On the Inside Cover:
Director's Notes
 You
can always guarantee that a Marc Platt script
is going to be strange, often quite disturbing
and decidedly bonkers, and this one doesn't
disappoint... on any count. Marc is a beautifully
modest sort of fellow, so sometimes in his
writing he displays this peculiar self-effacement
by almost not daring to come clean about what's
happening. Marc and I are opposite poles in
this respect, so we're quite good for each
other. He brings the unexplained mysteries
and I'm the one who says, 'But what's actually
happening. Marc?' He usually replies along
the lines of, 'Oh, didn't I say?' So after
doing the tiniest of adjustments to the script,
I was ready to embrace the wonderful strangeness
that Marc brings to Doctor Who. And it was
a strangeness that the cast themselves really
enjoyed.
At
the risk of sounding old-fashioned and a bit sexist,
I feel almost compelled to say, 'What a classy bunch
of ladies they were' - because they were! Ann Bell
was effortlessly amazing and instantly brilliant.
And, of course, this was my first encounter with
Chase Masterson, who'd been suggested to us by Frazer
Mines. She brought a little of that serious dedication
that American actors are so good at. We British types
often affect a blasé attitude to our performances,
concealing our inner passions, whereas Chase was
often to be found, outside, in the freezing cold,
going through her lines. Her glamorous attire during
the photo call was, however, enough to warm everyone
up.
NICHOLAS BRIGGS
Writer's Notes
'Write
from what you know' is one of the oldest maxims for writers. But with science
fantasy/horror, experience really isn't enough. 'Write from what you imagine'
is better. Mixing the two is best of all. Write from what you know you
fear.
I
have a problem with three o'clock in the morning. If I'm worrying, that's
when I lie awake fearing the worst. It's been like that for years. It's
just my overripe imagination, of course. Or maybe it isn't. Suppose there
is something that feeds on all that anxiety. Something hungry that passes
over every night at three in the morning.
But
despite all the worries, this was a great day in studio. I love Leela tempting
poor Trevor with jelly babies; I love Tom Baker rhyming quarrel with barrel;
I love the team at Mount McKerry Observatory - at each other's throats
like all good theatrical families. And when I heard that Jamie Robertson
was doing the sound and music, I gave an automatic cheer. This may be a
Christmas release, but there's no tinsel in sight. Ghost stories have always
been for Christmas too.
And
when dawn finally breaks, we find that all the worries were nothing at
all. The biggest, scariest, hungriest no-thing of them all.
MARC PLATT
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