Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography

‘In my opinion the only children who would be bothered by it are the sort of children who would be bothered by a cabbage rolling down the stairs. They’re just a bothered child – you can’t legislate for them. And you certainly cannot allow programmes to be made for such a very specific minority,’ I said.

Of course, we hadn’t seen The Brain of Morbius yet …

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What with the weather and the workload, I was looking forward to the final serial of Season Twelve. I think the plan was to end on Terror of the Zygons, then break for summer, rather than record the first serial for the next block. Brian and I had been talking about getting away for a while. Tangiers kept cropping up as a destination, so we began to look at brochures and flights. That put a spring in my step as we finished Genesis. When you know you’ve got a break coming up, it’s hard not to count the days.

It was some time in January when all our plans went out the window. ITV, the only competitor to the BBC in those days, announced plans for a new sci-fi series called Space: 1999. It was the brainchild of Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and Stingray, so we could expect it to be of quality, although live action and not puppet-based this time. As a non-fan this didn’t particularly bother me. What did, however, was the fact it was scheduled to launch in late summer. There were all sorts of confabs at the Beeb and they all agreed: if this programme starts before the new series of Who and sinks its claws into our viewers, we might not win them back.

It’s a pretty negative view, I believe, and in hindsight probably the wrong one. But we didn’t know that then. So, the decision was made to bring forward Season Thirteen. Rather than start in winter, it would now begin in August. The good news was Season Twelve production would now conclude with Genesis – which meant we’d finished that block.

The bad news was the new season would commence recording straight after, with no break. I had the offer of a new contract on the table for another series (Todd was in negotiation with Philip), but what about summer? What about Tangiers?

I honestly didn’t think I could do it.

Chapter Nine

I Thought You Were Doing A Doctor

IT WAS with a certain reluctance that I started recording Terror of the Zygons. Not that I had anything against the script – from what I could tell it looked very strong. Nor the director – from the initial meetings with Douglas Camfield, I thought we were in safe hands here. But knowing it wasn’t the end of term, being told this was just the halfway point in a pretty arduous schedule, that was almost too much to bear. And there was no discussion.We were either doing it or we weren’t – those were the options.

But that wasn’t all. On top of everything else I knew that Zygons would also see me saying goodbye to a very dear friend.

Being positive for a moment, 1975 was a good time to be involved with Who. Possibly the best time – I’ll let others decide. I don’t think our stock had ever been higher. Tom was really winning plaudits with every episode and there was a genuine groundswell of love for his Doctor. Viewing figures were largely supporting the new fella as well. I remember being called into Philip’s office in February. For some reason he was delirious. He was this close to dancing on the table – and if you know Philip, you will understand how unlikely that image is!

‘The figures are amazing!’ he said. ‘You two should be very pleased with yourselves.’

I guessed he was talking about the second episode of The Ark in Space, which had aired the previous Saturday.

‘You’re absolutely right. Do you know how many people tuned in? 13.6 million people – 13.6!’

Whatever Philip was on was very contagious. It was the first time I genuinely felt, We’re flying, they like us – they really like us!

The atmosphere in the whole building was electric. It meant so much to everyone. You could taste the enthusiasm in the air. Strangers, people from other programmes, support staff – they all seemed to know our star was in the ascendant. And, do you know what? It felt bloody good! Our hard work was paying off.

We never hit the same heights again, although there was a definite spike in viewers once Tom was established. People loved him. No wonder he stayed for seven years.

A few weeks later there was a lot to love, too, about Terror of the Zygons. The plot was intricate, clever and fun and I loved how it tapped into the national psyche, exploiting all those myths and rumours about the Loch Ness Monster. Some of the acting was tremendous as well, the action sequences breathtaking and our director was one of the best.

But the monster …

My God, it was Invasion of the Dinosaurs all over again. I bumped into Philip one day and he was nearly in tears. Something had gone seriously wrong. The Skarasen was meant to be a sort of cyborg Nessie but it looked like a sock puppet with eczema. So disappointing. Tom and I fell about when we saw it. The plans had, apparently, promised so much. Dougie Camfield did his best but in the end I know he was resigned to using as few clips of the monster as possible, which was a shame.

On the plus side, though, I thought the shape-shifting Zygons themselves were pretty chilling. You can tell when James Acheson is back in the costume department because things get ratcheted up a notch. Need half a dozen giant orange-hooded suits with tentacles and octopus suckers? Jim’s your man. It was good to see Keith Ashley again, too, working a Zygon instead of a Dalek this time.

And we did have fun. At one point Harry is cloned by a Zygon and I have to chase him all over the Scottish (hah!) countryside. He’s hiding in a barn and I stumble in. It’s so redolent of a dozen 1970s thrillers. Really well shot by Dougie, I think. Then Harry has to leap out and try to skewer me on a pitchfork.

OK, so we rehearsed this, but as soon as the cameras were rolling it was like Ian – not Harry – was a man possessed. He came at me with this bloody pitchfork so fast I thought I’d be kebabed for dinner! Boy, I was glad when that scene was over. I remember falling over just to escape those deadly tines. It was a really tricky moment. You learn it, you practise it – then suddenly you see two sharp blades driving towards your face and have to dive for cover. Not a nice feeling at all.

Murder attempts aside, Zygons was good for Sarah, as well. I like the fact you