Fury from the Deep is the completely missing sixth serial of the fifth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 16 March to 20 April 1968. Loosely based on the 1965 radio serial The Slide by writer Victor Pemberton, this story marks Deborah Watling's last regular appearance as Victoria Waterfield and the first appearance of the sonic screwdriver.
In this serial, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his travelling companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Watling) arrive at a Euro Sea Gas refinery off the coast of contemporary England, where an infectious weed spreads rapidly, infecting and controlling the minds of anyone who comes into contact with it, including the refinery leader Robson (Victor Maddern).
Although it received mixed reviews from contemporary critics, Fury from the Deep has been positively re-evaluated as one of the scariest stories in Doctor Who's history. Every episode of the serial was destroyed by the BBC in 1974 due to archival policy, though small clips and the complete audio soundtrack exists. It was the last serial to have its videotapes wiped. In September 2020, BBC Studios released an animated reconstruction using the original audio, animated by Big Finish Creative.
Plot
The Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land on the eastern coast of England, where they discover a heartbeat emitting from a gas pipe. The three are captured by Robson, a ruthless gas refiner who heads a pumping operation with a network of rigs spanning the North Sea. Robson is unnerved by the loss of contact with one of his rigs; the Doctor proposes there is a creature in the pipes and they should be allowed to investigate, but Robson has his second in command, Harris, lock them up.
Harris disagrees with Robson and asks his wife, Mrs. Harris, to find some files for him. This leads to her being pricked by seaweed and falling ill. Harris requests the Doctor's help, but in the interim, Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill, two technicians who have been infected by the seaweed, arrive and knock her unconscious. The Doctor experiments on the seaweed, which when returned to water grows in size and strength, and seems to become malevolent before they successfully seal it in its aquarium. Robson is soon after attacked by the weed, though is able to escape with the Doctor and Harris's intervention. Harris assumes control of the command centre of oil operations, as the Doctor discovers that Harris's home has begun to fill with sea foam, which he narrowly escapes.
Robson kidnaps Victoria and flees as the weed creatures begin to infiltrate and attack the central control of the oil platforms. The Doctor and Jamie follow after Robson and Victoria, and discover Robson has been mostly transformed into a seaweed creature. Jamie finds Victoria elsewhere, and Victoria screams in response to seeing Robson, which seems to disable him briefly. As the group escapes, the Doctor realises the creatures are sensitive to high-pitched sounds, and he uses the centre's equipment to amplify Victoria's screams into the pipes. The creatures are destroyed, and the infected humans, including Robson and Mrs. Harris, are returned to normal.
Victoria, mentally and emotionally exhausted, and frustrated that everywhere they go together is always dangerous and she's always afraid, decides to stop travelling with the Doctor and Jamie. The Harrises welcome her into their home. The Doctor and Jamie stay another day to check that she is sure about her decision, and after saying their goodbyes to Victoria, depart in the TARDIS.
Production
Writing Screenwriter Victor Pemberton developed a science-fiction script titled The Slide, which was based on his fear of earthquakes and involved a mysterious substance emerging from a fissure. In 1964, he pitched the script as a television story for Doctor Who's second season. It was rejected by story editor David Whitaker on 24 September. He called the script a "stewpot" and stated "I don't think the dialogue is very good and I am quite sure it is not right for Doctor Who". Pemberton submitted an alternate stand-alone version of the script to BBC Radio on 17 August 1964. The following year, producer Peter Bryant commissioned The Slide as a seven-part radio serial. The radio production of The Slide, broadcast from 13 February to 27 March 1966, involved parasitic mud taking control of an English town.
By summer 1967, Bryant was Doctor Who's story editor. Pemberton, who had recently completed a three-month stint in the same role, suggested to Bryant that The Slide could be adapted into a new Doctor Who serial. Bryant agreed and on 5 October 1967 he commissioned Pemberton to write a six-part serial titled Doctor Who and the Colony of Devils.
Pemberton changed the story's villain from parasitic mud to natural gas, which was then being developed as a new fuel for Britain. His inspiration was a gas leak which had occurred on the North Sea surface. The terrifying premise resonated with British audiences as natural gas was beginning to be used widely in British homes. The creature also takes the form of seaweed, which Pemberton disliked for its slimy texture. The seaweed's ominous heartbeat was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story The Tell-Tale Heart. The production team suggested the seaweed could be covered by a mass of foam, allowing for further exploitation of the foam machine recently used in The Abominable Snowmen (1967). Pemberton changed the story's setting to a gas refinery rather than a town, making the cast of townspeople workers at the refinery. The fat-and-thin infected engineers Oak and Quill were intended to resemble an evil version of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whom Pemberton had met in 1953. He later considered reusing the characters in a spin-off project. Pemberton knew Troughton well and scripted the Doctor with the actor's mannerisms in mind."Fury from the Deep Interview". Portsmouth Tonight. Portsmouth TV, 27 March 2002. Originally this serial came before The Web of Fear (1968), but their order was swapped to capitalise on the popularity of the returning Yeti villains from The Abominable Snowmen.
