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Jon Pertwee
The Ambassadors of Death
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Synopsis


An Ambassador
An Ambassador
 When all communication is lost from Mars Probe 7 shortly after it leaves Mars and begins its trip back to Earth, a second craft is launched to investigate. As Recovery 7 docks in space, it too loses all communication...

 The Doctor and UNIT are given the task of investigating the mystery, as Recovery 7 returns to Earth. It appears that no one can be trusted, as the space capsule is hijacked from its UNIT convoy with military precision. What has happened to the missing astronauts? Could this be a secret invasion from Mars, or is the enemy much closer to home?

 As The Doctor plans a daring space mission of his own, his assistant Liz Shaw goes missing. Who is working against UNIT in order to bring mankind into conflict with an alien race?

Source: BBC VHS Video


General Information

Season: Seven
Production Code: CCC
Story Number: 53
Episode Numbers:265 - 271
Number of Episodes: 7
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Working Titles:"The Invaders from Mars", "The Carriers of Death" and "The Ambassadors"
Production Dates: January - March 1970
Broadcast Started: 21 March 1970
Broadcast Finished: 02 May 1970
Colour Status: Colour and B&W
Studio: BBC Television Centre (TC1, TC3 and TC4)
Location: Little Marlow Sewage Treatment Works, Folley's Gravel Pit and Marlow Weir (Buckinghamshire), Southall Gas Works (Middlesex), TCC Condensers (Ealing), Wycombe Air Park (High Wycombe), Blue Circle Cement Works (Northfleet, Kent), Aldershot and Beacon Hill.
Writers:David Whitaker, Malcolm Hulke (Uncredited) and Trevor Ray (Uncredited)
Director:Michael Ferguson
Producer:Barry Letts
Script Editor:Terrance Dicks
Editors:Chris Wimble and Don Goddard
Production Assistant:Nicholas John
Assistant Floor Manager:Margot Hayhoe
Designer:David Myerscough-Jones
Costume Designer:Christine Rawlins
Make-Up Designers:Marion Richards and Teresa Wright
Cameramen:A A Englander and Tony Leggo
Lighting:Dave Sydenham, Geoff Shaw and Ralph Walton
Visual Effects:Ian Scoones and Peter Day
Incidental Music:Dudley Simpson
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Brian Hodgson
Studio Sounds:Brian Hiles and Gordon Mackie
Title Sequence:Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Stunts/Action By: HAVOC
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)
Number of Companions: 3The Companions: Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton) (Rejoins) and Caroline John (Liz Shaw) Guest Cast: Ronald Allen (Ralph Cornish) Additional Cast: Robert Cawdron (Taltalian), John Abineri (General Carrington), Ric Felgate (Van Lyden), Michael Wisher (John Wakefield), Cheryl Molineaux (Miss Rutherford), Ray Armstrong (Grey), Robert Robertson (Collinson), Dallas Cavell (Quinlan), Bernard Martin (Control Room Assistant), Joanna Ross (Control Room Assistant), Carl Conway (Control Room Assistant), Juan Moreno (Dobson), James Haswell (Corporal Champion), Derek Ware (Unit Sergeant), William Dysart (Reegan), Cyril Shaps (Lennox), Gordon Sterne (Heldorf), Steve Peters (Astronauts), Neville Simons (Astronauts), Ric Felgate (Astronauts), Max Faulkner (Unit Soldier), John Lord (Masters), Tony Harwood (Flynn), James Clayton (Private Parker), Roy Scammell (Technician), Peter Noel Cook (Alien Space Captain), Peter Halliday (Alien Voices), Steve Peters (Lefee), Neville Simons (Michaels), Geoffrey Beevers (Private Johnson)Setting: Earth and Earth Orbit (1970s) Villains:General Carrington and Reegan

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
265Episode 121 March 197024'33"7.1PAL 2" colour videotape and 16mm B&W telerecording
266Episode 228 March 197024'39"7.616mm B&W telerecording
267Episode 304 April 197024'38"8.016mm B&W telerecording
268Episode 411 April 197024'37"9.316mm B&W telerecording
269Episode 518 April 197024'17"7.1PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
270Episode 625 April 197024'31"6.9PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
271Episode 702 May 197024'32"6.416mm B&W telerecording

Total Duration 2 Hours 52 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.5
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)69.33%  (Position = 73 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2003)414 Points (Position = 39 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)71.64% Higher (Position = 90 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)72.81% Higher (Position = 96 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 15 out of 24


Archives


 All seven episodes exist as 16mm Black and White telerecordings. Episode one also exists on PAL 2" colour videotape. PAL D3 colour restorations also exist of episodes 5 and 6 (due to colour faults episodes 2-4 and 7 could not be restored and episode 6 is not considered broadcastable).



