 This story is considered to be a satire on the British tax system. It was written by outgoing Script Editor Robert Holmes, who assisted his replacement Anthony Read while writing the story. Neither received a credit for being the Script Editor.
"The Sun Makers" was scheduled to be the third story in production for Season Fifteen, and so was labeled Serial 4W. However, it was then decided to air "The Invisible Enemy" as the second story of the season. Because this adventure was also set on a human colony, "The Sun Makers" was shifted to fourth in the running order, after "Image of the Fendahl", to avoid the appearance of repetition. Despite this change in order of broadcast this story was recorded before "Image of the Fendahl" which was recorded before "The Sun Makers".
Because of this change in transmission order this story sees Leela once again wearing her darker ‘savage’ outfit. This story marks the last appearance of her original costume. For the next two stories - her last - she would continue to wear the lighter one that had been first seen in the previous story.
This story saw K9’s first involvement in a story as a companion. K9’s first appearance in "The Face of Evil" had proved popular with both Script Editor Robert Holmes and Producer Graham Williams who had decided to keep K9 on as a regular character. Robert Holmes was able to quickly integrate the character more into this story than the brief cameo appearance, that he only had in the previous story "Image of the Fendahl". John Leeson returned to the show to provide the voice of K9.
Michael Keating, who played rebel Goudry, subsequently went on to play the part of Vila in Blake’s 7. His casting as a regular in Blake’s 7 was based partially on his performance in this story.
Veet and Marn were originally written as male characters, they were changed to females during casting.
It was during production of this story that Louise Jameson informed the producers that she would be leaving the show at the end of this season.
Some of the features of this story bear a striking resemblance to the film Soylent Green, including the ‘deathday’ and the tax refund being based on the weight at the time of death, or the capability for ‘recycling’.
Robert Holmes intended the story to be a satire of his own experiences with the Inland Revenue services. However, much of the political content was toned down by order of Producer Graham Williams, who feared it would be controversial among viewers. Many of the letters and numbers used to denote the labyrinth of corridors in the city, for example ‘P45’, allude to British tax forms. The actor who played the Gatherer also had deep bushy eyebrows, very reminiscent of the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey. However, Robert Holmes presented the villainous rulers of the colony as working for a private corporation rather than a government.
The Collector was originally due to be a member of an alien race called the ‘Userers’ but Graham Williams disliked this reference and so The Collector’s race was briefly changed to ‘Saurians’ before a compromise was reached with ‘Usurians’.
Delays incurred during location filming resulted in an overrun on the final studio day resulting in there being barely enough time to record the Collector’s ‘liquidation’. So disappointed was Visual Effects Designer AJ ‘Mitch’ Mitchell with the outcome that the experience ultimately encouraged him to leave the BBC and to seek freelance work.
There are a number of Aztec influences in the story’s costume and set designs - most notably in the Gatherer’ crested hat, the badges worn by Company executives and the large ‘sun god' symbol suspended at the back of the Gatherers’ office. These were a nod toward the original intention of set designer Tony Snoaden and costume designer Christine Rawlins to base their work on Mexican propagandist art, an idea that had been vetoed by the Director, Pennant Roberts.
This is the first story, recorded as part of Season Fifteen, to include any location filming. One of the many challenges faced during the recording of this story was to find a roof, which could serve as the top of Megropolis One, which provided an empty skyline to give the correct impression of height. Unfortunately, despite many attempts, no appropriate building could be found in the vicinity of London. The problem was finally solved by Production Assistant Leon Arnold, who suggested filming on top of the WD & HO Wills Tobacco Factory in Hartcliffe, Bristol. Look out during these scenes as a car park insignia is visible on the roof top.
The Gatherer employs many amusing forms of address for The Collector, including not only ‘your Excellency’ but also such gems as ‘your Magnificence’, ‘your Sagacity’ and ‘your Enormity’.
Part Two contains a rare false cliffhanger, where Cordo, Bisham, Leela and K9 spot an oncoming guard vehicle and Cordo says, ‘It's too late, they've seen us’. The reprise at the beginning of Part Three omits Cordo’s remark, and continues with Leela ordering K9 to hide, allowing it to easily disable the guards.
The Usurians are aware of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, having graded the former as ‘Grade 3’ in their ‘latest market survey’.
Near the end of Part Two, when prompted by Mandrel for a story, The Doctor begins, ‘Once upon a time, there were three sisters ...’ mirroring the same story he started telling Sarah Jane Smith, near the end of Part Three, of the 1975 story "The Android Invasion".
Leela is heard to refer to her tribe, the Sevateem, who appeared in "The Face of Evil".
The Doctor is heard to refer to Galileo Galilei in passing, saying ‘Galileo will be pleased’.
When one of the rebels rhetorically asks The Doctor, ‘What have we got to lose?’ he replies, ‘Only your claims!’ This is a playful paraphrase of the famous slogan derived from the last lines of The Communist Manifesto.
Three types of gas are mentioned in this story: Dianane, a deadly poison (to which Usurians are immune), Balarium, a muscle neutraliser, which also effects speech, and Pentocyleinicmethylhydrane (PCM), an anxiety inducing agent (which also purportedly eliminates air-borne infection).
K9 is heard referring to Pluto as ‘the ninth planet’. It was regarded as such at the time the program was written and broadcast. However, in 2006, Pluto lost that distinction when it was downgraded to the status of dwarf planet.
This story is echoed in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror X" in which Comic Book Guy’s alter ego ‘The Collector’ kidnaps the Fourth Doctor for his collection.
Some textures of the walls are enlarged photographs of a die of an AMD microprocessor. The trademark of AMD is also visible.
The Collector ends his first conversation with the Gatherer with ‘this interview is terminated’. Max Capricorn, a character not unlike The Collector, ends a conversation with The Doctor with the same phrase in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Voyage of the Damned".
This story was repeated on BBC One in August 1978.
Professor Thripsted’s works also appear in the Virgin Book’s The New Adventures novels "Christmas on a Rational Planet" and "Lungbarrow", as well as in the BBC Book’s Eight Doctor Stories novels: "Alien Bodies", "Placebo Effect", "Unnatural History", and "Interference: Book Two".
A novelisation of this story, titled "Doctor Who and the Sunmakers", was written by Terrance Dicks and published by Target Books in November 1982. Terrance Dicks chose to tone down the scene in which revolutionaries cheer as they hurl one of their former oppressors from a roof, reducing the apparent horror so that the rebels concerned feel that their actions have gone ‘a bit too far’. This novelisation was also paired with the novelisation of "The Face of Evil" and released as the last of Star Books’ Doctor Who Classics range in May 1989.
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The Firsts:
Anthony Read's first involvement in the show as Script Editor (all-be-it uncredited).
This story saw K9’s first full involvement in a story as a companion.
The first story, recorded as part of Season Fifteen, to include any location filming.
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(Position = 95 out of 159)
(Position = 147 out of 200)
(Position = 162 out of 241)
