The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)

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The Celestial Toymaker was the seventh serial of season 3 of Doctor Who. It introduced the Toymaker, a recurring villain in the franchise. Most notably, the serial almost wrote William Hartnell out of the series: producer John Wiles's original idea for dispensing with Hartnell's services was to have the Doctor disappear as Hartnell during the Trilogic game, then reappear as another actor.

The larger truth, however, was that it was a serial that had, unlike most others, been shaped by two different production teams. Along the way, it had generated unusual criticism from rights-holders of other properties — including Wiles's own boss — who were concerned that their characters were being unhelpfully, if not illegally, used within the production. In fact, "The Final Test" was the only Doctor Who episode forced to have a continuity announcement to protect the BBC from legal action on behalf of a copyright holder.[source needed]

The Celestial Toymaker saw Innes Lloyd officially take over as the producer, which led to far less formal clothing for his female cast. For the first time, the female companion wears a miniskirt. The serial also suffered due to a hangover from The Ark that posted over budget, resulting in minimalist set design and reuse of costumes from Marco Polo.[source needed]

The last episode, "The Final Test", currently remains the only recovered instalment of this serial. The three missing episodes, along with the surviving episode, were animated and are due to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and Steelbook in both colour and black-and-white in 2024.

The serial retroactively marked the first known encounter between the Doctor and a member of the Pantheon, a group of gods who represent fundamental aspects of the universe.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

The travellers arrive in a strange domain presided over by the Celestial Toymaker — an enigmatic, immortal entity who forces them to play a series of games, failure at which will render them his playthings for all eternity.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Celestial Toyroom (1)[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor has been mysteriously rendered invisible, though Steven and Dodo can still hear his voice. When Steven moves his arm in the direction the Doctor's voice is coming from, he cannot feel anything; the Doctor is also intangible and appears to exist only by the sound of his voice. Dodo wonders if this has anything to do with the Refusians, the super-strong invisible inhabitants of Refusis II they recently encountered. However, the Doctor says this is some form of powerful attack that has penetrated the TARDIS. He tells Dodo and Steven to turn on the scanner, but nothing appears on the screen. However, the scanner is not broken; it's just not picking anything up. The Doctor tells Steven to open the doors and, against his and Dodo's advice, heads outside.

Elsewhere, a man dressed as a Chinese mandarin is lounging among toys and detritus. He is aware of the Doctor's arrival, as well as details of his companions. The mandarin approaches a large dollhouse, removes two small clown dolls, places them on the floor and they grow to life size. He tells them to "deal with" Dodo and Steven. The clowns lumber off.

Steven and Dodo witness the Doctor's disappearing act

Steven and Dodo find the Doctor now visible, but they also discover a life-sized toy robot with a video screen built into its chest. Steven sees images on the screen of himself on Kembel and in 16th century Paris. The Doctor warns Steven that this is a hypnotic screen and realises that they are in the world of the Celestial Toymaker; the screen is a trap designed to let him get into their minds. The Doctor explains that the Toymaker is an evil force that traps people and turns them into his playthings. Dodo notices that the TARDIS is now no longer in the room. The Toymaker appears and tries to get Dodo to watch the screen, which shows her in school uniform on the day her mother died, but Steven forces her to look away. Dodo suggests they escape in the TARDIS, which prompts the Toymaker to show them hundreds of TARDISes moving along on a conveyor belt on the screen; he says "Take your choice", before vanishing with the Doctor. The two clowns appear and first begin to entertain Steven and Dodo, but the Toymaker reappears and explains that the two clowns are to act as their opponents. In order to win the TARDIS back, they must beat his toys in a series of games. Every time they win, they will get a TARDIS from the number of copies he has made in hope that it may be the genuine article. If they lose, they will become the Toymaker's playthings forever. Faced with no choice, Steven and Dodo agree.

