A Bluffer’s Guide to Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
The Trojans don’t trust their neigh-bours, the Greeks.
Describe The Myth Makers in six words:
Carry On Troy… then everyone dies.
This is… the one during the Siege of Troy
Episodes: 87–90
First broadcast: 16 October — 6 November, 1965
What Happens?:
Any behind the scenes gossip?
Yes, but nothing nice.
This was the first script producer John Wiles and story editor Donald Tosh had a input in commissioning, choosing Tosh’s old acquaintance Donald Cotton to write a comedic script. Michael Leeston-Smith directed after the originally-planned director, Derek Martinus, was used hurriedly to replace Mervyn Pinfield on Galaxy 4.
As Mission to the Unknown was recorded during a break for the actors, they returned to record this story. It’s here where things get unfortunate.
Wiles had been unhappy with Maureen O’Brien complaining about her dialogue. Her contract was up for renewal, so Wiles decided not to renew it. This angered O’Brien who would be later to report that had she known her contract wouldn’t be renewed, she would have spent her time off looking for work.
This lack of communication increased William Hartnell’s dislike for Wiles. Not only that, but during the recording of this story, Hartnell’s Aunt Bessie passed away. She was one of the few members of his family he had been close with during his troubled youth. Due to his acting commitments, Hartnell was unable to get leave to attend her funeral.
There are reports of Hartnell being bigoted to Max Adrian (King Priam) due to the latter’s Jewish heritage and homosexuality. While this is entirely possible, Hartnell had good relationships with his former Jewish co-star Carole Ann Ford, his former Jewish producer Verity Lambert, and the homosexual director Waris Hussein. It’s likely that he did hold these conservative views but this probably a bad few weeks for him.
As I said: There’s gossip but nothing nice.
Observations
How/Why did Vicki hurt her ankle? Just a random sexist point so Vicki stays inside the TARDIS. (In fact, I’ve double-checked this recently and discovered that Vicki hurts her ankle in Galaxy 4. Which somehow makes this worse? Or makes it better? Think about it: This story starts and ends with a companion being injured continuing into the next story. For instance, this story ends with Steven injured during the fighting while Troy burns. And this story has foreshadowed that by starting with… Vicki’s sprained ankle.)
First TARDIS wardrobe (why no 8mm footage of this?!)
Brilliant use of a ‘Next Episode’ caption to emphasise danger (“Death of a Spy” right after Steven and Vicki have been accused of being spies).
Troilus and Cressida: lovely. The developing of the relationship is almost there (maybe Troilus should have named the horse, giving him more in common with Sandy/Zombo/Chumbley Vicki?). Although, it’s unfortunate that this is Vicki’s last story as the original intent — having Cressida (Vicki) leave with Diomede (Steven) — matches the traditional story.
The dramatic change in tone is shocking. Seeing Odyessus turn into a brutal murderer is horrific. Cassandra foretelling his future is horrific. Seeing Priam and Paris dead on the floor is horrific.
Vicki trying to convince Troilus to leave before everything goes wrong is a lovely moment. And then he bumps into Achilles which is a shocking moment
Goodbye between Vicki and the Doctor/Steven seems very rushed and not articulated. The Doctor starts talking about how Vicki wanted to leave but it’s not clear how he knows that.
Farewell, Vicki. You were the most promising new companion and more are designed in your mould then many realise. Unfortunately, we’ve also started two seasons’ worth of rubbish farewells.
Between You and Me:
This is a great story, even if we can only revisit it through seven photographs and the audio (the Greeks have good voices but there’s a Trojan hoarse…).
The sucker-punch is a real gut-wrenching hit that makes you want to see these episodes for real! Even if we swallow and accept we need to acknowledge the new production team’s failings at developing good relationships with their regular cast (and the frankly horrid sacking of O’Brien by Wiles, which can only be interpreted as a man firing a woman for having gumption to share her opinions). This takes the comedy and fun of historical run-arounds like The Romans, The Time Meddler and — to a lesser extent — The Crusade, and turns it into brutal viewing.
Without how these episodes we’ll never know important things: Did Katarina make an impact when she appeared visually? What else did Vicki find in the TARDIS wardrobe? And was William Hartnell any good at making a paper plane fly?
References / Further Reading: