled my interest. Either that, or it's made me 'imagine' my interest has been rekindled. I have a strange relationship with vintage Doctor Who. I tend to gravitate towards in depth analysis like the sort which is this channel's specialty but when it comes to simply consuming the stories the way they were designed to be consumed it's almost as if I were never a fan in the first place. I'm sure I must have been once though. Way, way back when.
It’s interesting that you mention Nation “letting them down” with the scripts. It’s a poorly kept secret that Whitaker heavily re-wrote the early Dalek scripts, and Terence Dicks has openly commented on how unoriginal Nation’s planned 1975 story was, requesting a brand new story instead (which was the brilliant Genesis Of The Daleks”). I once knew a man, who’s name I won’t mention, who worked as script editor on a successful show that Nation created, the name of which I won’t mention, who told me that Nation’s scripts for said series were often not all that great and had to be heavily re-written by the script editor to make them workable. When he was asked to write an obituary on Nation for a sci-fi magazine, he couldn’t think of a good word to say about Nation’s writing so went into what a great businessman he was and how much money he brought into the industry, which was true.
@@kaledmasterme It’s very likely. It was common practice for the script editor to tweak and amend a script to make it workable, and it’s also likely that he wrote to opening scene with the time ring to make sure it fitted the ark. This still happens in new Who. RTD once said that the only scripts he hasn’t had to heavily re-write were the ones by Stephen Moffatt.
@@onekie5787 there’s a big difference between tweaks and extensive re-writes. It was often the case that a script editor would request re-writes from a writer, or make their own adjustments if the writer wasn’t a available. But when a script is almost completely unworkable and had to almost completely re-written by someone else to get it fit for the screen, it’s a bit of a worry.
Excellent! I actually remember watching that episode, & specifically remember the toast at the end! Glad that at least the images remain in my head, if not anywhere else
I was twelve when this was aired, I had to make sure i was at my grandmas house on a Saturday because we didn't have a TV at the time, fell madly in love with Sarah Kingdom (Jean Marsh)
It was the first and only Xmas special in the classic series and there wasn't another Doctor Who Xmas Special for 40 years and we haven't had another DW Christmas Special since 2017.
I’ve always had a soft spot for this episode... Series curiosity it may be, but still has a lot to give! Every video you upload never ceases to amaze and inform and Douglas Camfield never seems to fail to go up in my estimation. The man’s a legend. Fair play to Donald Tosh too for making it all work.
I miss the Doctor Who Christmas Special - and Hartnell is in my top three doctors. Great documentary, makes me miss being younger and slightly scared by the Doctor Who stories.
I always listen to 'The Feast of Steven' every year at Christmas, alongside 'Home Alone' and 'Give or Take a Million' among others... 'Good King Wenceslas' is my personal all time favourite Christmas carol, so it was nice to see that little bit of trivia that Terry Nation made earlier. A belated Merry Christmas to all of you at Home.
Those troll faces got me 😂😂 To be honest, I actually dont mind nations ideas. The idea that youd have a famous silent film clip and reveal it's actually steven is quite nice and the pie fight sounds fun
Another great video and full of very interesting detail not previously known. I remember watching this episode and the most memorable thing being the toast at the end. All I remember about the rest was that it was all a bit mad. Especially, the scenes with the police.
What a wonderful episode that is sadly lost! It would be an absolute gem if it were still around. That final forth wall camera break is so heart warming! Merry Christmas and Happy New year!!!
Bravo. A marvelous recreation. I'm in Australia, so based on all your hard work, there is no way I could have ever seen this episode, back when I was avidly watching all the first runs here in the mid 60's. It is bitter-sweet that you have been able to build such a thorough analysis of something so lost. Well done, cheers, and Merry Christmas!
Well, being in australia you wouldn't have seen any of the daleks' masterplan- they refused to broadcast it because of the themes of massively destructive weapons
@@katie2940 When the ABC screened all the remaining stories from 2003 to 2005 they skipped "The War Games". I like to think they couldn't bear the same story taking 2 whole weeks (at 4 or 5 episodes per week). More likely, though, it was because of the Dalek cameo in the last episode. The BBC were negotiating to use Daleks in the new series and I guess they weren't selling Dalek stories at the time. We missed everything from "The Chase" to "Genesis" I think. Or maybe it was just the Pertwee stories.
