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The Leisure Hive

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Synopsis

A Foamasi

The Doctor and Romana decide to forego Brighton breach and take a much-needed holiday on the pleasure planet of Argolis.

Ravaged decades ago by an interstellar war between the Argolin and the Foamasi, Argolis now hosts the Leisure Hive - an ideal retreat for tourists from all over the cosmos. But a series of 'accidents' leads The Doctor and Romana to discover that the Hive holds dark secrets…

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Eighteen
Production Code:	5N
Story Number:	109
Episode Numbers:	526 - 529
Number of Episodes:	4
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"The Argolins" and "Avalon"
Production Dates:	March - April 1980
Broadcast Started:	30 August 1980
Broadcast Finished:	20 September 1980
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Television Centre (TC1 and TC3)
Location:	Brighton Beach (Brighton, East Sussex)

Writer:

David Fisher

Director:

Lovett Bickford

Producer:

John Nathan-Turner

Executive Producer:

Barry Letts

Script Editor:

Christopher H Bidmead

Editor:

Chris Wimble

Production Assistant:

Romey Allison

Production Unit Manager:

Angela Smith

Assistant Floor Manager:

Val McCrimmon

Designer:

Tom Yardley-Jones

Costume Designer:

June Hudson

Make-Up Designer:

Dorka Nieradzik

Cameraman:

Keith Barton

Lighting:

Duncan Brown

Visual Effects:

Andrew Lazell

Incidental Music:

Peter Howell

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Dick Mills

Studio Sounds:

John Howell

Title Sequence:

Sid Sutton

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Peter Howell

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 2The Companions: John Leeson (voice only) (K9 Mk II) and Lalla Ward (Romana 2) Additional Cast: Adrienne Corri (Mena), David Haig (Pangol), Laurence Payne (Morix), John Collin (Brock), Nigel Lambert (Hardin), Martin Fisk (Vargos), Roy Montague (Guide), Ian Talbot (Klout), David Allister (Stimson), Harriet Reynolds (Voice), Clifford Norgate (Generator Voice), Andrew Lane (Foamasi)Setting: Brighton, Earth (date unknown) and The Leisure Hive, Argolis (circa 2290) Villains:Pangol and The West Lodge

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
526	Part 1	30 August 1980	23'33"	5.9	PAL 2" colour videotape
527	Part 2	06 September 1980	20'45"	5.0	PAL 2" colour videotape
528	Part 3	13 September 1980	21'21"	5.0	PAL 2" colour videotape
529	Part 4	20 September 1980	21'19"	4.5	PAL 2" colour videotape

Total Duration

1 Hour 27 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

5.1

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	68.01% (Position = 80 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	61.91% (Position = 149 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	62.95% (Position = 174 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 32 out of 41

Archives

All four episodes exist as PAL 2" colour videotapes.

Notes

"The Leisure Hive" is the first story of the Fourth Doctor’s final season.

This is the first story produced by John Nathan-Turner – who had been the shows’ Production Unit Manager since the 1977 story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".

Barry Letts, the long-time Doctor Who producer during the 1970’s, stepped in as Executive Producer as BBC executives were concerned about John Nathan-Turner’s inexperience.

John Leeson returned as the voice of K9, having been persuaded by John Nathan-Turner to reprise the role for this season. Though K9 only appears at the start of the first episode in an opening sequence filmed at Brighton Beach. In this sequence K9 is incapacitated when he enters the sea to retrieve a beech ball – so demonstrating that he is not immune to the effects of salt water.

Lalla Ward previously appeared with both Adrienne Corri (who played the part of Mena) and Laurence Payne (who played the part of Morix) in the 1972 Hammer Horror film "Vampire Circus". Laurence Payne had previously played Johnny Ringo in the 1966 First Doctor story "The Gunfighters" and later played the part of Dastari in the 1985 story "The Two Doctors".

This story features a guest appearance by David Haig (who played the part of Pangol).

Ian Talbot (who played the part of Klout) is, unusually, credited on screen even though he is a non-speaking character.