In the depths of the Toyroom, the Toymaker alludes to a time when the Doctor has been here but left before the Toymaker could engage him in competition. The Toymaker explains that he specifically brought the Doctor to his world because he's been bored, and if he can trap the Doctor, he'll have a brilliant mind to play against for all time — unlike Steven and Dodo, who will be kept here as toys if they lose. The game he assigns to the Doctor is called the Trilogic game. This is a series of 10 triangular blocks piled in ascending order on point A of a triangular board. To win the game, the Doctor has to rearrange them in that exact order on point C, but he can only move one block at a time and cannot put a larger block on top of a smaller one. The Toymaker tells the Doctor he has exactly 1023 moves to complete the game; one wrong move, and he will lose and be kept there forever. He points out a counter on a robot's video screen to keep track of how many moves the Doctor has taken. The Toymaker tells the Doctor that he specifically chose this game as he feels travelling has made his mind old, lazy and weak. When the Doctor argues with this, the Toymaker says it was easy enough to trick him into leaving the TARDIS this time, compared to his last visit.

Steven and Dodo, meanwhile, are pitted against the two clowns, called Joey and Clara, in "Blind man's buff". One teammate will move around an obstacle course blindfolded, being guided only by coded buzzes from their partner in a soundproof booth. If the blindfolded person falls over, they lose. The obstacle course consists of a swing, stepping stones, a plank and a tube. Joey goes first and begins navigating the course effortlessly. Seeing this, the Doctor tries to call out to warn Steven and Dodo about the game, but the Toymaker cuts him off, and, as punishment, makes him invisible and intangible once more, except for the Doctor's right hand — bearing his blue-stoned signet ring — so he can still play his game which he then advances to move 152. Joey completes the course having not had any buzzes from Clara. Steven goes next, but has a hard time, especially because Joey has moved some obstacles around. Dodo is furious at this but she is unable to leave the booth and warn Steven, much to Clara's delight. As Steven is crawling through the tube, Joey turns it around so Steven emerges back at the start. Because of this, the clowns deem him to have failed and Clara is exultant that they've won; taunting Steven and Dodo by telling them they will never find the TARDIS. Steven is adamant it was a draw and says they should play again with Joey in the booth but Clara ignores him. Dodo inspects Joey's discarded blindfold, and finds it's transparent — meaning the clowns have been cheating all along. They then demand a re-match, this time with Joey wearing Steven's blindfold. They reluctantly do so and Joey finds it much more difficult this time, eventually toppling off the plank while Clara collapses lifelessly over the buzzer in the booth. A TARDIS appears, but it's a fake, containing only a door behind it. Steven and Dodo find a piece of paper with a riddle on it: "Four legs, no feet; Of arms no lack; It carries no burden on its back; Six deadly sisters, seven for choice; Call the servants without voice." They move on through the door, leaving Joey and Clara — who have now reverted to dolls — behind.

The Hall of Dolls (2)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Steven and Dodo move on through the false TARDIS and come across a strong door which Steven suspects is intended to delay them. They eventually get it open and proceed to the next room which contains different sizes and shapes of chairs in two adjoining rooms — three in one room, four in the other. They deduce that the first lines of the riddle must correspond to the chairs they see in this room.

The Doctor watches this unfold and, apparently familiar with the Toymaker's games, cries out, "It's chair number —" but he is cut off by the Toymaker before he can give them the answer to the game. The Toymaker takes away the Doctor's ability to speak and commands him to continue his game - advancing it to move 444. He acknowledges that Steven and Dodo managed to outwit his clowns and so decides they need more worthy opponents. He picks up a deck of cards and declares that he will send the Hearts Family to play against Steven and Dodo next.

Dodo and Steven are visited by the Toymaker, who informs them how he deals with cheaters by letting them know what state the Doctor is in. Dodo tries to point out the Toymaker's hypocrisy, but he disappears. The pair are joined in the chair room by people dressed as the King, Queen, and Knave of Hearts, as well as the Joker. They realise that the line from the riddle they found earlier, "Six deadly sisters, seven for choice", means one chair is the correct choice and the other six will kill them if they sit on them. The King and the Queen keep interrupting and distracting Dodo and Steven, so they go to the next room, with Steven convinced they are imaginary products conjured up by the Toymaker.

In the next room, Steven and Dodo find three TARDIS-shaped cabinets and one TARDIS they assume to be theirs. Inside the fake TARDISes, they find seven ballerina dolls — correctly assuming them to be the "servants without voice". Steven tries to command the dolls with his voice, but nothing happens and so they decide to place them on the chairs. As they attempt to do this the King and Queen return. Again Steven calls them imaginary, but they prove that they are real as well — equally as trapped by the Toymaker as Dodo and Steven are. They will gain their freedom if they win at the game. The King and Queen see the dolls and demand they be shared, so Steven and Dodo hide three of them, and the four players take one doll each. They split up between the rooms, and each tries a chair. The King puts his doll in a chair, and the chair shakes violently until the doll's head falls off.

