Serial HHH · Classic
Series Episodes 293 298:
Colony In Space
When the Master steals information about a doomsday weapon, the Time
Lords send the Doctor and Jo to the planet Uxarieus in the twenty-fifth
century. There, they discover an Earth colony struggling with the twin
perils of crop failure and death at the hands of what seems to be a
monstrous lizard. Meanwhile, agents of the Interplanetary Mining
Corporation have arrived on Uxarieus, asserting their right to drill for
valuable duralinium. The Doctor must discover what connects these events
with the Master -- and with the planet's primitive natives, who harbour
a terrible secret.
When Barry Letts became the producer of Doctor Who in late 1969,
he was largely happy with the show's new Earthbound format, which had
been introduced by his predecessors, Peter Bryant and Derrick Sherwin,
at the start of its seventh season. However, Letts worried that the
types of stories which could be told would become repetitive. This was a
concern shared by writer Malcolm Hulke, who felt that Doctor Who
was now limited to narratives about alien invasions and mad scientists
-- although the production team had worked hard during Season Seven to
disprove this notion. Hulke himself had contributed The Silurians and had considerably rewritten
David Whitaker's The Ambassadors Of Death.
For Doctor Who's eighth season, Letts decided to experiment with
a return to an alien world, and Hulke was asked to develop ideas.
On June 29th, 1970, Hulke was commissioned for a storyline entitled
“Colony”, inspired by the days of the American Wild West,
and the strife between European-descended settlers and the indigenous
peoples. Hulke was asked to incorporate the Master into
“Colony” but, by this stage, Letts and script editor
Terrance Dicks were aware that their plan to feature the new archvillain
in all five Season Eight stories ran the risk of becoming predictable
and boring. As such, it was agreed that Hulke would not bring the Master
to the forefront until midway through the serial. “Colony”
would see only a minimal presence for the United Nations Intelligence
Taskforce (UNIT) characters, with Benton and Yates entirely absent and
the Brigadier present only in the opening and closing installments.
Malcolm Hulke imagined the IMC robot as humanoid in form,
as opposed to the boxy construction which appeared on screen
For unknown reasons, a revised storyline for “Colony” was
commissioned on September 1st, followed by the scripts on September
15th. At this stage, two character names were altered: John Ashe's first
name became Robert, and Reeves became Winton. The title was expanded to
Colony In Space. The adventure was originally set circa the year
3000, but Mary Ashe would now describe the colonists as leaving Earth in
2471. Hulke imagined the IMC robot as humanoid in form, as opposed to
the boxy and machinelike construction which appeared on screen.
The director assigned to Colony In Space was Michael Briant, who
had previously been an assistant floor manager on The Daleks' Master Plan and a production
assistant on both The Power Of The Daleks
and Fury From The Deep. Briant made a
significant change to the story by casting Susan Jameson in the role of
Morgan, whom Hulke had envisaged as male. However, Head of Serials
Ronnie Marsh overruled Briant, fearing that a female character who
demonstrated Morgan's sadistic tendencies might leave the BBC open to
charges of fetishism. At Letts' suggestion, the part was instead given
to Tony Caunter, who had initially been cast in a more minor role.
Jameson was told of the decision on January 27th, 1971, although she
would nonetheless be paid in full.
Model and effects filming for Colony In Space took place on and
around February 6th, at both Caravel Film Studios in Slough, Berkshire
and the BBC Television Film Studios in Ealing, London. The Ealing work
included the footage of the lizard monster -- really a four-foot-long
iguana from the London Zoo which became aggressive towards the camera
crew. The venue for the location filming was the Old Baal China Clay
Quarry in Carclaze, Cornwall. Work there ran from February 10th to 12th,
and then resumed after the weekend for two more days, on the 15th and
16th.
The Carclaze shoot was made arduous by cold, driving rain which
generated copious amounts of mud. The inclement weather caused the
destruction of the garden planted outside the colonists' dome, and even
blew away the tent providing privacy for the portaloo -- while Katy
Manning was in the midst of using it! The murky terrain also meant that
regular vehicles would be unable to facilitate tracking shots.
Fortunately, assistant floor manager Graeme Harper -- later a prolific
Doctor Who directing beginning with 1985's Revelation Of The Daleks -- had recommended
that Briant use military-grade four-wheeled vehicles called Haflingers
for the IMC buggies. Now they would pressed into service by the camera
crew, as well.
On March 3rd, during rehearsals for the first studio session, Letts
lured Pertwee and Manning out to a BBC parking lot, ostensibly to record
a trailer. There, the series star was ambushed by Eamonn Andrews, who
revealed that Pertwee was the latest subject of his biographical
programme, This Is Your Life. Pertwee's episode aired on April
14th.
