152 [1] –Battlefield | |||
---|---|---|---|
Doctor Who serial | |||
Cast | |||
Others
| |||
Production | |||
Directed by | Michael Kerrigan | ||
Written by | Ben Aaronovitch | ||
Script editor | Andrew Cartmel | ||
Produced by | John Nathan-Turner | ||
Executive producer(s) | None | ||
Music by | Keff McCulloch | ||
Production code | 7N | ||
Series | Season 26 | ||
Running time | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||
First broadcast | 6 September 1989 | ||
Last broadcast | 27 September 1989 | ||
Chronology | |||
| |||
Battlefield is the first serial of the 26th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who , which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 6 to 27 September 1989. It was the last to feature Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who .
In the serial, Morgaine (Jean Marsh), a sorceress from another dimension, summons the planet-devouring Destroyer (Marek Anton) in England, where she also seeks to take the sword Excalibur for herself. The plot is loosely based on Arthurian legend.
Part 1's 3.1 million viewers represent the lowest ratings of any full episode of Doctor Who [2] That was until Series 14 in 2024 with the episode Dot and Bubble which is now the lowest rated episode of all time. [3]
In response to a distress signal, the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialise the TARDIS near Lake Vortigern in England. At the Gore Crow hotel, they meet a young woman called Shou Yuing and a knight, Ancelyn, who addresses the Doctor as "Merlin". The Doctor shows interest in a scabbard which hangs over the mantelpiece in the hotel. The party is surrounded by an ominous group of knights led by Mordred. When Mordred begins an arcane ritual, the scabbard flies across the room, stirred by the magic. Morgaine then arrives on the scene through a rift in space and time.
The next day, archaeologist Peter Warmsly shows the Doctor where he uncovered the scabbard. Under the lake, The Doctor and Ace find a ruined spaceship containing the body of King Arthur, lying next to a sword. When Ace removes the sword from its plinth, she activates a defence mechanism. The Doctor ejects Ace from the spaceship, sending her shooting up through the water and "becoming" the Lady of the Lake.
Mordred and Morgaine go to the hotel to retrieve Excalibur. Meanwhile, UNIT troops are staging an evacuation, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Just as Mordred and Ancelyn are about to fight, the Doctor intervenes. Mordred reveals that the battle was a ruse to lure the Doctor, and that Morgaine has summoned the Destroyer of Worlds.
The Doctor finds the hotel in ruins, but Ace and Shou Yuing safe. In the debris, the Doctor finds a portal to Morgaine's castle. On arrival, the Brigadier shoots the Destroyer, to no effect. Morgaine releases the Destroyer's bonds; she and Mordred take Excalibur back through the portal.
The Brigadier marches back into the castle, tells the Destroyer, "Get off my world!", and empties his revolver (this time loaded with silver bullets) into the monster's chest. It explodes.
Back at the convoy, The Doctor confronts Morgaine, telling her of Arthur's death. Mordred and Morgaine are then imprisoned.
Episode | Title | Run time | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [4] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Part One" | 24:06 | 6 September 1989 | 3.1 |
2 | "Part Two" | 24:07 | 13 September 1989 | 3.9 |
3 | "Part Three" | 24:13 | 20 September 1989 | 3.6 |
4 | "Part Four" | 24:14 | 27 September 1989 | 4.0 |
The story was repeated on BBC2 over four consecutive Fridays from 23 April – 14 May 1993, achieving viewing figures of 1.6, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.2 million respectively. [5]
Working titles for this story included Storm Over Avallion. The early story outlines included the death of Lethbridge-Stewart. [6]
In a deleted scene (included on the DVD release) the Doctor refers to one of Clarke's three laws — telling Ace that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic — to explain the various forms of magical attack used against them by the sorceress Morgaine, and also that Arthur's trans-dimensional spaceship was grown, not built. He adds that the reverse of Clarke's Law is also true.
The first director approached to handle Battlefield was Graeme Harper, who had previously directed The Caves of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks in 1984 and 1985 respectively. However, Harper was committed to the Central Independent Television drama series Boon , and unavailable to return to Doctor Who. [7]
During recording of the sequence where Ace is trapped in the glass water tank, the glass cracked, causing Sophie Aldred to sustain minor cuts to her hands and creating a major safety hazard as water flooded out onto the studio floor, across which live wires were running. The moment when the tank first cracked can be seen in Part Three as the Doctor struggles with the controls and Ace is lifted clear of the water. [8] Sylvester McCoy shouted out to the stage hands above her to pull her quickly out before the tank exploded, cursing so that the stage hands would recognize that he wasn't ad libbing.
Nicholas Courtney returned explicitly as the Brigadier for the first time since "The Five Doctors" in 1983, Courtney's small cameo role in 1988's Silver Nemesis having been unidentified. [9] Other guest stars making return appearances in Battlefield include Jean Marsh, who over twenty years earlier had played Princess Joanna in The Crusade and later, companion Sara Kingdom in The Daleks' Master Plan , which had been, coincidentally, Nicholas Courtney's first Doctor Who story; [10] and June Bland, who appeared in the Fifth Doctor story Earthshock . [11]
Angela Bruce later reprised the role of Brigadier Winifred Bambera in the audio play Animal .