In the other room, Dodo throws her doll into a chair, and there is a flash and a puff of smoke; the chair is electrified. Steven puts his doll in another chair, which starts spinning — going faster and faster, until the doll is thrown out and smashes itself to pieces against the wall.

Back in the main room, the King puts the last doll into a chair. Both chair and doll simply fade and vanish, presumably into oblivion, leaving just two chairs in their room. The King and Queen hatch a plan to use the Joker to sit on one of the chairs to ascertain if it's the right one.

Steven and Dodo have one chair left in their room, but the extra three dolls are still in the other room where the King and Queen are. Dodo hears the King and Queen coming and plans to sneak out to get them. However, when the King and Queen wake the Joker, Steven sees through their plan and tries to stop them. Steven heads for the other room, and Dodo sits down in the remaining chair.

In the main area of the Toyroom, the Toymaker taunts the Doctor, telling him Dodo has chosen the wrong chair — the "freezing" chair.

Steven notices and rushes to Dodo. She says she suddenly feels cold and cannot move. Steven forces Dodo to concentrate on him and eventually pulls her free from the chair.

Meanwhile, the King and Queen try to convince the Joker to test a chair for them, but he catches on to their plan when the Knave laughs at his stupidity; the Joker resigns his position and runs away. The Queen gestures for the Knave to sit in the chair, but he runs off after the Joker. Unable to agree on who should try a chair next, the King and Queen decide to sit in one of the two remaining chairs together. For a moment, nothing happens, and it appears they have won until the chair suddenly collapses and traps them. Steven and Dodo enter and realise there's only one chair left and sit in it, winning the game. The TARDIS lights up, but it's another fake. Recalling that they haven't solved the entire riddle, Steven and Dodo try to "call the servants without voice" and call the remaining three dolls to them. Just then, the police box telephone rings. Steven answers, and it is the Toymaker. He tells them that they are doing better than he expected, but warns them not to get complacent; the Doctor is progressing through his game faster than they are and they're running out of time and luck. He then delivers the next clue: "Hunt the key to fit the door; That leads out on the dancing floor. Then escape the rhythmic beat; Or you'll forever tap your feet." There is a click, and then a dial tone. Steven and Dodo notice the King and Queen have become playing cards once more. As the two continue on, the three remaining ballerina dolls come to life and start to pursue them.

The Dancing Floor (3)[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Toymaker congratulates the Doctor on his choice of companions and decides they have earned some amusement. He selects Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs.

Steven and Dodo are at the next door but can find no way in. Dodo is frightened at the appearance of the "servants without voice". However, the door suddenly opens on its own, and they go inside to discover a large old-fashioned kitchen populated by the familiar-looking Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs. Mrs. Wiggs directs them to the Dancing Floor, but the large oak door that leads there is locked. Though Steven is getting thoroughly annoyed at the characters set against them, whose only job appears to be to "get his goat", Dodo appeals sweetly to Rugg. He helps them realise the game is "Hunt the Thimble"; the key to the door is hidden somewhere in the kitchen.

The Toymaker complains that the Doctor is not playing quickly enough and orders the advance of his game twice, to move 813.

Steven and Dodo discover a third character asleep in the kitchen, who looks uncannily like the Knave of Hearts. This character is wearing a kitchen boy's uniform. Dodo again appeals to Rugg, and he chivalrously helps her and Steven search for the key. Mrs. Wiggs is getting more and more irritated at the three of them tearing her kitchen apart. She eventually loses her temper, even at Rugg, at the shattering of some of her plates and cups. Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs quarrel violently, while the kitchen boy wakes and takes refuge under a table, but Steven tries to keep Dodo on task. Soon, food is thrown around and plates get broken, whereupon Dodo tries unsuccessfully to reconcile the two. Steven catches the kitchen boy trying to escape and tries to force him to tell him where the key is, but the kitchen boy escapes and locks himself in the pantry. As the food fight continues, Rugg threatens a pie that Mrs. Wiggs has made. She becomes very concerned and pleads with him to put it down. Dodo realises that's the one place they haven't looked, and all four go for the pie — which naturally doesn't stand a chance and is smashed on the floor. Sure enough, Dodo finds the key in the remains of the pie. She and Steven quickly apologise for the mess, open the door and go through. The Toymaker appears and angrily confronts Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs, exclaiming how they have wasted their "chance at life". He commands them to prevent Steven and Dodo reaching the "big cupboard" (the next TARDIS) on the Dancing Floor at all costs, or "I'll break you like these plates". To demonstrate this threat, the Toymaker smashes the last remaining plate.

