{"id":3495,"date":"2021-08-24T14:58:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T12:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1329569"},"modified":"2021-08-24T16:12:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T14:12:09","slug":"doctor-whos-philip-hinchcliffe-admits-he-didnt-consider-the-repercussions-of-the-morbius-doctors","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-whos-philip-hinchcliffe-admits-he-didnt-consider-the-repercussions-of-the-morbius-doctors\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who\u2019s Philip Hinchcliffe admits he didn\u2019t consider \u201cthe repercussions\u201d of the Morbius Doctors"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It wasn’t thought out at all,” says Hinchcliffe, who was producer on the classic series between 1974 and 1977. <\/p>

By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 24 August 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Doctor Who\u2019s \u201cMorbius Doctors<\/a>\u201d moment has sparked decades of fervent fan discussion and continues to impact the TV series to this day \u2013 but the man responsible has admitted that the scene in question was \u201ctotally ad-hoc\u201d.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re not familiar, 1976 Doctor Who<\/a> story The Brain of Morbius<\/a> saw Tom Baker\u2019s Fourth Doctor go up against the Time Lord criminal Morbius, with the pair facing off in a \u201cmind-bending contest\u201d.<\/p>\n

The sequence saw images of the Doctor\u2019s previous incarnations \u2013 as played by Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell \u2013 displayed on a screen, which then displayed eight other mystery faces.<\/p>\n

The scene has been the cause of much debate ever since, with Doctor Who fandom divided as to whether these eight faces were intended to represent incarnations of the Doctor before Hartnell\u2019s \u201cFirst\u201d \u2013 though Philip Hinchcliffe, producer on the series at the time, said (via 1996 reference book Doctor Who: A History of the Universe), \u201cIt is true to say that I attempted to imply that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> to promote The God of Phantoms<\/a> \u2013 the latest in his Philip Hinchcliffe Presents\u2026 series from audio drama producers Big Finish \u2013 Hinchcliffe said that the introduction of these so-called Morbius Doctors \u201cwasn\u2019t thought out at all\u201d.<\/p>

Hinchcliffe\u2019s plan had originally been to feature well-known actors as these pre-Hartnell Doctors for something of a throwaway gag \u2013 but these plans were disrupted, meaning that a number of production staff, including Hinchcliffe himself, had to pose for the shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe suddenly get a got a call \u2013 I think it was one of the production days when we were in the studio, probably rehearsing,\u201d Hinchliffe explained. \u201cI think it was George Gallaccio, who was my sort of associate producer, who said they\u2019d got a problem. I don\u2019t know if Equity got onto it or whatever, but <\/span>we couldn\u2019t afford to have all these actors [in the photographs], each one being paid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018We need as many people as possible down in the photographic studio \u2013 now<\/em>.\u2019 And so anybody who was in that day working on the show, or could be grabbed during that lunch hour, was corralled and marched down to wardrobe. I think [Doctor Who writer] Bob Banks Stewart happened to be there talking about another script, so he was marched off\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all piled down there and they just put all these funny hats on us all and shoved us in front of a camera. So it was totally ad hoc, really. It wasn\u2019t thought out at all. In fact, I don\u2019t think [script editor] Bob Holmes or any of us really thought about the repercussions of all these previous incarnations of the Doctor. We hadn\u2019t thought about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\""Doctor\"<\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

The final episode features images (see above) of Robert Holmes (who was also The Brain of Morbius\u2019s co-writer), production unit manager Gallaccio, production assistant Graeme Harper, director Douglas Camfield, production assistant Christopher Baker, director Christopher Barry, Robert Banks Stewart and Hinchcliffe.<\/p>\n

Though the production team of the time didn\u2019t expect this moment to have far-reaching consequences, Doctor Who returned to the notion of versions of the Doctor before Hartnell\u2019s \u201cFirst\u201d in its most recent series, with Jo Martin\u2019s \u201cFugitive Doctor\u201d being revealed as another such incarnation.<\/p>\n

Series 12\u2019s finale The Timeless Children<\/a> even featured a brief glimpse of the Morbius Doctors \u2013 back on BBC One after 44 years \u2013 during a sequence in which the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) broadcasts her memories to escape the Matrix.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong>\u00a0Philip Hinchcliffe: \u2018I was pushing the envelope on Doctor Who, but not irresponsibly\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents Volume 04: The God of Phantoms is available now from bigfinish.com<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Visit our Sci-fi<\/a> hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with out TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
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