1964 (production)

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1964 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

1964 was a year in which a number of events important to the production of Doctor Who and its spin-offs occurred.

January

• 6 January - Writer Moris Farhi submitted his script for The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance to David Whitaker in an arranged meeting. 18 days later, Whitaker rejected the script, finding it unsuitable for Doctor Who.
• 13-17 January - Pre-filming for Marco Polo took place at Ealing Studios. (TCH 2)
• 15 January - "The Edge of Destruction" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Edge of Destruction")

February

• 4 February - Writer Robert Gould's script for the future Planet of Giants proceeded slowly. On this day, script editor David Whitaker released Gould from this premise, and requested a replacement story — which would also never reach the synopsis stage. (REF: The First Doctor Handbook)
• 4 February - On the same day, Robert Gould had a story conference with David Whitaker, in which he revealed his idea of plants being at the top of the evolutionary chain, and of "plants treat[ing] people as people treat plants." When his exact idea would be used in the script "The Screaming Jungle," Gould would press charges against Whitaker for plagiarising his work.
• 7 February - "The Singing Sands" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (TCH 2)
• 21 February - "The Wall of Lies" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (TCH 2)
• 25 February - Peter R. Newman was commissioned to write the storyline and the first episode script for The Sensorites. (INFO: The Sensorites)
• 28 February - "Rider from Shang-Tu" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (TCH 2)

March

• 13 March - "Assassin at Peking" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (TCH 2)
• 20 March - "The Sea of Death" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Sea of Death")
• 26 March - Script editor David Whitaker defended himself in a memo to Head of Serials Donald Wilson after Robert Gould accused him of stealing his idea in "The Screaming Jungle." In it, he flatly stated that writer Terry Nation had independently arrived at using vegetation in the third episode of The Keys of Marinus, and that Gould's vaguely-defined idea has itself been derivative, anyway. According to Whitaker, Gould's 4 February story conference had yielded no specifics about the potential storyline, and that Gould's notion of a planet where "plants treat people as people treat plants", had immediately reminded both him and Verity Lambert of The Day of the Triffids.
• 27 March - "The Velvet Web" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Velvet Web")

April

• 3 April - "The Screaming Jungle" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Screaming Jungle")
• 10 April - "The Snows of Terror" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Snows of Terror")
• 17 April - "Sentence of Death" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "Sentence of Death")
• 13-14 April - Pre-filming for The Aztecs took place at Ealing Studios. (TCH 2)
• 20 April - BBC2, the United Kingdom's third TV network, was launched. Henceforth, the main BBC network, which aired Doctor Who, would be known as BBC1.

May

• 8 May - After using Lime Grove Studios for about six solid months, Doctor Who recorded an episode for the very first time at BBC Television Centre, committing "The Warriors of Death" to tape in TC3.
• 15 May - "The Bride of Sacrifice" was recorded at BBC Television Centre. (INFO: "The Bride of Sacrifice")
• 22 May - "The Day of Darkness" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Day of Darkness")
• 28 May - The BBC's Director of Television, Kenneth Adam, sent a memo to his Controller of Programmes for Television, which soon went down the chain through Sydney Newman to Donald Wilson, and ended up on the desks of producer Verity Lambert and story editor David Whitaker. The concern from on high? Even Adam's 3½-year-old granddaughter knew that it was "stupid" of the First Doctor and his companions to separate in a dangerous situation, such as they did in last Saturday's episode. Adam wanted the production team to "exercise more discipline" in the writing so that the programme's stars don't act like idiots. Otherwise, he feared that the programme's longevity will be at risk.
• 29 May - "Strangers in Space" was recorded at BBC Television Centre. (INFO: "Strangers in Space")

