Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday (stage play)

Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday
Adapted into:	Seven Keys to Doomsday
Doctor:	The Doctor
Companion(s):	Jenny, Jimmy
Main enemy:	Dalek Emperor
Main setting:	Karn
Key crew
Writer:	Terrance Dicks
Director:	Mick Hughes
Release details
Premiere:	16 December 1974 (original London production)
Toby Hadoke's Who's Round:	THWR 200, 201

Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday was a stage play that originally ran in the period of transition between Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker on television, with in-theatre monitors showing pictures of Pertwee's face before Trevor Martin emerged as the newly regenerated Doctor. In its original run, it also featured Wendy Padbury as one of the companions, making her the first actor to ever play two different companions in BBC-licensed productions.

Decades after its original run, it was adapted for audio by Big Finish.

Summary

The Doctor and his two newest companions, Jenny and Jimmy, prevent the Daleks and their crab-like slaves, the Clawrantulars, finding the seven crystals of Karn which would enable them to control all life in the universe.

Original 1974 London production

Cast

• The Doctor - Trevor Martin
• Jenny - Wendy Padbury
• Jimmy - James Matthews / Simon Jones
• Jedak - Ian Ruskin
• Tara - Patsy Dermott
• Garm - Anthony Garner
• Master of Karn - Simon Jones
• Marko - Robin Browne
• Clawrantulars - Peter Jolley, Mo Kiki, Peter Whitting
• Dalek Emperor - Jacquie Dubin
• Dalek voices - Peter Jolley

Crew

• Writer - Terrance Dicks
• Designer - John Napier
• Director - Mick Hughes
• Sound - Philip Clifford
• Production Supervisor - Trevor Mitchell
• Production Coordinator from the BBC - Barry Letts
• Fight Arranger - Mo Kiki
• Monster Coordination - James Acheson

1981 Buxton production

A licensed production of the play was conducted by the Buxton Drama League group at Buxton Opera House in December of 1981. Colin Jones featured as the Doctor. His incarnation was described by a reviewer as having "looked like Hartnell, dressed like Pertwee and acted like Troughton."

Cast & Crew

To be added

1984 New Zealand production

A licensed production of the play took place in New Zealand in 1984. Mounted at the Porirua Little Theatre, the production starred Michael Sagar as the Doctor, who was given a markedly different look from the original Trevor Martin portrayal, as he now sported a light-coloured chequered suit and a black moustache.

Cast & Crew

To be added

Worldbuilding

to be added

Notes

• The title used by this wiki, Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday, was not used universally. In promotional material, such as the poster, the story was titled Doctor Who and the Daleks: Seven Keys to Doomsday. It was only on theatre program that "in" was used in the title.
• When first planning the play, Terrance Dicks had hoped to get either Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker as the lead but they turned out to be unavailable for such a commitment.
• The play would begin with Trevor Martin walking on stage dressed as the Third Doctor (including a wig) before collapsing. Rear-projected screens would then show images of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's faces slowly switching from one another and eventually into an image of Trevor Martin's. Martin would dispose of his Pertwee collar and wig, and would emerge as a new incarnation (implicitly, the Fourth Doctor).
• This made Trevor Martin the first actor to play two separate incarnations of the Doctor, as he portrayed both the Third and Fourth Doctors. Sylvester McCoy would later do something similar, as he played the Sixth and Seventh Doctors during his first scene in the Doctor Who television show.
• At the start of the play, Jenny and Jimmy have been sitting in the audience, and would only rush to the stage after the "Pertwee Doctor" collapses.
• The main setting for this stage play was the planet Karn; Terrence Dicks reused the name of this planet in The Brain of Morbius.
• Martin grew his hair long to play the Doctor, giving him an "effeminate" appearance on which he blamed multiple incidents in which he was harassed by gangs of youths on the Tube.