Author | Marc Platt |
---|---|
Cover artist | Alister Pearson |
Series | Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Release number | 152 |
Publisher | Target Books |
Publication date | 18 July 1991 |
ISBN | 0-426-20350-X |
Marc Platt's novelisation was published by Target Books in July 1991. [12] Its prologue features the future Merlin Doctor taking the wounded King Arthur aboard the spaceship beneath the lake following the last battle as well as additional information about UNIT and Morgaine's dimension. The final scene implies that the Brigadier is planning to go with Ancelyn back to the other dimension to help restore order, a similar plot point to the ending of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Shadows of Avalon . It was the last novelisation of a televised Doctor Who serial to be published in the traditional "short paperback" format Target had been using since 1973. After one more novelisation based upon the audio story The Pescatons , novelisations were published in paperback editions with greater page counts and a different format.
An audiobook of the Target novelisation was released by BBC Audio on 5 May 2022, read by Toby Longworth.
Battlefield was released on VHS in March 1998 with two minutes of additional footage. It was released on Region 2 DVD on 26 December 2008 as a Special Edition featuring the original televised story plus a movie-length version featuring extended scenes and new special effects, with its scenes reedited into script order to clarify the story's themes and sequence of events. This serial was also released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in issue 59 on 6 April 2011.
The serial was released on blu-ray on 27 January 2020 as part of "The Collection - Season 26" box set. It features, not only the original TV broadcast episodes of Battlefield, but also the extended VHS release episodes as well as a special feature-length extended edition.
Remembrance of the Daleks is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronovitch and directed by Andrew Morgan.
Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, fully Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, created by writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln and played by Nicholas Courtney. He is one of the founders of UNIT, an international organisation that defends Earth from alien threats, and serves as commander of the British contingent. Presented at first as reluctant to accept the continuing aid of the Doctor, over time the Brigadier became one of the Doctor's greatest friends and his principal ally in defending Earth.
Mawdryn Undead is the third serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was originally broadcast in four twice weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 February 1983.
Doctor Who and the Silurians is the second serial of the seventh season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in seven weekly parts on BBC1 from 31 January to 14 March 1970.
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations on 23 November 1983, the anniversary date. It was transmitted on BBC1 in the United Kingdom two days later.
The Time Warrior is the first serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 15 December 1973 to 5 January 1974. The serial introduced Elisabeth Sladen as new companion Sarah Jane Smith. It also marked the debut of the Sontaran race. The serial also introduces the name of the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey.
William Nicholas Stone Courtney was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Sara Kingdom is a fictional character played by Jean Marsh in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A security officer for Mavic Chen from the 40th century, she later joined the First Doctor and Steven to work against Chen's interests. She is sometimes classed as a companion of the First Doctor but the BBC's official Doctor Who website does not include her in their list of companions. Her status as a companion is commented upon in its Episode Guide.
Earthshock is the sixth serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 to 16 March 1982. This serial marks the final regular appearance of Matthew Waterhouse as Adric and his death, with the final episode featuring unique silent credits in loving memory of the character. It is also the first to feature the Cybermen since Revenge of the Cybermen in 1975.
Resurrection of the Daleks is the fourth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 between 8 February and 15 February 1984. The serial was intended to be transmitted as four 23-minute episodes but a late scheduling change by the BBC meant that it was transmitted as two episodes of 46 minutes; reruns restored it to its intended format.
Terror of the Zygons is the first serial of the thirteenth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 August to 20 September 1975. The serial was written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield.
Revenge of the Cybermen is the fifth and final serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 19 April to 10 May 1975. It was the first to feature the Cybermen since The Invasion (1968) and the last until Earthshock (1982).
Eric Saward is a British radio scriptwriter who worked for the BBC as a television script editor and screenwriter on the science fiction series Doctor Who from 1982 to 1986. He wrote the stories The Visitation (1982), Earthshock (1982), Resurrection of the Daleks (1984) and Revelation of the Daleks (1985).
Destiny of the Daleks is the first serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 September to 22 September 1979. The story introduces Lalla Ward as the newly regenerated Romana.
The Invasion is the partly missing third serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in eight weekly parts from 2 November to 21 December 1968.
Downtime is a direct-to-video spin-off of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced by the independent production company Reeltime Pictures. It is a sequel to the Second Doctor serials The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968).
UNIT is a fictional military organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Operating under the auspices of the United Nations, its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth.
The 26th season of Doctor Who premiered on 6 September 1989 with the serial "Battlefield," and consisted of four serials, ending with "Survival," which was the final episode of Doctor Who for over 15 years, until the show was revived in 2005. John Nathan-Turner produced the series, with Andrew Cartmel script editing.
The ninth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 1 January 1972 with Day of the Daleks, and ended with The Time Monster. This is the third series of the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee, as well as the third to be produced by Barry Letts and script edited by Terrance Dicks.