Steven and Dodo meet the three ballerina dolls.

Steven and Dodo arrive on the Dancing Floor to witness three ballerina dolls performing a dance. They see the TARDIS at the opposite end of the floor, but realise it can't be so easy to get there. When they place their hands curiously over the floor, music plays and the dolls begin to dance. As Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs enter, having "made up", Steven makes a dash for it, but once the music starts, he is forced to dance, and the dolls surround him. Soon Dodo is pulled into the dancing, while Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs scheme to get to the "big cupboard" first. As Mrs. Wiggs begins to dance, the dolls change partners. Rugg finds he cannot resist and is soon dancing as well. Steven eventually becomes Dodo's partner, and they successfully jump off the floor and into the TARDIS as Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs dance on, left — as the rhyme says — to "forever tap their feet", or at least until the pair start shrinking to become dolls again. The TARDIS is another fake. Dodo is firmly convinced that these characters are alive, but Steven is doubtful.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is pleased with his companions, laughing despite the Toymaker being the only one who can see him. The Toymaker is livid with his "too human" characters. He takes out a doll, an "innocent, fat, jolly schoolboy" he calls Cyril, who he thinks will lull Steven and Dodo into a false sense of security.

Steven and Dodo find the way out of the cupboard and see another message: "Lady luck will show the way; win the game or here you'll stay." As they emerge from a passageway, Dodo screams when Cyril appears in front of them. Steven thinks he's seen Cyril before, and Cyril confirms this: he was previously the Knave of Hearts and the kitchen boy. As Cyril shakes Steven's hand, Steven is shocked by an electrode and pulls away; Cyril giggles mischievously. As they realise the Doctor has reached move 902, Steven asks where the next game is and Cyril points them to it, but warns that they won't find it so easy this time: they will be playing against him.

The Final Test (4)[[edit] | [edit source]]

TARDIS hopscotch.

The next game is "TARDIS hopscotch". Each player rolls a die at their turn, with the number they've thrown appearing on the dice indicator to ensure no-one can cheat, and moves the number of triangles indicated. The first to reach the TARDIS, which stands on the "home" triangle, is the winner. Steven is very suspicious at the apparent simplicity, but is pleased at the 2 to 1 odds. Cyril warns that the area between the triangles is electrified.

The Toymaker taunts that Cyril hates to lose, so he makes sure he never does. He pushes the Doctor's game to move 930 and further taunts that Steven and Dodo's places in the dolls' house are prepared. Sure enough, there are two chairs inside labelled STEVEN and DODO.

Dodo is allowed to go first, then Steven. When Cyril plays, he sweetly informs them of another rule he hadn't mentioned before: if anybody lands on an already occupied triangle, the first player must return to the start. After one turn, Steven is ahead at triangle 7, having been given a free move by the dice indicator. But Dodo's next turn lands her on Steven's triangle and sends him back. To add insult, the dice indicator tells Steven he misses a turn.

The Doctor is removed from his ban of silence by the Toymaker and confidently states that his concentration will not be broken now.

Cyril appears behind Dodo wearing a gorilla mask, frightening her. In so doing, he has landed on her triangle. Steven threateningly moves towards Cyril, but Cyril calls him a cheater for moving when it wasn't his turn. Steven and Dodo both must now go back to the start. By now, Steven has had enough, exclaiming that Cyril makes up the rules as he goes along; and tries to go on, but he runs into an invisible barrier. The Toymaker then appears, saying the barrier yields only to those who play the game by the rules. With no choice, Steven and Dodo both jump back to the start and, as they do, Cyril nails Steven with a pellet from a slingshot. Steven rolls a six, but in his haste his momentum almost carries him onto the electrified floor. He asks if he gets a second turn for a six, but Cyril indignantly dismisses that idea: "Eh? Certainly not!"

