Marco Polo (TV story): Difference between revisions

|novelisation          = Marco Polo (novelisation)

|image                  = MarcoPolo.jpg

|season serial number  = 4

|story number          = 4

|adapted into          = Marco Polo (home video)

|doctor                = First Doctor

|companions            = [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]], [[Barbara Wright|Barbara]]

|enemy                  = [[Tegana]]

|setting                = [[China|Cathay]], [[1289]]

|thwr2                  = 46

|thwr3                  = 103

This was the first occasion in which a famous person from history appeared on the series. It also saw [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] act as a plot piece rather than something the travellers must return to once they have finished their adventuring.

== Synopsis ==

== Crew ==

* [[Producer]] - [[Verity Lambert]]

* [[Script Editor]] - [[David Whitaker]]

* The Doctor acquires a [[walking stick]] from Kublai Khan.

* Ian wears an [[Ulster coat]] that the Doctor acquired from [[Gilbert and Sullivan]].

== Notes ==

* No episodes of this seven-part story exist in the [[BBC Archives]].

* This is the earliest ''Doctor Who'' story to be missing from the BBC Archives.

* This was the second story of ''Doctor Who'' to be commissioned, discounting previous storylines that were later abandoned.

* Many colour and black-and-white photographs of this story remain. Along with the soundtrack, these were used by [[Loose Cannon Productions]] to make a full colour video reconstruction of this story. (''See external links'')

* The cast found the spider monkey difficult to work with. [[Carole Ann Ford]] recalled that "it was a nasty little thing, peeing all over the place and biting anyone who came near it".

* The serial's designer, [[Barry Newbery]], used Aurel Stein's ''Ruins of Desert Cathay'' (1912) and Nelson Ikon Wu's ''Chinese and Indian Architecture'' (1963) for research of the 13th century designs. Newbery also found that Korean architecture from 1900 was similar to that of the 13th century.

* Composer [[Tristram Cary]] used conventional instruments for the score, including flute, harp and percussion, and he recorded electronic voices for the second episode's sandstorm scenes.

* [[Zienia Merton]], who was born in [[Burma]], is the first non-caucasian actor with a speaking role in the show's history.

* When [[William Hartnell]] became ill, quick rewrites were performed on "The Singing Sands" to eliminate the Doctor from most scenes; Hartnell only had one line of dialogue in the episode. A scene of him and Susan at the beginning of the episode was re-written for Barbara.

* During camera rehearsals for "Assassin at Peking", [[Mark Eden]]'s right hand was accidentally lacerated by a dagger used by [[Derren Nesbitt]].

* [[William Russell]] was unhappy with sudden rewrites minimising his role in the serial, and his agent wrote to BBC's head of serials [[Donald Wilson]]; Wilson replied to Russell's agent, assuring that he would "be watching very carefully" to ensure the scripts "use [Russell's] talents to the maximum".

* In the mid-to-late 1990s, a television station in West Africa contacted the BBC, offering to return the 'complete' first and second seasons of the 1960s era. The BBC staffer on the phone, for whatever reason, said no, and the reels were presumably destroyed soon afterwards. ''Marco Polo'' was possibly included in this batch.

** However, according to the website BroaDWcast (which goes into detail about broadcast dates and what countries ''Doctor Who'' stories were sold to), this story, ''[[The Reign of Terror (TV story)|The Reign of Terror]]'' and ''[[The Crusade (TV story)|The Crusade]]'' (all serials from the first two seasons that still contain missing episodes) might not even have been included in the set, which would explain why the staffer ordered they be destroyed instead of returned to the BBC, since they would not require additional copies of existing episodes. It will never be known which side of the case is true unless evidence of their destruction or their return to the archives is seen.

* Recording of "The Assassin at Peking" was delayed when the fire marshal voiced concerns about the positioning of some extraneous equipment in [[Lime Grove Studios|Studio D]]. This situation further exacerbated the production team's frustrations with the antiquated Lime Grove facility. Associate producer [[Mervyn Pinfield]] wrote to [[Donald Wilson]] to complain that the studio's cramped conditions were being made worse by its apparent use as a storage facility.

=== Ratings ===

=== Audio releases ===

* This story's soundtrack was released on CD by the [[BBC Radio Collection]], with linking narration by [[William Russell]], in [[November (releases)|November]] [[2003 (releases)|2003]].

* The story was released again on Vinyl by Demon Records, also with the William Russell narration, on [[11 September (releases)|11 September]] [[2020 (releases)|2020]].

<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">

Marco Polo Vinyl.jpg|Vinyl Record release

</gallery>

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[[Category:Doctor Who (1963) television stories]]

[[Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019]]

[[Category:Completely missing serials]]