Being the first Doctor Who story which John Nathan-Turner produced he was keen to move away from what he considered the excessive silliness of recent stories. Furthermore he wanted to increase the show’s production values, because he felt that they were poor when compared with glossy American science-fiction series. Among the changes Nathan-Turner instituted was the scaling back of K9’s appearances (hence the reason why K9 is out of commission for most of this story), eventually writing the character out in "Warriors' Gate".

John Nathan-Turner also felt that the Doctor Who characters would be more marketable if they wore the same clothes in each story, like a uniform. This would also save money on new costumes for each story. And so for the first time, the Fourth Doctor would appear in the same costume for every story in a season - abandoning his famous multi-coloured scarf in favour of a burgundy and purple one. The Doctor also sported a new burgundy overcoat, as part of his new colour co-ordinated clothing. Also, the question mark motif made its first appearance here as a regular element of The Doctor’s wardrobe for his next three incarnations. However, Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Barry Letts and Christopher H Bidmead all protested John Nathan-Turner’s decision to add question-marks to the Fourth Doctor’s shirts, arguing that it was gimmicky. Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor, would later protest his question-mark adorned jumper in similar terms, but the question-mark motif would remain until the end of the original run of the show in 1989.

This story sees brand-new opening and closing title sequences, complete with the ‘80s-styled ‘neon tube’ logo, designed by the Sid Sutton, who worked in the BBC’s Graphics Department. John Nathan-Turner felt that there was a lot of money to be made by marketing the programme correctly and that it was time to overhaul several aspects of the show. The ‘time tunnel’ version of the opening title sequences had been used, with minor changes, since the 1973 Third Doctor story "The Time Warrior". It was felt that the Doctor Who titles had been disorienting and claustrophobic, so Sid Sutton decided that he would instead introduce a starscape-style animation. This updated title sequence though is most associated with the Fifth Doctor’s era.

The new opening and closing title sequences are also accompanied by a new Peter Howell-arranged version of Ron Grainer’s theme music. This was not a new idea, but the previous attempt in 1972 had ended with the rearranged tune being rejected at the last minute.

After some experimentation, John Nathan-Turner also decided to use electronic compositions by the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop as incidental music - something which had not been attempted on Doctor Who since the early Seventies. In recent years, Dudley Simpson had been writing the score for virtually every story, which he then recorded with the help of a small number of musicians. This therefore ended Dudley Simpson’s fifteen-year association with the show.

This story sees the debut of a new TARDIS exterior prop, this time made of fibreglass rather than of wood and, with its stacked roof arrangement, somewhat truer to the design of a genuine police box than the previous version (first seen in the 1976 story "The Masque of Mandragora"). This prop would be used right until the end of the original show’s production in 1989.

In keeping with his desire to bring new directors onto Doctor Who, John Nathan-Turner secured the services of Lovett Bickford. A former production assistant Lovett Bickford had worked with Nathan-Turner on The Pallisers. Hhe had also been an assistant floor manager on Doctor Who in the mid-Sixties, working on the 1966 First Doctor story "The War Machines” and the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Moonbase". More recently, Lovett Bickford had served as a director on programmes such as Angels and The History of Mr Polly (which had been produced by Barry Letts).

Lovett Bickford was eager to record this story in the style of a feature film, including unusual camera angles, single-camera takes and the use of a handheld camera.

This story also features the first use in Doctor Who of the new digital Quantel image manipulation processing system. Among the effects created by the use of this system was a moving shot of the TARDIS materialising on Argolis. Thanks to Quantel, the TARDIS could now be seen materialising while the camera was moving. (whereas the ‘roll back and mix' technique by which the materialisation was achieved normally necessitated a completely static shot).

The second studio block was originally scheduled to only cover two days. However, so that he could experiment with the Quantel image processing equipment Lovett Bickford managed to obtain a third day. Unfortunately, Lovett Bickford’s avant garde approach caused the recording of this story to fall catastrophically behind schedule resulting in the second studio block having to be extended to a fourth day to ensure that all the necessary scenes would be captured.

Filming on the story therefore ran badly over budget and John Nathan-Turner himself was reprimanded by his BBC superiors for allowing the situation to get so desperately out of hand. As a result, Lovett Bickford, was never asked back to direct another story. His subsequent credits included The Olympian Way.

