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Script to Screen: Ghost Light

By Jon Preddle

One of the more intelligent and complex stories ever to appear on Doctor Who is Marc Platt's Ghost Light. Like most of the stories in the McCoy era, the serial's first edit over-ran the standard episode duration. This necessitated severe editing of the recorded material.

Marc Platt's fascinating essay on the creation of the serial in Ghost Light - The Scripts (Titan Books, 1993), details some of the scenes edited from the story, both before and after production, including many from the third episode. However there are many others which were recorded but later edited out.

This guide to the Ghost Light cuts is based on a video recording of the first edits for the second and third episodes (the rough edit of episode one on the tape has no extra footage).

Platt's novelisation of Ghost Light appears to be an amalgamation of several drafts of the story, together with new sequences specifically written for the book. Page numbers for the novel are quoted where applicable.

An extended version might have been released on BBC Video were it not for the fact that the original master recordings containing the extra footage were wiped soon after the story was made, and the surviving copies - such as the one used for this article - are time-coded and are not of broadcast quality. However many of these cut or extended sequences appear as extras on the 2005 DVD release of the story, and are noted accordingly.

Duration Timings:

 TVTapeExtra
Part 124'17"24'17"-
Part 224'18"27'59"3'41"
Part 324'17"27'30"3'13"

PART ONE

Ghost Light - The Scripts and the excellent Archive feature in DWM 190 cover much of what was cut from the scripts both before and after the story was recorded.

An early scene had the Doctor and Ace, still in the observatory where the TARDIS has landed, activating the surveillance systems and being 'watched' by Josiah. Another cut was of the Doctor playing a 'boogie-woogie' on the piano to Reverend Matthews just before Josiah's entrance.

PART TWO

After the recap, the first edit picks up from where Ace backs away from the advancing husks:

(NIMROD SLOWLY WAKES ON THE FLOOR)
CONTROL: Run, Ratkin, run. Get away!
(ACE RUNS TO THE TUNNEL BUT THE DOOR IS CLOSED. SHE HAMMERS ON IT)
CONTROL: Fetch!
(THE HUSKS ADVANCE. ACE BACKS TO THE DOOR)
ACE: You don't frighten me!
(THE HUSKS CLOSE IN)
ACE: Doctor!

{Novel, page 76}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Before Gwendoline enters the study:

(AN EXTERIOR SHOT OF THE HOUSE, WITH LIGHTNING FLASHES. THE DOCTOR ENTERS THE STUDY. HE EXAMINES THE BLAZING FIRE, THEN CROSSES TO THE DESK. HE SNATCHES UP SOMETHING AND DARTS FOR THE DOOR, JUST AS GWENDOLINE ENTERS)

{Novel, Page 79}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Gwendoline's line 'after he saw what was in the cellar':

DOCTOR: Gwendoline. Do you know where Ace is?

{Novel, page 80}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Ace's line 'I'll sort you lot out!':

NIMROD: Come here. They won't dare come near the core.
ACE: Why? What are they afraid of?
(UPSTAIRS, LADY PRITCHARD LISTENS AT THE ELEVATOR SHAFT DOOR...)

{Novel, page 77}

Before Ace's line 'Let us go or I'll smash it!':

(ACE HOLDS A STICK OVER THE GLOWING GLOBE)
ACE: Call them off or I smash it up!
CONTROL: No! Hide me!
NIMROD: Put it down. You don't know what that is in there.
ACE: I mean it, Tarzan. I'll do it!
CONTROL: No letting it out. Light burning with angriness.