The Doctor is pushed forward to move 1000.

Steven loses another turn, but Dodo rolls a much-needed six. While she is rolling, Cyril secretly sprinkles something onto his triangle. Cyril needs a three to get home; he rolls a two. Then, the dice indicator tells him he must move to triangle 9, putting him behind Dodo. Dodo's turn is interrupted when Cyril starts to cry, and Dodo spots blood on his foot. She goes over to help him, despite angry warnings from Steven. It turns out to be a ruse — what Dodo thought was blood is really red ink. Cyril tells Dodo that she's easy to trick, and exclaims that she must go back to the start for moving off her triangle.

Cyril is exultant at his next roll, a five; he wins! However, as Cyril reaches triangle 11, he slips off and straight onto the electrified floor. There is a scream, followed by a bang, a flash and a puff of smoke as Cyril is instantly electrocuted. When the smoke clears, all that is left of Cyril is a charred doll. Steven discovers slippery powder on the triangle; Cyril must have placed it there himself to ensure his victory but, in his haste to reach "home", forgot it was there and fell into his own trap. They must still play the game to the end, so Dodo — ignoring Cyril's order to go back to the start — rolls a four from her triangle and makes it home, though almost slipping on the powder herself.

The Doctor has been rematerialised fully, and at move 1022 sees that he will win the Trilogic game. He activates the Toymaker's scanner to see that Steven and Dodo have won their game also. He happily goes to see if the real TARDIS is undamaged. Steven and Dodo hear the humming of the real TARDIS and the Doctor joins them. The Toymaker continues to tease the Doctor and his companions via a robot's video screen, and the Doctor is forced to admit that the three of them could be dragged down in defeat with him. When the Toymaker suddenly appears in person and asks Steven "Would you dare play those little games again?", Steven moves to attack him, but finds this impossible; Steven's own strength is turned against him. The Doctor calms Steven down and orders both his friends into the TARDIS.

The Toymaker offers the Doctor a chance to serve him and share in his power, but the Doctor refuses and claims victory as he enters the TARDIS. A moment later, the Doctor re-emerges angrily to accuse the Toymaker of tampering with his ship. The Toymaker reminds him that the Trilogic game is not over; he must make move 1023 in order to leave. The Doctor moves to do so, but realises he can't — for when he does, the Toymaker's world will vanish, along with everyone in it.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor explains to his companions that the Toymaker is immortal and though his world may be destroyed, he can merely build a new one. They must find a way to finish the game and leave safely. The Toymaker begs the Doctor to let him have the TARDIS, as "it would be such an amusing toy". The Doctor asks for the Trilogic game to be moved inside the TARDIS, but the Toymaker refuses and says they must either stay there forever or make the last move and be destroyed. Steven offers to go outside and make the move himself so at least the Doctor and Dodo can escape, but the Doctor refuses to allow it — causing Steven to comment that they're not going to get anywhere by trying to talk their way out of the situation.

The Doctor is suddenly inspired by Steven's comment and, after Steven presets the controls, he attempts to orally command the Trilogic game to move forward, as the Toymaker had done. His first attempt fails, which the Toymaker laughs at, but then the Doctor imitates the Toymaker's voice and the move is made. He instantly commands Steven to throw the master switch, and the TARDIS safely dematerialises as the Toymaker's world is destroyed in a large explosion.

Safely on their way again, the travellers celebrate with a bag of sweets, which Cyril gave Dodo earlier. The Doctor puts one in his mouth, but suddenly yelps in pain and grabs his jaw...

