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| Image composition art by Lee Johnson for the Doctor Who - The Complete History partwork series. |
The longest story of the series B/W era, and the longest Dalek story of the entire original Classic Series run, The Daleks' Master Plan is regarded as a genuine All-Time Classic by fans who saw it on its one and only original transmission from late 1965 into 1966: a thrilling tale that showcased the Skaro villains at their finest and deadliest against William Hartnell's incarnation, in a tale, originally planned at six-episodes but ultimately expanded to twelve so as to capitalize on the remains of Dalekmania merchandise sales, and at the enthused request of respected BBC head honcho Huw Weldon, whose mother was a big fan of the series and Terry Nation's finest creations.
Such a lengthy adventure may have been a creative and production headache of the highest order for new producer John Wiles and Script Editor Donald Tosh, who lost a potential all-new story to creatures that they weren't exactly enamoured with, but it'd also prove a fine baptism of sorts for their choice in director Douglas Camfield could not have been finer, not just in delivering pacy episodes with strong visuals, and excellent with his casting, but an experienced Who behind the scenes veteran who knew not just how to successfully shoot Daleks (indeed, he was around at their onscreen birth in late 1963) but could also confidently handle the cranky and unwell series lead star in Hartnell.
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| Radio Times story preview, which starts with new companion Katarina (Adrienne Hill) tending to the wounded Steven after the events of The Myth Makers. |
Scripting-wise, with such an epic tale to be told, and becoming a diverse and schedule conflicted TV series scriptwriter beyond Who, Terry Nation would need help developing and writing the landmark story, not just from Wiles and Tosh, but also from the story's co-writer Dennis Spooner, both of whom would constantly try and out cliffhanger each other with their individual episodes, though it would be Spooner who'd ultimately deliver one of the strongest and most frightening episodes with its monumental finale: Destruction of Time, which, on transmission, had many shocked parents writing letters of complaint to the BBC with it's shocking resolution the brutal death of another of the Doctor's companions, Sara Kingdom.
A wonderful adventure in time and space with a huge diversity of strange new worlds, historical action/adventure on Earth, and memorable alien villains in a galactic alliance with the Daleks, never has there been a haul of more fan beloved missing episodes wanting to be found beyond those three surviving within the BBC Archives....
Enjoy this site's week-long Anniversary tribute to this marvellous yarn.
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