"Phil won't leave his room" - A Doctor Who Production History
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Part 19 - One By One: Part 1
In collaboration with MarkEdward, author of the exemplary Sam Westwood's Hollywood, it's the last Sixth Doctor story.
- Colin Cant
Text in italic is from the book Doctor Who In The Eighties by Gordon Weythe
Colin Baker was also unsure about participating in the next series, as he would recall:
"I get the sense they wanted to have a new Doctor, but everyone involved was far too gentlemanly to sack me and I was told when pre-production started on Season 24, I would have first refusal. I appreciated that".
Baker eventually took the role of Dangerous Davies and plans were made to have The Doctor regenerate.
"The Closing Door had ended on a rare (for 80s Who) inter-story cliffhanger. It was discovered that Zerreck was wanted on her home planet Zidiethea to collect an inheritance. Was it a trap or was Zerreck about to find out who she really was?"
- DWM Archive, The Closing Door, 1996
Doctor Who: One By One by Robert Holmes
Cast Of Characters
The Doctor - Colin Baker
Zerreck - Rebecca Lacey - A former street rat and thief. Zerreck is rough around the edges but a loyal companion to The Doctor.
Marcus - Charles Simon - an eccentric and slightly sinister solicitor and executor
Aunt Lizzy - Frances de la Tour - Zerreck's aunt who shows up at the estate. She is a hypochondriac convinced she is dying. Her fashion sense and personality are rather eccentric.
Cousin Simon - David Thewlis - Aunt Lizzy's son. He doesn't like his mother, sick of her constant nagging. On the other hand, he's also awful to Zerreck.
Cousin Hengyst - Daniel Peacock - Hengyst says little and sees all.
Second Cousin Pippa - Bonnie Langford - More sympathetic than the other family members but has delusions of living by the seaside. She also collects seashells and names them.
House - Enn Reitel (voice only)
Great Uncle Azbik - David Swift
PART ONE
The TARDIS lands on Zidiethea. The Doctor buys a "journal page", the local equivalent of a newspaper, a single sheet of perspex that displays news on voice command.
Rebecca Lacey describing the One By One set during a 2006 television interview uploaded to YouTube:
Interviewer: I remember for Zid--this is quite a mouthfull (laughs)
Lacey: Zidiethea
Interviewer: It just rolls off your tongue!
Lacey: Well, after twenty years, it tends to (laughs).
Interviewer: I was wondering about the journals in the opening Zidiethea scenes.
Lacey: They used these sheets of, I think it was pink perspex. It had this really fluorescent quality and it was so 80's. I remember the special effects people achieved the journal effect using back projection--
ZERRECK: Anything interesting in there?
DOCTOR: I don't know how to tell you this, my child. (The Doctor smiles sadly) My child? No.
ZERRECK: They've found out who my parents are?
DOCTOR: Who they were, I'm afraid. (The Doctor pulls out a pair of reading glasses, ostensibly to examine the journal, but really to hide how upset he is) Twenty years ago, two prominent citizens died in an apparent climbing accident and their child went missing, presumed to have fled the scene of the accident and, well, the rest is obvious.
ZERRECK: It's taken them 20 years to find me?
DOCTOR: It's worse than that. The brother of your fa--well, your uncle took all the family holdings and--
ZERRECK: What?
DOCTOR: It's come to light that your parents' deaths weren't an accident. Your uncle was behind it, he left you on streets to fend for yourself. There was a trial, imprisonment, it's back in the new because your parents' will has been discovered, the estate has to be properly settled and--what's that noise? Ah, these journal things update. Let's see. Oh. Oh, no!
ZERRECK: What? WHAT? (grabs journal and reads) He's escaped? My uncle's escaped from prison?
DOCTOR: It's all a bit much to take in, perhaps if we--
ZERRECK: No. Let's get this over with. (She throws the journal down and it shatters)
DOCTOR: (Looking mournfully at the broken journal) You could have at least waited until I'd read the comics.
The two-part story itself was rather twisted. Zerreck and The Doctor show up at a run-down mansion that looks like a cross between Grey Gardens meets a Tennessee Williams play. We are introduced to Aunt Lizzy and Cousin Simon. Aunt Lizzy has a rather bizarre wardrobe courtesy of the BBC Wardrobe Department's leftovers and Cousin Simon looks like he stepped out of the leading man role in a 1930's romantic drama.
