The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Vicki and Steven to 1066 England, on the outskirts of a Saxon village, where they stumble across technology centuries ahead of its time. The Doctor discovers that a nearby monastery is now home to a time-travelling member of his own race, one with a penchant for interfering in established history. With the Battle of Hastings imminent, this erstwhile Monk has been tracking the Viking fleet that has been harassing the Saxons. He intends to destroy it using advanced weaponry -- positioning King Harold to defeat William the Conqueror, and irrevocably altering Earth's future.

By early March 1965, it was clear that the final story of Doctor Who's second season would be something of a crisis point. Producer Verity Lambert had decided to leave the show, and would be winding down her involvement by that time. It appeared that William Russell would be departing from Doctor Who as of the preceding adventure, The Chase. A new companion would be introduced in its concluding episode, who would then need further development in the finale. Neither Jacqueline Hill nor Maureen O'Brien had yet committed to remaining beyond The Chase. And, to muddy the waters further, no regular Doctor Who writer was available; the finale would have to be inexpensive to help offset the high budget allocated to The Chase; and William Hartnell's agent had convinced Lambert to give the star another week's holiday, meaning that the Doctor would have to be absent from the second episode.

With all of this in mind, on March 11th, Lambert sought permission from Head of Serials Donald Wilson to commission story editor Dennis Spooner to write the finale -- a practise very much discouraged by the BBC. Spooner had already written two Doctor Who adventures, most recently The Romans. On March 15th, Wilson acknowledged that the situation was unusual, and agreed to Lambert's request. As it happened, Spooner soon decided not to renew his Doctor Who contract; his replacement, Donald Tosh, would therefore begin receiving the story editor's credit as of the season finale, despite the fact that Spooner would overlap with him for several weeks.

Dennis Spooner sought to reinvigorate the notion of a “past” adventure in Doctor Who

In composing his storyline, Spooner sought to reinvigorate the notion of a “past” adventure in Doctor Who, by imbuing it with science-fiction elements heretofore confined only to the “future” serials. As such, Spooner effectively pioneered the “pseudo-historical” genre, which would soon supplant the traditional approach to historical serials in Doctor Who. To make the blend of styles effective, Spooner decided to use a setting which would be familiar to virtually any British viewer.

In January 1066, England was thrown into chaos with the death of the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor. Edward left no heir, resulting in a struggle for the throne between several men with diverse claims. Harold Godwinson was ultimately crowned, but his brother Tostig, King Harald Hardrada of Norway, and William, the Duke of Normandy, each assembled troops to overthrow him. Tostig and Hardrada formed an alliance; the Vikings in Spooner's storyline were intended to number amongst their forces. Harold and his Anglo-Saxon troops were victorious over the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September 25th. With Tostig and Hardrada both killed in the skirmish, only William remained as a serious rival to Harold. However, the Normans invaded England in the aftermath of Stamford Bridge, and though Harold rode to meet them, his depleted army was no match for William's. They waged the Battle of Hastings on October 14th, where Harold died. On Christmas Day, William was crowned the first Norman King of England.

In naming his characters, Spooner sought inspiration from actual contemporaneous figures. These included Edith (named for one of Harold's sisters), Ulf (an earl and uncle to Harold), Sven (from Harold's brother Sweyn, by which spelling the character was sometimes referred), and Wulnoth (derived from Harold's grandfather, Wulfnoth). Late in the day, Spooner's scripts gained the working title of “The Monk”; by this time, it was known that Jacqueline Hill would be leaving Doctor Who and Maureen O'Brien staying.

The director assigned to “The Monk” was Douglas Camfield, who had recently worked on The Crusade. On May 10th, model shots were completed at the BBC Television Film Studios in Ealing, London. Camfield's team then spent the rest of the day working on The Chase, providing that story with a larger filming allocation than would typically be the case. During the following week, Peter Purves accepted the role of new companion Steven Taylor; “The Monk” would be his first full adventure.

As studio recording approached, the story's title still hadn't been finalised. It was apparently known informally amongst the cast and crew as “The Vikings”... until somebody observed that more of the characters were Saxons than Vikings, from which time it was dubbed “The Saxons”! Ultimately, however, the serial was officially christened The Time Meddler. It was taped on consecutive Fridays, as usual. However, the decision had now been made to move Doctor Who from its usual recording home of Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London to BBC Television Centre in White City for the remainder of the production block.

Upset by the changes affecting Doctor Who, William Hartnell tried to intimidate the new production team

Episode one, The Watcher, was taped on June 11th in Television Centre Studio 4. It was during this episode that Maureen O'Brien mispronounced the scripted explanation of the TARDIS acronym -- Time And Relative Dimension In Space, as given in 100,000 BC, the very first Doctor Who story -- as Time And Relative “Dimensions” In Space. This pluralised form would then become generally accepted until 2005, when the original version was reasserted. Around this time, incoming producer John Wiles began trailing Verity Lambert. Upset by the many changes impacting Doctor Who, William Hartnell reacted disagreeably, pretending to throw tantrums during rehearsals to try to intimidate the new production team. Wiles would effectively take over the day-to-day duties from Lambert by the end of recording on The Time Meddler.

The Meddling Monk was recorded in TC3 on June 18th. Hartnell was absent while on vacation; the Doctor's off-camera appearances made use of lines which had been pre-recorded the previous week. The final two episodes then moved back to TC4. Although The Time Meddler was the last story of Doctor Who's second season, the production block continued for five more weeks, encompassing Galaxy 4 and Mission To The Unknown, both of which would be held back to start Season Three.

The BBC schedule for July 3rd, including the broadcast of The Watcher, was significantly disrupted by the Wimbledon tennis finals, which formed part of that day's edition of Summer Grandstand. The sports showcase pushed Doctor Who back by more than an hour, to 6.55pm, following a news update and leading into Juke Box Jury. The following week, Doctor Who was once again positioned prior to the news, but cricket highlights then aired before The Dick Van Dyke Show. Doctor Who's second season wrapped up on July 24th with the broadcast of Checkmate. This was another day of upheaval for the BBC schedule, which saw The Dick Van Dyke Show preempted altogether. Doctor Who was now followed by the news, cricket highlights, and then the 1965 Royal Tournament, an exhibition for the British Armed Forces.

• Doctor Who Magazine #307, 22nd August 2001, “Archive: The Time Meddler” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #7, 12th May 2004, “I'm Into Something Good” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #5, 2016, “Story 17: The Time Meddler”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Handbook: The First Doctor by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1994), Virgin Publishing.
• Doctor Who: The Sixties by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1992), Virgin Publishing.