Doctor Who 'The Web of Fear' Animated Trailer

A Matter of Time: The Moonbase

(11/02/1967)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Moonbase’ was the sixth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: Talkback from the headphones of the crew on the studio floor is clearly audible at times during Episode 4, including cues for Cybermen.

A Matter of Time: The Web of Fear

(10/02/1968)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Web of Fear’ was the fifth story of Season 5 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: To promote this story, a specially shot trailer featuring the Doctor in the London Underground was featured at the end ‘The Enemy of the World’.

A Matter of Time: The Seeds of Death

(08/02/1969)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Seeds of Death’ was the fifth story of Season 6 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: Patrick Troughton’s sideburns appear and disappear depending on whether he is seen in a pre-filmed sequence or a studio scene.

The Pandorica Answers: Double Trouble

The evil Salamander looked identical to the Second Doctor in ‘The Enemy of the World’, which saw Patrick Troughton taking on both roles. ‘The Android Invasion’ showed the Kraals create a fake Earth, and ‘The Androids of Tara’ had Mary Tamm playing Romana, Princess Strella, and their two android doubles.

The next Pandorica Puzzle will be available to view on Friday from 10:00.

A Matter of Time: The Underwater Menace

(14/01/1967)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Underwater Menace’ was the fifth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: During the underwater scenes in Episode 3, the Kirby wires holding up the fish people are clearly visible.

A Matter of Time: The Enemy of the World

(13/01/1968)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Enemy of the World’ was the fourth story of Season 5 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: The story had such a small budget that Denes is kept prisoner in a corridor, so that a prison set was not needed to be constructed.

A Matter of Time: The Three Doctors

(30/12/1972)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Three Doctors’ was the first story of Season 10 of Doctor Who, and starred Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.

FACT: William Hartnell was too ill to play a more active role in the story, so his scenes were filmed in Ealing Television Film Studios with cue cards.

A Matter of Time: The Krotons

(28/12/1968)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Krotons’ was the fourth story of Season 6 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: This is the first collaboration between writer Robert Holmes and script editor Terrance Dicks, who would work together in the Third and Fourth Doctors’ eras.

A Matter of Time: The Highlanders

(24/12/1966)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Highlanders’ was the fourth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: Although Elwyn Jones was commissioned to write the story, Story Editor Gerry Davis carried out the entire work for the scripts.

A Matter of Time: The Invasion

(14/12/1968)

DESCRIPTION: ‘The Invasion’ was the third story of Season 6 of Doctor Who, and starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

FACT: In the DVD’s animated version of Episode 1, the words ‘Bad Wolf’ are written on Isobel’s wall as an in-joke to the series.

Doctor Who Step Back in Time: The Dominators

Doctor Who Cybermen Invade London Photo

A group of Cybermen were storming through London this morning to celebrate the launch of the Doctor Who Experience exhibition, which enables children to take control of the Doctor’s TARDIS and respond to the Doctor’s missions for them in a specially-built copy of the new TARDIS interior set.

The Cybermen recreated a very familiar scene from the Patrick Troughton story ‘The Invasion’, posing on the steps in front of St Paul’s Cathedral. The monsters then travelled to the London Underground, where many morning commuters kept their distance from the sinister cyborgs.

Executive producer Steven Moffat said: “The Doctor Who Experience is a fan's dream come true - a fully interactive adventure that will allow viewers of the show to get as close as possible to some of the scariest monsters from the series. It will also be the first time that Doctor Who artefacts from all the show’s 47-year history will be on display together, many of them being seen for the first time.”

Doctor Who Step Back in Time: The Five Doctors

Doctor Who Step Back in Time: 'The Monster of Peladon' Clip

This week’s Step Back in Time on the official Doctor Who website is ‘The Monster of Peladon’, a story which starred Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. The clip is to celebrate the companion Sarah Jane Smith, who joined the series only a couple of stories before this one.

The current series of The Sarah Jane Adventures comes to a stunning finale next week. It's been quite a ride, crammed with encounters with familiar faces including Androvax and the Alliance of Shades as well as some bizarre, brilliant new aliens including the Shansheeth, the Nightmare Man and the Groske.

Step Back in Time: The Monster of Peladon

Doctor Who Step Back in Time: The Web of Fear

This week’s Step Back in Time on the official Doctor Who website is ‘The Web of Fear’, a story which starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. The clip is dedicated to one of the writers of the story, Mervyn Haisman, who sadly died last week.

Mervyn co-wrote ‘The Abominable Snowmen’, ‘The Web of Fear’ and ‘The Dominators’ with Henry Lincoln, as well as introducing the deadly robotic Yeti and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, who would later become a Brigadier.