Inside the house we see Aunt Lizzy and various cousins. The house, which runs on an internal computer, is serving drinks. The Doctor and Zerreck arrive and are announced by the house's calm, unnerving voice. The family regard the newcomers with suspicion and contempt, but Zerreck is the heiress apparent, so this soon switches to oily sycophancy. Aunt Lizzy dotes on her new niece, Simon invades her personal space with lounge lizard flattery. Pippa squeals with delight at having someone to play with and Hengyst, perched in the corner, staring wildly, manages to smile for a full half-second.
While Zidiethea is on a planet more technically advanced than Earth and the mansion literally a "machine for living in", it's doing its best to resemble an old haunted house from Earth legend. The wallpaper is peeling off, windows are boarded up, the house's internal computer can't seem to get anyone's drink order right and it's even infested with rats. Zerreck tells The Doctor that she doesn't know what is worse, the rodents or her eccentric family.
The script itself had a lot of potential. One By One was penned by Robert Holmes, regarded as one of the best Doctor Who writers. While this was regarded as one of his best contributions, sadly, it was also his last. Holmes died on May 24, 1986, at the young age of 60.
Great Uncle Azbik arrives. A dusty old cove with a huge red beard and annoying laugh, no-one seems to remember him, but he seems to know the right things. The family reluctantly accepts him. Via crosstalk, the family and Marcus, the family solicitor, are properly introduced. Cousin Pippa, who has delusions of living by the sea side also introduces her sea shell collection. Each shell has a name.
Holmes's twisted humour comes out in full with the rather sickeningly sweet cousin Pippa played by Britain's sweetheart, Bonnie Langford. Pippa plays out like a typical Langford performance until the viewer realizes that she is doomed by circumstance. Pippa believes she will get to live by the seaside and own a pony. Her appearance is almost freakish, not unlike that of Baby Jane Hudson. It's easily one of the best performances from Langford and not what one would expect.
Marcus calls for all family members to be brought into the drawing-room, Azbik is missing and the re-reading of the will cannot begin, Azbek is found dead.
The re-reading of the will is put off until tomorrow. Lizzy insists on taking the master bedroom. Doctor and Zerreck discuss events and try to work out sleeping arrangements:
DOCTOR: "I'm the oldest, I'll have the bed and you sleep on the couch."
ZERRECK: "Age before beauty, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Pearls before swine, Zerreck."
A scream rings out. Cousin Pippa, who couldn't sleep, popped in to see if Aunt Lizzy was awake to read her a story and she found her dead. Lizzy appears to have died in her sleep after what is percieved to be a horrifying nightmare. Cousin Simon, who hated his mother is suspected by The Doctor and Zerreck, but Hengyst casts suspicion on Zerreck. The Family gather to check on each other's safety.
One By One is interesting as a Doctor Who story without traditional monsters. However, Aunt Lucy and company are so grotesque, it's almost satisfying when one of them meets their demise.
The Doctor makes his excuses and decides to investigate the room Lizzy died in. Downstairs Hengyst is theorizing wildly as to what happened when Zerreck realizes Hengyst's talkativeness is unusual. Almost as if he's intoxicated. TOXIC! His drink is poisoned. Zerreck screams at Hengyst to stop drinking.
One "death", however, would be as heartbreaking as it was surprising.
Upstairs, The Doctor hears Zerreck's shout and rushes to the door. But it's locked. He struggles with the doorknob.
Zerreck hears a scream from the Doctor and rushes upstairs. She touches the doorknob but draws her hand back. It's hot. She examines The Doctor who appears to have been thrown across the room and is slumped unnaturally in the armchair. He's dead and his palm is scorched. Someone electrified the doorknob. Zerreck screams and runs from the room. Moments after she leaves, The Doctor's head jerks up, but his eyes remain closed. Is he dead or alive?
One by one they fall. Soon there might be none at all.
__________________
"I took stock and decided to move on to something else. I'd already juggled a soft relaunch for Doctor Who once and that was enough."__________________
- Colin Cant
__________________
Text in italic is from the book Doctor Who In The Eighties by Gordon Weythe
Colin Baker was also unsure about participating in the next series, as he would recall:
"I get the sense they wanted to have a new Doctor, but everyone involved was far too gentlemanly to sack me and I was told when pre-production started on Season 24, I would have first refusal. I appreciated that".
Baker eventually took the role of Dangerous Davies and plans were made to have The Doctor regenerate.
__________________
"The Closing Door had ended on a rare (for 80s Who) inter-story cliffhanger. It was discovered that Zerreck was wanted on her home planet Zidiethea to collect an inheritance. Was it a trap or was Zerreck about to find out who she really was?"
