Delta and the Bannermen (TV story)

Synopsis
The time: 1959. The place: Shangri-La holiday camp, South Wales. The Doctor and Mel want time out. The hedonistic alien Navarinos want to catch some vintage rock and roll, and two CIA agents want to know what happened to their country's missing satellite.

When the beautiful Chimeron princess Delta shows up on the scene, the murderous Bannermen soon follow in hot pursuit. The stage is set for a fiery showdown that will decide the fate of an entire civilisation.

Part One
On Chumeria the Chimerons are being killed, the Bannermen gunning them down. Gavrok orders them to take no prisoners; the Chimerons retaliate but to no avail. Only Delta and a single male Chimeron are left. They make a break for the Bannerman ship. Onboard Gavrok is waiting, he shoots the male down and prepares to kill Delta when the male shoot Gavrok in the lower chest, injured he falls from the craft. The male instructs Delta to take a mysterious object before dying. Delta then takes off in the craft. The TARDIS lands at toll port G715. There the Doctor and Mel are welcomed by the Tollmaster. They discover that they are the 10 billionth customers and so get free parking and a trip of the fabulous 50’s tour, a whole week in 1959 Disneyland, Earth. Meanwhile in Wales, Earth two American CIA agents pull up beside a police box. One of them, Jerome Weismuller takes out the phone and makes a call. He is told by the president’s right-hand man to track a new satellite. He tells this to his partner Hawk. Back at the toll port Mel and the Doctor discover they will be travelling with the Navarino 1950’s club. The Navarinos pass through a Transformation arch to appear human. They discover they will be travelling on a bus capable of flight. The Doctor and Mel greet Murray, their pilot, however the Doctor elects to follow on in the TARDIS letting Mel travel on the bus. On the Bannerman ship Delta receives a transmission from Gavrok stating wherever she goes he will follow, he informs her she is the last of her kind. Delta lands at the toll port and boards the bus just as it takes off. In Wales the two Americans are attempting to pick up signals from the satellite with no success. In space the satellite is released and the bus crashes into it. In Wales the two agents answer the phone and are told the satellite has gone haywire and that it will hit Earth near their location. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to control the bus’ descent encasing it in an anti-gravity spiral, he places it down on Earth and lands nearby. They discover they are in Wales at the Shangri-La camp, they are greeted by the camp leader Burton. They decide to stay at the camp until the bus if fixed. The group are each assigned a room with Delta and Mel being together. The Doctor and Murray meet Billy, the resident mechanic who offers to help in repairing the bus. The trio manage to pull the embedded satellite from a large dent in the front of the bus. The Doctor enters the TARDIS and emerges with a Quarb crystal, the only one this side of the Softel Nebula. The crystal is required to fix the bus, Billy removes the old crystal and the Doctor gives Murray the new one. A friend of Billy’s, Rachel Defwydd (known as Ray,) arrives, she hand Murray a tool and tells the Doctor she always carries them to be prepared. Murray is installing the crystal when he breaks it, the Doctor tells him he could accelerate growth in the TARDIS’ thermo-booster and grow a crystal in 24 hours. Ray informs them of a dance later and they agree to attend. In their compartment Delta is frightened by a loud noise, she is told it is the dinner gong by Mel whom she pulls a gun on. Mel moves to leave and tells Delta she can be trusted, she then exits to go to dinner. Delta opens the mysterious object revealing a strange-looking sphere within. At the toll port the Bannermen are questioning the Tollmaster, he tells them he lost track of the bus after it crashed and so is unable to locate it. Gavrok then shoots him; he instructs his men to plot a course for Earth and tells them he wants every informer in the galaxy looking for her. In the camp, at dinner, Mel sits with the Doctor and informs him of Delta possessing a gun and being edgy. Billy sits with Delta as they eat. Later, at the dance, the Doctor is inspecting Billy’s stereo. Billy informs him he made it with spare part from the war. Billy then goes up on stage and starts singing. Murray and Mel and dancing and the Doctor talks with Ray who tells him she has had a crush on Billy since she was a child. Billy then proceeds to sin Why Do Fools Fall in Love for Delta; this saddens Ray who then dances with the Doctor. Outside Weismuller and Hawk are arguing over who should leave the tent to blow out the fire, eventually Hawk goes. The Doctor exits the Dance and Delta leaves soon after, the Doctor follows her. In a storage room the Doctor finds Ray crying over Billy. A passenger of the tour and mercenary, Keillor, enters and the Doctor and Ray hide. Keillor uses a radio to contact Gavrok and informs him regarding the whereabouts of Delta, he asks for the reward, 1 million Units. He uses the radio to give them a signal to follow, the Doctor sneezes alerting the mercenary to their presence. In their compartment Delta thanks Mel for being kind to her, she tells her that there is something she should know, they turn as the sphere breaks and a green alien emerges. In the storage room the mercenary finds the Doctor and Ray and prepares to kill them.

