State of Decay (TV story)

State of Decay was the fourth story of Season 18 and the second story of the E-Space trilogy. It saw the final publication of a script written by Terrance Dicks three years prior.

Synopsis
Still trapped in E-Space, the TARDIS materialises on a mediaeval planet. The townsfolk live in fear of the Three Who Rule, who govern from their mighty castle. Investigating, the Doctor discovers that the Three Who Rule are ancient astronauts who were turned into vampires long ago, and their castle is actually their spaceship. When Romana and Adric are kidnapped, the Doctor must ally himself with a band of renegade peasants to stop the resurrection of one of Gallifrey's greatest enemies: the King Vampire itself.

Part One
Inside the castle, Habris, Captain of the Guard reports to the Three Who Rule that it is again the time of selection. They instruct him to choose well and he leaves. Next morning, in the surrounding village, Ivo leader of the villagers collects the residents together for the selection. Habris picks out various villagers including Ivo and Marta’s son Karl. Ivo protests the decision but Habris refuses to change his mind. Habris tells Ivo he will do his best to help him become a guard. Onboard the TARDIS the Doctor and Romana sight a isolated planet. K9 scans the world revealing it to have one isolated settlement, it has high technology readings but the peoples are primitive. The TARDIS lands in a forest close to the settlement, the Doctor and Romana set off to explore leaving K9 behind. Adric has stowed away on the TARDIS and attempts to leave, K9 confronts him but Adric tells him as a stowaway its best he leaves. He begins to follow the Doctor and Romana. The Doctor and Romana arrive at the settlement as Ivo and Habris are arguing, the Doctor asks to speak to a scientist and his request is met with alarm. Habris mistakes them for lords and attempts to serve them. After the travellers and Habris leave Ivo opens a podium and takes out a rusting Radio transmitter. He contacts Kalmar and tells him of the two strangers and their unusual request.

In the throne room Habris is belated for not taking action against the Doctor and Romana. Aukon summons his bats to hunt down the two. Travelling through the forest Romana and the Doctor are quickly surrounded by a group of men. They surrender and are taken to a hidden cave where they meet the rebels led by Kalmar. Kalmar is trying to get an old computer system working. The Doctor helps him to repair it and Romana identifies the equipment as a data bank of Earth origin, from the cargo vessel Hydrax. Images flash up of three officers, Captain Sharksy, Lauren MacMillan and Anthony O'Connor. Kalmar's deputy, Tarak indicates the faces resemble those of the Three Who Rule. The Doctor and Romana are then allowed to leave heading to visit the three. In the village Adric attempts to steal some food. However Marta catches him and alerts Ivo, they pity him and offer him sanctuary. They tells him that the outside world is evil at night. The Doctor and Romana are making there way through the forest as they are attacked by bats, they look up to sight a swarm descending upon them.

Part Two
to be added

Cast

 * Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
 * Romana II - Lalla Ward
 * K9 - John Leeson
 * Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
 * Aukon - Emrys James
 * Camilla - Rachel Davies
 * Zargo - William Lindsay
 * Ivo - Clinton Greyn
 * Marta - Rhoda Lewis
 * Tarak - Thane Bettany
 * Habris - Iain Rattray
 * Kalmar - Arthur Hewlett
 * Veros - Stacy Davies
 * Karl - Dean Allen
 * Roga - Stuart Fell
 * Zoldaz - Stuart Blake

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Lynn Richards
 * Costumes - Amy Roberts
 * Designer - Christine Ruscoe
 * Executive Producer - Barry Letts
 * Fight Arranger - Stuart Fell
 * Film Cameraman - Fintan Sheehan
 * Film Editor - John Lee
 * Incidental Music - Paddy Kingsland
 * Make-Up - Norma Hill
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Rosalind Wolfes
 * Production Unit Manager - Angela Smith
 * Script Editor - Christopher H. Bidmead
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Lighting - Bert Postlethwaite
 * Studio Sound - John Howell
 * Theme Arrangement - Peter Howell
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Tony Harding

The Doctor

 * The Doctor tells Romana "There was once an old hermit from the mountains of Southern Gallifrey..." who used to tell him ghost stories, one of which was about the King Vampire.

The Doctor's TARDIS

 * K9 sets the TARDIS co-ordinates and can remotely open the doors from within.
 * There are 18,348 emergency instructions in the TARDIS data bank.
 * The Record of Rassilon is held on magnetic card in Type 40 TARDISes.
 * It refers to bowships.

Gallifrey

 * Romana used to work in the Bureau of Ancient Records and once saw a reference to the Record of Rassilon.

Individuals

 * The Great Vampire use the science officer Anthony O'Connor as a conduit to draw the Hydrax through to E-Space.

Spacecraft

 * The Earth ship Hydrax was en route to Beta Two in the Perugellis sector when it was drawn through the CVE into E-space by the Great Vampire.
 * Rassilon created bowships which fired bolts of steel to kill the vampires.

Vampires

 * K9's memory contains vampire legends from 17 inhabited planets.
 * A directive (of Rassilon) states that the vampires are "the enemy of our people, and of all living things".
 * Vampire cardiovascular systems are very complex and can only be killed by a direct blow to the heart.
 * During Rassilon's war against the vampires all but one was destroyed (the King Vampire).

Story notes

 * The story was originally entitled The Witch Lords and was written by Dicks to open Season 15. At that time (mid-1977) the BBC was preparing to mount a major production of Dracula and so cancelled the story. Dicks' replacement script was Horror of Fang Rock. The script was kept and then put into production. Dicks struggled however to add Adric into it.
 * This is the second story in the 'E-Space Trilogy'.
 * Working titles for this story included; The Wasting, The Vampire Mutations and The Witch Lords.
 * For the only time during his era as the Doctor, Tom Baker had to have his hair permed before filming commenced. It had lost its natural curl due to the actor being in ill health.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 5.8 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 5.3 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 4.4 million viewers
 * Part 4 - 5.4 million viewers

Myths

 * This story's location scenes were shot at Black Park near Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. (They were shot at Burnham Beeches near Amersham, also in Buckinghamshire - it was Full Circle's location scenes that were shot at Black Park.)

Filming locations

 * Burnham Beeches, Burnham, Buckinghamshire
 * Lucas CAV, Acton, London
 * KJP Trading, 250 Western Avenue, Acton, London
 * BBC Television Centre (TC3 & TC6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

 * In part three, Tarak bursts into the Doctor's cell, catching him across the nose with the door. Tom Baker appears slightly stunned, and misses his next cue because he was really struck by the door.
 * The Doctor says the Tower decor is rococo when actually it's late Saxon/early Romanesque.
 * Why is Kalmar so concerned to get back to Earth when he and his people have never been there?

Continuity

 * EDA: The Eight Doctors features a scene set just after the end of this story.
 * NA: Blood Harvest is set on the same planet as this story several years following events of this story, MA: Goth Opera continues themes and events seen in both Blood Harvest and this story.
 * EDA: Vampire Science also includes some mention and thematic link to this story.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DW: Full Circle
 * This story takes place before EDA: The Eight Doctors

DVD releases
Notes:
 * State of Decay has been released as a box set alongside Full Circle and Warriors' Gate. The box set in titled The E-Space Trilogy.
 * Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Video releases

 * State of Decay was released by BBC Worldwide on video as part of a boxed set featuring; Full Circle, State of Decay and Warriors' Gate.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the State of Decay


 * Novelised by Terrance Dicks in 1982 as Doctor Who and the State of Decay.