Step Back in Time: The Web of Fear

Doctor Who – The Seeds of Death DVD Confirmed for Revisitations 2

The DVD Company 2|Entertain have revealed that the Patrick Troughton story ‘The Seeds of Death’ will be re-released as part of the Revisitations 2 DVD boxset in 2011, along with two other stories.

The story was originally released with very few extras in 2003, but will now join the Jon Pertwee story ‘Carnival of Monsters’ and the Peter Davison story ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ in this re-release, which will include a higher quality of restoration and more extras.

The DVD commissioning editor Dan Hall also announced that the re-release of ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ will contain a documentary presented by the Tenth Doctor David Tennant, and will be released in both the four episode and two episode edition.

Doctor Who - A Dedication to Barry Letts

(26th March 1925 – 9th October 2009)

Today is one year on from the death of Barry Letts, a British actor, director, writer and producer of the twentieth century, who is best known for his work on Doctor Who. He served as an executive producer for Jon Pertwee’s long era on the show, and became a father figure in the family atmosphere that had developed during this time.

Letts’ first involvement with Doctor Who was in 1967 when he directed the Patrick Troughton story ‘The Enemy of the World’, which saw Troughton play both the Second Doctor and the Mexican dictator Salamander. This proved a tough challenge for the entire team, and one which Barry Letts achieved brilliantly.

He became the show’s producer in 1969 when Derrick Sherwin left the role, and formed a strong friendship with the script editor Terrance Dicks. Together they produced many classic stories for the show, which are still highly regarded today. Letts also directed numerous stories during this time, including the popular ‘Terror of the Autons’ and ‘Carnival of Monsters’.

His love for the show continued throughout his lifetime, and he recorded many commentaries and interviews for DVD releases of his Doctor Who episodes up until his death in 2009. The 2009 Doctor Who episode ‘The Waters of Mars’ was dedicated to his memory, and his huge part in making the show what it is today.

Blast from the Past: The Tomb of the Cybermen

This was one of the many unfortunate stories of the early sixties to be junked by the BBC after transmission, so as to save space in the vaults for programmes which were considered more valuable. In 1992, fans of the show would hear of some exciting news about this legendary Cyberman adventure: The entire four-part story had been discovered in Hong Kong! After all this time, would the story live up to expectations…

This was the third story to feature the popular enemies of the Cybermen, and the production team were trying to find new and interesting ways to use the creatures. The story is in a typical base-under-siege format, which increases the fear levels as there could be a Cyberman around any corner. This story is also iconic for being the first to feature the almighty Cyber Controller, whose brain is encased in a dome-shaped container above its head.

One of the greatest scenes in this story is a subtle conversation between The Doctor and Victoria, where they discuss the people who they have lost in their past (Victoria’s father had died in the previous story), and how they can move on from their grief. Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling excel in this scene, giving their characters real depth and emotion, which acts as a good opposite to the fast paced action scenes which follow.

The fight sequences between Toberman and various Cybermen have become famous throughout long-term fans of the programme (in particular for the mysterious wire which magically assists a Cyberman to lift Toberman). The hero of the day is Toberman himself, who manages to throw the Cyber Controller (who looks suspiciously like a dummy) across the control panels, before slamming the electrical tomb doors shut on the damaged Controller, electrocuting himself in the process.

This story has been highly regarded by many fans of the show (including Matt Smith), due to all of the brilliant elements which really come together and gel to make the stunning result. A thrilling encounter with the terrifying Cybermen, a great cast to make each individual character come alive, and Deborah Watling in a very short dress are sure to please the viewers. You can’t ask for much more than that!

Tomorrow: The Green Death

A Matter of Time: Patrick Troughton

(25/03/1920 – 28/03/1987)

Ninety years ago today, Patrick George Troughton was born in Mill Hill in London. He would go on to become a famous English actor, most widely known in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor, in the long running British science-fiction television series ‘Doctor Who’, which he played from 1966 to 1969.

In 1966, Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd decided to replace William Hartnell in the series’ lead role. The continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the role, especially given the bold decision that the replacement would not be at all like Hartnell.

Troughton considered various ways to approach the role, including being a tough sea captain. Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman suggested that the Doctor could be a ‘cosmic hobo’ in a similar style to Charlie Chaplin. This was the interpretation eventually chosen by Patrick Troughton and the production crew.

During his time on the series, Patrick Troughton was popular with both the production team and his co-stars. Innes Lloyd complimented Troughton, saying “He had a leading actor’s temperament. He was a father figure to the whole company and hence could embrace it and sweep it along with him”. Troughton also gained a reputation on set as a practical joker.

On 27th March 1987, Troughton was a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention in Columbus. Although he had been warned by his doctors not to overwork himself because of his heart condition, he appeared to be in good spirits, and participated with enthusiasm in the day’s panels. Sadly, Patrick Troughton suffered a fatal heart attack in the early hours of 28th March 1987.

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