ORIGINAL BROADCAST: 20/03/1965
Forty-five years ago today, the first Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki were fighting for their lives on the planet Vortis, after an unknown force had pulled the TARDIS off course. This story starred William Hartnell as the Doctor, and featured the popular ant-like creatures known as the Zarbi, who would only appear in this story. Vicki was affected by the natural high-frequency communications of the Zarbi.
This is the first and only Doctor Who story in which all of the characters, other than the regulars, are entirely non-humanoid. Choreographer Rosalyn de Winter was hired to create the distinctive movements and stilted speech of the Menoptra. She was so successful that the production team asked her to take on the role of the Menoptra Vrestin, which she accepted.
Jacqueline Hill, who played Barbara, was not written into ‘Escape to Danger’, in order to give her a week of holiday. She was not credited on this episode in Britain, but requested that the credits should be amended for overseas sales. For some reason, this did not happen. The first episode of this story was watched by 13.5 million viewers, the highest number for any Doctor Who episode in the 1960s.
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