OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 018
STORY NUMBER: 004
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 21 March 1964
WRITER: John Lucarotti
DIRECTOR: Waris Hussein
SCRIPT EDITOR: David Whitaker
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
RATINGS: 9.4 million viewers
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1964-1965) No. 1
"At sunrise, we buried the dead, broke camp, travelled to the edge of the bamboo forest, and out beyond it onto the plain. But at midday, as we were all tired after the events of the previous night, I ordered a halt."
In the forest is Tegana's ally Acomat and some bandits. The Doctor wish to flee in the Tardis but Ian goes to warn Marco Polo. Ian creates a plan for a diversion by flinging Bamboo on the fire which should explode. Bandits attack and just as the travellers are being overpowered the bamboo explodes. After they travel through the forest onto the plain beyond. Polo frees his prisoners but extracts a promise from them not to try to escape. The Tardis crew are further convinced of Tegana's guilt & treachery. A courier from the Khan arrives to speak with Marco unwittingly causing Ping Cho to discover the location of the TARDIS keys. Polo has received orders to proceed without delay to Shang-Tu. They stop at another Way Station at Cheng-Ting. The Innkeeper has stashed the TARDIS in the stables which earns the Doctor's wrath. Tegana and his accomplice Kuiju plot to steel the TARDIS from the stables. Ping Cho steals the TARDIS keys for Susan. The TARDIS crew make to sneak away at night, Susan goes to say goodbye to Ping Cho, but within reach of the TARDIS when she is seized by Tegana.
Hmm the recording of this episode is a bit rough! I was struggling to hear it at the start. It does pick up a bit but fluctuates after that. The episode is a bit more action packed that the previous ones, with the sword fight, exploding bamboo, stealing the key and Susan being grabbed by Tegana at the end.
Of the new characters this week Gábor Baraker plays Innkeeper Wang-Lo, easily the campest character to appear in Doctor Who so far ! He'll be back for The Crusade (directed by this story's production assistant Douglas Camfield) Episode 2: The Knight of Jaffa as Luigi Ferrigo. Playing Kuiju is Tutte Lemkow, who's quite a frequently appearing face in the first years of Doctor Who. He's in the final three episodes of this story, before Camfield uses him in the last episode of The Crusade, the Warlords, as Ibrahim and then returns in the first three episodes of the Myth Makers as the Cyclops. He's got quite a long acting CV but is most famous for playing the Fiddler in the film The Fiddler on the Roof.
I remarked on the extras playing Ping-Cho's handmaidens in episode one, but there are a lot of other extras in this serial. The odd thing here is that actors keep cropping up throughout the serial but playing different part in each episode. For example John Lee, not the same actor as the John Lee who was Alydon in the Daleks appears in four of this story's episodes playing at least three different roles: Episode 2 The Singing Sands & 4 The Wall of Lies as a Mongol Warrior (possibly not the same one!), episode 6 Mighty Kublai Khan as a Litter Bearer and a Guard and episode 7 Assassin at Peking as a Palace Guard!