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Notes


"The Ambassadors of Death" is a much maligned story, by many fans of the show, where the aliens aren't the villains.

This story is similar to The Quatermass Experiment, where a returning astronaut was also replaced by an alien.

It is the earliest story originally made in colour for which much of the colour footage is lost; only the first episode was retained in its original colour format – making it the earliest episode that survives in the show's original videotaped format, either in colour or black and white.

The working title for this story included: "The Invaders from Mars". This became the title of a Big Finish Productions audio story.

This story was initially developed to feature the Second Doctor and his last companions, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. As such, it was set well into the future, and did not include UNIT. When all three actors left the programme at the end of Season Six, it was rewritten to fit the consequential revamp of the show.

Though David Whitaker is credited as the writer he only penned draft scripts through to episode 3. Trevor Ray penned the final version of the first episode and Malcolm Hulke finalized the scripts for the remaining six episodes. This story was David Whitaker's last, and least favourite, Doctor Who story. It was also the last Doctor Who story with his name on it and is amongst his final BBC work.

Unlike "Doctor Who and the Silurians", in which new producer Barry Letts had experimented with the recording pattern, "The Ambassadors of Death" employed the traditional studio schedule of completing one episode every seven days.

The opening title sequences of this story are unique for the show. The opening titles of this story start with the normal music and graphics, yet immediately they fade after the Doctor Who title caption. There is then a short "teaser" for episode one, and episodes 2-7 feature a reprise of the previous episode's cliffhanger before resuming to display the story title, writer and episode number captions. For the story title the words ‘The Ambassadors’, appear first on screen followed by ‘of Death’ zooming into view accompanied by a musical "sting". This experiment was not repeated after this story.

For episode five the production team decided to replace the role of the scripted sergeant (whose surname was apparently West) with John Levene as Sergeant Benton. This was to be his first regular appearance as Sergeant Benton. The character had been introduced as a Corporal in the previous season's "The Invasion", the story which had introduced the UNIT concept, and had already been invited back for "Inferno", the next story in production.

Caroline John's husband, Geoffrey Beevers played the part of Private Johnson. This story also features a guest appearance by Ronald Allen.

Actor Michael Wisher also appears in the role of John Wakefield, a television reporter. Michael Wisher later became best known for playing Davros in the Season Twelve story "Genesis of the Daleks" and made numerous other appearances in the show.

During this story it is revealed that The Doctor’s yellow roadster, Bessie, is fitted with an 'anti-theft device' which sticks the villain to the car.

This story is another example of the UNIT dating controversy. In this story, the UK is already engaging in manned space missions to Mars and Jupiter, yet this would seem to contradict "The Christmas Invasion", where it is revealed that the UK has only just sent out its first unmanned probe to Mars in search of life.

The Brigadier is arrested by a superior for the second time in three stories. Also there is a different UNIT lab - indicating that UNIT has more than one HQ.

Apart from The Brigadier, who retained his regular uniform, all UNIT ranks wore new futuristic-looking uniforms which only ever feature in this story. The usual velcro-fastened jacket, shirt and tie were replaced on this occasion with a zip-up jacket without lapels worn over a polo-neck sweater.

The Doctor it seems is still nursing a grudge against The Brigadier for blowing up the Silurian hibernation chambers in the previous story "Doctor Who and the Silurians".

One interesting scene is where The Doctor is fixing the TARDIS's time vector generator, which sends Liz Shaw 10 seconds into the future.

Unusually, to save on costs, the Recovery 7 set was a co-financed venture between the Doctor Who production office and the BBC drama series Doomwatch, for which it served as Sunfire One in the episode "Re-Entry Forbidden".

The Mars Probe space program appeared in two of Virgin Books' Doctor Who novels. "Who Killed Kennedy" revealed that the shuttles were developed from technology taken from International Electromatics. While in the Virgin Books' The New Adventures story "The Dying Days" it was revealed that the program was abandoned when Mars Probe 13 accidentally encountered the Ice Warriors and it was agreed that Earth would stay away from their territory. The Tenth Doctor story, "The Christmas Invasion", also involves aliens attacking Earth after they intercept a probe sent to Mars and the Big Finish Productions audio story "Red Dawn" also features a manned mission to Mars.

This story includes some excellent model sequences of Mars Probe 7, Recovery 7 and the alien spaceship, accompanied by some unusual and highly effective incidental music courtesy of Dudley Simpson.

This was the first story to credit on-screen the Havoc stunt organisation, though this group (managed by Derek Ware) had been employed on the show since the 1966 First Doctor story "The Smugglers".

A trailer created specially for this story exists on the master tape of episode 7 of the previous story, "Doctor Who and the Silurians".

