The Myth Makers (TV story)

The Myth Makers
Doctor:	[[doctor::First Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Vicki Steven Taylor Katarina (introduction)
Main enemy:	None
Main setting:	1200 BC
Key crew
Writer:	Donald Cotton
Director:	Michael Leeston-Smith
Producer:	John Wiles
Release details
Release number:	20
Premiere broadcast:	16th October - 6th November 1965
Format:	4 25-minute Episodes Temple of Secrets Small Prophet Quick Return Death of a Spy Horse of Destruction
Production code:	U

Summary

Upon arriving on the plains to Troy the TARDIS crew become involved in the events surrounding the seige of Troy and the plot to enter the city by means of a giant wooden horse (Click here for a more detailed summary)

Cast & Characters

• The Doctor — William Hartnell
• Vicki/Cressida — Maureen O'Brien
• Steven Taylor — Peter Purves
• Katarina — Adrienne Hill
• Achilles — Cavan Kendall
• Hector — Alan Haywood
• Odysseus — Ivor Salter
• Agamemnon — Francis de Wolff
• Menelaus — Jack Melford
• Cyclops — Tutte Lemkow
• King Priam — Max Adrian
• Paris — Barrie Ingham
• Cassandra — Frances White
• Messenger — John Luxton
• Troilus — James Lynn

Uncredited Cast

Crew

• Writer - Donald Cotton
• Director - Michael Leeston-Smith
• Producer - Verity Lambert
• Assistant Floor Manager - Dawn Robertson
• Costumes - Daphne Dare
• Costumes - Tony Pearce
• Designer - John Wood
• Fight Arranger - Derek Ware
• Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton
• Film Editor - Caroline Shields
• Incidental Music - Humphrey Searle
• Make-Up - Elizabeth Blattner
• Make-Up - Sonia Markham
• Production Assistant - David Maloney
• Production Assistant - Richard Brooks
• Script Editor - Donald Tosh
• Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
• Studio Lighting - Ralph Walton
• Studio Sound - Dave Kitchen
• Studio Sound - Bryan Forgham
• Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
• Title Music - Ron Grainer

Notes

• The final story featuring Vicki
• The first story featuring Katarina
• The working titles for this story included The Mythmakers, The Trojans, and The Trojan War. Individual episode titles included Deus ex Machina (episode 1) and Is There a Doctor in the Horse? (episode 3)
• All 4 episodes of this story have been lost, with only very limited photographic material being held in the BBC archive
• Some limited material from episodes 1, 2 and 4 exist in the form of 8mm home movie reel shot on a television set
• One of the least documented stories, with only very limited material exisiting
• William Hartnell was struck and injured by a camera during the filming of the first episode
• William Hartnell suffered a bereavement while working on the story: the death of his Aunt Bessie, who had looked after him during his troubled childhood. Unfortunately, the tight recording schedules prevented Hartnell from taking time off to attend her funeral
• In the 1980s, Reeltime Pictures launched a series of home video releases featuring interviews with the cast and crew of Doctor Who. This long-running series of tapes (which later included the first independently-produced Doctor Who spin-offs) was entitled The Myth Makers after this story

Influences

• Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
• Virgil's Aeneid
• Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
• Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida
• The Plays of Euripides
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Ratings

• Temple of Secrets - 8.3m viewers
• Small Prophet, Quick Return - 8.1m viewers
• Death of a Spy - 8.7m viewers
• Horse of Destruction - 8.3m viewers

Myths

• William Hartnell refused to appear in scenes with Max Adrian as he was Jewish and Gay. (This is not true and it is only coincidental that the two do not appear in any scenes together)
• Frances White who played Cassandra was not credited for this story. (She did in fact appear in the credits for her episodes but was not listed in the Radio Times, at her own request)

Continuity

• The Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard encounter Vicki again in the short story Apocrypha Bipedium which continues on from the events of this story
• The story continues directly on from Galaxy 4 with Vicki still having a twisted ankle.
• Vicki implies in this story that she is 16 years old

Quotes

Katarina - "The princess Cressida tells me all will be well. And I knew it was to come."

Doctor - "What was to come?"

Katarina - "That I was to die."

Doctor - "My dear child, you're not dead! That's nonsense!"

Katarina - "But this is not Troy; this is not even the world; this is the journey through the beyond."

Doctor - "No... Yes, yes, yes - as you wish, child. Now, I want you to keep an eye on that young man, will you?"

More Info

• Story Synopsis
• Story Transcript
• Story Novelization
• Story Statistics
• Story in the Media

Public Releases

• DVD Release - This story has not yet been released on DVD.
• Video Release - This story has not been released on video as only eleven short clips from episodes 1, 2 and 4 are known to exist. They are from a reel of 8mm film shot at a TV screen

The original audio of this story exists and was released as The Myth Makers in the form of 2 CD's with linking material provided by Peter Purves in January 2001

This audio has also been released as part of the Adventure in History CD Set in August 2003 [ISBN: 0 563 49494 8].

A photovideo reconstruction of this story has been produced by Loose Cannon Productions and more information can be found here