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Dodo initially speculates that the Doctor's invisibility is due to the Refusians.
  • The Toymaker invented the memory window.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This story had the working titles The Trilogic Game and The Toymaker.[1]
  • Only the fourth episode of this four-part story, "The Final Test", exists in the BBC Archives as an incomplete 16mm black-and-white film telerecording, which is missing the closing "Next Episode" caption (see Home video and audio releases below). It was found by the ABC in Australia during the early 1980s, but the reel had actually originated from Singapore.[source needed]
  • This is the first of six Doctor Who scripts to be written by Brian Hayles and (out of those six) one of only two not to feature the Ice Warriors.
  • It was at one point considered writing out William Hartnell as the Doctor in this story (by making the Doctor become invisible at one point, then regain visibility later with the appearance of a different person), but the idea was vetoed.[source needed]
  • The Toymaker was due to return in The Nightmare Fair, and Michael Gough was approached to reprise his role, but this was never made due to BBC1 Controller Michael Grade having unexpectedly decided to postpone the series for eighteen months.[source needed] This was part of the unmade Season 23 in 1986, which was later made into a Target Missing Episodes novelisation and a Lost Stories audio story; the latter starring David Bailie as the Toymaker, as Gough had long since retired from the acting profession.[source needed]
  • Radio Times credits "Michael Gough as the Toymaker" for all four episodes, and "Dancers: Beryl Braham, Ann Harrison, Delia Lindon" for "The Dancing Floor"; with the other supporting cast members credited without specific roles under the heading "with" in the programme listings for all four episodes.
  • In "The Hall of Dolls", whilst deciding which of the seven chairs — six of which are deadly, while one remains safe — to choose, the King of Hearts recites a version of the children's counting rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" (used to select a person to be "it" for games and similar purposes), which includes the racial slur "n*gger" in the second line. The use of this word was still considered acceptable by the BBC at the time of the story's original 1966 broadcast. Although the rhyme is still present on BBC Audio's CD release of the story's soundtrack, it has been obscured by Peter Purves's narration to correspond to modern views on the use of the "n-word".
Similarly, the word "celestial" is itself an old slur used to describe the Chinese. "The Celestial Toyroom" could therefore be the first Doctor Who episode to include a slur in its title. However, "celestial" can also be used to refer to something relating to outer space (which is where the Toymaker is from).
  • William Hartnell was on holiday for the recording of "The Hall of Dolls" and "The Dancing Floor", and so the Doctor's appearances during the Trilogic game scenes is limited to pre-recorded dialogue for the former and a disembodied right hand (that of extra Albert Ward, sporting the Doctor's signet ring) for both episodes.
  • The explosion seen at the end of "The Final Test", which saw the Celestial Toyroom get blown up after the Doctor won the Trilogic Game, was stock footage of the Project Sedan nuclear test on 6 July 1962, having been flipped and zoomed in.
  • Though Gerry Davis and Innes Lloyd received their first credits for a full serial with The Celestial Toymaker, both men had in fact worked on Doctor Who before. Evidence of Lloyd's presence in the production office extends at least back to 26 January 1966, when he sent scripts of the first two episodes of The Gunfighters to director Rex Tucker. This was the same week that "War of God" first went in front of the cameras. John Wiles, however, may still have been around for at least some of the recording of The Massacre. By 14 February, a few days before "The Steel Sky" was recorded, Lloyd was fully in charge of the series. Thus he was known to have at least produced The Ark, and perhaps some of The Massacre, before receiving his first on-screen credit for The Celestial Toymaker. Davis, meanwhile, had actually received a credit on "Bell of Doom".[source needed]
  • This was the first story to make use of flashbacks to past Doctor Who adventures.
  • Following the completion of the serial, the Trilogic Game prop came into the possession of Peter Purves, who was very pleased with Steven's increased importance in the serial. Unfortunately, after leaving Doctor Who, Purves endured a year and a half without work and came to see the Trilogic Game as the source of his bad luck. He finally discarded the prop, and ironically was rewarded with a role in Z-Cars the following day; and, shortly after that, came to the offer to become a presenter on Blue Peter.[source needed]
  • This is the last story with missing episodes until The Invasion for which no tele-snaps are known to exist, due to the incoming production team resuming their usage. As such, only audio recordings and production stills exist for the first three episodes. Unofficial reconstructions even use screenshots from "The Final Test" to portray the episodes visually.
  • The original storyline for the serial was very different, and much more adult and satirical in scope. After he was fired, however, John Wiles massively overspent on The Ark as a final act of spite against his superiors, leaving the incoming team of Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis virtually nothing to make this story with. Davis therefore had to do a massive rewrite, cutting the story right down in order to accommodate filming with as many pre-existing sets and costumes as possible, changing the story's tone from satirical to surreal.[source needed]
  • The original script featured the main characters from Gerald Savory's George and Margaret. Although the entire story revolved around the imminent arrival of the eponymous characters at the setting, a country house, during which much was revealed about George and Margaret, the play ended when the couple were mentioned as having arrived so the audience never actually saw them. When permission to use George and Margaret was denied by Savory, their roles were filled by three other sets of two characters: Joey and Clara; the King and Queen of Hearts; and Sergeant Rugg and Mrs. Wiggs.
  • Cyril was originally going to take the form of the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist.[source needed]
  • The Dylan cap that Dodo wears was Jackie Lane's own.[source needed]
  • It is believed the cliffhanger reprise from the fourth episode, "The Final Test", is surviving footage from the preceding episode, "The Dancing Floor", due to the surviving off-air soundtrack of the third episode syncing perfectly with the footage found in the fourth episode. This remains unconfirmed, however.[source needed]
  • In the script for "The Hall of Dolls", the infamous "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe" scene simply dictates that the King of Hearts closes his eyes and recites the rhyme, without giving any specifics. Campbell Singer was the one who decided to use a version that included the "n-word".[source needed]
  • The Toymaker's robes (a stock outfit from the BBC's wardrobes) were previously worn by Mark Eden in Marco Polo.[source needed]
  • In an interview, Peter Cushing stated that he believed that his incarnation of the Doctor was canon. According to his theory, the Celestial Toymaker had kidnapped a future incarnation of The Doctor, wiped his memory and made him relive all his past adventures. This theory preceded the establishmnent of the concept of regeneration.[source needed]
  • The Trilogic game was inspired by the Tower of Hanoi. Although it was actually invented in 1883 by a French mathematician called Édouard Lucas, its popular association with East Asia prompted the depiction of the Toymaker in the garb of a Chinese mandarin.[source needed]
  • The original script featured a complex set-piece in a maze. Donald Tosh changed this to a game of hunt the key.[source needed]
  • Michael Gough enjoyed working on the story so much that he encouraged his then-wife Anneke Wills to take the role of Polly.[source needed]

