Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday was a stage play based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The play ran at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England for four weeks, beginning on 16 December 1974. Originally, the part of the Doctor was going to be played by Jon Pertwee, but the role went to character actor Trevor Martin instead. Martin had previously appeared in Doctor Who as a Time Lord in the 1969 serial, The War Games. In the play, it is stated that Martin's version of the Doctor is regenerated from Pertwee's; this makes him an alternate version of the Fourth Doctor (the play premiered about two weeks before Tom Baker began his television tenure as the Fourth Doctor).

Appearing as the Doctor's companions were Wendy Padbury (who had previously played Zoe Heriot in the television series) as Jenny, and James Matthew as Jimmy. Future The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy star Simon Jones appeared as the Master of Karn.

The plot centred around the Daleks, who were trying to take over the universe with the help of their crab-like slaves, the Clawrentulars. The play was directed by Mick Hughes and was written by Terrance Dicks, former script editor for the television series. Dicks would later use some of the plot elements in his Fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius.

The play was actually titled Seven Keys to Doomsday but the additional words preceding the title became known as part of it.

[edit] Other Productions

In 1984, the show was performed by the Porirua Little Theatre at the Community Hall in Titahi Bay, Porirua, New Zealand. Performances began at 3pm and 7:30pm on November 24th and 25th, and December 1st, 2nd and 8th^[1].

This production used the same script as the 1974 English production, with actor Micheal Sagar taking the role of the Doctor. The Doctor's companions Jenny and Dave were played by Theresa Milgate and Alistair Hudson respectively. Three Daleks, custom-built for the play, were used to promote the play in central Wellington.

Director Brian Hudson had previously worked for the BBC during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was a fan of Doctor Who.

In a February, 2008 interview with Dicks, it was revealed that he had been contacted to adapt his Doctor Who plays for audio release. ^[2]

[edit] Footnotes