Doctor Who/The War Machines

The War Machines
Season 3, Serial 10
Airdate	June 25, 1966
Production Number	BB
by	Ian Stuart Black
Based on	an idea by Kit Pedlar
Directed by	Michael Ferguson
← 3x09 The Savages	4x01 → The Smugglers
Doctor Who — Season Three

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The War Machines is the tenth serial of the third season of Doctor Who, and the twenty-seventh serial overall.

Episode 1: William Hartnell (Dr. Who), Jackie Lane (Dodo), Alan Curtis (Major Green), John Harvey (Professor Brett), Anneke Wills (Polly), Sandra Bryant (Kitty), Michael Craze (Ben), Ewan Proctor (Flash), William Mervyn (Sir Charles Summer), John Cater (Professor Krimpton), Ric Felgate (American journalist), John Doye (Interviewer)

and WOTAN

Episode 2: William Hartnell (Dr. Who), Jackie Lane (Dodo), John Harvey (Professor Brett), John Cater (Professor Krimpton), Alan Curtis (Major Green), Michael Craze (Ben), Anneke Wills (Polly), Sandra Bryant (Kitty), Desmond Cullum-Jones (Worker), Roy Godfrey (Tramp), Michael Rathborne (Taxi-driver), William Mervyn (Sir Charles Summer), Gerald Taylor (Machine Operator)

and WOTAN

Episode 3: William Hartnell (Dr. Who), Alan Curtis (Major Green), Michael Craze (Ben), Anneke Wills (Polly), William Mervyn (Sir Charles Summer), John Harvey (Professor Brett), John Cater (Professor Krimpton), Eddie Davis (Worker), John Rolfe (Captain), John Boyd-Brent (Sergeant), Frank Jarvis (Corporal), Robin Dawson (Soldier), Gerald Taylor (Machine Operator)

and WOTAN

Episode 4: William Hartnell (Dr. Who), Gerald Taylor (Machine Operator), John Boyd-Brent (Sergeant), John Rolfe (Captain), William Mervyn (Sir Charles Summer), Michael Craze (Ben), Kenneth Kendall (Television Newsreader), George Cross (The Minister), Edward Colliver (Garage Mechanic), John Harvey (Professor Brett), John Cater (Professor Krimpton), Alan Curtis (Major Green), John Slavid (Man in telephone box), Dwight Whylie (Radio Announcer), Anneke Wills (Polly), Carl Conway (U.S. Correspondent), Gerald Taylor (The voice of Wotan)

Trivia

The Show

• Final appearance of Dodo and first appearance of Polly and Ben. This leaves the cast of companions at the end of the serial completely different than at its beginning.

• WOTAN is listed in the cast credits for the first three episodes, the only time such a fictional creation in the show receives such a credit.

Behind the Scenes

• Dodo departs the Doctor's company off-screen after appearing only in the first two episode. This was because Jackie Lane's contract expired halfway through production.

• The idea for this story came about when Kit Pedler was being interviewed for a position as science adviser to the series. The producers asked all of the interviewees what would happen if the recently built Post Office Tower was somehow taken over. The others were gerontologist Dr Alex Comfort, electrical engineer Eric Laithwaite of Imperial College, and Sir Patrick Moore. While they gave unimaginative answers, Pedler suggested that it would be the work of a rogue computer that communicated with the outside world by means of the telephone system. The producers liked this suggestion and not only offered Pedler the job, but developed the idea into a script. Pat Dunlop was then hired to write a full set of teleplays from Pedler's idea, but quit after becoming busy with other work, and the teleplays were subsequently done by Ian Stuart Black.