The Two Doctors (TV story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story

|season number          = Season 22

|enemy                  = [[Chessene of the Franzine Grig|Chessene]]

|writer                = [[Robert Holmes]]

|broadcast date        = [[16 February (releases)|16 February]] - [[2 March (releases)|2 March]] [[1985 (releases)|1985]]

|network                = [[BBC1]]

'''''The Two Doctors''''' was the fourth serial of [[season 22]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

It was the first appearance of the [[Sontaran]]s since [[Season 15]]'s ''[[The Invasion of Time (TV story)|The Invasion of Time]]''. The Second Doctor returned, played by Patrick Troughton, as did Jamie McCrimmon, played by Frazer Hines, both having last appeared in the twentieth anniversary special ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''. It was the first Sontaran story set on contemporary [[Earth]], [[Peter Moffatt]]'s last contribution to the show and [[Robert Holmes]]' first Sixth Doctor script.

The Doctor has teamed up with [[multi-Doctor Event|himself]] before to save lives. This time, he must save [[Second Doctor|his past self]] in order to ensure his own existence in his present. What could [[Chessene of the Franzine Grig|Chessene]] and dim-witted lackey [[Shockeye of the Quawncing Grig|Shockeye]] have planned with the [[Sontaran]]s? Only one thing is known for sure: time will tell.

[[File:How dare you.jpg|left|thumb|[[Shockeye of the Quawncing Grig|Shockeye]] berates the [[Second Doctor]] for landing in his kitchen.]]

On [[Earth]], Chessene, Shockeye and a Sontaran, Major [[Varl]], seize a [[Spanish]] [[hacienda]], killing its aged owner, Doña [[Arana]]. Varl sets up a beacon for the Sontaran ship. Chessene absorbs the knowledge of the old woman's mind, learning they are in [[Andalucia]] just outside [[Seville]]. Varl announces Group Marshal Stike of the [[Ninth Sontaran Battle Group]] is in orbit.

* [[Shockeye]] - [[John Stratton]]

* [[Chessene]] - [[Jacqueline Pearce]]

* [[Dastari]] - [[Laurence Payne]]

* [[Arana|Doña Arana]] - [[Aimée Delamain|Aimee Delamain]]

* Dead [[Androgum]] - [[Jay McGrath]]  

*Scientist - [[Fernand Monast]]

*[[Juan (The Two Doctors)|Juan]] - [[Nej Adamson]]  

*Waiter - [[Michael Eriera]]

* [[Director]] - [[Peter Moffatt]]

== References ==

* This story had working titles of ''The Kraalon Inheritance'' and ''The Androgum Inheritance''. ''The Kraglon Inheritance'' also appears on some BBC paperwork, but this may possibly be a misspelling of 'Kraalon'. Other rumoured working titles are ''Parallax'', ''The Seventh Augmentment'' and ''Creation'', but these do not appear on any contemporary BBC paperwork.

* The prop used for the Second Doctor's TARDIS console unit is the same one used by the Fifth Doctor throughout the [[Season 19|first]] [[Season 20|two]] seasons of his tenure. It was brought out for this particular serial due to the need of a "retro" console unit for the Second Doctor's TARDIS, and the budget could not accommodate for a rebuilding of the original 1963 console prop (which had already deteriorated to the point of uselessness by the 1970s). Consequently, this story marks the final televised appearance of the prop. However, the "old" TARDIS control room features the regular built-in white-shuttered scanner screen, which first appeared in Season Fifteen's ''[[The Invisible Enemy (TV story)|The Invisible Enemy]]'', as opposed to the bracket-mounted television monitor used during the 1960s.

* This story, like many of [[Season 22]], was produced in forty-five-minute episodes. When sold to other countries such as Australia and America, the episodes were edited into six twenty-five-minute episodes with new cliff-hangers added, [[Peri Brown|Peri]]'s collapse on the space station for part one (another version had the voice of Space Station Camera's computer stating "It threatened the Time Lords"), Anita offering to lead the Doctor to Chessene's hideout for part three and the Doctor struggling against the [[Androgum]] [[gene]]s infecting his timeline, confirming he is all right "for the moment" for part five. Due to these international edits, in some countries, this story is arguably the final six-part story instead of ''[[The Armageddon Factor (TV story)|The Armageddon Factor]]'' or the unproduced ''[[Shada (TV story)|Shada]]''. Interestingly, this edit results in Patrick Troughton having no dialogue for the twenty-five-minute version of part two.