Competition in the Toyroom[[edit] | [edit source]]

Producing The Celestial Toymaker wasn't easy, even by Doctor Who standards. Most of the difficulties stemmed from the fact that it arose at a time of transition in the production office. Though commissioned by the team of producer John Wiles and script editor Donald Tosh, it was ultimately completed by the new team of Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis. The two sides simply had very different ideas about how the story should proceed.

All four episodes were in fact written three different times. When Brian Hayles delivered all four original scripts, Tosh and Wiles immediately saw that the scripts could not be practically realised, and thus Tosh rewrote them entirely. By the time he was finished, though, he was no longer script editor. Davis, his replacement, now had to deal with the fact that Tosh had inserted the use of the title characters from a play called George and Margaret by Gerald Savory without obtaining permission. Since Savory was now Head of Serials, and had the power to veto scripts, he quickly rejected Tosh's approach to The Celestial Toymaker.

Davis, therefore, had to tackle the scripts again. These rewrites got Savory's approval, but the old production team were left wondering what had happened to their scripts. Tosh opined that Davis' approach was "much lighter, more pantomime" than his own. The results were no more pleasing to John Wiles, who wrote a memo to Savory on 25 February 1966, after he had technically left the Doctor Who production office. In it, he claimed that the central battle of wills between the Doctor and the Toymaker had been downplayed to the benefit of new elements involving a more childish confrontation between the companions and the Toymaker's creations. Ultimately, Wiles would have liked to have seen the entire production halted, since its commissioning producer and script editor had gone — and with them, the original, more adult intent of the story.[1]

However, the story's problems weren't over even after Davis's script had been recorded. After the transmission of "The Dancing Floor", the BBC had to field charges from the estate of Charles Hamilton that the character of Cyril was in fact meant to be his popular children's character, Billy Bunter. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that actor Peter Stephens had ad-libbed the line "My friends call me Billy" during recording. Therefore, the BBC were forced to take a step never taken before or since: they had to have a special continuity announcement at the end of "The Final Test" which declared that the character of Cyril was not meant to be Billy Bunter, but merely a character like him.[2]

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. "The Celestial Toyroom" - 8.0 million viewers
  2. "The Hall of Dolls" - 8.0 million viewers
  3. "The Dancing Floor" - 9.4 million viewers
  4. "The Final Test" - 7.8 million viewers

