Spearhead from Space Screening at BFI Southbank

The Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray Collection box set is now available. To celebrate, the BFI on the London Southbank ran a special event on Saturday 1st February, showing John Pertwee’s debut Spearhead from Space. Guests included actors Robin Squire and Daisy Ashford, who is the daughter of Caroline John (Third Doctor companion Liz Shaw).

These events are also an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the additional featurettes and content that is available on the Blu-ray collection. Spearhead from Space was written by Robert Holmes, directed by Derek Martinus and script edited by Terrance Dicks.

Originally broadcast as 4 x 25 minute episodes in 1970, Spearhead from Space had viewing figures of 8.1-8.4 million. Our usual BFI Hosts Justin Johnson (Lead Programmer for BFI) and Dick Fiddy (BFI Archive Television Programmer) were there to welcome a full auditorium.

Justin Johnson highlighted how Spearhead from Space was the first story recorded in colour, it’s the start of the UNIT era, the Doctor being exiled on Earth and paired together with Cambridge-educated companion Liz Shaw. Dick Fiddy shared his memories of seeing the story on original broadcast commenting that Jon Pertwee certainly hit the ground running. Due to industrial action, the serial is known for being filmed primarily on location.

Interview with Mark Ayres – Sound Engineer

A regular to these events, Mark joined the stage to discuss the special challenges of Spearhead from Space. It was, he revealed, the only story up to 2011 made ostensibly from beginning to end in what is a HD format compared to the usual video recording. The sound was recorded in 16mm either mag or magnetic tape, which is the same size as the film with sprockets down the side, easily synchronised to film.

The original mags from 1970, which were analogue formats, had disintegrated, but it was discovered when the Doctor Who – Mannequin Mania Box Set was released on DVD in 2011, there were copy safety mags in a poor state from the story, and also the audio mags were recorded onto CD. Mark explained he likes to save all the episodes for a story in a long audio file which enables him to jump back and forth as he needed to do a lot of work to bring the sound together.

One of the challenges Mark revealed with the sound was scenes filmed on location in offices between the Brigadier and Liz Shaw. Due to the heat during filming, the doors were left open and microphones couldn’t get that close to the actors, so there was a lot of echoes recorded with their voices as the sound travelled down the corridor. Mark wanted to clean up the sound in their voices, so he had to first remove the audio from the episodes, quieten it and then also put it back in on the film track.

Interview with actor Robin Squire

Robin Squire is a writer and screenwriter, and explained his involvement in Spearhead from Space as a young man who was attached to the production office for around six months. Robin was very honest that although he was hired as an assistant script editor, but he just did what was needed, which could mean making the tea, being a driver collecting actors from the station and being a monster such as the Auton in all the close-ups on location in Evesham.

His impressions of Jon Pertwee were that he was slightly nervous at the beginning, but they saw from the first rushes that Jon Pertwee took the role very seriously. Robin did say that when Terrance Dicks said they didn’t have a fourth story for season 7 he dreamt up the idea of Inferno. It riled him a bit that he was never credited as another writer, Don Houghton was brought in to expand the idea.

Interview with Peter Crocker – Video Restoration Specialist

Peter Crocker has been involved in restoration of archive television since the mid 1990s using several cutting-edge techniques to improve the visual look of older television series. His job, he described as removing what he describes as tiny bits of “sparkle”, which is the dirt on the negatives. Asked if the technology has changed, he agreed it has become better if not necessarily easier to improve the images. Several issues can occur with older film, typically scratches, dirt, colours are not as sharp, warping of the film itself, which they will try to take care of.

Peter showed a slide to the audience as he wanted to show the difference in appearance of a frame from Ambassadors of Death to the audience. Ambassadors of Death proved the most challenging story of the whole seventh series as none of the episodes were retained by the BBC in colour. It highlights the different sources and images of film they had, and the work involved. There are four images below. Top left image: Retained black and white film in the BBC archive. Top right image is an off-air tape recording from America, which has very poor image quality.