Meanwhile, Colony In Space followed the usual Doctor Who
recording pattern and was taped fortnightly in two-day blocks, on
Fridays and Saturdays. For the most part, Briant opted to devote each
day to a single episode. The only exception came during the first
session, on March 5th and 6th at BBC Television Centre Studio 4 in White
City, London. On the Saturday, Briant chose to record the first scene of
Episode Three alongside Episode Two, so that the set for the Leesons'
dome would not have to be erected again two weeks later. A former child
actor, Briant also decided to provide various voiceovers throughout the
serial. However, because he was no longer a member of the actors' union,
his performance was credited to Pat Gorman, a frequent Doctor Who
extra who would genuinely appear as a Primitive, an IMC guard and a
colonist. The rest of Colony In Space was taped in TC3, with the
middle episodes recorded on March 19th and 20th, and then the concluding
installments on April 2nd and 3rd. Episode Six saw Briant's wife,
Monique, make a cameo appearance as one of the colonists.
The first story of Season Eight, Terror Of The
Autons, had invited some criticism due to its frightening
content. With Letts and Dicks intentionally pitching Doctor Who
to a slightly older audience than in the past, the BBC decided to
overhaul the Saturday evening schedule, beginning with the transmission
of Colony In Space Episode One on April 10th. Doctor Who
now aired at 6.10pm, almost an hour late than before. It was preceded by
Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Colour -- which occupied its
former timeslot -- and a news update, and led into a Tom And
Jerry cartoon short and then a series of movies branded as The
Saturday Western. The new schedule paid dividends almost
immediately, boosting Doctor Who's audience by more than a
million viewers each week.
- Doctor Who Magazine #238, 8th May 1996, “Archive: Colony
In Space” by Andrew Pixley, Panini UK Ltd.
- Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #2, 5th September 2002,
“Something Old, Something New” by Andrew Pixley, Panini
Publishing Ltd.
- Doctor Who: The Complete History #17, 2015, “Story 58:
Colony In Space”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks
Ltd.
- Doctor Who: The Handbook: The Third Doctor by David J Howe and
Stephen James Walker (1996), Virgin Publishing.
- Doctor Who: The Seventies by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and
Stephen James Walker (1994), Virgin Publishing.
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Original Transmission
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Episode 1 |
Date |
10th Apr 1971 |
Time |
6.12pm |
Duration |
24'19" |
Viewers (more) |
7.6m (41st) |
Episode 2 |
Date |
17th Apr 1971 |
Time |
6.13pm |
Duration |
22'43" |
Viewers (more) |
8.5m (28th) |
Episode 3 |
Date |
24th Apr 1971 |
Time |
6.14pm |
Duration |
23'47" |
Viewers (more) |
9.5m (26th) |
Episode 4 |
Date |
1st May 1971 |
Time |
6.12pm |
Duration |
24'20" |
Viewers (more) |
8.1m (28th) |
Episode 5 |
Date |
8th May 1971 |
Time |
6.13pm |
Duration |
25'22" |
Viewers (more) |
8.8m (23rd) |
Episode 6 |
Date |
15th May 1971 |
Time |
6.12pm |
Duration |
25'22" |
Viewers (more) |
8.7m (23rd) |
Cast
Doctor Who |
Jon Pertwee (bio) |
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart |
Nicholas Courtney (bio) |
The Master |
Roger Delgado (bio) |
Jo Grant |
Katy Manning (bio) |
Winton |
Nicholas Pennell |
Ashe |
John Ringham |
Leeson |
David Webb |
Jane Leeson |
Sheila Grant |
Norton |
Roy Skelton |
Mary Ashe |
Helen Worth |
Martin |
John Line |
Mrs Martin |
Mitzi Webster |
Primitive |
Pat Gorman |
Robot |
John Scott Martin |
Time Lords |
Peter Forbes-Robertson |
John Baker |
Graham Leaman |
Caldwell |
Bernard Kay |
Dent |
Morris Perry |
Morgan |
Tony Caunter |
Holden |
John Herrington |
Allen |
Stanley McGeagh |
Long |
Pat Gorman |
Alec Leeson |
John Tordoff |
Guardian |
Norman Atkyns |
Alien Priest |
Roy Heymann |
Colonist |
Pat Gorman |
Crew
Written by |
Malcolm Hulke (bio) |
Directed by |
Michael Briant (bio) |
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Title Music by |
Ron Grainer and |
BBC Radiophonic Workshop |
Incidental Music |
Dudley Simpson |
Special Sound |
Brian Hodgson and |
BBC Radiophonic Workshop |
Film Cameraman |
Peter Hall |
Film Editor |
William Symon |
Visual Effects |
Bernard Wilkie |
Costumes |
Michael Burdle |
Make-up |
Jan Harrison |
Studio Lighting |
Ralph Walton |
Sound |
David Hughes |
Tony Millier |
Script Editor |
Terrance Dicks (bio) |
Designer |
Tim Gleeson |
Producer |
Barry Letts (bio) |
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