All seven episodes exist as 16mm Black & White telerecordings, and episode one also exists on PAL 2" colour videotape. Syndicated NTSC versions were sent abroad prior to the wiping of the original colour videotapes but these could not be found. An early domestic video recording, made from a US transmission in the 1970s, was later found to exist (in episodic form) and made available to the BBC in hopes of a re-colourisation. However, faults in the colour signal (a rainbow-coloured pattern of interference) were deemed to great to allow re-colourisation of episodes 2-4 and 7. PAL D3 colour restorations of episodes 5 and 6 have been made even though episode 6 still has many of these colour faults and so is not considered broadcastable.

In May 2002, a restoration project for the story's VHS release combined the usable colour information from the domestic recordings with the black and white picture from the film prints, creating a high-quality colour picture. Over half of the story's running time is presented in colour, including all of episodes 1 and 5, and sections from episodes 2, 3, 6 and 7. The remaining footage, including all of episode 4, was deemed unsuitable for restoration, and so remains in black-and-white.

A novelisation of this story, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in May 1987 and was the final Third Doctor story to be adapted. The Third Doctor's era was, as a result, the first to be completely adapted by Target Books, to be followed over the next few years by the eras for the First Doctor, Seventh Doctor, and Second Doctor, plus the single televised Eighth Doctor story, in that order.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 John Levene's first full story as official companion, Sergeant Benton.

 The first story to include an on-screen credit for the Havoc stunt organisation

 The first Doctor Who story to be written by Trevor Ray.


The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

 Writer David Whitaker's last involvement in the show.

 The last Third Doctor story to be novelised by Target Books.


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Story Images

Show Text
An Ambassador
An Ambassador
The TARDIS Console
The TARDIS Console
The Brigadier
The Brigadier
The Doctor is Attacked
The Doctor is Attacked
 
The Brigadier, The Doctor and Liz
The Brigadier, The Doctor and Liz
Ambassadors on Guard
Ambassadors on Guard
An Ambassador
An Ambassador
Liz Shaw
Liz Shaw
 
Liz Shaw and The Doctor
Liz Shaw and The Doctor
Liz is Threatened
Liz is Threatened
Recovery 7 Capsule
Recovery 7 Capsule
General Carrington
General Carrington
 




Quote of the Story


 'I don't know what came down in Recovery 7, but it certainly wasn't human!'

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
VHS
The Ambassadors of DeathMay 2002BBCV 7265Photo-montageEpisodes 1 and 5 are in colour, with the other episodes altering between colour and black & white footage depending on availability of source material (nearly 90 total minutes in colour)
Audio
CD
The Ambassadors of DeathAugust 2009Photo-montageNarrated by Caroline John (Liz Shaw) Double CD Release Includes a bonus interview with Caroline John
Video
DVD
The Ambassadors of DeathOctober 2012BBCDVD 3484Photo-montage
Audio
CD
Classic TV Adventures - Collection TwoOctober 2017Photo-montagePart of the "Classic TV Adventures Collection Two" Box Set Narrated by Caroline John (Liz Shaw)


In Print

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)PublisherAuthorCover ArtRemarks
Novel
Novel
The Ambassadors of DeathOctober 1987Target No. 121Terrance DicksTony MaseroISBN: 0-426-20305-4
Novel
Novel
The Ambassadors of DeathMarch 1991Target No. 121Terrance DicksAlister PearsonVirgin new cover reprint.
ISBN: 0-426-20305-4
CD
CD
The Ambassadors of DeathJanuary 2018Target No. 121Terrance DicksTony MaseroAudio version of the Target Novel read by Geoffrey Beevers (The Master).
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Issue 53
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/FeatureIssue 45 (Released: October 1980)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 252 (Released: June 1997)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 323 (Released: November 2002)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 324 (Released: December 2002)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 564 (Released: June 2021)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 565 (Released: July 2021)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
Jon Pertwee
The Third Doctor

   

Nicholas Courtney
The Brigadier
John Levene
Sergeant Benton
Caroline John
Liz Shaw
   




On Release

VHS Video Cover
VHS Video Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Soundtrack CD Cover
Soundtrack CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Classic TV Adventures Collection Two CD Cover
Classic TV Adventures Collection Two CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
   



In Print

Original Target Book Cover
Original Target Book Cover

Target
NOVEL
Reprinted Virgin Book Cover
Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

Virgin
NOVEL
Target Audio CD Cover
Target Audio CD Cover

BBC
CD
   


Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 53
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 53

CMS
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature: Issue 45
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature: Issue 45

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 252
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 252

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 323
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 323

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 324
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 324

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 564
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 564

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 565
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 565

Marvel Comics


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