This was David Fisher’s final Doctor Who story. He later wrote episodes of Hammer House of Horror and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. He also collaborated with former Doctor Who Script Editor Anthony Read on a number of non-fiction books.

Unfortunately, Tom Baker was unwell during the beginning of the recording of this story.

David Fisher conceived the Foamasi as being a race of organised criminals. It was written, by David Fisher, as a satire of the decline of tourism in the United Kingdom in the 1970’s. Its roots include The Godfather and the Mafia as well as Greek myth. It was also influenced by the Blake’s 7 story "Children of Auron".

The Doctor and Romana try to see the opening of the Brighton Pavilion but he gets both the century and season wrong. The Doctor grumpily states that this is the second time he has missed this destination. The first time was when he was travelling with Leela in the 1977 story "Horror of Fang Rock".

The Doctor undergoes ‘treatment’ in Hardin's rejuvenator. Romana hopes it will take 10 years off him, but it instead ages him around 500 years. The Doctor was prematurely aged by the Time Destructor in the 1965/66 First Doctor story "The Daleks' Master Plan" and would be again by The Master in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".

This is not the only time a story is resolved by de-aging The Doctor’s antagonist, as happens to Pangol. In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Boom Town", the Slitheen Margaret Blaine is regressed back into an egg by The Doctor’s TARDIS.

Cellular regeneration (or ‘de-aging’) is also performed by Professor Lazarus in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Lazarus Experiment".

Romana mentions over-riding the randomiser (that was introduced in the 1979 story "The Armageddon Factor"), which is eventually left on Argolis. However, even the Randomiser is removed from the TARDIS in this story, The Black Guardian does not catch up with The Doctor until he is in his fifth incarnation in the 1983 story "Mawdryn Undead".

The Doctor again is heard stating that Gallifrey is ‘an obscure planet in the constellation of Kasterborous’ (see the 1975 story "Pyramids of Mars").

In the scene where The Doctor is apparently dismembered in the Tachyon Recreation Generator, the various parts of his body were played by David Rolfe, Roy Seeley and Derek Chafer as well as by Tom Baker.

Argolis is the first of the leisure planets and it is revealed that in 2250 Argolis was all but destroyed by 2000 nuclear warheads (in 20 minutes) during a war with the reptilian Foamasi. The Argolin survivors, made sterile by the radiation, invented the science of Tachyonics and so built The Leisure Hive with its Experiential Grid offering ‘variable environments’.

The location concept of an enclosed leisure palace on a deadly and lifeless planet was used again in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Midnight". Like in this story planet Midnight’s environment is also uninhabitable because of extreme radiation.

Brock predicts bankruptcy for Argolis, citing the counter-attraction of planets like Limus 4 and Avidos (which are said to have ‘non-gravity swimming pools’, speed learning and robotic gladiatorial games).

There are ‘lodges’ of Formasi of which the West Lodge is one such group.

The Fomasi reappear in the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "Placebo Effect" that was written by Garry Russell.

This story includes the following errors: The wires pulling K9 along the beach are visible in episode one; The Doctor and Romana are able to comment on Hardin’s experiment, despite having missed the hologram of it; Why is everyone taken in by the phoney Brock’s sudden acceptance of a seat on the board, and why is he so interested in Hardin’s experiments as a possible source of revenue when his interest is in the running-down of the Hive so that his group (the West Lodge) can buy it?

Beginning with this story and continuing for the next several seasons, until the Twentieth Anniversary special "The Five Doctors", each story would be linked in some way, either through some reference, or by directly leading from one storyline to the next.

Unfortunately, despite Nathan-Turner’s efforts to revamp the show, it fared badly against ITV’s debut of the glossy American import, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Fewer than six million viewers watched this story - the smallest such figure since the 1966 First Doctor story "The Smugglers" the first story in Season Four. To make matters worse the audience figures declined over the course of this story so that by the third episode, the programme had fallen out of the Top 100 programmes for the week for the first time since its very first story, the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child". Although no one could know it at the time, it was an early sign of the tumult that awaited Doctor Who throughout the Eighties...

