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Patrick Troughton
The Invasion
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Synopsis


London is Invaded
London is Invaded
 Investigating the disappearance of an eminent scientist, The Doctor and his companions follow his trail to the London headquarters of International Electromatics, a global supplier of electronic equipment run by the formidable Tobias Vaughan.

 Teaming up with the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - UNIT - under the command of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, it soon becomes apparent that Vaughan is working to his own sinister agenda. As Cybermen invade in cities all over the world, can The Doctor convince Vaughan to help him defeat their plan for global domination?

Source: BBC DVD


General Information

Season: Six
Production Code: VV
Story Number: 46
Episode Numbers:220 - 227
Number of Episodes: 8
Number of Incomplete/Missing Episodes:2
Percentage of Episodes Held:75%
Production Dates: August - November 1968
Broadcast Started: 02 November 1968
Broadcast Finished: 21 December 1968
Colour Status: B&W
Studio: Ealing Television Film Studios and Lime Grove (Studio D)
Location: Associated British Malsters Guinness Factory (Wallingford, Oxfordshire), St James Gardens, St Paul's Cathedral, Australia House, Millbank Tower, Guinness Brewery (London), Regent's Canal (Maida Vale, London) and Denham Aerodrome (Buckinghamshire)
Writer:Derrick Sherwin (Based on an idea by Kit Pedler)
Director:Douglas Camfield
Producer:Peter Bryant
Script Editor:Terrance Dicks
Editor:Martyn Day
Production Assistant:Chris D'Oyly John
Assistant Floor Manager:Sue Willis
Designer:Richard Hunt
Costume Designer:Bobi Bartlett
Make-Up Designer:Sylvia James
Cameraman:Alan Jonas
Lighting:Robbie Robinson
Visual Effects:Bill King and Trading Post
Incidental Music:Don Harper
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Brian Hodgson
Studio Sounds:Alan Edmonds, Bill Chesneau and Bryan Forgham
Title Sequence:Bernard Lodge
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Cybermen Originally Created By: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Patrick Troughton (The Second Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot) Number of Acquaintances: 2The Acquaintances: Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier) (Rejoins and Departs) and John Levene (Corporal Benton) (Joins and Departs) Additional Cast: Kevin Stoney (Tobias Vaughn), Sally Faulkner (Isobel), Murray Evans (Lorry Driver), Walter Randall (Patrolman), Geoffrey Cheshire (Tracy), Peter Halliday (Packer), Ian Fairbairn (Gregory), James Thornhill (Sergeant Walters), Robert Sidaway (Captain Turner), Edward Burnham (Professor Watkins), Sheila Dunn (Phone Operator), Edward Dentith (Major-General Rutlidge), Peter Thompson (Workman), Dominic Allan (Policeman), Stacy Davies (Private Perkins), Pat Gorman (Cyberman), Ralph Carrigan (Cyberman), Charles Finch (Cyberman), John Spradbury (Cyberman), Derek Chaffer (Cyberman), Terence Denville (Cyberman), Peter Thornton (Cyberman), Richard King (Cyberman), Clifford Earl (Major Branwell), Norman Hartley (Sergeant Peters)Setting: London (1970s) Villains: Cybermen and Tobias Vaughn

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
220Episode 102 November 196824'32"7.3Missing
221Episode 209 November 196824'26"7.116mm telerecording
222Episode 316 November 196823'44"7.116mm telerecording
223Episode 423 November 196824'18"6.4Missing
224Episode 530 November 196823'25"6.716mm telerecording
225Episode 607 December 196823'20"6.516mm telerecording
226Episode 714 December 196824'46"7.216mm telerecording
227Episode 821 December 196825'03"7.016mm telerecording

Total Duration 3 Hours 14 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 6.9
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)80.30%  (Position = 16 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)82.02% Higher (Position = 31 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)82.46% Higher (Position = 33 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 4 out of 21


Archives


 Episodes one and four are missing; all six other episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings, though episode six is slightly edited.



