The War Machines (TV story)

The War Machines was the tenth and final story of Season 3. There were several companion cast changes in this story - Dodo Chaplet, played by Jackie Lane, left, while Polly and Ben Jackson, played by Anneke Wills and Michael Craze, joined. It was also the first Doctor Who story to take place in the present day, brief sequences in previous episodes notwithstanding.

Synopsis
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Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - William Hartnell
 * Dodo Chaplet - Jackie Lane
 * Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
 * Polly - Anneke Wills
 * Major Green - Alan Curtis
 * Professor Brett - John Harvey
 * Kitty - Sandra Bryant
 * Flash - Ewan Proctor
 * Sir Charles Summer - William Mervyn
 * Professor Krimpton - John Cater
 * American Journalist - Ric Felgate
 * Interviewer - John Doye
 * Worker - Desmond Cullum-Jones
 * Tramp - Roy Godfrey
 * Taxi-driver - Michael Rathbone
 * Machine Operator - Gerald Taylor
 * Worker - Eddie Davis
 * Captain - John Rolfe
 * Sergeant - John Boyd-Brent
 * Corporal - Frank Jarvis
 * Soldier - Robin Dawson
 * Television Newsreader - Kenneth Kendall
 * The Minister - George Cross
 * Garage Mechanic - Edward Colliver
 * Man in telephone box - John Slavid
 * Radio Announcer - Dwight Whylie
 * US Correspondent - Carl Conway
 * Voice of WOTAN - Gerald Taylor

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Lovett Bickford, Margot Hayhoe
 * Costumes - Daphne Dare, Barbara Lane
 * Designer - Raymond London
 * Film Cameraman - Alan Jonas
 * Film Editor - Eric Mival
 * Make-Up - Sonia Markham
 * Producer - Innes Lloyd
 * Production Assistant - Snowy White
 * Script Editor - Gerry Davis
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - George Summers
 * Studio Sound - David Hughes
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story Notes

 * Although Polly was never given an on-screen surname, "Wright" was used in an audition piece for the character at the time. It has since been adopted into various spin-off novels.


 * WOTAN is pronounced with a soft V as VOTAN by many of the characters.


 * This is the first return to contemporary London for the Doctor.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 5.4m viewers
 * Episode 2 - 4.7m viewers
 * Episode 3 - 5.3m viewers
 * Episode 4 - 5.5m viewers

Myths
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Location Filming
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Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
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Continuity

 * The appearance and function of the War Machines is mentioned briefly in EarthWorld.
 * Dodo's life following this story is explored in Who Killed Kennedy.
 * It's revealed in Original Sin who funded Professor Brett's work.

DVD, Video and Other Releases
The Restoration Team did very extensive work on this story for the VHS release. In addition to lots of film and video cleanups, and patching censor clips in for many bits missing from the master copy, this included creation of short sections of new footage from stills and off-cuts to cover missing bits. Despite this, it still has a small amount of missing material where no video could be found to match the complete off-air audio. The audio release is complete.

(TV broadcasts prior to the video release usually used the unimproved, substantially cut, and very very dirty master.)

Target Novelisations

 * The War Machines was published by Target in 1989.