Part Two
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Mel - Bonnie Langford
 * Gavrok - Don Henderson
 * Delta - Belinda Mayne
 * Weismuller - Stubby Kaye
 * Hawk - Morgan Deare
 * Tollmaster - Ken Dodd
 * Burton - Richard Davies
 * Billy - David Kinder
 * Ray - Sara Griffiths
 * Murray - Johnny Dennis
 * Keillor - Brian Hibbard
 * Chima - Tim Scott
 * Bollitt - Anita Graham
 * Adlon - Leslie Meadows
 * The Lorells - Robin Aspland, Keff McCulloch, Justin Myers, Ralph Salmins
 * Vocalists - Tracey Wilson, Jodie Wilson
 * Goronwy - Hugh Lloyd
 * Vinny - Martyn Geraint
 * Callon - Clive Condon
 * Arrex - Richard Mitchley
 * Young Chimeron - Jessica McGough, Amy Osborn
 * Chimeron Princess - Laura Collins, Carley Joseph

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Christopher Sandeman, Kim Wilcocks
 * Costumes - Richard Croft
 * Designer - John Asbridge
 * Film Cameraman - William Dudman
 * Incidental Music - Keff McCulloch
 * Make-Up - Gillian Thomas
 * OB Cameraman - Alastair Mitchell, Chas Snare
 * Producer - John Nathan-Turner
 * Production Assistant - Rosemary Parsons
 * Production Associate - Anne Faggetter
 * Script Editor - Andrew Cartmel
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Stunt Arranger - Roy Scammell
 * Theme Arrangement - Keff McCulloch
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Andy McVean

Story notes

 * Working title for this story was: The Flight Of The Chimeron and Flight of the Chimeron. According to the 2009 DVD release, this was the title in place when the story was filmed; the final title wasn't decided upon until the fall of 1987. According to the DVD, the title was a play on the name of a popular musical group of the 1980s, Echo and the Bunnymen.
 * The Doctor's question mark umbrella makes its first appearance.
 * Sylvester McCoy can be seen wearing his glasses - normally removed before recording - in some long shots of him riding a motor bike.
 * Keillor, the alien bounty hunter, is never referred to by name in the story's dialogue; his name is given only in the closing credits.
 * At the time the episode was produced, Bonnie Langford was considering leaving the series midway through the season, and so the young girl Ray was intended to be her replacement. Langford ultimately chose to stay for the complete season, and the idea of having Ray join the TARDIS crew was dropped; elements of the character, however, later inspired the creation of Ace, who ultimately became Mel's replacement at the end of the series. Coincidentally, Sophie Aldred auditioned for the role of Ray but she did not get it but got the part of Ace instead.
 * This was the first 3-episode story (in the traditional 25-minute episode format) since Planet of Giants in 1964; each of McCoy's seasons would have serials of this length.
 * This was the first and only classic-series story to be extensively produced in Wales; (although The Green Death and The Five Doctors have had scenes filmed in Wales, in the case of The Green Death, it was set in Wales as well). When the series returned in 2005, it would be primarily produced in Wales, with a number of its earth-based stories also set there (as well as its spinoff, Torchwood). As noted below, the revived series even used some of the same locations as this story.
 * On several occasions, the Doctor is heard mangling earth idioms. According to the DVD production notes commentary, this aspect of the Doctor's personality was mostly abandoned after this story.
 * The final version of the story includes only one brief scene featuring the Doctor inside the TARDIS console room. The "first edit" of episode 1, included on the 2009 DVD, includes an additional console room scene with Mel (in which it was revealed the Doctor keeps petty cash in a jar secreted beneath the console!). According to the production notes commentary, the original script called for another console room scene with Burton and Ray, but this was cut otherwise the two actors would have had to have been brought to London to film the scene.
 * Again according to the DVD, another actress had been cast as Ray, but was injured during rehearsals with the motorbike. The actress nonetheless received full pay.
 * According to the DVD production notes commentary, it was during this story's broadcast that fan backlash against producer John Nathan-Turner began to pick up steam and receive media coverage.
 * In part 2 Billy entered Delta's room with flowers and is surprisd to see the baby. In the original edit for part 1 Billy entered before the egg hatched and is most surprised when he watches it hatching.