When Pemberton delivered the scripts for Colony of Devils, Bryant was the series' producer and Derrick Sherwin had replaced him as story editor. Sherwin and the serial's director Hugh David disliked the scripts. Pemberton, who was accustomed to writing for radio, relied too heavily on dialogue in his scripts. Sherwin rewrote the episodes over Christmas 1967. The climax was changed to focus on Victoria's screams. Actress Deborah Watling had gained the nickname "Leatherlungs" for her constant shrieking on the series, though in this serial Victoria's screams were performed by assistant floor manager Margot Hayhoe. The screaming was augmented with radiophonic effects created for The Underwater Menace (1967). The script was also amended to reduce the need for exterior filming. Around the end of 1967, Watling informed the production team she would be leaving the series, since she would be completing her contracted work by the end of The Colony of Devils. The storyline was rewritten to pre-empt Victoria's departure. Casting for a replacement female companion (later named Zoe Heriot) began in early January 1968.
Pemberton was unhappy with Sherwin's script changes—particularly the softening of Oak and Quill's sinister behaviour—and threatened to remove his name from the production. He eventually allowed himself to be credited.
Filming Dudley Simpson's incidental music was composed prior to filming. He reused a theme from The Evil of the Daleks (1967), Victoria's introductory serial, for scenes focused on her. The design of the seaweed was intentionally not based on the human form, to differentiate it from other Doctor Who monsters.
Filming began at the cliffs near Botany Bay, Kent on 4 February 1968. As with location filming on The Abominable Snowmen, this serial used 16 mm film rather than previously used 35 mm film. This was being done to keep budgets down in preparation for the move to colour television. The opening scene of the TARDIS landing on the sea was achieved with a quarter-sized model (originally made for 1965's The Romans) suspended from a helicopter via piano wire. Both Frazer Hines and Watling have remarked on how harsh the winter cold was during the exterior shoot along the British coast. Watling complained that her short-skirted costume gave no remit from the cold, and she recalled noticing herself surreptitiously adjusting her skirt during a broadcast scene.
Pemberton's script indicated that in Episode 1, the Doctor "took from his pocket something which looks like his own version of a screwdriver" to undo screws from a pipeline box. Bryant was underwhelmed by the normal screwdriver prop prepared for filming, and instead suggested that the Doctor could use a special tool (later named the sonic screwdriver). A new prop was created by Peter Day, but Patrick Troughton kept dropping the prop due to the cold, so ultimately the whistle from Watling's lifejacket was used instead. To complete the effect, the visual effects team provided a prop box in which the screws could be undone from the inside. The sonic screwdriver subsequently became an iconic tool associated with the Doctor in the series.
The Natural Gas Development Board gave the crew permission (under certain restrictions) for the crew to shoot on a gas platform; Red Sands Fort in the Thames estuary was chosen. Due to the technical limits of the foam machine, water containers had to be ferried across to the platform. In mid-February the serial was retitled Fury from the Deep for fear of using the word "devils" in a family show.
Studio recording began on 24 February at Lime Grove Studio D. Filming at Ealing Studios took place from 4 to 6 March. During filming, Troughton considered leaving the series at the end of his contract, but following a discussion with his co-stars, he decided to remain in the role for at least another year. The final day of recording took place in Studio 1 at BBC Television Centre on 29 March.
Fury from the Deep featured Watling's last regular appearance as Victoria. Footage of her final scene was reused in Episode 1 of the following serial The Wheel in Space; she received an on-screen credit. Watling agreed to return for a cameo appearance in the 20th anniversary episode "The Five Doctors" (1983), but she left during pre-production to appear in a Dave Allen programme instead. She later reprised the role of Victoria in the 30th-anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time (1993) and the direct-to-video film Downtime (1995).
Casting Several cast members appeared in other Doctor Who serials. Roy Spencer (Frank Harris) had previously played Manyak in The Ark (1966). Graham Leaman (Price) previously played the Controller in The Macra Terror (1967) and later played a Time Lord in The Three Doctors (1973). Hubert Rees (Chief Engineer) later played Captain Ransom in The War Games (1969) and John Stevenson in The Seeds of Doom (1976). June Murphy (Maggie Harris) later played Third Officer Jane Blythe in The Sea Devils (1972). John Abineri (Van Lutyens) later played General Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death (1970), Richard Railton in Death to the Daleks (1974), and Ranquin in The Power of Kroll (1979). Margaret John (Megan Jones) later played Grandma Connolly in "The Idiot's Lantern" (2006).
Broadcast
Episode is missing
16 mm film prints of Fury from the Deep were sold to overseas broadcasters in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Gibraltar.
Archival status