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Notes


This story is the prologue for a new era for Doctor Who. It was the dawn of UNIT, with the return of Nicholas Courtney as Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, from "The Web of Fear", now promoted to Brigadier. It also featured the debut of John Levene (who had previously been a monster stand-in) as Corporal Benton. Both men would become regular characters during the whole of the Third Doctor’s era.

Originally this story was going to be a six part story called "Return of the Cybermen" and was originally envisioned to be a sequel to "The Web of Fear". It would also have seen the return of Professor Travers, and his daughter Anne, from that story – making this the third story to feature Professor Travers. However, as the role of Travers was reduced to a mere walk-on, it was decided to abandon this idea and to recast these characters as Professor Watkins and his niece Isobel. Professor Travers though is still referenced by name several times. There are also many references to "The Web of Fear" in general.

Wendy Padbury was on holiday during the recording of episode three and so does not appear in this episode; Frazer Hines was also on vacation during episode eight's recording. He does though appear in the final scene - a pre-taped segment which had been filmed on location.

John Levene was due to play a Cyberman as he had done on "The Moonbase". The actor's resume also included several other walk-on parts, including Z Cars, Adam Adamant Lives!, and as a Yeti in "The Web of Fear". For "The Invasion", however, John Levene - whose real surname was Woods - found himself given the opportunity to take on the much larger part of Corporal Benton when the original actor, due to play this part, was dismissed.

John Levene's appearance in episode five was uncredited, as was Peter Halliday as the voices of the Cybermen and the Cyber-Director.

Kevin Stoney, who played Tobias Vaughn, originally played the part of Mavic Chen in the 1965/66 First Doctor story "The Daleks' Master Plan".

Edward Burnham, who plays Professor Watkins, also played Professor Kettlewell in the 1974/75 Fourth Doctor story "Robot".

There is also a cameo appearance by director Douglas Camfield, who plays a car driver in the first episode, and Douglas Camfield's wife Sheila Dunn provides voice-overs as a phone operator.

On the closing credits of Episode Five Ralph Carrigan's surname was misspelt 'Carrigon'. Also episode eight bore an additional credit reading 'The BBC wish to acknowledge the help given to them by the Ministry of Defence in the making of this programme'.

Though this story follows on immediately from "The Mind Robber", with a reprise of the fragmented TARDIS reforming in space, no mention is made of the previous adventure and the Master of the Land of Fiction is mysteriously no longer present.

The TARDIS becomes invisible for the first time after materialising.

For the UNIT troops battle scenes in episode eight members of the 2nd Battalion of Coldstream Guards were used to portray the UNIT troops.

The character of Tobias Vaughn reappears in the Virgin Books' The New Adventures spin off novel "Original Sin" by Andy Lane, meeting the Seventh Doctor. In the book, Vaughn is the Chairman of a powerful company, Interstellar Nanotomic which is an anagram of ‘International Electromatics’. He says instead of dying in Part eight, his consciousness was transmitted via a satellite into one of fourteen identical robot copies of himself that he uses to influence the people of Earth from behind the scenes.

Much later, the Tenth Doctor encounters a similar situation (a powerful electronics company dominating the planet in league with Cybermen) on a parallel Earth in the two-part story "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel". Also, in the first episode of this latter story, the vans used to collect homeless people for conversion were hired out by a company called Industrial Electromatics.

Dialog places this story four years after "The Web of Fear", which would place "The Invasion" in 1979. Indeed, the story was intended to have a ‘near future’ setting, to serve as a backdrop for the Third Doctor's pending UNIT era. However, since the shows revival in 2005 the production team have suggested that UNIT stories generally occurred in the year they were broadcast. The 2007 story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords" also refers to UNIT having established procedures for alien contact in 1968 - apparently a reference to the events of "The Invasion". References elsewhere, namely in The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?" support this chronology.

Unusually for the show, episodes five and eight were recorded largely out of sequence. Director Douglas Camfield opted to record all the scenes on a given set before moving on to the next; the same approach was used to a lesser extent for episode seven. Also due to Director Douglas Camfield's refusal to use regular composer Dudley Simpson, Don Harper was hired to provide the music for this story. "The Invasion" would be Don Harper's only work with Doctor Who.

