Doctor Who - The Television Stories

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Marco Polo

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Synopsis

Meeting Marco Polo

When the TARDIS breaks down on the Roof of the World, Central Asia in 1289, its occupants are met by the explorer Marco Polo. His mammoth undertaking is to cross the desert to Peking, and before long he has set his mind on presenting the TARDIS to the emperor Kublai Khan as a gift on his arrival. Unless they can persuade Polo otherwise, The Doctor and his companions will lose their only means to escape this moment in history.

However. Polo isn’t the only one with designs on the TARDIS The warlord Tegana will go to any lengths to steal the magical blue box - lengths which endanger the lives of the whole travelling party as they are beset by drought, bandits, and the merciless desert. And when The Doctor finally meets Kublai Khan himself, the precious Ship is his only collateral in a high-stakes round of backgammon - and the Khan is a master of the game…

Source: BBC Audio

General Information

Season:	One
Production Code:	D
Story Number:	4
Episode Numbers:	14 - 20
Number of Episodes:	7
Number of Incomplete/Missing Episodes:	7
Percentage of Episodes Held:	0%
Working Titles:	"A Journey to Cathay" (whole story), "The Cave of Five Hundred Eyes" (episode 3)
Production Dates:	January - March 1964
Broadcast Started:	22 February 1964
Broadcast Finished:	04 April 1964
Colour Status:	B&W
Studio:	Ealing Television Film Studios and Lime Grove (Studio D)
Location:	None

Writer:

John Lucarotti

Directors:

John Crockett (Episode 4) and Waris Hussein (Episodes 1-3 & 5-7)

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Associate Producer:

Mervyn Pinfield

Story Editor:

David Whitaker

Production Assistant:

Tony Lightley

Assistant Floor Manager:

Jeremy Hare

Designer:

Barry Newbery

Costume Designer:

Daphne Dare

Make-Up Designer:

Ann Ferriggi

Lighting:

Dennis Channon

Incidental Music:

Tristram Cary

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Brian Hodgson

Studio Sounds:

Jack Brummitt

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Sword Fight Arranged By:

Derek Ware

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

William Hartnell (The First Doctor)

Number of Companions: 3The Companions: Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright) and William Russell (Ian Chesterton) Additional Cast: Mark Eden (Marco Polo), Derren Nesbitt (Tegana), Zienia Merton (Ping Cho), Leslie Bates (Man at Lop), ), Jimmy Gardner (Chenchu), Charles Wade (Malik), Philip Voss (Acomat), Michael Guest (Mongol bandit), Paul Carson (Ling-Tau), Gabor Baraker (Wang-Lo), Tutte Lemkow (Kuiju), Peter Lawrence (Vizier), Martin Miller (Kublai Khan), Basil Tang (Office Foreman), Claire Davenport (Empress)Setting: China (1289) Villain:Tegana

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
14	The Roof of the World	22 February 1964	24'12"	9.4	Missing
15	The Singing Sands	29 February 1964	26'34"	9.4	Missing
16	Five Hundred Eyes	07 March 1964	22'20"	9.4	Missing
17	The Wall of Lies	14 March 1964	24'48"	9.9	Missing
18	Rider From Shang-Tu	21 March 1964	23'26"	9.4	Missing
19	Mighty Kublai Khan	28 March 1964	25'36"	8.4	Missing
20	Assassin at Peking	04 April 1964	24'48"	10.4	Missing

Total Duration

2 Hours 52 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

9.5

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	71.45% (Position = 57 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	74.01% (Position = 65 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	74.61% (Position = 84 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 7 out of 29

Archives

All seven episodes lost. No footage exists.

Notes

This story is the first truly historic story and is considered to be a superb epic which is rated by many as the finest Doctor Who story ever to be transmitted.

Historical episodes such as "Marco Polo", that feature no science fiction elements beyond the basic premise of the show, were relatively common for the first few seasons of Doctor Who. "Marco Polo" is notable for featuring many educational elements, both historical and scientific, as was originally part of the show's remit. The next historical adventure arrived later in the first season with "The Aztecs", and such stories continued to be regularly featured until 1967, when the purely historical format would be discontinued after the Second Doctor story "The Highlanders".

The working title for episode three was "The Cave of Five Hundred Eyes". This was actually seen on the end of the print of the second episode in the preview for next week.

Being one of the first stories commissioned this story was originally planned to be the third story of the season.

Veteran Bollywood actress Zohra Sehgal appeared in several episodes, in an uncredited role as an attendant. She later appeared in "The Crusade" – in episode two "The Knight of Jaffa".

Although not on holiday as such, William Hartnell had only one line of dialogue in "The Singing Sands".

