The Complete And Utter History Of Dr WHO? (Part Three)
"Er, one, er, forty, er..." - surely no monster in the history of cinema has had as big an impact as the Zarby that ran into the camera in 'The Webbed-Up Planet', but Nerry Nation's Dales run it a close second. Whether gliding down a corridor on their home planet of Scaroth, or emerging from a gleaming space-ship, bearing down on some terrified humanists, the Dales are both feared and loved by globular children everywhere.
There are Dale roadworks (note to self: or was it fireworks? I dunno), Dale slippers and even the game of Snapes and Ladders was remade as Dr Who And Those Dales. There was even two colour Dale movies starring colourful Humphrey Cushion as The Doctors Who IN COLOUR!!!
But what led to the creation of The Dales? And where did their name come from? Nerry Nation has been asked that question by many journalists and has a confession to make...
"I used to say that the name Dale came from some volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanicus Base, but that were just a story I put about after I'd been to the pub. In fact it "rolled off the typewriter"* when I was listening to 'Mrs Dale's Diary'. You'll note that Partrick Troughtson's first story with the Dales, he whips out his diary for the first time! So now you know!"
And when it comes to their creations, Nerry Nation is disarmingly honest:
"I had been working with the comedian Toby Handcart, but one night we got into an argument about some new material. He was insisting that lawrencium was discovered in 1962, but I knew it was first prepared in 1961 by the bombardment of californium by boron atoms. Anyway the long and the short of it was that I walked out and bought some new radiators or something, so I had to make a quick buck. I dashed off some scripts involving these Dales and sent them to the BBC. As it happened, they landed on the desk of Roger Whittaker, who was Script Edison on doctor who at the time. Roger loved my handwriting and the rest is history!"
Of course, in the first Dale story (usually called 'The Dales' but sometimes referred to as 'The Dead Planetoid' or more simply 'The Survivors (but not to be confused with 'The Survivors' which was the series what I wrote in the 1970s that had Talphryn Thomasin in it). Although Talph is also in 'Spearmint In Space-Time', which might confuse stupid people, I suppose...') Docta Who apparently wipes out the Dales for ever.
Which, of course, led to a problem when the show wanted to bring them back in its Second seasoning. But Nerry Nation had an answer to that:
"Frankly, I could be arsed to explain it!"
But let us not underestimate the contribution made by the BBC designer, Roy 'Cyril' Cuesack, who was faced with the problem of bringing Nerry Nation's creations to life. Ray remembers: "I sprayed some cardboard tubes silver or something. When I unveiled them in the BBC carpark, everyone had just come back from the BBC bar anyway, so frankly no-one was that bothered what they looked like. We all went around going "I am a Dale! I am a Dale!" and I got fifty quid and a Blue Peter badge, so I was well chuffed, frankly!"...
The Dales have, of course, returned every time Nerry has been faced with a large utility bill. And who is to say that they won't be back next year? Assuming they're still making the show, of course!
Next Episode:
"I've got some ointment..."
*Whatever that may mean? We think it just fell off his desk and got lodged behind the radiator.
(By Andrew Trowbridge)
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