 "Ghost Light" was written by Marc Platt and is his first, and only, televised Doctor Who story during the original run of the show. This story is also the last Doctor Who story, of the original run of the show, to be recorded.
Marc Platt had been a fan of the show and had been attempting to secure a commission from the production office since the mid-Seventies. This included a story set on Gallifrey called "Fires of the Starmind", and a story called "Warmongers" that featured a conflict between the Sontarans and the Rutans during the Blitz. These were rejected by the Script Editors that were in post at the time. Despite these rejections it was felt that Marc Platt showed a lot of promise. Marc Platt’s most ambitious idea for a story was when in 1984 he submitted a story called "Cat's Cradle". This though was a complex adventure in which the TARDIS turned into a bizarre landscape across which time flowed in bizarre patterns. And even though Andrew Cartmel liked it very much, it was felt that it was far too ambitious for Doctor Who's humble budget. Undeterred Marc Platt developed two further new ideas. One was inspired by the Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, that was titled "Shrine" and concerned aliens searching for their reincarnated God-King in 1820 Russia. The other was called "Lungbarrow", and featured The Doctor returning to his ancestral home on Gallifrey - the Lungbarrow of the title. There, he would face his deepest fears by confronting his strange cousins.
"Lungbarrow" hewed very closely to Andrew Cartmel’s desire to make The Doctor’s background more mysterious, but producer John Nathan-Turner feared that it also revealed too much of the character’s origins. Nonetheless, Andrew Cartmel thought that the basic ideas of the storyline - the Gothic mansion setting, the oddball characters and the theme of facing one's fears - held considerable promise. Marc Platt agreed to rework "Lungbarrow", and together he and Andrew Cartmel devised the idea of making evolution a central theme of the adventure. They also decided that the story should feature Ace, rather than The Doctor, dealing with her fears.
Initially it was renamed to "The Bestiary", but John Nathan-Turner disliked this and asked for it to be changed. The scripts then gained the working title "Life-Cycle" by the time they were commissioned in November 1988. This story was given its final title in May 1989.
As Marc Platt’s script evolved some of the background Ben Aaronovitch had created for Ace while writing the novelisation of his "Remembrance of the Daleks", were included - specifically the firebombing of her friend Manisha’s apartment. During the early stages of development, Light was silent and had wings (which he used to smother the maid in episode three); the latter element was abandoned due to concerns that they could not be effectively realised. John Nathan-Turner asked Marc Platt to include a standard monster element in the story, and so Platt devised the husks in the basement, representing Josiah Smith’s earlier evolutionary forms. Originally, there was to have been three husks, with a fish-man joining the insectoid and reptilian versions. Their faces were also intended to incorporate echoes of Josiah Smith's human features, but these details were essentially lost.
The main theme of this story derives from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Marc Platt also drew from several Victorian literary sources, particularly as inspiration for the characters. The most obvious is George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion - in particular Control's evolution into a ‘ladylike’ – There is even a scene where Ace has her repeat a presumably mis-remembered version of the ‘Rain in Spain rhyme from the play to improve her speech, and at one point The Doctor refers to Ace as ‘Eliza’.
Mrs Grose is named after the housekeeper of the same name in another haunted house story, Henry James' 1898 novel The Turn of the Screw. Gwendoline was originally called Maud, after the character Maud Ruthyn in the 1864 Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu novel Uncle Silas; the name had to be changed due to a BBC adaptation of the book called "The Dark Angel" that was set to air around the same time. Redvers Fenn-Cooper was based on H Rider Haggard's classic adventure character Allan Quatermain, who debuted in King Solomon's Mines.
Other allusions and references to late 19th and early 20th century literature include: Arthur Conan Doyle (Fenn Cooper mentions the author laughing at tales of giant lizards); Joseph Conrad (‘Light... Burning bright in the heart of the interior’); Robert Louis Stevenson (‘Which is the Jekyll, and which is the Hyde?’); Bram Stoker (Ace's reference to Dracula, and Control eating a cockroach); Mary Shelley (‘I wanted to see how it worked, so I dismantled it’).
There are also many references to Lewis Carroll's Alice. Gwendolyn calls Ace Alice, The Doctors refers to the elevator ride as ‘the rabbit hole’ and when he tells Light that not all forms of life are catalogued he starts naming imaginary creatures such as dragons and griffins, and then goes on to mention ‘the bandersnatchers, the slithy toves.
In the dinner scene, The Doctor asks rhetorically, ‘Who was it said Earthmen never invite their ancestors round to dinner?’ This refers to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams had been Script Editor during Season Sixteen and wrote or co-wrote three stories in which he included several references to his other works. The Doctor makes a reference to the Fourth Doctor story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", which also took place in Victorian England, and is also heard quoting the Beatles (‘It's been a hard day's night).
This story includes distinguished stage and screen actress Sylvia Syms. She plays the part of Mrs Pritchard.
Frank Windsor, who played the part of Inspector Mackenzie, previously played the part of Ranulf in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "The King's Demons".
Michael Cochrane, who played the part of Redvers Fenn-Cooper previously appeared as Cranleigh in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Black Orchid".
