Doctor Who showrunner, Russell T Davies, has spoken about the excitement around the recovery of two episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan.
In the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Davies reflected:
“No one would have known that Mission to the Unknown was a one-off episode without the Doctor. The most mystifying thing in the world. And then you go to Troy for four weeks [in The Myth Makers]! I wish someone had kept diaries. I wish there were a written record of people going, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Then five weeks later, the absolute joy of turning on the television and realising, oh, that was a prequel. Suddenly we’re back on this jungle planet and they’re talking about Marc Cory again! Oh, I remember this. The oddness, the madness of that.
“What you’re seeing is television as a live experience. Imagine the word of mouth the Monday after: ‘Oh my God, they killed that girl from the TARDIS!’ I wonder if the following week’s ratings went up – I know for a fact that the excitement among children would have. That’s why it’s no wonder the sixties stuff is welded, heart and soul, into the core of viewers. And people worship it still.”
And rightly so.
He’s referring to Katarina dying in The Traitors, the fourth (still missing) episode of the 12-part serial, and while ratings did go up after her death (from 9.5 million watching The Traitors to 9.9 million for the following episode, Counter Plot), the serial attracted big ratings anyway, the peak of which was actually for the recently-discovered Devil’s Planet (10.3 million). The least watched (7.9 million) was the festive special, The Feast of Steven, which is sadly unlikely to ever be found.
Whatever you think about Davies’ current era of the show, it’s great to see him praising this First Doctor classic and sharing in our joy at the amazing recovery of The Nightmare Begins and Devil’s Planet.