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • Michael Gough trips up on a line in "The Celestial Toyroom". When Steven asks the Toymaker "What do you mean, 'the real one'?" (i.e. the TARDIS), he replies "As you - as you have seen, I have many copies."
  • Campbell Singer fluffs a line as Sergeant Rugg in "The Dancing Floor", when he says to Dodo "Well, Mrs. Wiggs has got much too warm a heart to creep - keep a quarrel going, Miss".
  • In a scene where the Doctor is playing the Trilogic game, a shadow can be seen behind the game even though only he and the Toymaker are in the room.
  • During the Trilogic game scenes, the table top is often clearly visible through the Doctor's disembodied right hand and sometimes through the game pieces.
  • Whenever the Toymaker advances the Trilogic Game, some of the pieces are shown to be placed at different angles to how they were before he advanced it.
  • When Cyril is telling Steven the TARDIS hopscotch floor is electrified, a camera and its operator are visible in the reflection on the wall behind them. This also happens when Cyril is stepping onto the first triangle to begin the game.
  • On one of Cyril's moves, he's standing next to the dice indicator and it's shown to have settled on 2 before Cyril has even thrown his die.
  • There are multiple occasions during TARDIS hopscotch in which the turns are played out of sequence. For example, after Cyril sends both Steven and Dodo back to the start it should be Dodo's turn next, as Cyril landed on her square while taking the previous turn, but instead it's Steven who takes the next turn.
  • Peter Stephens fluffs a line as Cyril, when he says to Dodo "You can go back to the start for—" and then makes a few garbled noises before finishing with "—for moving out of your triangle."
  • When the Toymaker teases the Doctor and his companions via a toy robot's chest-mounted video screen, and before he suddenly appears in person, the shadow of a boom microphone falls across the robot during Steven's line "Your power? We won through, didn't we?"
  • During the TARDIS interior scene where the Doctor says to the Toymaker "I will not come out and make that final move", and the Toymaker replies "Then you must stay there forever", the TARDIS's scanner screen image of the Toymaker has the TARDIS itself in the picture.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home video and audio releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

VHS release[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The surviving episode, "The Final Test", was released on VHS as part of The Hartnell Years in 1991.
    • The cliffhanger scene skips over the "Next Episode" caption, because the corresponding frames are missing from the existing 16mm black & white film tele-recording.

DVD, Blu-Ray and Steelbook releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • "The Final Test" was digitally re-mastered and released on the Lost in Time DVD box set in November 2004.
    • The "Next Episode" caption was reconstructed and restored, although it erroneously reads "Next Episode: HOLIDAY FOR THE DOCTOR" rather than "A Holiday for the Doctor".
    • Editing of the surviving episode's DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
  • All four episodes were animated in black-and-white and colour and released, alongside the newly-restored "The Final Test", on DVD, Blu-Ray and Steelbook in Region 2 on 10 June 2024.[3] It was also released on Blu-Ray in Region 1 on 11 June 2024, and on DVD and Blu-Ray in Region 4 on 7 August 2024.
    • The Next Episode caption at the end of "The Final Test" now has the correct episode name.
    • The 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' rhyme has been edited to remove the racial slur.

Special features included:

  • Lost in Time Region 2

    Lost in Time Region 2

  • Lost in Time Region 4

    Lost in Time Region 4

  • Lost in Time Region 1

    Lost in Time Region 1

  • Lost in Time Region 1 (Disc 1)

    Lost in Time Region 1 (Disc 1)

  • Region 4 re-release

    Region 4 re-release

  • 2024 DVD

    2024 DVD

  • 2024 Blu-ray

    2024 Blu-ray

  • 2024 Blu-ray Steelbook

    2024 Blu-ray Steelbook

Audio releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 2001 CD release

    2001 CD release

  • 2011 cover

    2011 cover

  • 2023 cover

    2023 cover

  • The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two

    The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two

  • The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two 2019 re-release

    The Lost TV Episodes - Collection Two 2019 re-release

  • Vinyl Record release

    Vinyl Record release

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The First Doctor Handbook
  2. ↑ Shannon Sullivan on The Celestial Toymaker
  3. ↑ https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/part-missing-adventure-the-celestial-toymaker-to-be-completed-with-new-animation
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