 This story was the second of three loosely connected stories known as the "E-Space trilogy". The trilogy began in the previous story, "Full Circle", and concludes in "Warriors' Gate".
This story was a re-written version of a story called "The Vampire Mutations" (also known as "The Witch Lords") which Terrance Dicks had submitted to the show in 1977. However, it had to be put on hold just before production began due to fears of a possible conflict with the BBC’s Count Dracula - a high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel "Dracula". Terrance Dicks’ replacement script, to open Season Fifteen, was "Horror of Fang Rock".
The final script, for "State of Decay" had to be reworked from previous drafts as they included Leela – The Doctor’s companion during 1977 – instead of Adric. Terrance Dicks however, struggled to add Adric into the revised script and so this character has little input to the main plot.
This story has strong roots with the vampire genre (K9 mentions ‘the legend of Count Dracula’'), especially "Vampire Circus" (vampires killing children), "Kiss of the Vampire" and the rest of Hammer vampire cycle (the castle, the villagers terrified of strangers, etc.).
This was the first script worked on by new Script Editor Christopher H. Bidmead, as the previous production team had not left any scripts for the new team in any sort of preparation for another year.The director assigned to this story was Peter Moffatt. This was his first Doctor Who credit, although other commitments had forced him to turn down previous offers of work on Doctor Who by the shows’ previous Producer, Graham Williams. Peter Moffatt had previously directed programmes like All Creatures Great and Small (with John Nathan-Turner), No Hiding Place, Dial M For Murder and Juliet Bravo.As well as directing this story Peter Moffatt was also tasked with helping John Nathan-Turner and Executive Producer Barry Letts to find an actor to play the part of Adric. During March, a young BBC filing clerk named Matthew Waterhouse was suggested to the team by internal casting adviser Jenny Jenkins. Matthew Waterhouse was a long time fan of Doctor Who and at the time held a membership in The Doctor Who Appreciation Society as well as having had a letter published in the fledgling Doctor Who Weekly magazine. Matthew Waterhouse was just embarking on his acting career, having recently been cast in two episodes of To Serve Them All My Days. Nonetheless, the production team was impressed by Matthew Waterhouse’s obvious energy, and decided to give him the role of Adric.
"State of Decay" was the first story Matthew Waterhouse filmed. Adric actually appeared in the preceding story but only becomes a companion in this story having stowed away in the TARDIS at the end of "Full Circle".
Having already requested that a more permanent ‘uniform’ for The Doctor be introduced in "The Leisure Hive", John Nathan-Turner similarly asked that Adric be given an outfit which he would wear regularly. This was created by Costume Designer Amy Roberts.
Having been sick throughout the making of “The Leisure Hive“, the previous story to be recorded, for the only time during his era as The Doctor, Tom Baker had to have his hair permed before filming commenced as his ill health had resulted in his hair losing its natural curl.
There is no voice credit for K9 in Part Two as he does not speak in this episode.
This story was the fourth story to be transmitted during Season Eighteen, although it was the second that went into production.
Only two days of location footage in Buckinghamshire were used for this story.
The name of the spaceship of ‘The Three Who Rule’ was amended from the Hyperion to the Hydrax when it was realised that another vessel called the Hyperion had already appeared in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Mutants".
Unfortunately, designer Christine Ruscoe’s attempts to portray the sets as being made of ancient metals appeared more like wood on camera, undermining Christopher H. Bidmead’s attempts to play up the science-fiction aspects of the scripts.
This story and the following "Warriors' Gate" featured an improved K9 prop.
K9 is heard to state that there are 18,348 emergency procedures in the TARDIS data core and that his memory contains vampire legends from 17 inhabited planets.
K9 also states that the planet has a day equivalent to 23.3 earth hours, a year to 350 earth days and that the planet has remained unchanged for thousands of years. If The Doctor is correct, in the 1986 The Trial of a Time Lord season of stories, about the Time Lord war with the Great Vampires taking place ‘back in the misty dawn of history, when Rassilon was young’, it could be millions of years.
It is revealed that the Earth ship Hydrax was en route to Beta Two in the Perugellis sector when it was drawn through the CVE into E-space by the Great Vampire, using science officer Anthony O’Connor as a conduit.