June

• 5 June - "The Unwilling Warriors" was recorded at BBC Television Centre. (INFO: "The Unwilling Warriors")
• 12 June - "Hidden Danger" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "Hidden Danger")
• 15 June - Doctor Who's first location filming done on this day, as inserts for The Reign of Terror.
• 16 June - All the scenes featuring Ian and Webster from "Guests of Madame Guillotine" were filmed at Ealing Studios. (INFO: "Guests of Madame Guillotine")
• 18 June - Models shots of the burning farmhouse from "A Land of Fear" were pre-filmed at Stage 3 of Ealing Studios. (INFO: "A Land of Fear")
• 19 June - "A Race Against Death" was recorded at BBC Television Centre. (INFO: "A Race Against Death")
• 26 June - "Kidnap" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "Kidnap")

July

• 3 July - "A Desperate Venture" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "A Desperate Venture")
• 10 July - "A Land of Fear" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios G. (TCH 3)
• 17 July - "Guests of Madame Guillotine" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios G. (TCH 3)
• 24 July - "A Change of Identity" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "A Change of Identity")
• 31 July - "The Tyrant of France" was recorded at Lime Grove Studios G. (TCH 3)

August

• 7 August - "A Bargain of Necessity" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (TCH 3)
• 14 August - "Prisoners of Conciergerie" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (INFO: "Prisoners of Conciergie")
• 21 August - "Planet of Giants" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (INFO: "Planet of Giants")
• 23-27 August - Location filming for The Dalek Invasion of Earth took place. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The First Doctor)
• 28 August - "Dangerous Journey" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (INFO: "Dangerous Journey")
• 28 August - Pre-filming for The Dalek Invasion of Earth took place at Ealing Studios. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The First Doctor)

September

• 4 September - The original version of "Crisis" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (INFO: "Crisis")
• 11 September - "The Urge to Live" was recorded at BBC Television Centre Studio 4. (INFO: "Crisis")
• 18 September - "World's End" was recorded at Riverside Studios 1. (INFO: "World's End")
• 20 September - Maureen O'Brien auditioned for the role of Vicki. (DCOM: In Conversation)
• 25 September - "The Daleks" was recorded at Riverside Studios 1. (INFO: The Daleks Invasion of Earth)

October

• 2 October - "Day of Reckoning" was recorded at Riverside Studios 1. (INFO: The Daleks Invasion of Earth)
• 9 October - "The End of Tomorrow" was recorded at Riverside Studios 1. (INFO: The Daleks Invasion of Earth)
• 16 October - "The Waking Ally" was recorded at Riverside Studios 1. (INFO: The Daleks Invasion of Earth)
• 28 October - Sydney Newman wrote to Carole Ann Ford, responding to her letter of that week, in which Ford thanked him for the opportunity of playing Susan. He rejects her gratitude, saying: "...we are greatly indebted to you. You have done a fine job for us in the BBC, and we are deeply appreciative of your work."

November

• 16 November - The model shots of the crashed UK-201 from The Rescue were filmed at Ealing Studios Stage 2. (INFO: ""Desperate Measures" ^[+]Part of The Rescue, Loading...{"namedep":"Desperate Measures (2)","1":"The Rescue (TV story)"}")
• 18 November - The sequence showing Nero's map of Rome catching on fire was filmed at Ealing Studios. (INFO: "Inferno")
• 19 November - Radio Times (dated November 21–27) featured a cover announcing the return of the Daleks in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
• 25 November - The Daily Mail published a satirical cartoon strip by Leslie Gilbert Illingworth in which Charles de Gaulle was depicted as a Dalek-like creature. The strip would eventually reappear in a somewhat official capacity in the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time.

December

• 4 December - The second production block of Doctor Who began with the recording of "The Powerful Enemy" at Riverside Studios One. (INFO: "The Powerful Enemy)
• 8 December - Casting interviews for The Web Planet were held. (INFO: "The Zarbi")
• 11 December - ""Desperate Measures" ^[+]Part of The Rescue, Loading...{"namedep":"Desperate Measures (2)","1":"The Rescue (TV story)"}" was recorded at Riverside Studios One. (INFO: "Desperate Measures")
• 18 December - "The Slave Traders" was recorded at Riverside Studios One. (INFO: "The Slave Traders")