Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (TV Soundtrack)

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THE PROGRAMME: The Tenth Planet was always destined to be a landmark in the ongoing story of Doctor Who; chosen as the final story of William Hartnell's tenure in the lead role, it introduced the concept of the Doctor's body being able to renew itself with a variant humanoid physique. This plot device enabled the programme to continue in spite of the failing health - and increasing irascibility - of its original lead actor. Less apparent at the time of production was the serial's other great contribution to Doctor Who's history: the Cybermen. These characters, and their home planet of Mondas, were conceived by Dr Kit Pedler, a scientist brought on board by producer Innes Lloyd in a bid to inject some real 'science fiction' concepts into a flagging Saturday teatime series. Unlike their established counterparts the Daleks, the Cybermen were a race of monsters whose physical and vocal appearance would evolve substantially with each subsequent reappearance in the series, the last being in 1988's Silver Nemesis, a story which celebrated the programme's 25th birthday. Full-scale and model filming for the external Antarctic scenes took place at Ealing Studios in August 1966, with studio rehearsals and recording then following on through September and October. The opening titles for this serial's four episodes were a departure from the norm, with the usual Doctor Who title sequence fading into computer graphic representations of the story title, writer credits and episode number. Both these and the end titles were accompanied by a high-pitched electronic sparking sound. Library stock music was used to compliment the episodes' action; the piece used to accompany the Cybermen 'on the march' would appear again in future 1960s Cyber adventures, including The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. Although The Tenth Planet is clearly both the audience's and the Doctor's first encounter with the Cybermen, it is apparently not so for Earth as a planet. Whilst this story is set in 1986, the later serial The Invasion would depict a London-based Cyber invasion in the mid-1970s. With The Tenth Planet occurring early on in Doctor Who's fourth season, viewers would only have to wait one week after Episode Four to find out what had happened to Ben, Polly and the stranger before them. In a sequence recorded on 8 October 1966, William Hartnell's place on the floor of the TARDIS control room was taken by Patrick Troughton, the actor who was to become the Second Doctor. His first task would be to face The Power of the Daleks...