"When it was first shown on 28 November 1964, this episode achieved Doctor Who's highest viewing figure since the series had started a year before." "12.4 million viewers were watching, putting Doctor Who into the television Top Ten for the first time (at number ten)." "Getting the Dalek out of the river was a frustrating job for effects man Bernard Wilkie." "On the first take, it got stuck - the river bed was too slippery for the wetsuited Dalek operator, Robert Jewell, to get any traction." "Jewell got grumpier and soggier by the minute while the rest of the cast cheered at his Dalek's discomfiture." "Eventually, Wilkie laid down rails beneath the water line and pulled the Dalek up on them using an out-of-vision cable." "Hammersmith Bridge was chosen as the location, because of all the suitable bridges in London, it was the nearest to a hospital." "On the morning of the filming, 27 August 1964, the crew had a taxi standing by, ready to rush Jewell to a stomach pump in the event that he swallowed any of the foul Thames water." "In the rehearsal script, the Doctor tells the Dalek, "I have been to many planets in several solar systems." ""Always as an impartial observer."" "But he continues, "I shall put myself against you and defeat you."" "In the rehearsal script, Ian comments," ""When all the history of Earth is put together, the Daleks won't occupy more than one half a page."" "In the first draft, the rebels' operations room is much more active." "There is a map of London on the central table and a bustle of activity:" "men coming in with reports, making themselves up as Robomen, moving markers on wallcharts, and so on." "The "motorised dustbins" reference was added in rehearsal." "Jenny is played by Ann Davies (born 1934), who had previously worked with director Richard Martin in repertory theatre at the Belgrade, Coventry." "Her role was originally written for a much younger actress." "The decision to make her older, and to cast Ann Davies, was taken in mid-August 1964." "This was less than a week before location filming was due to begin." "As the only female guest artist, Ann Davies had a privilege otherwise reserved for the series regulars - her own dressing room." "Everyone else shared, Bernard Kay (Tyler) with Peter Fraser (David), for example." "The Robomen were all together, and so were the Daleks - perhaps they had their own special needs!" "These are Ordnance Survey maps, which came unfolded in sheets two feet square at the time this serial was made." "Terry Nation originally conceived Tyler as:" ""A man of forty, tough and rugged." "Very strong face." "A determined man with the qualities of leadership."" "In the rehearsal script, Tyler elaborates on conditions in London:" ""They've brought in ray guns, sonic disintegrators;" "the saucers are patrolling constantly."" "Cut dialogue underlined why Dortmun brings out the bomb at this point - to show Tyler that he hasn't been idle in his wheelchair." "In the first draft, Professor Dortmun is characterised by his bitterness against the Daleks because they have cost him the use of his legs." "In the rehearsal script, David has brought tinned milk, not apples." "Watch the apples when we go back to the operations room and you may notice something interesting." "What was that Dalek doing in the river, then?" "The point is that the Dalek is a self-contained environment, like a spacesuit." "It can't tell the difference between being underwater or in the Earth's atmosphere because everything outside the casing is alien to it." "On the soundtrack, you can hear the prisoners being cued to make their entrance." "And here, behind the Doctor, a member of the production team makes an unscheduled appearance on screen." "The Daleks certainly needed increased mobility for this serial." "The original Dalek props were mounted on three Flexello castors:" "rubber-tyred "supermarket trolley" wheels." "But when designer Spencer Chapman took the props out on a location recce, he found that the castors, fine on the studio floor, just weren't up to uneven surfaces like London's pavements." "The casings wobbled and clattered over every bump." "Chapman refitted the Daleks with three pedal-driven pneumatic tyres." "These were much larger than the original castors, which is why the Daleks are now taller, with larger fenders at the base." "The "negative" effect was achieved by opening the camera aperture too wide, thereby over-exposing the picture." "The first draft specified that the Dalek Supreme should have "a different paint job"." "It'll be different again in the next episode!" "Weekly rehearsals for this serial took place at the London Transport Assembly Rooms in White City." "William Hartnell had his own personal armchair in the rehearsal room." "The cast rehearsed from Monday to Thursday each week, then spent the Friday in the studio." "Most of the day was devoted to camera rehearsals, and the episode was then recorded in the evening after dinner." "Studio recording for this episode took place on 25 September 1964." "Right, now, those apples." "You won't see anybody eat one." "Susan doesn't quite manage to take a bite here, and she still won't have touched it when we cut back to her." "That's because they're not "fully practical" apples." "Like most prop fruit, they're made of wax." "See, Susan's unappetising apple remains intact!" "In the draft script, it is specified that the Daleks routinely robotize one in ten of their prisoners." "In the first draft, Ian tells Doctor Who, "You sound like the secretary of the Dalek fan club."" ""One can admire the ingenuity of a people without condoning their ethics," retorts the Doctor." "Later, he comments, "The Daleks may be the most brutal people in the universe, but they are also the most brilliant."" "In the rehearsal script, his enthusiasm was toned down:" ""Their one flaw is their over-confidence," he says. "They never for an instant believe they're going to be beaten."" "Dalek dialogue was electronically treated with a ring modulator." "One of the actors, Peter Hawkins, performed the lines live in the studio, but the other, David Graham, pre-recorded his lines, and they were played in on tape." "One problem:" "the tape could be miscued." "The next Dalek line does indeed begin with the word "all", but it isn't due for another three minutes!" "Craddock had a last-minute change of first name." "He was scripted as Bill." "Note the Dalek visible behind Craddock." "The cell set only has one solid wall, and the cameraman has to shoot around that." "At different points