C01S03 The edge of destruction
Synopsis
Something has caused the TARDIS console to explode in mid-flight, plunging the ship into darkness and rendering the crew unconscious. As they slowly recover, they find themselves suffering from loss of memory, and headaches. The TARDIS behaves oddly, as the doors open and close of their own accord. Has the ship been possessed in some way, or is something more dangerous happening to the time travellers?
Cover notes
Doctor Who had gotten off to a pretty chaotic start. The story that was due to open the series - The Giants by C.E. Webber, - was dropped. This left Anthony Coburn's intended second story, set in the Stone Age, to open the series. Coburn also came up with a new second story, a six-part tale called The Robots.
Things never go to plan. Anthony Coburn's "Robots" story was dropped from the series. The production team felt that going from Stone Age Earth to Marco Polo's 13th Century China would be a mistake, and needed a science fiction story to sandwich between them. Terry Nation's Dalek story was promoted to second in the running order. Problem solved. Well, nearly...
The upper echelons of the BBC had only initially committed to 4 episodes of Doctor Who. After a lot of debate and scrutiny, this initial episode count was increased to 13 mid-way through production of An Unearthly Child. Which was all well and good, but the production team could only offer either 11 episodes (up to the end of The Daleks), or 18 (up to the end of Marco Polo). Stretching The Daleks to make it last for 9 episodes wasn't really an option. They had a little over two months before episodes 12 and 13 were due to be rehearsed and recorded, and very little in the way of spare budget, after spending a huge sum (relatively speaking) on the new TARDIS set.
What could story editor David Whitaker do? Two episodes to fill, no budget for sets or guest actors, and only the regular cast and the TARDIS set to play with.
It is often said that creativity thrives best in a crisis, and here was Doctor Who's first example of this maxim holding true. Whitaker came up with a two-part filler story which serves to form a 'coda' to the first two stories, becoming a watershed moment for the four main characters to actually come together as a unit, rather than a collection of mistrustful passengers, and set the series up for the many wonderful adventures that were still to come.
Cast
| The Doctor | William Hartnell | listed as Dr. Who |
| Ian Chesterton | William Russell | |
| Barbara Wright | Jacqueline Hill | |
| Susan Foreman | Carole Ann Ford |
Crew
| Written by | David Whitaker | |
| Title music | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop | |
| Designer | Raymond Cusick | |
| Associate Producer | Mervyn Pinfield | |
| Producer | Verity Lambert | |
| Director | Richard Martin | ep. 1 |
| Director | Frank Cox | ep. 2 |
DVD Extras
| episode 2 The brink of disaster | Arabic soundtrack | alternative soundtrack |
| photo gallery | ||
| Doctor Who: Origins | A fascinating 55-minute documentary, detailing the creation of Doctor Who. Looking at the factors that led to the birth of the programme, is includes a rare interview with the programme's creator, the late Sydney Newman, and new interviews with producer Verity Lambert, directors Waris Hussein and Richard Martin, actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, title sequence designer Bernard Lodge, and TARDIS sound effect creator Brian Hodgson. | |
| Over the edge | A look at the production of The Edge of Destruction, featuring interviews with producer Verity Lambert, directors Frank Cox and Richard Martin, designer Raymond Cusick, and actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. | |
| Inside the spaceship | Members of the original cast and crew talk about the Doctor's unique time and space ship, the TARDIS. | |
| Masters of Sound | A look inside the BBC Radiophonic Workshop through interviews with the musicians and technicians who brought composer Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme to life using electronic music. Features interviews with Dick Mills, Brian Hodgson, Verity Lambert and the late Delia Derbyshire. | |
| script of An unearthly child | ||
| Radio Times listings An unearthly child | ||
| Radio Times listings The Daleks | ||
| Radio Times listings The edge of destruction | ||
| Marco Polo condensed | A condensed 30-minute version of the fourth ever Doctor Who story; a seven-part historical adventure which saw the TARDIS crew meet Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Although completely missing from the BBC's archives, a tantalising glimpse of this lost story is given with the use of an off-air recording of the soundtrack, plus off-screen stills and production photographs. |
Commentary
| serial code : | C |
| episode count : | 2 |
| initial broadcast date : | 1964-02-08 |
| DVD release date : | |
| DVD SE release date : | |
| BluRay release date : | |
| part of The Beginning boxset | |