The part of Gwendoline was played by Katharine Schlesinger. However, on the closing credits of the first two episodes her first name is misspelt 'Katherine'. This was corrected on the version of the story when it was released on BBC video in May 1994.
As with the previous two years, the final six episodes of Season Twenty Six were divided into two three-part stories, to be made by the same production team. One was all-studio and the other made entirely on location. "Ghost Light" was the all-studio story while the location-only story was "Survival".
Both stories were directed by Alan Wareing who started work on this story immediately after he completed work on "Survival".
This story’s lone piece of location work - the establishing shots of the mansion, Gabriel Chase - was recorded at Weymouth in Dorset during the final recording block for "Survival" as there was no location budget for this story.
Studio work was split up between two blocks, one lasting two days and the other over three days. One key scene from the third episode that was not completed, due to time constraints, featured Inspector Mackenzie encountering the night maids and Mrs Pritchard as they prepare to leave, whereupon one of the maids chases him with a machete. This explains why he is hurrying and muttering about Gabriel Chase being ‘a mad house’ just prior to his death by Light.
Several scenes were cut or trimmed in post-production due to the story running overlength. These included Nimrod resigning his position, Light preventing Inspector Mackenzie from leaving Gabriel Chase by causing the door to become bolted, and material expanding on the spy devices Josiah Smith has secreted in the upper observatory where the TARDIS had materialised.
The Doctor is heard asking Redvers Fenn-Cooper if his gun is a Chinese fowling piece. He could be remembering Professor Litefoot’s weapon (see the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang").
The Doctor says that he knows a nice little Indian restaurant near the Khyber Pass.
A genuine period song is utilised, the highly appropriate ‘That's the Way to the Zoo’. This song, played by Gwendoline on the piano in the first episode, was composed by J F Mitchell. It was played off-stage by Alasdair Nicolson.
This story is considered by many to be one of the best stories of the Seventh Doctor’s era. However, it usually requires more than one viewing to fully understand the storyline and for it to be understood. In particular, the function of Josiah Smith and Control is never clearly explained. The plot is only fully explained in the DVD special feature Light in Dark Places.
The story has though been criticised as having an indistinct storyline with various sub-plots staggered throughout. It has been revealed that at the time of recording even the cast and director were confused by the script, and so had to make repeated calls to Marc Platt for explanations.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: When The Doctor tests Redvers Fenn-Cooper for radiation a cameraman’s reflection can be seen in the door of the open cabinet that Redvers Fenn-Cooper is looking into; When Ace pushes the maid into the room and slams the door behind her in the third episode, the wall is seen to wobble. The wall proves equally unstable a few scenes later, as Gwendoline and the maid break out; It is never explained why Josiah Smith thinks that killing the Queen will mean that he takes over the British Empire.
This story is the first in what some have termed the ‘Ace Trilogy’, a three-story arc that explores the turbulent personal history of The Doctor's companion, Ace. Such detailed exploration of a companion’s earlier life was unusual in the original run of the show, although it has become one of the main features of the show when it was revived in 2005. These three stories also linked to some extent by the concept of evolution, which features strongly in this story and "Survival", and to a much lesser extent in "The Curse of Fenric".
In the Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Blood Heat", written by Jim Mortimore, it is revealed that Ace's friend Manisha died in the firebomb that torched her flat.
IDW Publishing’s Tenth Doctor comic strip story "The Time Machination" reveals that Torchwood One investigated the events at Gabriel Chase.
Initially it had been planned that this story would be the third story of this season, after "Battlefield" and The Curse of Fenric", but it was later decided to position it between these two action-oriented stories.
As revealed in the production notes for the DVD release, the story was renamed "Das Haus der tausend Schrecken" ("The House of the Thousand Frights/Horrors") upon translation into German.
"Ghost Light" was the final Doctor Who story to be made by the BBC until its co-production of the 1996 Eighth Doctor film "Doctor Who: The Movie". It was the last story filmed at the BBC studios in London. The final-ever produced scene is the one where Mrs Pritchard and her daughter Gwendoline are turned into stone. This story though was not the last to be broadcast as both "The Curse of Fenric" and "Survival", which were recorded beforehand, followed this story in transmission order.
"Ghost Light" marked the final regular participation in the show for a number of people. These included: Sophie Aldred (who was only contracted for the first eight episodes of what would have been Season Twenty Seven); Alan Waring (who continued to direct with work including Ghoul-Lashed - alongside Sylvester McCoy); Marc Platt (who had two stories under consideration for Season Twenty Seven. One featured the Ice Warriors terraforming Mars. The other which was set in the 1960’s and would have introduced a new semi-regular character - an ex-gangland boss - to the show). Marc Platt was also being considered to replace Andrew Cartmel once the latter stepped down as Doctor Who's script editor) and of course Andrew Cartmel and John Nathan-Turner.
This story, however, was not Sylvester McCoy’s last involvement in a televised Doctor Who story as he would record a regeneration scene for the 1996 Eighth Doctor film "Doctor Who: The Movie".
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The Firsts:
The first of three loosely connected stories known as the Ace Trilogy.
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Marc Platt.
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(Position = 37 out of 159)
(Position = 76 out of 200)
(Position = 80 out of 241)
