5. TEN YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO

Producing a single story to celebrate ten years of the programme was one of the hardest things the production team had ever attempted. The hardest thing was trying to get William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton to reprise their roles as the first and second Doctors. Troughton was working at the time with the Royal Shakespeare Company on a radical new version of King Lear, and was loath to give it up. However, when Barry Letts pointed out that it would pay for his son's wedding, Troughton agreed. William Hartnell, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. Terrance Dicks explains:

"Poor old Bill was a nightmare, frankly. I went to his house, and the interior was decorated like the Who studio had been in the early Sixties. Bill was pottering around in his old costume, babbling to himself about something or other. His wife told me to address him as 'the Doctor' or 'Grandfather' or he wouldn't understand what you were saying. I asked her if she'd consulted a psychiatrist, but she explained that there was nothing actually wrong with him, except his fixed belief that he was Doctor Who. I tried talking to him, but he started calling me 'Chatterton', and it took me hours to explain that I wanted him to return to the programme, but only for one story. Unsurprisingly, he agreed wholeheartedly, and started saying, 'One day, I shall come back'. I could see a twinkle in his eye......"

Barry Letts had commissioned writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin to write the anniversary story, and after a couple of false starts, they created Omega, a villain from the Doctor's past that was attempting to destroy the planet of the Time Lords. The only way to save the Universe would be to call in the Doctor, and his two predecessors. From the very beginning of the shoot, William Hartnell became a major problem, as Letts recalls:

"Bill was a real pain in the backside from day one. He thought that he should be the most prominent Doctor, and said that Pat Troughton should act as his assistant. He completely ignored Jon, and nearly caused a strike when he refused to stand near Nick Courtney, believing him to be a ghost . He shouted at all the technicians, tried to cast a spell on Katy Manning and kept on calling me 'Verity'. Eventually, I decided that we'd have to reduce Bill's appearances, for the sake of the crew and for my sanity!"

Terrance Dicks hurriedly rewrote The Three Doctors to remove most of Hartnell's appearances, leaving him just a few scenes where he appears on a television screen, talking angrily to Troughton and Pertwee. These scenes were recorded separately, at the BBC film studios, and a few days later a photo shoot and press conference were arranged. They took place in Hartnell's garage, where he had built a replica of the interior of the TARDIS. It was only after these events took place that Barry Letts finally explained to the actor that he would not be required to film any more sequences for the story. In a controversial book about Hartnell's life , his wife Heather revealed the consequences of Letts' action. "It completely destroyed him", she explains. "His death a couple of years later was prompted by the heartless actions of Barry Letts". When confronted with this news, the producer simply refuted the allegations.

Despite the behind-the-scenes furore, The Three Doctors was completed on schedule, although it was later panned as a piece of shameless, self-congratulatory back slapping, despite the hilarious interplay between Troughton and Pertwee. The rest of the anniversary season consisted of the final appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master, although at the time nobody realised that it was to be his last bow, plus an exciting visit to The Planet Of The Daleks, where the Doctor again met his oldest foes. However, the season ended on a sombre note, as Katy Manning, who had become immensely popular, decided to leave the programme. Her last appearance, in the ecological parable The Green Death, broadcast at the end of Spring 1973, left a lump in many throats . A terrible tragedy occurred the following Summer, when Roger Delgado unfortunately died in a motor accident whilst working in Greece. The news shocked the Doctor Who production team, particularly as they had been planning the ultimate Master story, in which it would be revealed that he and the Doctor might be brothers, or something even more intimate. However, the most shocking news was yet to come.

Both Manning's departure and Delgado's death were weighing heavy Jon Pertwee's mind. When Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks announced that they would be leaving after the next series, Pertwee was torn whether to stay, or go. Terrance Dicks recalls:

"Jon was very upset when Roger died, and when Barry and I told him that we would be quitting to work on new projects, he was visibly upset. Eventually, we managed to  calm him down, and he decided he would ask the Head of Serials for a pay rise to help him keep the programme fresh. Unfortunately, he was given the sack for  impertinence, but he has always been too proud to admit it. When I spoke to him shortly before his death, he begged me never to tell anyone of this, but I felt that the fans have a right to know the truth."

Swallowing his pride, and burying his sorrow deep down inside him, Jon Pertwee decided to try and make his final season his best. Backed up as ever by the faithful Nicholas Courtney, and his new companion Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elizabeth Sladen, the Doctor battled the Daleks, giant dinosaurs, and the Ice Warriors. However, all things must pass, and Pertwee's swansong, The Planet Of The Spiders, was broadcast in the early summer of 1974.

Once again, the search was on for a new Doctor, and it was up to Barry Letts to find him. The departing producer explains what happened:

"I originally wanted a much older man to play the Doctor, so the first person I cast was Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan, an old-fashioned hero figure who would do all the rough stuff while the Doctor did the talking. Also, I wanted him as a bit of love interest for Liz Sladen, although she refused to participate in this. Anyway, my search for the Doctor led me to go and see a play about Rasputin, which starred one Tom Baker....."

Tom Baker takes up the story: "I was playing this mad fellow in Rasputin, yes, ah....ah..and I was about to go on, when somebody offered me a peanut. I thanked them, and then swallowed it, but disaster! It got stuck on my vocal chords, and I couldn't talk! No. So I ah, I had to deliver my soliloquies by going right to the front of the stage, and hissing and whispering. Dear old Ian Cuthbertson later told me he thought it was a masterstroke. So I did it every night! Ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Barry Letts was very impressed with Baker's performance, and eventually called up the actor and formally offered him the part of the Doctor. Baker was working on a building site at the time, working a cement mixer, and gladly accepted. Although Doctor Who had enjoyed much success over the previous eleven years, its greatest triumphs were yet to come, and Tom Baker was to turn the role into a truly global icon.