 This is the fourth of six linked stories that comprise the whole of Season Sixteen, known collectively as The Key to Time.
A submission for this slot by author Ted Lewis was originally in development, but was cancelled in favour of this submission by David Fisher who had also penned the previous story "The Stones of Blood".
"The Androids of Tara" is an obvious parody of the Anthony Hope novel "The Prisoner of Zenda". In fact, among the working titles were "The Androids of Zenda", "The Androids of Zend" and "The Prisoners of Zend". Another working title was "The Seeds of Time".
In constructing his scripts, David Fisher broadly followed Anthony Hope’s outline of his novel including many analogous characters. Prince Rudolf became Prince Reynart (so called after Renart the Fox, the French folkloric character popularised in Pierre de Saint Cloud’s twelfth-century novel "Le roman de Renart"), Antoinette de Maubin became Madame Lamia (named for a female demon in Greek mythology), Sapt became Zadek, Fritz von Tarlenheim became Farrah, and Princess Flavia became Princess Strella. The novel’s two chief villains, Duke Michael and Rupert of Hentzau, were combined into the person of Count Grendel (whose name was drawn from the antagonist of the epic poem Beowulf). The role of the novel’s hero, Rudolf Rassendyll, was essentially shared by The Doctor and the android ‘George’. The Archimandrite's title, meanwhile, was actually that a senior abbot in orthodox Christian churches.
David Fisher set his scripts on the planet Tara, after the ancestral seat of the kings of Ireland (and, according to mythology, of the supernatural Tuatha dé Danann). He had hoped that Tara might be populated by animals resembling creatures of legend, such as unicorns (which might be natural or mechanical), and originally envisaged Till as a dwarf rather than a hunchback. It has been revealed that David Fisher was very proud of Count Grendel, and decided to have him escape death at the climax of this story so that he might potentially be brought back for a return appearance (although, in the event, no such story was ever formally planned).
Peter Jeffrey, who played Count Grendel, previously played the colony pilot in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Macra Terror".
Declan Mulholland, who played the part of Till, previously played Clark in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Sea Devils".
The part of Archimandrite was played by Cyril Shaps. This is Cyril Shaps’ fourth and final appearance in Doctor Who, the others being the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and the Third Doctor stories "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970) and "Planet of the Spiders" (1974). This is his only appearance in which his character is not killed over the course of the story.
This story contains some excellent location footage shot at Leeds Castle in Kent - although the glass-painted additions to the Castle, intended to give it a more fairytale quality, never look anything other than false. There were however, several problems with recording around the castle moat. One of the scenes recorded was of The Doctor fishing. During one take, Tom Baker inadvertently tossed the antique fishing rod he was using into the water resulting in Stunt Arranger Terry Walsh having to wade into the water to rescue it. Another water-related mishap occurred when a sound engineer accidentally fell into the moat while shooting the scenes of K9 in the boat.
The first episode was original broadcast just days after the fifteenth anniversary of the broadcast of the first episode of "An Unearthly Child" – the very first Doctor Who story.
Unusually the opening titles for this story were in a different order from others at this point in the show’s history. The order was story title, episode number, writer’s name, as opposed to story title, writer’s name, episode number.
The dating of this story is not explicitly stated in the story itself. A comment by The Doctor that he is entitled to a holiday every 500 years has been taken literally by some fans who have dated this story 500 years after "The Stones of Blood", in 2478.
Mary Tamm is able to show off her acting skills in this story by playing four roles. She doubles as both Romana and Princess Strella as well as their android duplicates.
K9 it seems is programmed with all world chess championships since 1866.
Tara is obviously an ex-colony of Earth, since, even though they’ve given their zodiac 16 houses, a lot of the signs are the same. Tara is also the name of the capital where coronations are held. A monarchy exists, justified by the Archimandrite. Numerous small powers however, support the throne feudally. Hunting, particularly of native mammalian beasts, is a sport. Swords are electrified, and crossbows fire energy bolts.
The peasants are looked down on, but are the only android creators. It is revealed the androids were developed androids to replace the nine tenths of the population who were wiped out in a plague 200 years previously. Some horses may also be androids.
One amusing scene is where it is revealed that Romana does not know what a horse is and is seen looking for the starter!
Although Mary Tamm is a skilled horse-rider, she refused to do the horse-riding sequence herself because she could not wear a helmet and felt that the potential of an accident was too great.
It is revealed that the TARDIS has an alphabetical wardrobe, including the latest Taran fashions (although the frock that Romana chooses is different from everything else on the planet!).
According to the DVD commentary for this story, Mary Tamm herself designed Romana’s distinctive purple outfit after the originally planned costume proved unsuitable.
It is very clear that Romana in this story was made to look like a princesses so that she is the spitting image of Princess Strella. Later on in the 1979 story "Destiny of the Daleks", the second incarnation of Romana takes the form of Princess Astra of Atrios at the end of "The Armageddon Factor".
Look out for the scene in episode three when The Doctor enters the Pavillion of the Summer Winds and shuts the door. As it slowly swings open again a hand appears from behind the set wall and pulls the door closed.
Another error can be seen when Count Grendal is inspecting Romana’s android duplicate, his arm crosses the line where the screen is split (to allow Mary Tamm to be in two places at once) and so disappears.
This story was repeated on BBC One in August 1979.
The Short Trips short story, "The Trials of Tara", is a sequel to this story set some months after this story and has Count Grendel recruiting the Kandy Man to assist in his schemes, making this story contemporary with the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "The Happiness Patrol".
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Michael Hayes.
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(Position = 81 out of 159)
(Position = 95 out of 200)
