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 Doctor Who: The Ark [1966]
Date(s) of Broadcast:
5 March 1966 - 26 March 1966
Number of Episodes: 4
Average Episode Running Times: 25 mins
Format: black and white
Sound: mono
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC
Producer: John
Wiles
SCRIPT
Script: Paul
Erickson, Lesley
Scott
Story Editor: Gerry
Davis
DIRECTION
Director: Michael
Imison
PHOTOGRAPHY
Studio Lighting: Howard
King
Film Cameraman: Tony
Leggo
EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Noel
Chanan
MUSIC
Title Music: Ron
Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Title Music Arranger: Delia
Derbyshire
Incidental Music: Tristram
Cary [from stock]
SOUND
Studio Sound: Ray
Angel
Special Sounds: Brian Hodgson
MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Sonia Markham
Costume Designer: Daphne Dare
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Barry Newbery
MISCELLANEOUS
Production Assistant: David Maloney
Assistant Floor Manager: Chris D'Oyly John
CAST
EPISODE 1: The Steel Sky
William Hartnell [Dr Who]
Peter Purves [Steven]
Jackie Lane [Dodo]
Eric Elliott [Commander]
Inigo Jackson [Zentos]
Roy Spencer [Manyak]
Kate Newman [Mellium]
Edmund Coulter [1st Monoid]
Frank George
[2nd Monoid]
EPISODE 2: The Plague
William Hartnell [Dr Who]
Peter Purves [Steven]
Jackie Lane [Dodo]
Eric Elliott [Commander]
Inigo Jackson [Zentos]
Roy Spencer [Manyak]
Kate Newman [Mellium]
Edmund Coulter [1st Monoid]
Frank George
[2nd Monoid]
Michael Sheard [Rhos]
Ian Frost [Baccu]
Stephanie Heesom [1st guardian]
Paul Greenhalgh [2nd guardian]
EPISODE 3: The Return
William Hartnell [Dr Who]
Peter Purves [Steven]
Jackie Lane [Dodo]
Terence Woodfield [Maharis]
Ralph Carrigan [Monoid Two]
Terence Bayler [Yendom]
Edmund Coulter [Monoid One]
Brian Wright [Dassuk]
Eileen Helsby [Venussa]
Frank George
[Monoid Three]
Roy Skelton, John Halstead [Monoid voices]
Richard Beale [Refusian voice]
EPISODE 4: The Bomb
William Hartnell [Dr Who]
Peter Purves [Steven]
Jackie Lane [Dodo]
Terence Woodfield [Maharis]
Edmund Coulter [Monoid One]
Brian Wright [Dassuk]
Eileen Helsby [Venussa]
Frank George
[Monoid Three]
Roy Skelton, John Halstead [Monoid voices]
Richard Beale [Refusian voice]
John caesar [Monoid Four]
UNCREDITED PERFORMERS
Mark Allington, Andrea Beddows, Raymond Byron, Terry Cashfield, Rosemary
Chalmers, Diane Chapman, Roy Douglas, Jackie Duval, Royston
Farrell, Deryn Fisher, Iris Fry, George Gibbs, Hazel Graham, Paul Greenhalgh,
Ron Gregory, David Greneay, Trevor Griffiths, Philip Harris, Stephanie
Heeson, Bill Hunter, Paul Johnson, Tony Kemp, Jacqueline Lewis, Paul
Linley, Rosemary Lloyd, Sheila McGrath, John Moyce, Victor Munt, Sara
Negus, Alan Norburn, Michael Osborn, Jackie Salt, Judith Webb, Gloria
Williams, Jan Williams [Guardians - uncredited]
Bernard Barnsley, Eric Blackburn, John Caeser, Denis Marlow, Bill Richards,
Chris Webb [Monoids - uncredited]
EPISODES
1. The Steel Sky [5 March 1966]
2. The Plague [12 March 1966]
3. The Return [19 March 1966]
4. The Bomb [26 March 1966]
SUMMARY
The TARDIS materialises in a gigantic space
ark in the far distant future carrying Mankind from a ruined Earth
to a new home on the planet Refusis. But the common cold brought aboard
the ark by Dodo has a devestating effect on the humans and their alien
servants, the Monoids, an effect that The Doctor must counter when
he travels further into the future and witnesses the impact the disease
has had.
CAPSULE REVIEW
Some good ideas - the generation starship, the
split time frame - and impressive production are rather undone by
an underwhelming set of scripts. The aliens and humans are never really
developed properly and the whole thing has a rushed feel to it - a
little longer in both time periods would have been welcome. Good looking
and entertaining, but ultimately disappointing.
AVAILABILITY
UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC Video [6609]
USA
Video Distributor: Warner Bros. Home Video [E1046]
ARCHIVE HOLDINGS
The original 405-line PAL videotape recordings were destroyed by the
BBC in the early 1970s. A 16mm telecine recording of The Return was
retained and the remaining episodes were returned to the archive as
16mm recordings in 1978.
TIMELINE
1966
March
5: UK - The Steel Sky television broadcast [on
BBC1]
12: UK - The Plague television broadcast
[on BBC1]
19: UK - The Return television broadcast
[on BBC1]
26: UK - The Bomb television broadcast [on BBC1]
1998
September
19: UK - television broadcast [on UK Gold]
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
The Space Ark
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Doctor Who Magazine no.228 [August 1995]
[UK]
illustrated credits, article [Archive by Andrew Pixley]
Dreamwatch no.50 p.76 [UK]
review
BOOKS
Doctor Who: The Television Companion pp.82-85
credits, synopsis, review [by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker]
OTHER SOURCES
screen
credits KEYWORDS
aliens, generation starships, plagues, time travel
Last Updated:
21 April, 2008
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