Doctor Who: The War Games (1969)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 19 April 1969 - 21 June 1969
Number of Episodes: 10
Average Episode Running Times: 25 mins
Format: black and white
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC
Producer: Derrick Sherwin

SCRIPT
Script: Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks

DIRECTION
Director: David Maloney

PHOTOGRAPHY
Studio Lighting: Howard King
Film Cameraman: Alan Jonas

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Chris Hayden

MUSIC
Title Music: Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Title Music Arranged By: Delia Derbyshire
Incidental Music: Dudley Simpson

SOUND
Studio Sound: John Staple
Special Sounds: Brian Hodgson

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Sylvia James
Costumes: Nick Bullen

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Michealjohn Harris

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Roger Cheveley

MISCELLANEOUS
Production Assistant: Edwina Verner
Assistant Floor Managers: Marion McDougall, Caroline Walmesley

STUNTS
Fight Arranger: Peter Diamond, Arthur Howell

CAST
Episode One
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer Buckingham)
John Livesey (German soldier)
David Savile (Lieutenant Carstairs)
Terence Bayler (Major Barrington)
Brian Forster (Sergeant Willis)
Noel Coleman (General Smythe)
Hubert Rees (Captain Ransom)
Esmond Webb (Sergeant Major Burns)

Episode Two
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer)
David Savile (Lieutenant Carstairs)
Noel Coleman (General Smythe)
Hubert Rees (Captain Ransom)
Tony McEwan (redcoat)
Richard Steele (Commandant Gorton)
Peter Stanton (military chauffeur)
Pat Gorman (military policeman)

Episode Three
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer)
Bernard Davies (German soldier)
David Savile (Lieutenant Carstairs)
Noel Coleman (General Smythe)
Hubert Rees (Captain Ransom)
David Valla (Lieutenant Crane)
Gregg Palmer (Lieutenant Lucke)
David Garfield (von Weich)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)

Episode Four
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer)
David Savile (Carstairs)
David Garfield (von Weich)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Bill Hutchinson (Sergeant Thompson)
Terry Adams (Corporal Riley)
Leslie Schofield (Leroy)
Vernon Dobtcheff (scientist)
Rudolph Walker (Harper)
John Atterbury (alien guard)

Episode Five
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Jane Sherwin (Jennifer)
David Savile (Carstairs)
David Garfield (von Weich)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Vernon Dobtcheff (scientist)
Rudolph Walker (Harper)
Michael Lynch (Spencer)
Graham Weston (Russell)
James Bree (security chief)
Charles Pemberton (alien technician)

Episode Six
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
David Savile (Carstairs)
David Garfield (von Weich)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Vernon Dobtcheff (scientist)
Graham Weston (Russell)
James Bree (security chief)
David Troughton (Moor)

Episode Seven
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
David Savile (Carstairs)
Noel Coleman (General Smythe)
Esmond Webb (Sergeant Major Burns)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Graham Weston (Russell)
James Bree (security chief)
Philip Madoc (War Lord)
Peter Craze (Du Pont)

Episode Eight
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
David Savile (Carstairs)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Graham Weston (Russell)
James Bree (security chief)
Philip Madoc (War Lord)
Michael Napier-Brown (Arturo Villar)
Stephen Hubay (Petrov)

Episode Nine
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
David Savile (Carstairs)
Edward Brayshaw (the War Chief)
Graham Weston (Russell)
James Bree (security chief)
Philip Madoc (War Lord)
Michael Napier-Brown (Arturo Villar)

Episode Ten
Patrick Troughton (Dr Who)
Frazer Hines (Jamie)
Wendy Padbury (Zoe)
Philip Madoc (War Lord)
Bernard Horsfall (1st Time Lord)
Trevor Martin (2nd Time Lord)
Clyde Pollitt (3rd Time Lord)
Clare Jenkins (Tanya)
Freddie Wilson (Quark - uncredited)
John Levene (yeti - uncredited)
Tony Harwood (Ice Warrior - uncredited)
Roy Pearce (Cyberman - uncredited)
Robert Jewell (Dalek - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

The TARDIS crew arrive on a planet where the inhabitants have abducted brainwashed troops from a variety of Earth's wars to fight endless battles for The War Lord who hopes to raise a huge army to conquer the galaxy. The Doctor manages to break teh brainwashing of several of the troops and leads a resistance that eventually overcomes the War Lord and his alien allies. But teh Doctor is unable to return everyone to their own time zones and calls on hos own people, the Time Lords, to help. But now they know where he is and the Doctor is taken prisoner and put on trial for intefering in the affairs of other races...

The end of an era for Doctor Who, The War Games was the last black and white story, the last featuring Patrick Troughton in the lead role and the first to feature and name the Doctor's own people. The opening episodes are magnificent, wrong-footing the audience who are lead to believe that the Doctor is back on Earth again, and it just keps on getting better. Although there's undeniably some padding, the vast, sprawling story works better than some would have us believe and Troughton's performance is fabulous. The climactic scenes on the Doctor's homeworld Gallifrey and the beginning of his forced regeneration are among the finest in the series' long history. Epic, moving, often frightening and always absorbing, The War Games is a true Who classic.

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC Video

1969
April
19: UK - episode one television broadcast (on BBC1)
26: UK - episode two television broadcast (on BBC1)

May
3: UK - episode three television broadcast (on BBC1)
10: UK - episode four television broadcast (on BBC1)
17: UK - episode five television broadcast (on BBC1)
24: UK - episode six television broadcast (on BBC1)
31: UK - episode seven television broadcast (on BBC1)

June
7: UK - episode eight television broadcast (on BBC1)
14: UK - episode nine television broadcast (on BBC1)
21: UK - episode ten television broadcast (on BBC1)

BOOKS

Doctor Who: The Television Companion pp.170-175
credits, synopsis, review (by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

aliens; time travel; war; trials; military; world war i

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009