The bottom left image is the raw colour recovery which was a process created by a BBC engineer to draw out colour embedded in the black and white film print. The colours are not quite fully there as the process can be patchy. Peter explained that originally the BBC Director General made the decision they wanted the public to be able to view content in colour. The majority of people still watched television on black and white television sets, approximately around 98% in 1970. The colour signal was piggybacked on top of the black and white signal. If the public bought a colour television, they would be able to see Doctor Who in colour.

The final bottom right is the result of the work Peter has to do to fill in and sharpen the print. It is very labour-intensive work, but Peter was able to review the film and spot any little islands of chromadots where colour is missing or incorrect and using manual manipulation and a special software programme to colourise and fill in any missing details. One of the issues he explained is always having enough time to perfect the process.

Interview with Matthew Sweet

Matthew Sweet describes himself as an actor, writer and comedian. He revealed how Doctor Who has been a part of his life. He seems like the kind of man who likes to prick at any pomposity when being interviewed (his comedic funny bone reacts instinctively) so when asked how they choose guests for the Blu-rays he pointedly replied there wasn’t any mystery as the choice is based on who is still alive! In that vein, Matthew joked how there is so much research available about Doctor Who that if aliens landed, they would think it something important.

For this Blu-ray set, Matthew has interviewed John Levene who played Sergeant Benton, which at times the preview showed becomes quite emotional. In a more serious tone, Matthew spoke about the interviews he does and how important they are to us as fans. The reactions of the interviewee depend on different factors. There is the opportunity for them to become more reflective on an acting job they did during a long career, or consider where they are in their life currently, and that gives them a freedom that comes with age. Matthew noted sometimes people misremember events of the past and spoke of Michael Grade, who forgot that he didn’t instantly cancel Doctor Who after Trial of A Timelord, although Grade seemed to enjoy the notoriety of trying to axe Doctor Who.

Interview with Daisy Ashford

The interview started with Daisy’s impressions of the screening. She thought watching Spearhead from Space was marvellous and loved the audience laughter that came with certain lines. She had watched Inferno as a Big Finish story, she led straight on from the events and also clips for the Behind the Sofa segments for the Blu-ray releases. Daisy liked all the stories in the season but commented how nice it was to see her mother as a young woman, especially since she is getting older.

Daisy did, however, feel her mother Caroline John left the show under a cloud and wasn’t very good. Although she loved working with Jon Pertwee the series required a character that asked lots of questions of the Doctor. It was only later when Caroline was asked to attend a convention in Manchester, she really understood the character was loved and she “came back into the family”. She was very kind when meeting fans at conventions wanting to make time to see them all.

Describing her mother, Daisy said Caroline John was very much a working actress, going from small and large acting jobs. Caroline worked in the National Theatre before Doctor Who and had a real love of theatre. Daisy remarked how she saw her mother and she was in the moment when on stage.

Caroline John portrayed Liz Shaw for Big Finish for six stories in the Companion Chronicles audio range, starting with The Blue Tooth in 2007. Following her death in 201,2, Big Finish decided to bring back the character in 2018 and asked Daisy if she wanted to be involved and be Liz Shaw. Daisy said yes immediately. She joined a Third Doctor adventure with Jo Grant (Katy Manning), the Third Doctor (Tim Treloar) and The Brigadier (Jon Culshaw) where she was so delighted to be told she sounded just like her mother.

Daisy feels it’s a special connection to play the same part as her mother. Daisy is referred to as Dr Shaw and Daisy considers the Liz character as a trailblazer for women as she is strong, decisive. Daisy disclosed she did like Doctor Who for herself growing up and was a 7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) fan, which is wonderful to know.

The BFI screening ended with the trailer for the Blu-ray The Collection: Season 7 TRAILER | Doctor Who. The event concluded with a signing and there was a special postcard produced for the event.

A huge well done to the BFI staff for arranging another fantastic screening and thank you to all the guests who made this a fascinating and enjoyable afternoon on the Southbank for Doctor Who fans.

What are your thoughts on Spearhead from Space or Season 7 and where does it rank for you in the Pertwee seasons? Post your thoughts here, on the Big Blue Box Podcast Discord Server or Twitter. Let’s talk.