- DWM Archive, The Closing Door, 1996
__________________
Doctor Who: One By One by Robert Holmes
Cast Of Characters
The Doctor - Colin Baker
Zerreck - Rebecca Lacey - A former street rat and thief. Zerreck is rough around the edges but a loyal companion to The Doctor.
Marcus - Charles Simon - an eccentric and slightly sinister solicitor and executor
Aunt Lizzy - Frances de la Tour - Zerreck's aunt who shows up at the estate. She is a hypochondriac convinced she is dying. Her fashion sense and personality are rather eccentric.
Cousin Simon - David Thewlis - Aunt Lizzy's son. He doesn't like his mother, sick of her constant nagging. On the other hand, he's also awful to Zerreck.
Cousin Hengyst - Daniel Peacock - Hengyst says little and sees all.
Second Cousin Pippa - Bonnie Langford - More sympathetic than the other family members but has delusions of living by the seaside. She also collects seashells and names them.
House - Enn Reitel (voice only)
Great Uncle Azbik - David Swift
PART ONE
The TARDIS lands on Zidiethea. The Doctor buys a "journal page", the local equivalent of a newspaper, a single sheet of perspex that displays news on voice command.
__________________
Rebecca Lacey describing the One By One set during a 2006 television interview uploaded to YouTube:
Interviewer: I remember for Zid--this is quite a mouthfull (laughs)
Lacey: Zidiethea
Interviewer: It just rolls off your tongue!
Lacey: Well, after twenty years, it tends to (laughs).
Interviewer: I was wondering about the journals in the opening Zidiethea scenes.
Lacey: They used these sheets of, I think it was pink perspex. It had this really fluorescent quality and it was so 80's. I remember the special effects people achieved the journal effect using back projection--
__________________
ZERRECK: Anything interesting in there?
DOCTOR: I don't know how to tell you this, my child. (The Doctor smiles sadly) My child? No.
ZERRECK: They've found out who my parents are?
DOCTOR: Who they were, I'm afraid. (The Doctor pulls out a pair of reading glasses, ostensibly to examine the journal, but really to hide how upset he is) Twenty years ago, two prominent citizens died in an apparent climbing accident and their child went missing, presumed to have fled the scene of the accident and, well, the rest is obvious.
ZERRECK: It's taken them 20 years to find me?
DOCTOR: It's worse than that. The brother of your fa--well, your uncle took all the family holdings and--
ZERRECK: What?
DOCTOR: It's come to light that your parents' deaths weren't an accident. Your uncle was behind it, he left you on streets to fend for yourself. There was a trial, imprisonment, it's back in the new because your parents' will has been discovered, the estate has to be properly settled and--what's that noise? Ah, these journal things update. Let's see. Oh. Oh, no!
ZERRECK: What? WHAT? (grabs journal and reads) He's escaped? My uncle's escaped from prison?
DOCTOR: It's all a bit much to take in, perhaps if we--
ZERRECK: No. Let's get this over with. (She throws the journal down and it shatters)
DOCTOR: (Looking mournfully at the broken journal) You could have at least waited until I'd read the comics.
__________________
The two-part story itself was rather twisted. Zerreck and The Doctor show up at a run-down mansion that looks like a cross between Grey Gardens meets a Tennessee Williams play. We are introduced to Aunt Lizzy and Cousin Simon. Aunt Lizzy has a rather bizarre wardrobe courtesy of the BBC Wardrobe Department's leftovers and Cousin Simon looks like he stepped out of the leading man role in a 1930's romantic drama.
__________________
Inside the house we see Aunt Lizzy and various cousins. The house, which runs on an internal computer, is serving drinks. The Doctor and Zerreck arrive and are announced by the house's calm, unnerving voice. The family regard the newcomers with suspicion and contempt, but Zerreck is the heiress apparent, so this soon switches to oily sycophancy. Aunt Lizzy dotes on her new niece, Simon invades her personal space with lounge lizard flattery. Pippa squeals with delight at having someone to play with and Hengyst, perched in the corner, staring wildly, manages to smile for a full half-second.
While Zidiethea is on a planet more technically advanced than Earth and the mansion literally a "machine for living in", it's doing its best to resemble an old haunted house from Earth legend. The wallpaper is peeling off, windows are boarded up, the house's internal computer can't seem to get anyone's drink order right and it's even infested with rats. Zerreck tells The Doctor that she doesn't know what is worse, the rodents or her eccentric family.