A novelisation of this story, written by David Fisher, was published by Target Books in July 1982. This novelisation retains many elements of the original script that was intended as a spoof on the Mafia. The original name of Argolis is given as ‘Xbrrrm’.

The alien costume used for the Foamasi were later reused in the 1981 BBC adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as the leader of the G’Gugvuntt.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first story of Season Eighteen.

The first story to feature K9 voiced by John Leeson (since "The Armageddon Factor").

John Nathan-Turner's first involvement in the show as Producer.

Christopher H. Bidmead's first involvement in the show as Script Editor.

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Lovett Bickford.

Barry Letts' first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.

Angela Smith's first involvement in the show as Production Unit Manager.

The first Doctor Who story to feature the ‘80s-styled ‘neon tube’ logo designed by the Sid Sutton.

The first Doctor Who story to feature Peter Howell's version of Ron Grainer’s theme music.

The first use of a TARDIS exterior prop made of fibreglass rather than wood.

The first use in Doctor Who of the digital Quantel image manipulation processing system.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The last Doctor Who story to be directed by Lovett Bickford.

The Plot

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

Hide Text

The Doctor and Romana at Brighton

The Doctor, Romana and K9 are attempting to enjoy themselves on Brighton beach. But it comes to a sudden end when K9 becomes incapacitated when he has an unfortunate accident after entering the sea to retrieve a beech ball.

After this abortive holiday, Romana persuades The Doctor to visit a giant pleasure dome, The Leisure Hive, on the planet Argolis. They arrive there in the year 2290 where the surface of the planet has become uninhabitable following a twenty minute nuclear war between the Argolins and their enemies the Foamasi.

The Argolins are dying. The radiation on their planet’s surface having rendered them sterile. It is revealed that Pangol, the youngest Argolin alive, was actually created by the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine used to generate games in The Leisure Hive.

The Doctor on the Beach
The Doctor on the Beach

Curious about the Tachyon Recreation Generator, The Doctor enters the machine to investigate it but unseen by anyone a Foamasi operates the controls, trapping him inside. Then, as Romana tries to open the door, an image of The Doctor appears on a view screen and screams as his arms and lower torso are pulled off.

Thankfully this is just a projection and so The Doctor is not harmed. The Doctor and Romana then meet Earth scientist Hardin and agree to help him test alterations that he has made to the machine. But as The Doctor enters the Tachyon Recreation Generator, Romana, on returning to Hardin’s lab, realises that the alterations that have been made are is flawed and that Hardin had been faking his work. But she fails to stop the experiment in time and so when The Doctor exits from the machine it is discovered he has aged immensely and now has a long white beard.

K9 and Romana
K9 and Romana

Then the Argolin’s Earth agent, Brock, arrives with his lawyer Klout, bearing an offer to buy the planet outright. Regrettably the offer is from the Foamasi, the only species that could live on the radiation-infused surface of Argolis, and so the Argolin Board, including Pangol who vehemently opposes this plan, will not consider it even though The Leisure Hive is facing bankruptcy. Hit by the shock of events, the ageing Board Chairman Morix succumbs to a rapid death – the Argolin war curse of advanced cellular degradation – and his consort Mena, the mother of Pangol, is declared the new Chairman.

The Doctor and Romana then discover that Pangol is secretly planning to use the Tachyon Recreation Generator to recreate himself many times over, forming an army of duplicates to destroy the Foamasi for good.

But as Mena herself grows weaker, Pangol takes the opportunity to take command and attempts to create his army. However, The Doctor has tampered with the equipment and an army of Doctors emerges instead. But the duplicates are unstable and quickly vanish.

Romana
Romana

The Leisure Hive turns out to have been infiltrated by some Foamasi agents from their planet’s government, who expose Brock and his assistant, Klout, as doppelgangers in bodysuits. They are in fact renegade Foamasi members of the West Lodge - a criminal faction which has been sabotaging The Leisure Hive to help their negotiations. The Foamasi agents place them under arrest and prepare to depart.

Pangol then starts to clone himself in the Tachyon Recreation Generator, creating hundred of Pangols in battle-dress and ready for conflict. But like the early clones of The Doctor, Pangol’s clones also become unstable and disappear.