So here, according to IMDB, is every extra who appeared in the serial, with which episodes they appeared in and what their roles were:
| Hyperlink | First Episode | Episodes | Episode | Part |
| Bill Brandon | 1 | 2 | 1 | Mongol Warrior |
| 4 | Mongol Warrior | |||
| Clou Choy | 1 | 3 | 1 | Mongol Warrior |
| 3 | Chinese Villager | |||
| 6 | Litter Bearer / Guard | |||
| O. Ikeda | 1 | 2 | 1 | Yeng |
| 6 | Attendant | |||
| Violet Leon | 1 | 5 | 1 | Chinese Lady |
| 3 | Chinese Lady of Quality | |||
| 5 | Chinese Lady of Quality | |||
| 6 | Traveller / Noblewoman | |||
| 7 | Court Lady | |||
| Zohra Segal | 1 | 3 | 1 | Attendant to Ping-Cho |
| 2 | Attendant to Ping-Cho | |||
| 3 | Attendant on Ping-Cho | |||
| Suk Hee Shng | 1 | 3 | 1 | Attendant |
| 3 | Attendant | |||
| 7 | Court Lady | |||
| John Woodcock | 1 | 6 | 1 | Marco Polo's Hand |
| 2 | Marco Polo's Hand | |||
| 3 | Marco Polo's Hand | |||
| 4 | Marco Polo's Hand | |||
| 5 | Marco Polo's Hand | |||
| 6 | Marco Polo's Hand | |||
| Arnold Lee | 2 | 1 | 2 | Mongol Warrior |
| John Lee | 2 | 4 | 2 | Mongol Warrior |
| 4 | Mongol Warrior | |||
| 6 | Litter Bearer / Guard | |||
| 7 | Palace Guard | |||
| Leslie Bates | 3 | 2 | 2 | Mongol Warrior |
| 5 | Mongol Bandit | |||
| Gordon Bremworth | 3 | 3 | 2 | Mongol Warrior |
| 5 | Mongol Bandit / Traveller | |||
| 7 | Palace Guard | |||
| Elton Fing-on | 3 | 2 | 3 | Mongol Porter |
| 7 | Courtier | |||
| Irene Ho | 3 | 1 | 3 | Chinese Villager |
| Peggy Sirr | 3 | 3 | 3 | Chinese Villager |
| 6 | Traveller / Noblewoman | |||
| 7 | Court Lady | |||
| Aman Tokyo | 3 | 2 | 3 | Mongol Porter |
| 6 | Attendant | |||
| Roy Vincente | 3 | 3 | 3 | Mongol Warrior |
| 6 | Male Courtier | |||
| 7 | Courtier | |||
| Santso Wong | 3 | 3 | 3 | Mongol Warrior |
| 4 | Mongal Bandit | |||
| 6 | Guard | |||
| Maung Hlashwe | 4 | 2 | 4 | Caravan Bearer |
| 6 | Court Nobleman | |||
| Boon Wan Lee | 4 | 1 | 4 | Caravan Bearer |
| L.L. Lin | 4 | 2 | 4 | Caravan Bearer |
| 5 | Attendant at Wang-Lo's Inn | |||
| Henry Loy | 4 | 3 | 4 | Caravan Bearer |
| 6 | Male Courtier | |||
| 7 | Courtier | |||
| Ying Wiu | 4 | 2 | 4 | Servant at Waystation |
| 6 | Court Nobleman | |||
| David Anderson | 5 | 2 | 5 | Caravan Warrior |
| 7 | Palace Guard | |||
| David Brewster | 5 | 1 | 5 | Mongol Bandit |
| Stanley Chen | 5 | 1 | 5 | Mongol Bandit / Traveller |
| Clem Choy | 5 | 1 | 5 | Attendant at Wang-Lo's Inn |
| Kay Fong | 5 | 3 | 5 | Noblewoman |
| 6 | Court Lady | |||
| 7 | Palace Guard | |||
| Philip Lee | 5 | 3 | 5 | Mongol Bandit |
| 6 | Guard | |||
| 7 | Palace Guard | |||
| Valentino Musetti | 5 | 1 | 5 | Mongol Bandit |
| Ronald Chee | 6 | 1 | 5 | Guard |
| Robert Chow | 6 | 1 | 5 | Traveller / Nobleman |
| Harry Dillon | 6 | 2 | 6 | Spittoon Bearer |
| 7 | Spittoon Bearer | |||
| Lloyd Lam | 6 | 1 | 6 | Traveller / Nobleman |
| Su Chin | 7 | 1 | 7 | Attendant to the Empress |
| Iris Loy | 7 | 1 | 7 | Court Lady |
| Carlton Ngui | 7 | 1 | 7 | Palace Guard |
| W.A. Scully | 7 | 1 | 7 | Courtier |
| Basil Tang | 7 | 1 | 7 | Office Foreman |
| Doreen Tang | 7 | 1 | 7 | Attendant to the Empress |
Of course some of them have other Doctor Who form and because Douglas Camfield is the production assistant quite a few of them show up in his later stories. We've already remarked as to how Zohra Segal, the first Doctor Who actress to reach 100, reappears in The Crusade episode 2: The Knight of Jaffa as Sheyrah.