An animated map is used to illustrate the progress of Marco Polo's caravan journey, accompanied by voice over diary entries by Marco Polo.

This story also featured the first use of live animals in Doctor Who - these being the horses of the Mongol bearers.

Kuiju, the mercenary bandit with the pet monkey, is never referred to by name in the story's dialogue; his name is given only in the closing credits.

This story was sadly lost in the purges of the BBC archives in the 1970's – so making it the earliest completely 'missing' Doctor Who story despite it being widely sold abroad. This is one of only three stories (along with "Mission to the Unknown" and "The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve") of which not a frame of footage survives. Telesnaps (images of the show taken during transmission, photographed from a television set) do exist except for episode 4. The audio soundtrack is also intact, having been recorded "off air" during the original television transmissions.

In 2003, a three-CD set of the audio soundtrack was released, as part of the shows fortieth anniversary. This CD set is unique in containing a map of Cathay (China) as represented during the period of The Doctor's visit to China, and also explaining historical inaccuracies. Further, the first disc in the set contains data as well as audio; the data includes MP3 files of the soundtracks without additional narration (which is provided on the CDs by William Russell, filling in details when action was mostly visual), PDF files of the narration scripts, and computer wallpaper versions of the map of Cathay.

The 2006 DVD box set, The Beginning, includes a condensed 30-minute form of this story as an extra on "The Edge of Destruction" disc. This version of the story, compiled by Derek Handley, was created using the telesnaps set to an edited audio track.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first truly historic Doctor Who story.

The first Doctor Who story to use an animated map to illustrate the progress of events.

The first Doctor Who story to use live animals - these being horses used by the Mongul bearers.

The first Doctor Who story to be completely missing from the BBC archives.

The first Doctor Who story to be written by John Lucarotti.

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by John Crockett.

Story Images

Show Text

The Doctor with Susan and Ian

Transportation

Marco Polo, The Doctor, Susan and Ian

Barbara and Ian

A Happy Susan

Marco Polo

The Doctor Comforts Susan

With Marco Polo in the Gobi Desert

Ian and Ping Cho

Susan and Ping Cho

The Doctor with Kublai Khan

The Doctor with Susan

Quote of the Story

'On my travels to Cathay, Ian, I have come to believe many things I'd previously doubted. For instance, when I was a boy in Venice they told me that in Cathay there was a stone that burned. I did not believe, but there is such a stone - I have seen it... And if stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly; I have even seen fish that fly. You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today to yesterday? No Ian, that I cannot believe.'

Marco Polo

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
CD	Marco Polo	November 2003		Photo-montage	Narrated by William Russell (Ian Chesterton) Triple CD Release
CD	Marco Polo	August 2010		Photo-montage	Part of the "Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes: Collection One 1964-1965" Box Set Narrated by William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
LP	Marco Polo	September 2020		Photo-montage	Limited Edition LP - Narrated by William Russell (Ian Chesterton)

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Marco Polo	April 1984	Target No. 94	John Lucarotti	David McAllister	ISBN: 0-426-19967-7
Novel	Marco Polo	1985	Target No. 94	John Lucarotti	Book: David McAllister Box: Andrew Skilleter	Re-released as part of The Eighth Doctor Who* Gift Set* ISBN: 0-426-20207-4
CD	Marco Polo	December 2018	Target No. 94	John Lucarotti	David McAllister	Audio version of the Target Novel read by David McAllister.

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 4
Doctor Who Weekly	Issue 6 (Released: November 1979)
Doctor Who Magazine - Nostalgia	Issue 162 (Released: July 1990)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 240 (Released: July 1996)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 280 (Released: July 1999)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 281 (Released: August 1999)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 342 (Released: April 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 343 (Released: May 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 344 (Released: June 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 345 (Released: July 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 346 (Released: August 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 347 (Released: September 2004)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 483 (Released: March 2015)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 484 (Released: April 2015)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 485 (Released: May 2015)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 556 (Released: November 2020)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 557 (Released: December 2020)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 568 (Released: October 2021)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 569 (Released: November 2021)
Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive	1986 Summer Special (Released: 1986)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The First Doctor

Susan

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

On Release

Soundtrack CD Cover

AUDIO

The Lost TV Episodes: Collection One CD Cover

AUDIO

Original Television Soundtrack LP Cover

AUDIO

In Print

Target Book Cover

NOVEL

The Eighth Doctor Who Gift Set

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 4

Doctor Who Weekly: Issue 6

Doctor Who Magazine - Nostalgia: Issue 162

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 240

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 280

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 281

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 342

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 343

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 344

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 345

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 346

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 347

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 483

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 484

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 485

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 556

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 557

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 568

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 569

Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive: 1986 Summer Special

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
First Doctor

Season 1

References

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