Finding more Sea Devils - Part 2

The Sea Devils is just a story I really enjoy and has a lot of location work.  On a previous visit to the Isle of Wight last year I took photos of the place where the Doctor and Jo first see the Sea Devil, but I never had time to see one of the most prominent locations at the Naval Base.  In reality is is the disused Fraser Gunnery Range.  It was also a Radar testing site and had various uses but was taken over by QinetQ and eventually closed for good in 2006.  Various plans to use the site for flats have come to nothing.  The large towers on the site were demolished in recent years over safety concerns, and as I found there have been other alterations too.  Given that I was visiting Portsmouth again, a walk down the coast to see what was still standing seemed worthwhile.

The site is currently fenced off as of June 2015, but in the past I've seen photos showing the fence with large gaps and everyone from vandals to people walking their dogs free to walk around the site.  Personally I think it's safe enough if you avoid going into the buildings, but on this visit it was all very secure so I never had the choice.  I also found out the rumours that the beach has become an unofficial nudist spot were in fact true, and there were several guys lying around with nothing on.  Fortunately none were likely to stray into my photos.  Having to rely on what I could photograph through the fence, I took what I could and looked at them afterwards to work out what was what in the story...

Around the front of the base facing inland is the entrance as used by Trenchard and the Master to visit in episode 2.  The buildings in shot are easy to identify today.

Most of the filming took place on the other side facing the sea.  The first time this is seen is where the Master gets out in uniform to walk through the base.  Some small buildings have been demolishing making identification of what was filmed where rather complicated.

The small building nearest the Master on the right still stands painted grey as in the photo below, though this was taken from the front rather than the back where the filming took place.  The building behind is gone.  The building with the Radar equipment partially blocked by the Master's head is also gone.

This second demolished building is much clearer in this photo where the Doctor tackles the Sea Devils immediately in the reprise at the start of episode 6.

To the left of where this building stood, however, is the large door that the Sea Devils lock all the Navy personnel after they take control of the base.

Another long shot, but the tall white door on the far building is the tall blue door in the lower shot from the story, and also the roof from which a Sea Devil tumbles.

Another photo with the demolished Radar building in the background but this time with the white/grey building by the Doctor and Sea Devil.

Which is the back of this building.

The large building in all these photographs is the headquarters for Captain Hart.  The front entrance is seen several times throughout the story and is in the centre of the photo below.  Although taken through the fence, the shot corresponds well with a shot from the story where Captain Hart and Jo Grant escape the occupied base pursued by Sea Devils.

Looking across to the left is a smaller building that appears in the background of several shots including where Captain Hart leads his reinforcements to attack the base.

A second shot shortly later shows the concrete wall in front of the building where Sea Devils lie dead, that's what happens when you take on the Royal Navy wearing string vests.

Looking right from the main building is the direction in which the Sea Devils make a suicidal head on charge against Captain Hart in a Bofors gun.  Only identifying feature here in the building on the left, this was quite far away.

With the battle going badly for the Sea Devils the Master legs it down the beach leaving the Naval base behind for this story.

A very recognisable location for a site 40 years old and abandoned, I feared it would be a waste visit but there was plenty still standing so that photographs could be taken.  I would have liked to get a little closer but no matter.  A beautiful sunny day out.  It wasn't the last Doctor Who thing I saw that day, I later stopped in 'Southsea Models and Games' and bought an old Harlequin Miniatures Wood Beast of Tara.

Frontier Breakout!

With Frontier in Space out the way on the Pertwee watchathon, it's a visit to the Southbank centre, standing in for a futuristic prison in the 26th century appearing in episode 2.  In recent years access to the upper areas is restricted, but is currently open as a temporary garden and cafe have been opened on the roof.

The establishing shot immediately gives away the location for anyone familiar with the area.  Generally it is largely the same but some walkways have been removed including the one in the foreground.  Various signs make it appear more colourful.

The first scenes are set for the Doctor and Jo being moved from their prison cell and being freed by Draconians.

A longer shot on the walkway, probably the highest publicly accessible.

The Doctor and Jo actually emerge at ground level to the right of the above photos.  A Draconian takes aim...

In the confusion, Jo is separated from the Doctor and runs up some steps on the west of the Hayward Gallery.

Just around the corner she is again captured, a common theme in this story.  Here the steps are heavily obscured by trees as part of the gardens on the roof.

After a forced visit to the Draconian embassy, the Doctor escapes and ends up again in his cell at the Southbank centre.  This time, the Ogrons attack to break them out.

Guards have their attention drawn on the east side of the Hayward Gallery.

Looking down the steps, now painted bright red, an ogron is seen taking on the shape of a Draconian.

Ogrons bound over the steps...

And attack the west side of the gallery.

Humans wait outside the same steps as seen earlier, when Jo was recaptured, for the Doctor to burst out trying to escape the ogrons.