Leslie Bates had already been in Doctor Who: it's his shadow that is seen at the end of both The Pilot Episode and Episode 1 of the transmitted version of An Unearthly Child. He also doubles Jeremy Young in the same story. He'll be back for The Massacre: Bell of Doom as a Guard, The Smugglers: Episode 1 Villager at Inn / Pirate, The War Games: Episode Three & Four as a 1862 Confederate Soldier, The Dæmons: Episode Two as a BBC3 TV Crewmember, Frontier in Space: Episode Three as a Lunar Guard and Episode Five as a Draconian, Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part One where he's an Extra and Death to the Daleks: Parts One to Three as an Exxilon as well as appearances in Doomwatch and Moonbase 3. Arnold Lee was in The Talons of Weng-Chiang 1 a Chimeny Sweep & 5 as a Coolie, Warriors of the Deep 1-3 as a Seabase Crewmember and appears in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi as Rayc Ryjerd, a smuggler in Jabba's entourage. Roy Vincente was a Stuntman on UFO & Doomwatch. David Anderson was in all four episode of The Aztecs as the Aztec Captain, The Crusade (director: Douglas Camfield) episode 1: The Lion as Reynier de Marun, all four episodes of the Time Meddler (Director: D Camfield) as Sven and The Dalek Masterplan (do I even need to say?) 9: as an Egyptian Warrior. David Brewster was in a different episode of The Crusade, part 3 The Wheel of Fortune as a Turkish Bandit and also in Dalek Masterplan 9: Golden Death as another Egyptian Warrior. Valentino Musetti returns for is credited on imdb for World's End: Egyptian Soldier but I suspect he's something different there considering it's the first episode of Dalek Invasion of Earth! He's in the Crusade 1: The Lion as a Saracen Warrior, The Dalek Masterplan 9 Golden Death as another Egyptian Warrior a role he reprises in episode 10 Escape Switch. He returns for as a Prisoner in Mind of Evil episodes One (where he's also an audience member) Three and Four before appearing as extras in the first episodes of Colony in Space and The Time Monster. He's got acting credits for, amongst others, Space 1999 and the Professionals as well as a lengthy career as a stuntman. Finally Basil Tang is a Chinese Diplomat in Day of the Daleks: Episode Four a Coolie in The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Five!
Missing Episodes 5) Audio Tape Recording
Even back in the 60s there were Doctor Who fans and some of them wanted to experience their favourite TV show time and again. Video Recorders didn't exist then so what they did was record the soundtracks of the episodes, sometimes by putting the microphone up against the TV speaker or, in at least one case, wiring their tape recorder into the TV sound output. Years later, during the 1980s, these Soundtracks started being passed between fans. The BBC borrowed some recordings and released five best selling cassettes in the early 1990s but for some reason suddenly stopped releasing them despite their success. It's long been rumoured that the release of Tomb of the Cybermen, put on hold following the recovery of the story, was responsible. The other stories released were the Power of the Daleks, The Macra Terror, the Evil of the Daleks and the Fury from the Deep. For some reason I never bought these at the time!
Then in the late 1999 the started a regular CD release of these stories with a release of The Massacre, another story I passed on. However the second release, IIRC, was The Web Of Fear which was an instant buy for me. I went back and bought the Massacre and then every other release the day they came out. I can remember even now sitting on a train to Stafford and being haunted by the eerie music at the end of Fury from the Deep 3! Now all the missing story soundtracks are available commercially, although some of the original CD releases are quite pricey. Once all the individual stories were out boxed set releases of these stories commenced, starting with CD: Doctor Who - The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1964-1965) No. 1 which contains Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, Galaxy 4 and The Myth Makers.
Of course now I'm carrying the audio track to every missing episode of Doctor Who around in my pocket: I've long since turned them into MP3s and have them all on my MP3 player to listen to. Many a long train journey has been helped by a Doctor Who audio. I did two listens to this story to reblog it: the first was on a train journey to my Mum's in London when I listened to the all 7 episodes on the trot. Oddly my encounter with missing episodes for the first run of the blog ended in the same manner: listening to the Space Pirates on a train journey to London. Last week I made the same trip and got through The Faceless Ones, Evil of the Daleks and the Abominable Snowmen during the course of the trip.
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