in the first draft, there are two inconsistent accounts of how the invasion happened." "It began in 1980." "In one version, the world was at war - China with Russia and the USA, and Britain on the brink of war with Europe." "But mankind united against the Daleks:" ""Race, colour, creed were all forgotten," and a world government was formed in Japan." "In the other version, humanity was all but wiped out by bacteria bombs." "The bacillus finally died out for lack of human carriers, and a new social order developed among the survivors, small rural communities pillaged by marauding bandits." "(Terry Nation later re-used this scenario as the basis of his 1975 television series Survivors.)" "But as civilisation began to start again, the invaders came." "It took the Daleks less than a week to conquer the world." "On the first attempt at this sequence, Dalek operator Gerald Taylor lost control on the ramp and his Dalek careered wildly across the studio and into a camera." "The buildings in the background are scenic flats." "So are some of the Daleks!" "As the first draft told it, nobody really knew what happened on the other continents after the invasion." "A few amateurs kept up radio communication, but the signals stopped coming." "Survivors the world over were being rounded up and set to work, and now nearly a million of them are digging a trench half a mile across and two miles deep." "This serial evokes memories of World War Two, which had ended less than 20 years before it was made." "The Nazis, like the Daleks, deported people from occupied territories for use as slave labour." "The besieged people of Britain were urged to surrender in defeatist propaganda broadcasts made in the distinctive tones of the Irish-American fascist William Joyce (1906-46), known as "Lord Haw-Haw"." "Terry Nation long remembered his fear of German bombing as a child in wartime Swansea, and his original conception of the Daleks was consciously based on the Nazis - faceless, hostile figures of authority committed to domination and absolute uniformity." "The rebels, meanwhile, recall France's guerrilla resistance organisation which fought the German army of occupation." "Aspects of Dortmun are modelled on the British war leader, Winston Churchill (1874-1965)." "His rhetoric recalls Churchill's wartime speeches," "with their characteristic metaphors of light and darkness and emphasis on victory." "In the first draft, the rebels don't need Barbara to suggest disguising themselves as Robomen." "Three of them are doing just that when she first arrives in their operations room." "To the left of the crystal box, you can see the rod used to move the bar inside." "Getting the Doctor out of the cell took a lot of effort and script rewrites." "This business with the crystal box was only introduced at the last major stage of revision in the camera script." "In the first draft, the Daleks simply take their prisoners away one by one for robotization, starting with Craddock." "The Doctor has just worked out that the door operates magnetically when the Daleks come for him, too." "The scene was still unsatisfactory in the first rehearsal script, so further revision was carried out on Wednesday 9 September, a week and a half before the episode was due to go into rehearsal." "By that stage, the idea of an aptitude test had been introduced." "Useful objects are scattered around the cell as if at random." "As well as the two oblong metal bars, which open the cell door, there is a small nail file, and three 1ft-square pieces of rubber sheeting." ""This jigsaw is our way out," says the Doctor." "Terry Nation often wrote scenes in which characters make ingenious use of everyday objects to escape from danger." "In this case, Ian cuts through the wires of the alarm system with the nail file, using the rubber sheeting to insulate himself against an electric shock." "The Doctor's next line appears in the camera script as:" ""X - cammer 2." "The estimated curve is 80 degrees."" "Boyle's Law says that the volume of gas changes in inverse proportion to pressure." "The principle was discovered in 1661 by the Anglo-Irish physicist Robert Boyle (1627-91)." "Watch the bar in the box and you'll see the rod pushing it out." "Terry Nation was probably thinking about how Daleks might open doors because he felt that the "sucker rod" was a cumbersome and ineffective feature of the design." ""The Daleks have found a way of employing static electricity," explains the Doctor in the rehearsal script." ""They have blended that unusual power with their science of magnetics."" "This scene bears traces of Doctor Who's original educational remit." "The serials set in the past were to teach the young audience about history, and those set in the future were to do the same for science." "That's why Ian states the basic principle of magnetism which underlies the scene." "In the first draft, only Susan goes on the saucer attack." "She feels deeply involved in the insurgents' struggle, so she asks to join David without telling Barbara, who remains behind at the rebel base." "Originally, the Roboman was to tear the sleeve off the Doctor's jacket, but this was changed to avoid damaging a garment which would be needed for future episodes." "In the first draft, this is to be the first major attack on the Daleks since the invasion." "If you haven't yet succeeded in spotting a flat Dalek, here's one now." "In the first draft, the rebels involved in the saucer attack include characters named Roger Krish and Carson." "Jacqueline Hill (Barbara) injured herself in the next shot." "She bruised her knuckle against the window frame as she threw the bomb." ""I know you're being a big brave girl," wrote the BBC's head of serials in sympathy the following Monday." "This is a split-screen effect." "The burning wall is pre-recorded film inlaid into the picture." "The cliff-hanger to this episode was changed several times in the course of revision." "In the first draft, it focuses on Tyler's doubts about Dortmun's bombs as he prepares to fight his way out of the saucer:" ""Now we'll find out if you're going to work!"" "In later versions, the emphasis shifts to a more overt threat to the star of the show:" ""Two metal prongs start moving towards the Doctor's head"." "The non-speaking freedom fighters were played by:" "Nigel Bernard, Susanne Charise" "John Doye, Pat Gorman" "David Graham, Peter Holmes" "Peter Honeywell, Tony Lambton" "Patricia Phipps, Steve Pokol" "Tony Poole, Molly Prescott" "Michael Reed, Rosina Stewart, Leonard Woodrow"