__________________
The script itself had a lot of potential. One By One was penned by Robert Holmes, regarded as one of the best Doctor Who writers. While this was regarded as one of his best contributions, sadly, it was also his last. Holmes died on May 24, 1986, at the young age of 60.
__________________
Great Uncle Azbik arrives. A dusty old cove with a huge red beard and annoying laugh, no-one seems to remember him, but he seems to know the right things. The family reluctantly accepts him. Via crosstalk, the family and Marcus, the family solicitor, are properly introduced. Cousin Pippa, who has delusions of living by the sea side also introduces her sea shell collection. Each shell has a name.
__________________
Holmes's twisted humour comes out in full with the rather sickeningly sweet cousin Pippa played by Britain's sweetheart, Bonnie Langford. Pippa plays out like a typical Langford performance until the viewer realizes that she is doomed by circumstance. Pippa believes she will get to live by the seaside and own a pony. Her appearance is almost freakish, not unlike that of Baby Jane Hudson. It's easily one of the best performances from Langford and not what one would expect.
__________________
Marcus calls for all family members to be brought into the drawing-room, Azbik is missing and the re-reading of the will cannot begin, Azbek is found dead.
The re-reading of the will is put off until tomorrow. Lizzy insists on taking the master bedroom. Doctor and Zerreck discuss events and try to work out sleeping arrangements:
DOCTOR: "I'm the oldest, I'll have the bed and you sleep on the couch."
ZERRECK: "Age before beauty, Doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Pearls before swine, Zerreck."
A scream rings out. Cousin Pippa, who couldn't sleep, popped in to see if Aunt Lizzy was awake to read her a story and she found her dead. Lizzy appears to have died in her sleep after what is percieved to be a horrifying nightmare. Cousin Simon, who hated his mother is suspected by The Doctor and Zerreck, but Hengyst casts suspicion on Zerreck. The Family gather to check on each other's safety.
__________________
One By One is interesting as a Doctor Who story without traditional monsters. However, Aunt Lucy and company are so grotesque, it's almost satisfying when one of them meets their demise.
__________________
The Doctor makes his excuses and decides to investigate the room Lizzy died in. Downstairs Hengyst is theorizing wildly as to what happened when Zerreck realizes Hengyst's talkativeness is unusual. Almost as if he's intoxicated. TOXIC! His drink is poisoned. Zerreck screams at Hengyst to stop drinking.
__________________
One "death", however, would be as heartbreaking as it was surprising.
__________________
Upstairs, The Doctor hears Zerreck's shout and rushes to the door. But it's locked. He struggles with the doorknob.
Zerreck hears a scream from the Doctor and rushes upstairs. She touches the doorknob but draws her hand back. It's hot. She examines The Doctor who appears to have been thrown across the room and is slumped unnaturally in the armchair. He's dead and his palm is scorched. Someone electrified the doorknob. Zerreck screams and runs from the room. Moments after she leaves, The Doctor's head jerks up, but his eyes remain closed. Is he dead or alive?
Tony Haygarth? Can't say I've ever heard of him. I'll have to look into his filmography.
The idea came to me when I was watching sci-fi comedy Kinvig; written by Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale. In that, the character he played is meant to be a loser who only thinks that he's having space adventures*, but I was struck by the way Haygarth could say things like "psycho-kinetic energy" in a totally matter-of-fact way.
Sounds like Ghost Light meets Knives Out. Not familiar with Haygarth, but I definitely trust your judgement. (Although personally, I would have gone with Ken Campbell.) Now, all we need is a Multi-Doctor story with Delgado, Cuthbertson and Haygarth comparing beards. By the way what was the version of the theme that. you used?
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Here's an excerpt from an episode of Kinvig. Obviously, Haygarth wouldn't play The Doctor quite so uncertain, but he's in a suit and tie and on an alien world, it should give a hint.
Haygarth isn't an eccentric "type" actor, but he was versatile. I see him playing it quite gently, but with occasional moments where the mask drops to reveal a certain knowing. I was going to say imagine a cross between Troughton and McGann, but maybe that's the soft Scouse accent making me think of that comparison.
Haygarth isn't an eccentric "type" actor, but he was versatile. I see him playing it quite gently, but with occasional moments where the mask drops to reveal a certain knowing. I was going to say imagine a cross between Troughton and McGann, but maybe that's the soft Scouse accent making me think of that comparison.
I thought there were clear elements of "The Doctors Wife" and "Paradise Heights".