Music
The story's setting in the late-1950s resulted in a number of vintage songs from the era being heard or performed (though all had to be rerecorded by series composer Keff McCulloch and the Lorells. The songs heard in the serial are:
 * Rock Around the Clock
 * Singing the Blues
 * Why Do Fools Fall in Love
 * Mr. Sandman
 * Goodnight, Sweetheart
 * That'll Be the Day
 * Only You
 * Lollipop
 * Who's Sorry Now?
 * Happy Days Are Here Again

McCulloch appears on screen with the band performing a few of these. According to the DVD commentary, his then-fiance was one of the backup singers on the recordings.

Ratings

 * Part 1 - 5.3 million viewers
 * Part 2 - 5.1 million viewers
 * Part 3 - 5.4 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming locations

 * Springwell Quarry, Springwell Lane, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
 * Majestic Holiday Camp on Barry Island, South Glamorgan, Wales (The camp no longer exists, but Barry Island would be the filming location for parts of the 2005 episodes The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances.)
 * Pyscodlyn Mawr Reservoir, Hensol Forest, Welsh St Donats, South Glamorgan
 * Sutton Farm, Fort Road, Penarth, South Glamorgan
 * Coed Y Wallas, Castle Upon Alun, Mid Glamorgan
 * British Tissues Hangar (Now known as Georgia Pacific GB Ltd), Llandow Trading Estate, Llandow, South Glamorgan
 * BBC Television Centre (TC3), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

 * As is pointed out in the DVD commentary, there's some fairly daft continuity supervision allowed by temporary second unit director, John Nathan-Turner. He directed some of the distance shots of Sylvester McCoy driving the motorbike, but forgot to tell McCoy to remove his glasses. Thus, on the closer shots of the scene, McCoy isn't wearing glasses, but in the longer shots, he is.
 * Weismuller's nylon mesh baseball cap would not yet have been available in 1959.

Continuity

 * The Navarino re-appear in NA: Return of the Living Dad

Timeline

 * Delta and the Bannermen occurs after: BFA: Flip-Flop
 * Delta and the Bannermen occurs before: ST: Uranus

Home video and audio releases

 * Delta and the Bannerman was released to DVD in the UK on 22nd June 2009, followed by a North American DVD release on 1st September.

Special features:
 * An alternate version of Episode 1, with additional scenes not in the broadcast version.
 * Stripped for Action - The Story of Doctor Who Comics.
 * But First This - archival on-location featurette featuring interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and Ken Dodd.
 * Raw footage of the interviews filmed for But First This.
 * Wales Today - A BBC News report on the making of the story
 * Hugh and Us - interview with Hugh Lloyd
 * Clown Court - A 1988 appearance by Sylvester McCoy on a segment of The Noel Edmunds Saturday Roadshow, during which bloopers from this story, along with bonus outtakes from Silver Nemesis (including Sophie Aldred) and The Visitation (including Peter Davison) are shown, followed by outtakes of McCoy's appearance in Clown Court.
 * Trails and continuity announcements
 * Audio commentary by Sylvester McCoy, Sara Griffiths, Chris Clough, and Andrew Cartmel.
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production note subtitles
 * PDF content: Radio Times listings
 * Exclusive trailer for the DVD release of The War Games

Notes:
 * Remastering for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.
 * This is one of only a handful of Doctor Who DVD releases for which a "making of" documentary was not produced.

Novelisation and its audiobook

 * Main article: Delta and the Bannermen (novelisation)


 * Novelised as Delta and the Bannermen by Malcolm Kohll in 1989.