* The location shoot in Seville kicked off production. When the [[wig]]s constructed for the guest characters such as Chessene and Dastari were lost in transit, the actors had to be fitted for new wigs in Seville. These Spanish wigs were subsequently used for the studio shoot in England in order to keep continuity. The original wigs are, as far as is known, still missing to this day.

**Among the controversial moments include the morbid imagery and dialogue on the space station in Part One, Shockeye breaking a live rat's neck and eating it in Part Two, and Oscar's death by kitchen knife in Part Three.

* Originally, this story was set in [[New Orleans]] and the Androgums, with their obsession with cooking and eating, were created with the city's culinary reputation in mind. The move to Seville led to several changes - the French Quarter became the Arab Quarter, a plantation house became the hacienda, the banks of the Mississippi became an olive grove, and so forth.

* [[John Nathan-Turner]] suggested [[Venice]] as an alternative location, but it was soon determined that the crush of tourists, plus the higher associated costs, would be prohibitive.

* Actress [[Jacqueline Pearce]] was a last minute replacement for [[Elizabeth Spriggs]], for whom Chessene's costume had already been made. She was fired for not attending rehearsals.

* "Warts" in the Androgum makeup were made from [[Rice Krispies]].

* Location liaison and translator [[Mercedes Carnegie]] was rewarded for her work with a cameo as the lady who drops a rose from her balcony in part three. The frivolous dress she wears was actually intended for the character of Anita to wear during her moth hunting trip in the previous two parts, but actress [[Carmen Gómez]] refused to wear it, preferring a light summer dress instead.

* [[Colin Baker]] stated that this was his favourite episode to make, mainly because he got the chance to work with [[Patrick Troughton]].

* [[Peter Moffatt]] wasn't happy with the amount of violence in the script, while [[Robert Holmes]] was unhappy with the direction, saying that it could have been more horrific and Oscar's death should have been tragic rather than comedic. [[Eric Saward]] thought the story was poorly directed.

* According to [[Nicola Bryant]], part of the <em>[[Top of the Pops]]</em> set was used to construct of the bowels of Space Station Chimera.

* According to [[Colin Baker]], [[Jacqueline Pearce]] came up with the scene where Chessene tastes the Doctor's blood on location.

* [[Frazer Hines]] met and fell in love with a married Spanish girl while on location.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Ackland Joss Ackland], [[George Baker]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bannen Ian Bannen], [[Brian Blessed]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denholm_Elliott Denholm Elliott], [[James Ellis]], [[Frank Finlay]], [[Ronald Fraser]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gothard Michael Gothard], [[Don Henderson]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Houston Donald Houston], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Jones Freddie Jones], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Kemp Jeremy Kemp], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Kinnear Roy Kinnear], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Lacey Ronald Lacey], [[T. P. McKenna]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_Morris Aubrey Morris], [[Donald Pleasence]], [[Peter Sallis]], [[George Sewell]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Vaughan Peter Vaughan] were considered for the role of Shockeye.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Ackland Joss Ackland], [[Bernard Archard]], [[George Baker]], [[James Bree]], [[Michael Craig]], [[Peter Cushing]], [[Anton Diffring]], [[Neil Hallett]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Hepton Bernard Hepton], [[Peter Jeffrey]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Jones Freddie Jones], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Kemp Jeremy Kemp], [[Clifford Rose]], [[Nigel Stock]] and [[John Woodnutt]] were considered for the role of Dastari.

* [[Jacqueline Pearce]] admitted that she was unfamiliar with ''Doctor Who'' and was trying to keep up with the script.

* [[Colin Baker]] and [[Frazer Hines]] pranked [[Patrick Troughton]] by pushing him around in his wheelchair when he was tied up.

* [[Eric Saward]] felt that the foreign setting was unnecessary and detracted from the story.

* [[Gary Downie]] said that the shoot was partially a holiday, but also [[John Nathan-Turner]]'s way "of keeping the show alive".

* [[Robert Holmes]] was particularly disappointed that much of the humour involving the differences between Britain and America was lost in the rewrite. The only hint we get of this humour is in episode one, when the Sixth Doctor looks at Peri and says that Columbus "has a lot to answer for".