During the recording of this story, producer Peter Bryant approached Nicholas Courtney about returning to Doctor Who on a regular basis for the following year; the actor agreed without hesitation. Already, Peter Bryant and Derrick Sherwin Derrick Sherwin were formulating plans for a very different Season Seven - one in which The Brigadier and the UNIT organisation would feature very heavily.

This story was the final Doctor Who story to feature the contributions of Kit Pedler. Kit Pedler went on to develop the ecological thriller Doomwatch with former Doctor Who Script Editor and Cyberman co-creator Gerry Davis.

This story included Kit Pedler's last on-screen credit for Doctor Who for almost 38 years - until the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel".

Episodes one and four are missing; all the other six episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings, though episode six is slightly edited, missing only some material with Vaughn and Watkins. For the 1993 VHS video release Nicholas Courtney provided a narration to cover the missing episodes.

This story was released on DVD, in November 2006, with animated versions of the missing episodes 1 and 4 along with the original soundtrack. This story is the first incomplete Doctor Who story to be released, on DVD, with full-length animated reconstructions of its missing episodes.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 The introduction of semi-regular companion Sergeant Benton played by John Levene.

 The first UNIT story.

 The first Doctor Who story to be written by Derrick Sherwin.

 Terrance Dicks' first involvement in the show as Script Editor.

 Bobi Bartlett's first involvement in the show as Costume Designer.

 The first incomplete story to be released, on DVD, with full-length animated reconstructions of its missing episodes.


The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

 Writer Kit Pedler's last involvement in the show.

 Richard Hunt's last involvement in the show as Designer.

 The last appearance of the Cybermen until the 1975 story "Revenge of the Cybermen".


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
Reunited With The Brigadier
Reunited With The Brigadier

After the strange events encountered in the previous story (see "The Mind Robber") the TARDIS reforms itself and arrives in space on the dark side of the Moon. Without any warning The Doctor has to quickly relocate the TARDIS to avoid a missile attack. The TARDIS materialises in a field. However, on exiting the time machine The Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot discover that the TARDIS's exterior has become invisible due to a damaged visual stabiliser circuit. They therefore set off to contact Professor Travers so as to get his help to repair the faulty circuit.

Unfortunately when they arrive at Professor Travers' home they find that he is away in America and his house is being rented by ex-model and photographer Isobel Watkins and her scientist uncle Professor Watkins. She suggests that her uncle may be able to help them and so gives them the address of International Electromatics's London head office where he is working. Zoe decides to stay and help Isobel take photographs leaving The Doctor and Jamie to visit Professor Watkins.

When they arrive a computerised receptionist won't allow them access, but when they try an alternative route into the building they are gassed and taken by the company's security chief, Packer, to see Tobias Vaughn - the Managing Director. He refuses to allow them to see Professor Watkins stating that he is at a delicate stage of his work and cannot be disturbed. After Jamie accidentally mentions the damaged part of the TARDIS The Doctor has no choice but to show Tobias Vaughn the damaged visual stabiliser circuit. Tobias Vaughn tells The Doctor that he will get Professor Watkins, when he has the time, to take a look at it. The Doctor though is suspicious of the Managing Director but has no choice but to part with this valuable piece of the TARDIS. On leaving International Electromatics The Doctor and Jamie do not get very far before they are abducted by two men who take them to a transporter plane at an airfield. Inside a big surprise awaits them when they are reunited with Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, now promoted to Brigadier. The Doctor and Jamie learn that he is leading an organisation called the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) who are currently investigating International Electromatics.

The Brigadier
The Brigadier

Meanwhile Zoe and Isobel become concerned when The Doctor and Jamie fail to return and so decide to go to International Electromatics in search of their friends. They too try to gain access via the computerised receptionist. Zoe though is determined not to be thwarted by the computer and ends up destroying it which results in the two girls being taken prisoner.