19:10 I notice the episode of ‘The Avengers’ you used was ‘Death at Bargain Prices’. Why you picked that episode probably has nothing to do with the fact it features Emma Peel briefly playing with a Dalek toy. (Which was probably inserted as a little reference to the fact that the two shows shared a creator. Either that or just referencing the most popular toy of the day, perhaps both.)
What’s interesting is how the 3rd production block under John Wiles was basically one of the most troubled times the series went through, Maureen O’Brien had to leave, some say she was fired, Donald Tosh says he was told by her agent to write her out, John Wiles didn’t want to do anything but 4 parters, so I can imagine he was annoyed when he had to do a 6 part Dalek story, a creature he didn’t wish to use, then he suddenly had to do 12 episodes. Then there’s the cast issues, Hartnell and Purves didn’t like Wiles at all, With O’Brian being let go they bring in Adrienne Hill whom they then realised wouldn’t work so they had to get rid of her, they then replace her with Jean Marsh, whom if I recall Purves said he and Hartnell where much more fond off and felt they had a better rapport with, but she didn’t want to commit, these reasons led Purves to Believe that Nicholas Courtney’s character Brett Vyon was replacing him. Then there’s the Massacre where they introduced Anne Chaplet as played by Annette Robinson (one of John Hurts many wives little bonus piece there) but then Tosh and Wiles realised they’d made the same mistake as Katerina she was too primitive and would slow down pacing, so they never went anywhere with her. The Ark is the only Wiles story I think that didn’t have some issue with its production, but I’d still say a less than fondly remembered story. The Celestial Toymaker is where things came to a blowout, Originally Brian Hayles was to be the writer, but he didn’t feel he was able to do it, and was respectfully and on good terms let go, so Donald Tosh took over and wrote it, he then departed on Holiday to come back and find out he and Wiles had been taken off the project because the Latter had decided to try and replace Hartnell the straw that broke the Camels back, Tosh was given his writing credit and it was there last Doctor who work, although Tosh had said things about the Gunfighters mainly his less than pleasant thoughts on the singing.
Late additions to the dialogue of scripts were sometimes the work of the BBC Telediphone Unit at Lime Grove. This unit existed to update material which had changed during transmission, or been performed live (such as News bulletins and studio discussions). A team of women provided 24 hour cover (on shift) as audio typists, working from audio copies of transmitted material and updating scripts to reflect their "as transmitted" status. In the very first episode of "Doctor Who", Hartnell's character notes "I managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament" but the BBC archive copy of script states "I managed to find a replacement for that PORTOFILIO", a nonsense word which can only really be satisfactorily explained by having been misheard by a transcriber. I wonder if Hartnell's "Merry Christmas" was added after transmission by the Telediphone team, to update the script?
I just can't believe how thorough your videos are, so well researched and presented. I must admit DMP has 11 episodes for me personally... but I really love the fascinating revelation about the third writer! A Happy Christmas (I won't say the rest)!
I have never seen Terry Nation's original scripts for Doctor Who or anything else. I always imagine that he wrote "action" scenes that he would time as lasting longer than BBC production could stretch to. eg. script directions such as "they fight", "they run away", "they creep about"
I was sure the mystery third writer would be Douglas Camfield. Even if his inclination to writing weren't well known, the director of the episodes would have a likely candidate. However, I didn't recognise his silhouette and thought maybe Douglas Adams's had been used, as a sort of name-based clue.
"And trust me, Toby Hadoke has checked" -- Brilliant! Considering how much Nation's writing has been denigrated in certain corners of fandom, its fascinating to hear how much of the actual finished product was his words or at least his scene breakdowns, and what behind-the-scenes intrigues caused all the last-minute alterations. This also explains why John Peel's novelization keeps in all the Sara Kingdom martial arts (and Z-Cars character names)...