* It was [[John Nathan-Turner]]'s idea to include the Sontarans. Although he disliked reusing old monsters, [[Robert Holmes]] felt that they had been poorly served by other writers in their appearances since [[The Time Warrior (TV story)|''The Time Warrior'']] and he saw this as an opportunity to reassert his original vision for the monsters.

* Production associate [[Sue Anstruther]] proposed filming in Seville, where she had holidayed a few years earlier.

* For the destruction of the Sontaran ship, the Visual Effects team was forbidden to import pyrotechnics. They originally tried to source materials from Madrid, but it soon became clear that the shipment would not arrive in time. Instead, designer [[Steven Drewett]] decided to create the necessary effect using gunpowder obtained from a firearms store in Seville. The resulting explosion was so effective that it spooked an elderly woman living on the grounds of the hacienda, who had to be persuaded that it was not the work of Basque separatists. Happily, [[Peter Moffatt]] made such good progress at Dehera Boyar that there was enough time to record two scenes originally intended for the studio.

* The woman who threw a flower to Dastari was Spanish aristocrat Mercedes Carnegie, the wife of Donald Carnegie, Assistant at the British Consul. Both Carnegies had been of great help to production manager [[Gary Downie]] while scouting for locations.

* [[Nicola Bryant]] badly bruised her shin while filiming in Oscar's restaurant, bringing an early end to the shoot.

* The cast and crew voluntarily accepted a cut in the normal rates for meals and lodgings in Seville.

* Filming in Seville was hampered by severe forty degree heat and stomach ailments.

* When the film reels were returned to the UK for processing, it was discovered that there was a scratch on of the reels. This meant that some of the material recorded at Dehera Boyar, involving Osca and Anita in the olive grove, would have to be remounted. Unfortunately, [[James Saxon]] and [[Carmen Gómez]] had already returned to England, and this meant that they would have to be despatched back to Spain at great cost to the production office. The scene of the Sixth Doctor fishing for Gumblejacks was also remounted. [[Peter Moffatt]]'s team was disappointed to discover that the extreme heat and lack of rain had considerably reduced the water level in the days since the location had been reconnoitred. To add insult to injury, it was discovered that the reported scratch was virtually imperceptible, making the reshoots unnecessary, much to [[John Nathan-Turner]]'s outrage.

* [[Peter Davison]] visited the set at BBC Television Centre Studio 6, where he filming the educational series ''L-Driver: English for Driving,'' thus making three Doctors onset.

*According to ''[[World Game (novel)|World Game]]'', this is the [[Second Doctor]]'s second mission for the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]], set relatively soon after ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]''. According to ''[[The Black Hole (audio story)|The Black Hole]]'', this mission was actually assigned to him by [[the Monk]], disguised as [[Chapter 9]] Constable [[Pavo]], while he was travelling with Jamie and [[Victoria Waterfield]].

*The Sontarans previously showed interest in [[Time Lord]]s and obtaining their technology. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Warrior (TV story)|The Time Warrior]]'', ''[[The Invasion of Time (TV story)|The Invasion of Time]]'')

*The Sixth Doctor initially speculates that a comet may have struck [[Space Station Camera]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen (TV story)|Attack of the Cybermen]]'')

*The Sixth Doctor would later once again enter the [[astral plane]] to rescue Peri from the Omnim. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Point of Entry (audio story)|Point of Entry]]'')

* ''[[Behind the Sofa: Robert Holmes and Doctor Who]]'' - A special 45-minute documentary looking at this popular writer

* ''Beneath the Sun'' - A 35-minute featurette focusing on ''The Two Doctors''{{'}} Spanish location filming

* ''[[Adventures in Time and Spain]]'' - Production Manager [[Gary Downie]] offers his insight into the making of this story

* ''[[Wavelength]]'' - A half-hour [[Radio 4]] schools programme which goes behind the scenes of ''The Two Doctors'' (audio only)

* Easter Egg: Clean 1984 title sequence & closing credits. To access this hidden feature, press left at Episode Selection on Disc One's Main menu.

** [[A Fix with Sontarans (home video)|A recut edition]] was released in the ''Doctor Who'': ''[[The Collection]]'' — ''[[Season 22]]'' [[blu-ray]] boxset, omiting the scenes with Savile.

Twodocsna.jpg|Region 1 cover

The story was released on Blu-ray as part of [[The Collection]]: [[Season 22]] on [[20 June (releases)|20 June]] [[2022 (releases)|2022]]

Doctor Who The Collection Season 22.jpg|[[Season 22]]