Back at Isobel’s house The Doctor and Jamie discover that Zoe and Isobel have followed them to International Electromatics and so return to the building themselves. At the rear they observe several large packing cases being loaded onto a train, one of which has an item of Zoe's clothing showing. But before they can investigate further the train departs and they are captured by Packer and his men. The Doctor is convinced that Zoe and Isobel have been kidnapped and so when they are brought before Tobias Vaughn again he, of course, denies The Doctor’s accusations but invites The Doctor and Jamie to travel to the company's compound in the country to see the train arriving.

Corporal Benton
Corporal Benton

At the compound there is no sign of Zoe or Isobel. The Doctor queries Tobias Vaughn about the deep space communicator he noticed when he came into the compound; in return, Tobias Vaughn demands that The Doctor explain about the damaged visual stabiliser, even threatening to hand Zoe and Isobel over to Packer if he doesn't co-operate. The Doctor and Jamie manage to escape onto a railway siding and hide inside a couple of crates on one of the trains. It is then that Jamie has a close encounter with a cocooned shape that begins to move.

The Doctor and Jamie are soon to discover that Tobias Vaughn is in league with the Cybermen who are planning to invade Earth. The Cybermen have been arriving in spaceships (so prompting a number of UFO sightings near the compound) and then being shipped in crates to London. There they are being hidden in the sewers of London until they are needed. The Cybermen also plan to send, from their spaceship that is hidden behind the Moon, a hypnotic signal through special circuits incorporated in all International Electromatics equipment. This signal will immobilise most of Earth's population allowing the Cybermen to carry out their invasion with little resistance. Tobias Vaughn is though plotting against the Cybermen with the aim of seizing power for himself. To achieve this he has been getting Professor Watkins to develop a machine that will generate emotional impulses, which can be used as a weapon against the Cybermen.

While rescuing Zoe and Isobel The Doctor learns of the Cybermen’s plans and tries to warn The Brigadier. Tobias Vaughn though has realised that UNIT is becoming dangerous to him and manages to stop UNIT's investigations. Jamie, Zoe and Isobel, on learning that The Brigadier is unable to investigate The Doctor’s suspicions, decide to venture into the sewers to find proof for The Brigadier but they narrowly escape from the Cybermen. Meanwhile Professor Watkins delivers his perfected machine to Tobias Vaughn and discovers that Tobias Vaughn has been partially Cybernised. Shortly afterwards UNIT mount a successful raid to free Professor Watkins. After The Doctor discovers the micro-electronic circuit, when he opens up an International Electromatics produced radio, he sets about making a device which will block the Cybermen's hypnotic signal. The Brigadier orders that this device is issued to all UNIT troops.

Tobias Vaughn and Packer
Tobias Vaughn and Packer

At dawn, on the planned day of the invasion, Tobias Vaughn activates a homing signal to guide the Cyberfleet to Earth while the Cybermen broadcast the hypnotic signal, causing the collapse of the human race; leaving the Cybermen to take over London. The only people unaffected are those wearing The Doctor’s device. As the Cybermen leave the sewers, and start to take over London, the UNIT troops start to attack them but they are hugely outnumbered and outgunned.

At the same time UNIT arranges for a Russian rocket to be launched, so as to destroy the source of the Cybermen’s hypnotic signal, while UK missiles are to be sent to destroy the incoming Cyberfleet which is homing in on Tobias Vaughn's transmitter. With help from Zoe the UK missiles are successfully launched and the incoming Cyberfleet is destroyed. However, the Cybermen blame Tobias Vaughn for the setback in their plans, and announce that they will now launch a megatron bomb at the planet. Furious at the Cybermen's actions Tobias Vaughn destroys the alien communication device in his office – so breaking all contact with the Cybermen. Realising that the Cybermen intend to destroy all life on Earth he agrees to assist The Doctor to stop the Cybermen. Using Professor Walkins' machine, and with the help of UNIT troops, they battle a massed army of Cybermen. In the battle Tobias Vaughn is killed but the UNIT forces succeed in shutting down the homing signal. Another missile destroys the Cybermen’s megatron bomb en-route to Earth and the Russian rocket destroys the last Cyberman spaceship so stopping the hypnotic signal.

With the crisis over, The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe return to the TARDIS where The Doctor installs the repaired visual stabiliser, turning the TARDIS visible again.

