"This episode was first shown on 12 December 1964, and was seen by 11.9 million people." "In the first draft, the episode was entitled:" "THE ABYSS" "Terry Nation described the bomb sound effect as the "sound of a Sputnik in flight"." "This is not William Hartnell." "Hartnell was still recovering from his back injury of the week before, and a stand-in had to be found." "Someone remembered the actor Edmund Warwick (1907-89), who had appeared in Doctor Who six months before as an old man with long white hair in the episode 'The Screaming Jungle'." "Warwick was pulled from rehearsals for a new BBC science fiction series, R3, to impersonate the Doctor." "In wig and costume, he was even mistaken for William Hartnell in the Riverside Studios canteen." "Hartnell himself probably wouldn't have been in the canteen at all." "The regular cast disliked the food so much that they decided to bring in their own." "Some last-minute script changes were needed." "It was originally the Doctor who tried to open the bomb casing (and accidentally splashed some acid on his hand)." "In this model shot, the solvent acetone is poured onto a polystyrene replica of the bomb." "Now, watch the ignition dial in the middle of the bomb." "The main prop bomb has a functional clockwork fuse dial, which has moved on, whereas it's a still replica on the model." "This means that the model and live-action shots don't quite match." "The design of the fuse is based on that of a wartime German bomb, which could be extracted from the body of the bomb in the same way." "The rest of the scene was another last-minute addition to accommodate the Doctor's absence." "Further rewriting was unnecessary, because, fortunately, the Doctor wasn't due to appear in any more scenes in this episode." "In the first draft, this scene gains added urgency from the fires the Daleks have set in London." "Barbara fetches a battery for the disused bus, and Saida (who became Jenny, remember) asks how she'll charge it up." "Barbara replies, "I was never much of a mechanic, but this I do know." ""On a new battery, you just pour in an electrolyte and it will start to give a charge."" "The exterior mine sequence coming up was filmed on 28 August 1964." "Thirty extras were booked through the Denton de Gray Agency." "There were twenty men and ten women - but there's no known record of their names." "This was the first of many times that Doctor Who was filmed in a quarry." "This one's John's Hole at Stone in Kent." "It was chosen partly for the rail workings seen here, and the tunnel which runs under the A226." "In the first draft, Terry Nation specified:" ""The impression needed is one of a great undertaking requiring vast industry and manpower."" "In this version, the mine wasn't in Bedfordshire, but further north." "Where the Daleks have made their giant abyss, there used to be a city." "It was called Manchester." "What follows is stock footage." "Wells is played by Nicholas Smith (born 1934), who was later best known as the ineffectual manager Mr Rumbold in the department store sitcom, Are You Being Served?" "(1972-85)." "Here's how Terry Nation originally conceived the Robomen:" ""They are dressed in black from head to foot, high-necked, very utilitarian garb made from rough cloth." ""There is no expression on the face." "The eyes stare unblinking." ""Their movements are a little stiff, but not over-emphasized." ""They seem to have a slight mechanical quality about them."" "Their voices are "very mechanical and slow, like a child deaf from birth learning to make sounds"." "During studio recording for this serial, there were a couple of unauthorised visitors to Riverside Studio One." "They were interested in the Robomen, and had begun measuring the headpieces, when they were asked to leave by designer Spencer Chapman." "The design department was concerned enough to hold a meeting about the incident, but it remains a mystery who the intruders were or what they were up to." "The Roboman's neckpiece is marked with the word "charged"" "because it's the power source for the light on his head." "In the first draft, a lot of the characters' names are different." "The character who later became Wells is called Ashton, and there is no black marketeer character." "Larry is called Robbie, and Wells is a different character altogether - another prisoner in the saucer, who refuses to escape with Ian and Robbie on arrival at the mine, because it would mean abandoning two injured fellow captives, Warner and Barton." "In the first draft, Barbara can't get the bus to start, and pounds the steering wheel in frustration." "Then Saida points out that she hasn't switched on the ignition." "For Ann Davies (Jenny), here comes the most nerve-wracking moment of the entire job - having to jump onto a moving dust cart!" "Carole Ann Ford entertained her fellow actors during breaks in rehearsals for this episode by telling their fortunes." "She would ask them to draw pictures of houses, which she would then interpret." "In the first draft, David tells Susan, "The world you have come into is one where friendships mean very little." ""There's been no place for sentiment in our society." "Just staying alive is the most anybody has time for."" "Susan retorts that, on the contrary, hardship should have brought people