So that he can revert back to his proper age The Doctor then reconfigures the Tachyon Recreation Generator using components from the randomiser device previously linked to the TARDIS’s navigation circuits. Unaware of this Mena and Pangol enter the Tachyon Recreation Generator and are rejuvenated - Mena into a young woman and Pangol into a baby. The Doctor then enters the machine himself and loses his added centuries. This though has the unfortunate outcome of the loss of the Randomiser.

With the Foamasi West Lodge members exposed The Doctor and Romana leave Argolis to sort out its problems, with Mena back in charge.

Inside The Leisure Hive

Mena

The Doctor is Aged

A Foamasi

An Aged Doctor

Morix

Brock

Pangol

Quote of the Story

'You've got the century wrong, you've got the season wrong, and you've got K9's seawater defences wrong!'

Romana

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
LP	Science-Fiction Sound Effects No. 26	1981	REC 420		Sound Effects
Tape	Science-Fiction Sound Effects No. 26	1981	ZCM 420		Sound Effects
LP	Doctor Who: The Music	1983	REC 462		Music score
Tape	Doctor Who: The Music	1983			Music score
CD	Doctor Who - Earthshock - Classic Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1	1992	FLMCD 709	Alister Pearson	Music score
VHS	The Tom Baker Years	September 1992	BBCV 4839	Photo	Clip only Introduced and commented on by Tom Baker Double cassette release
CD	30 Years at the Radiophonic Workshop	1993	BBC CD 871	Photo-montage	Sound effects
VHS	The Leisure Hive	January 1997	BBCV 5821	Photo-montage
CD	Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume Three - The Leisure Hive	March 2002	WMSF 6052-2		Music and sound effects
DVD	The Leisure Hive	July 2004	BBCDVD 1351	Photo-montage
CD	sci-fi Sound Effects	April 2013			CD release of the Science-Fiction Sound Effects No 26 LP
CD	The 50th Anniversary Collection	December 2013		Photo-montage	Original Television Soundtracks
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 18 (Limited Edition)	Mar 2019	BBCBD 0462	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 7 specially restored stories
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 18 (Standard Edition)	July 2021	BBCBD 0529	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 7 specially restored stories

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive	July 1982	Target No. 39	David Fisher	Andrew Skilleter	ISBN: 0-426-20147-7
Novel	Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive	1982	Target No. 39	David Fisher	Book: Andrew Skilleter Box: Bill Donohoe	Re-released as part of The Second Dr Who Gift Set ISBN: 0-426-19289-3
Novel	The Leisure Hive	October 1993	Target No. 39	David Fisher	Alister Pearson	Virgin new cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-20147-7
CD	The Leisure Hive	July 2013	Target No. 39	David Fisher		Audio version of the Target Novel read by Lalla Ward (Romana).

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision)	Issue 46 (Released: September 1993)
Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature	Issue 45 (Released: October 1980)
Doctor Who Monthly - Review	Issue 46 (Released: November 1980)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 117 (Released: October 1986)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 191 (Released: September 1992)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 368 (Released: April 2006)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 456 (Released: February 2013)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 98 (Released: October 2012)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Fourth Doctor

K9 Mk II

Romana 2

On Release

Audio LP - Sound Effects No. 26

AUDIO

Audio Tape - Sound Effects No. 26

AUDIO

Audio LP - Doctor Who: The Music

AUDIO

Audio Tape - Doctor Who: The Music

AUDIO

Doctor Who - Earthshock CD Cover

AUDIO

Tom Baker Years VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Sound Effects CD Cover

AUDIO

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Audio - Volume 3: The Leisure Hive

AUDIO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

sci-fi Sound Effects

AUDIO

The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

AUDIO

The Collection Season 18 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 18 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Target Book Cover

NOVEL

The Second Dr Who Gift Set

NOVEL

Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision): Issue 46

Doctor Who Monthly - Article/Feature: Issue 45

Doctor Who Monthly - Review: Issue 46

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 117

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 191

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 368

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 456

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 98

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Fourth Doctor

Season 18

References

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