 
A Cyberman Breaking Free
A Cyberman Breaking Free
Cyberman Exiting the Sewers
Cyberman Exiting the Sewers
Gregory and Tobias Vaughn with a Cyberman
Gregory and Tobias Vaughn with a Cyberman
Cyberman Exiting the Sewers
Cyberman Exiting the Sewers
 
London is Invaded
London is Invaded
Much Prettier Than a Computer
Much Prettier Than a Computer
The Doctor and Tobias Vaughn
The Doctor and Tobias Vaughn
Departing in the TARDIS
Departing in the TARDIS




Quote of the Story


 'The world is weak, vunerable, a mess of uncoordinated and impossible ideals. It needs a strong, single mind, a leader'

Tobias Vaugn



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
VHS
The InvasionJune 1993BBCV 4974Andrew SkilleterDouble cassette release - with missing Episodes One and Four summarised on-screen by Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier)
Audio
CD
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume One - The Early Years 1963-1969June 2000WMSF 6023-2Music and sound effects
Audio
CD
The InvasionNovember 2004Photo-montageNarrated by Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) Triple CD Release Includes a bonus interview with Frazer Hines Released as part of "The Cybermen Audio Box Set" including "The Tenth Planet" and bonus CD "Origins of the Cybermen")
Audio
CD
The InvasionJanuary 2006Photo-montageNarrated by Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) Triple CD Release Includes a bonus interview with Frazer Hines
Video
DVD
The InvasionNovember 2006BBCDVD 1829Photo-montageIncludes remastered versions of the six extant episodes, animated reconstruction (by Cosgrove Hall) of the two missing episodes and the original soundtrack
Video
DVD
The InvasionNovember 2006BBCDVD 1829Photo-montagePart of "The Cybermen Limited Edition Box Set" Exclusive to Amazon
Audio
CD
The InvasionAugust 2012Photo-montagePart of the "Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes: Collection Five 1967 - 1969" Box Set Narrated by Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon)
Audio
CD
The 50th Anniversary CollectionDecember 2013Photo-montageOriginal Television Soundtracks
Audio
CD
The InvasionSeptember 2018Photo-montage


In Print

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)PublisherAuthorCover ArtRemarks
Novel
Novel
The InvasionOctober 1985Target No. 98Ian MarterAndrew SkilleterISBN: 0-426-20169-8
Novel
Novel
The InvasionSeptember 1993Target No. 98Ian MarterAlister PearsonVirgin new cover reprint.
ISBN: 0-426-20169-8
CD
CD
The InvasionApril 2016Target No. 98Ian MarterAndrew SkilleterAudio version of the Target Novel read by David Troughton.
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Issue 46
Doctor Who Magazine - ArchiveIssue 189 (Released: August 1992)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArticleIssue 202 (Released: August 1993)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 311 (Released: December 2001)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 312 (Released: January 2002)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 374 (Released: October 2006)
Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive1982 Winter Special (Released: 1982)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 88 (Released: May 2012)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 89 (Released: May 2012)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions/Acquaintances

 
Patrick Troughton
The Second Doctor

   

Frazer Hines
Jamie McCrimmon
Wendy Padbury
Zoe Heriot
Nicholas Courtney
The Brigadier
   
John Levene
Corporal Benton





On Release

VHS Video Cover
VHS Video Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Audio - Volume 1: The Early Years
Audio - Volume 1: The Early Years

BBC
AUDIO
The Cybermen Box Set
The Cybermen Box Set

BBC
AUDIO
   
Soundtrack CD Cover
Soundtrack CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set
DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
   
The Lost TV Episodes: Collection Five CD Cover
The Lost TV Episodes: Collection Five CD Cover

BBC
AUDIO
The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover
The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

BBC
AUDIO
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

Silva Screen
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 46
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 46

CMS
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 189
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 189

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 202
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 202

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 311
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 311

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 312
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 312

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 374
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 374

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive: 1982 Winter Special
Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive: 1982 Winter Special

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 88
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 88

GE Fabbri
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 89
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 89

GE Fabbri
   

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