I know there are some episodes that we are probably never going to recover, but it's sad to hear that there is at least one that we will 100% definitely never recover...
I actually really liked The Feast of Steven despite most people not liking it. However, I think most people fail to realize that this was ment to be more or less a stand alone, separate from the rest of the story. I've always realized that though so I always enjoyed it. Perfect Christmas episode if you ask me.
Actually I found something on TV Troops that gives hope for the episode's recovery. "However, according to Restoration Team member Paul Vanezis, it's possible that a telerecording was made of this episode in the absence of instructions not to make one, simply as a matter of course, which is how the unaired "pilot" version of "An Unearthly Child" survived. Therefore, there is a remote possibility that the episode could exist."
I have an unwarped version of the final picture from the episode somewhere, I remember it took way longer that I thought it should to bend back flatly 😂
@@Dalek6388 I actually just portrayed the First Doctor alongside a bunch of other Doctor Who cosplayers in the Hollywood Christmas parade recently. (We had all 13 Doctors represented BTW) Most of us were riding on the back of a UNIT Land Rover in the star cars section of the parade. And I made sure to say when people pointed cameras in my direction. "And a Happy Christmas to all of you at home!" 😀🎄🎁
The selling abroad thing if memory serves never actually took place, the only country to request a copy was Australia and i don’t think it was sold as an 11 parter but a 12 parter with mission to the unknown attached, the order was cancelled and if I don’t know if the episodes were duplicated or not or if they ever got out of the country
the prints sent to australia were at the very least 16mm prints, but nobody knows what happened to them we still don't really know the origins of the three surviving episodes, and whether they were the rejected Australian prints or not
Yeti I think by looking at what they have in the archives might be a good indication, because the main BBC use at the time was 35mm video tape whilst the doubles would have been 16mm film if it’s film that means the episodes were duplicated if not we have no idea
Merry Christmas, Dalek fans! I just want to take this time to say how much I enjoy this content; I love watching these and - this may sound cliché at this point - but I think the home media team should release these or any further documentaries by your team on DVD/Blue Ray. Keep up the good work!
Despite the criticism of Nation by Tosh in terms of pages delivered, one has to remember that Nation had been broadsided by the serial being doubled in length, stretching it way beyond what he had intended.
I'm not sure he was broadsided as such. By this point, Nation was largely fed up writing Dalek stories (as he confessed in his Daily Mirror interview when he knew that he was being asked to write a third adventure) and by the time the fourth series was being requested, it's doubtful that he'd done any work on it by the time it was enlarged up to 12 episodes, so his position really remained the same. It just went from Nation writing a six-part story solo to penning half of a 12-part story with someone else. Tosh was well known for his rather damning criticism as to what Nation left him in terms of script for his DMP episodes before flying to America to look after The Baron, but it really doesn't hold a lot of water as Nation's draft scripts survive to this day.
Yes, this episode is totally nuts! If the episode still existed, It would make a great DVD release, with the full back story and dead end script ideas.
You say at the end here that this was the first episode made and then wiped before being copied Surely the first episode to be made and then wiped before being copied would be the first recording of Dead Planet episode one aka The Daleks episode 1? They only used the original recording of this episode in the recap on the reprise of cliffhanger at the start of episode 2. The entire production of The Daleks: episode one a.k.a: The Dead Planet was remounted due to technical reasons. They had a studio recording session remake of Daleks episode 1 with cast and crew between the studio recording of episodes 2 & 3 and I assume the original VT was wiped and not telerecorded. Were there any other episodes made on vt and then wiped before being copied?
Although you're technically quite right about the original version of The Dead Planet (and I suppose you could include the original versions of Episodes 3 and 4 of Planet of Giants in that category as well), in this context, it's talking about the first *broadcast* episode to be in that position.
Strangely up until a few years prior to his death Tosh actually remembered that the 4th wall break was an on the spot moment, and that everyone including one less than beloved producer threw his lid
Such a tragic ending. RIP, Feast of Steven, at least you will one day be animated by the BBC, probably before they ever get around to The Highlanders or the Crusade, because you are tied to a Dalek story.