together:" ""The four of us faced dangers together, and it seemed to give us a greater understanding of one another."" "In the camera script, David says that he stole the gun, not found it." "This sequence was filmed at Third Way, Wembley, outside the Government Pavilion." "In the first draft, Barbara comments, "There's one good thing about living in this century." "There are no traffic jams."" "Which of the Daleks is a dummy replica?" "This one!" "In the first draft, Barbara decides they will have to ditch the bus and walk, because it won't be hard for the Daleks to find the only bus in London." "Some of the flying saucer's control panels were re-used from the original Dalek serial." "These were among the items stored when that serial finished production in January 1964." "The model shot coming up was recorded during studio time rather than as a pre-filmed insert." "The model was static." "The illusion of flight was achieved by camera movement alone." "The abstract patterns on the Daleks' screens were created by a camera filming its own output." "If you think it looks familiar, it's because the same process was used to create the Doctor Who title sequence." "This model shot was a film insert." "The sewer sequence was one of the major story revisions between first draft and rehearsal scripts." "In the first draft, David is worried by old legends that people came underground to escape the plague carriers." "They are still down there - but they are no longer people." "They have adapted to living in constant darkness:" ""The hair is matted and shoulder length, and, like the face, it is totally white." ""Only the eyes make black circles." ""They are larger than human eyes, bulging and dark like those of a night creature." ""Canine teeth project over the lower lip."" "They communicate by sign language and hunt anything which comes down the sewers, including Susan and David." "Three of these subterraneans attack our heroes, tie them up, and they are about to stab Susan when Tyler arrives and starts shooting." "Fortunately for them, he happened to be sleeping on a ledge further along the tunnel and saw what happened." "In the camera script, David tells Susan he's going to become a farmer:" ""It's the land that matters, isn't it?" "The world's saturated itself with science."" "The background here is a scenic flat." "The scene was written for a more rural setting, with a roadside bush instead of a pillar box." "In the camera script, Jenny proposes circling around St Albans rather than going through the town, but Barbara says they already have more than 40 miles to go without adding detours." "Terry Nation originally imagined the Slyther as "like a huge, black jellyfish", but never fully on screen - all we were actually to see was "the hint of a shapeless, pulsating mass"." "In the first draft, it is said to be an animal which the Daleks have brought from their own planet." "Ashton is played by the Irish actor Patrick O'Connell (born 1934)." "He was later known for his regular roles as Detective Inspector Gamble in Fraud Squad (1969-70), and as Edward Hammond, the eldest of The Brothers in six series of the BBC's long-running boardroom drama (1973-6)." "The Slyther's roar was described in the first draft as "like water running out of a plug-hole", followed by "a wet flopping sound"." "Costume design enhances Ashton's characterization." "His clothes are far less ragged than those worn by the other characters." "For wardrobe purposes, the serial's period setting was specified on internal BBC documents as "2164", which was the date on the calendar in the first episode." "The BBC press releases and trailer dated it a lot earlier, in 2000." "In the camera script, Wells adds, "You can hardly eat that slop of mash the Daleks dish out."" "In the camera script, Wells uses the workers' nickname for the camp commandant:" ""The Black Devil"." "Studio recording for this episode took place on 9 October 1964." "Peter Fraser (David) tries to hold the set still as he climbs through." "In this shot, notice how the ladder is cut where you'd expect to see the top rung." "When Carole Ann Ford gets onto the ladder, she holds onto the rung above the break, so that when she moves her weight to the lower part, it does this." "The jerking scenery shows how firmly the ladder is attached at the lower end, ensuring that Carole Ann is in no danger." "None here, either." "The alligator is a film insert." "That last shot was supposed to represent the alligator snapping at Susan's feet." ""Swinging" was Carole Ann Ford's unscripted contribution." "In the camera script, Tyler adds that he and the Doctor have decided it's best to get out of the sewers." "So, what are they eating?" ""Cold baked beans" or tinned grapefruit segments were Terry Nation's scripted suggestions." "In the rehearsal script, Ashton uses a machine gun rather than a pistol, and he dies when the gun jams and the Slyther envelops him." "This cliff-hanger was basically the same in the first draft, except that Ian and Robbie are attacked by a pack of Slythers, not just one." "Uncredited production contributors to this serial included:" "Tony Pearce (Costume Supervisor, Parts 3-5)" "Elizabeth Blattner (Make-Up Supervisor, Part 4)" "John D. Stout (Design Assistant)" "Bernard Lodge (Title Sequence)"