Lots more garden things fill the scene which is still recognisable, background buildings have changed somewhat.  The Doctor and Jo run down the steps, he points off camera and they run off screen...

To immediately crouch by the very steps they just ran from.  The production tries hard to make the location look much larger and more complex than it actually is.  The Doctor and Jo are again recaptured by the steps.  These steps have been closed off for a number of years but are identifiable behind all the fencing.  Escape, capture, escape, capture, episode two and the start of episode three heavily feature the Southbank centre as a futuristic prison on a fascist Earth.  It's large concrete structure suits the setting perfectly, if being a little obvious as a London landmark.

You ham-fisted bun vendor!

Over this New Year period I've been continuing to show my girlfriend a selection of old, meaning proper, Doctor Who stories.  Previously, it had been some Tom Baker and a couple of Troughtons, but a solid introduction into Pertwee was embarked with Terror of the Autons, The Dæmons, The Three Doctors and Carnival of Monsters.  Together, while not all the best stories, these give a good feel for what the era was like, the UNIT family, introductions of the Master and Jo Grant, the restoration of the Tardis dematerialisation circuit and finally a return to normal travels in space and time.  If you're interested, her favourite was the Dæmons followed by Carnival.

I don't watch Doctor Who alone very often, I prefer it much more as a communal experience now.  As I'm already familiar with most existing stories, the joy is often seeing others watch it as it is for myself, and being able to discuss things afterwards.  It's from this that I've come to realise just how much the character of Jo Grant has provided the shape for Doctor Who in the decades to come.

It makes sense that during the 60s they had larger Tardis crews of 2-3 companions supporting the Doctor.  The stories were longer with more screen time dedicated to dialogue, and given the gruelling schedules the work load had to be spread out.  And allowing for those occasions when a cast member had a week off leaving the character in stasis sleeping under a rug or locked in a cell.  Also, characters all had their niche, the strong younger male (Ian, Steven, Jamie) could do the physically demanding work for the Doctor, the older female (Barbara) was a guide for the naive younger (Susan, Vicki).  As the Doctor became more physically able the requirement for a 'strongman' figure wasn't needed. You don't need Jamie to fight anyone when the 3rd Doctor can thrash anyone with Venusian Akido.  Also they seems to tighten up stories with four episodes being the norm and the occasional six parter.  Reducing the crew to a single companion and UNIT serving as non-companion semi-regulars is the natural progression.  In fact the six parters throughout the 70s are often a little bloated and padded leaving main characters with little to do other than go in circles.

During the 80s the show struggled with a 'crowded Tardis' as it attempted to merge both a large Tardis crew with shorter story lengths.  They didn't appear to have any reason for a larger Tardis crew either, unlike the 60s where characters had more defined roles, the early Davison era had a crew with two child geniuses and a slightly older but female character that was headstrong but not wise.  They just don't mesh like Ian, Barbara and Susan.  Furthermore, the changes in TV meant they didn't have the luxury of screen time being largely dialogue, given greater expectation on action and effects, even if it's just a Myrkra lumbering around.  Eventually they drastically slimmed the crew back by killing one of them off.  But while overcrowding the Tardis seemed an obvious problem, the show didn't actually create the 'single companion model' of the show until the 70s.  The idea of the Doctor travelling alone with a single female companion didn't come about until Jon Pertwee took on the role and Jo Grant came on board.  The UNIT regulars are semi-companions to flesh things out for much of this period and while Liz Shaw is the Doctor's only companion, they don't travel in the Tardis and there's little to distinguish her from the UNIT team.  Prior to this the only occasion in which the Doctor was previously left with a single companion was after The Savages where the Doctor leaves only with Dodo, until the War Machines immediately brought in Ben and Polly.  Yes, Dodo was, for all of a couple of episodes, the first companion to travel alone with the Doctor.

When Jo Grant was introduced, she became the single female companion approach that has been used many times since and probably considered the norm.  After her came Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana, Peri, Ace and every New Series companion.  Leela and Romana were quite different as companions go but both were of the single-female approach.  The New Series has been very unimaginative with companions, every one is a solitary female companion from contemporary Earth.  The New Series quickly established this as the standard even going as far as to introduce failed-companion Adam just to show how much it wouldn't work having a man on board long term.  Rory is the only exception, and they even killed him off for half a series to keep the Doctor and Amy alone.  The New Series women have greater issues though, in that each one superficially appears 'feisty' and 'independent' but ends up fancying the Doctor and being somewhat shallow.

But before all them Jo loved the Doctor, in her own way of course.  It was much more clearly a parental relationship, she loved the Doctor and he loved her, as a father would.  The New Series finds it much easier to have the Doctor obviously flirting with his companion in a way which would have been unthinkable when 'sex in the Tardis' was actually an issue.  But that's where the character of Jo Grant would eventually lead.  She was the first female character to have adventures alone with the Doctor and provide a somewhat vacuous blend of sexiness with a little action, and plenty of "what's that Doctor?"