Interesting to note, and I have watched all of the #Dalekcember videos from MrTARDISreviews, and they are all amazing, so have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year Dalek 63•88!
Can you imagine the conversation trying to persuade Hartnell to be pied? No wonder that scene was scrapped! Pity, I'd have LOVED to see Jean Marsh with a face full of custard!
Controversial take #1: Let's hope AI will be good enough to reconstruct all the missing episodes. After that, Skynet can do whatever it wants. Controversial take #2: I loved this episode as a child when it first aired, particularly the ending when my absolute, bar none (apart maybe from Steve Zodiac), TV hero wished me - personally - a Happy Christmas. I was 10.
My personal theory on Albert Barrington is it's just some friend or relative of someone on the production team who managed to swing them that gig at the last minute, hence them not being in anything else ever.
Another great doco guys, I loved the detail of Robert Jewell playing the comic as I did know Robert, but he never told me this story. Other trivia with the Dalek props that you may not know, when two of them were in the US to promote the film, they were used in an episode of the original “Candid Camera” show. They were presented as voice controlled robots with somebody trying to get them to lode into travel crates but of course it did not go well. :)
Oh wow! Brilliant! Did he tell you any juicy Dalek related stories?! 😀 I had heard that story about Candid Camera some years ago but it had drifted from my memory. Thank you for reminding me! I must chase that up. Are you aware of any visual representation of it?
Robert would tell stories like falling asleep or just sitting there in the Dalek during a break in filming. Various cast members would forget that someone was inside the prop and stand next to the Dalek. Robert would hear a lot of very personal information that I cannot repeat. I don’t know of any photos of the show and I have been looking for a copy of the episode for years. I did see the Candid Camera episode when it was broadcast, the “workers” (they had a number of people try this) were taken into a room with the two Dalek props and two larger wooden crates open on one side. They were given a device to talk to The “Robots” (that sort of resembled a camera) to instruct the “Robots” to turn right, turn left, move forward etc but they of cause did not always follow the instructions. The joke was how the worker reacted to the robots not following orders.
At the time in Australia, we still had no colour broadcast so I don’t know if it was shot in colour then. One Dalek was light and the other was darker, so I would say it was a stock blue Dalek and the red or black Daleks used on the show.
A thought I have ofter played with:- assuming we are not the only technologically capable creatures in the universe and hoping that a few may have got there before us, there is a chance some clever alien has recorded the shows. Or - they are still radiating away from Earth at light speed. May be one day we can head them off and pick them up again. That last one would be a tad costly though. Finally, may be a local black holes has sucked them all up and as information can not be destroyed - apparently - we could possibly get them out from there. Never say never !
Lovely video but if I could clarify a couple of things. Shelia Dunn was married to Camfield by now. They got married in the summer of 65. Secondly, Albert Barrington appeared as a tramp in the first episode of the all new twice weekly Z Cars in 1967 directed by... Douglas Camfield. Jean Hall, who is in Feast of Steven, is also in the Z Cars episode! They were simply there as background artists for a scene set in the station - and since Jean Hall and her husband William Hall (Camfield's best man) who was a background cowboy, were not Equity card carrying actors or whatever, this was obviously a favour for/by Camfield. So I suspect Barrington was an acquaintance of either Camfield or his wife.
In fact, anyone with access to ancestry.com can search the 1965 London telephone directory and his name appears. And if that name tallies with GLA 0970, there's your Professor Webster. What he did in real life though...
Interesting. Do you mind if I ask how you know Jean Hall was in FoS as she doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the paperwork. Also, was Barrington listed in Z Cars?
@@Dalek6388 She may have been listed as Jean Pastell her maiden name as she was in Z Cars. She's in that Andrew Pixley article on Feast of Steven for DWM a year or two back and there is a photo of her all dolled up! Barrington appears in a list of extras and the clothes they are to wear for that Z Cars episode, including Jean Pastell and a certain John Levene! Also includes their phone numbers.