The Doctor mentions his childhood on Gallifrey when he is heard telling Romana ‘There was once an old hermit from the mountains of South Gallifrey...'. It is generally felt that these references refer to K'Anpo (see the Third Doctor stories "The Time Monster" and "Planet of the Spiders"). The hermit used to tell The Doctor ghost stories, one of which concerned the Time Lord’s war with the Giant Vampires (‘They came out of nowhere and swarmed... all over the universe’).
It is revealed that Romana used to work in the Bureau of Ancient Records and once saw a reference to ‘The Record of Rassilon’. This, The Doctor discovers, is held in all type 40 TARDIS’s on magnetic card. It describes how Rassilon created bow ships which fired bolts of steel to kill the vampires and that all except one were destroyed. A directive states that the vampires are ‘the enemy of our people, and of all living things’.
Vampire cardiovascular systems are very complex and hence they can only be killed by a direct blow to the heart. During Rassilon’s war against the vampires all but one was destroyed (the King Vampire).
The Great Vampires are mentioned by the Tenth Doctor in "The Infinite Quest".
Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Blood Harvest", by Terrance Dicks, and The Missing Adventures novel "Goth Opera", by Paul Cornell, are both sequels to this story. Other Doctor Who stories featuring vampires include BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "Vampire Science", by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, and BBC Books’ The Past Doctors Stories novel "Warmonger", by Terrance Dicks.
Many of the novels feature references to the war between the Time Lords and the Vampires. Another anti-Vampire weapon, the N-Forms, were introduced by Russell T Davies in Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Damaged Goods". Bowships are mentioned in The Doctor Who Annual 2006 as one of the weapons used in the Time War against the Daleks, along with N-Forms and Black Hole Carriers.
The Fourth Doctor’s segment of the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "The Eight Doctors", by Terrance Dicks, in which the Fourth Doctor is captured by the last few surviving vampires and is rescued by Romana and the Eighth Doctor, takes place between the destruction of the Great Vampire and the end of this story (Adric and K9 miss the Eighth Doctor’s arrival due to them remaining in the TARDIS to recuperate from the events of this story).
The Big Finish Productions audio stories: "Project: Twilight", "Project Lazarus", and "Zagreus" refer to the vampires and to their history with the Time Lords. The BBC audio webcast "Death Comes to Time" also features a vampire named Nessican. The Doctor has also faced vampire-like creatures in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "The Curse of Fenric", the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Smith and Jones" and the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Vampires of Venice". All these stories except "Zagreus" depict vampires different from the ones seen in "State of Decay".
The Seventh Doctor’s companion Bernice Summerfield also encounters three sets of vampires, including a servant of the ancient Vampires from "State of Decay", in the novella collection "The Vampire Curse".
"State of Decay" features the largest quantities of blood ever seen in a Doctor Who story - by a considerable margin!
This story contains a number of errors: The Doctor says the Tower decor is rococo when actually it's late Saxon/early Romanesque; In episode three a rebel bursts into The Doctor’s cell catching him across the nose with the door (Tom Baker appears slightly stunned, and misses his next cue); Why is Kalmar so concerned to get back to Earth when he and his people have never been there?
At one point The Doctor misquotes William Shakespeare’s "Henry V" (‘He who outlives this day and comes safe home shall stand a tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of E-Space!’) and "Hamlet" (‘That is the question’).
A novelisation of this story, written by Terrance Dicks, was published, in hardback, by W. H. Allen Ltd in September 1981, with the paperback version, from Target Books, following in January 1982.
A condensed version of this book was also released on audio cassette narrated by Tom Baker, who was not in character as The Doctor. Originally this audio book was released on a single cassette by Pickwick International in 1981. It was then re-released on two cassettes by Ditto in 1985. In both versions it can be seen that the image on the cassette cover has been flipped, the writing on the TARDIS is a mirror image. The blurb on the back of the cardboard box, of the version released by Ditto, described the story thus: ‘Trapped in an alternative Universe The Doctor lands on a sinister planet ruled by an unholy trio of tyrants. Aided by Romana and the faithful K9, The Doctor must discover the dreadful secret of the Dark Tower and face the awakening horror that lies beneath it’.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Peter Moffatt.
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(Position = 45 out of 159)
(Position = 87 out of 200)
(Position = 109 out of 241)