{Novel, page 78}

After Mrs Pritchard's line 'It's this Doctor. Filling your head with his ideas.':

GWENDOLINE: He has words. So confusing. Uncle Josiah's ideas are much clearer.
MRS PRITCHARD: Go upstairs and dress yourself decently.
(GWENDOLINE RUNS UP THE STAIRS. MRS PRITCHARD WATCHES)

{Novel, page 93}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Between Josiah's lines 'most of Southern England in a firestorm' and 'Drive in the crystal rods', a scene lasting about 40 seconds set in Redver's room:

REDVERS: Not much time left. It'll soon be light.
(GWENDOLINE ENTERS)
GWENDOLINE: Mr Fenn-Cooper.
REDVERS: So you've seen Redvers too. Where are they holding the poor devil? I know he's close by.
GWENDOLINE: I am lost. So lost and alone.
REDVERS: Redvers got used to loneliness in the bush. He understands.
GWENDOLINE: I cannot find my mother. I'm sure she was here.
REDVERS: Don't be alarmed. Redvers Fenn-Cooper always escapes in the end. He knows where the greatest secret of all is hidden. It sleeps in the depths of the Interior. And it must never be woken.

{Novel, pages 93-94; scripts, pages 125-126}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Ace has fallen asleep in the study:

DOCTOR: Poor Ace.
(HE LOOKS AT HIS WATCH)
DOCTOR: I think it's time to call up the constabulary. Right Inspector. Perhaps you can assist with our enquiries.
(HE OPENS THE DRAWER)

Some of the Doctor's lines were dubbed over the retained shot of him opening the drawer, placed slightly later in the episode.

{Novel, pages 96, 102}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Before Gwendoline enters the observatory and Josiah's line 'Gwendoline, come here, dear child', an additional 13 seconds:

SMITH: Reverend Matthews. I thought you would amuse me. But you bore me just as much as you did before. (HE COUGHS)

Then Gwendoline enters - as on TV.

{Novel, page 99}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'Yes, especially when roused':

DOCTOR: Which is exactly what is eluding me at the moment.
(HE CROSSES TO THE DOOR AND EXITS, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY MACKENZIE)

Inserted at this point is the short shot of Control's arm emerging from the lift shaft.

(THE DOCTOR RE-ENTERS THE STUDY, NOW CARRYING A TRAY. MACKENZIE IS MUNCHING ON A SANDWICH)
DOCTOR: I'm busy, Inspector.
MACKENZIE: And I have my investigations to complete
(THE DOCTOR WIPES SPIT FROM HIS JACKET)
DOCTOR: Still not found the mustard?

Continues with the Doctor's line 'Since I awoke you, you have consumed...'

{Novel, pages 104-105}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Control listens at the door, and hears the first line of the scene inside the study as a voice-over, but the scene originally started earlier, involving about 20 seconds more dialogue before the Doctor's line 'The fang of the cave bear calls you, Nimrod', so the line Control over-hears has changed:

(CONTROL MOVES TO THE DOOR)
NIMROD: (VOICE ONLY) I am the memory-teller of our tribe...
(INSIDE THE STUDY)
NIMROD: ...I keep the embers of each story in my mind so that they burn fresh with each telling.
MACKENZIE: Good lord.
DOCTOR: I've triggered him off somehow.
(THE DOCTOR SHOWS NIMROD THE SACRED TOOTH)
NIMROD: The fang of the cave bear...

{Novel, pages 106-107}

After Redvers' line 'The Doctor did that hours ago', an extra 12 seconds:

REDVERS: Redvers only wears it against the cold of the night air.
(HE STOPS AS THE DOOR HANDLE RATTLES. THE SCENE CUTS TO OUTSIDE THE CORRIDOR AS MACKENZIE TRIES TO OPEN THE DOOR. GIVING UP, HE WALKS OFF DOWN THE CORRIDOR)

{Novel, page 113}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Just before Ace and Mackenzie enter the observatory, there is a short scene on TV in which the Doctor talks to a beetle about things 'getting out of control'. Curiously, this segment does not appear in the original edit (or the novel).

PART THREE

The recap is reduced from 1.27 minutes on the tape to only 27 seconds on TV. This brings the extra footage total down to only 2.13 minutes.

After the Doctor's line, 'We'll talk':

(MACKENZIE MOVES OVER TO THE STUDY DOOR. LIGHT GESTURES AND THE BOLTS SLIDE ACROSS LOCKING THE DOOR. MACKENZIE TURNS TO LIGHT)
LIGHT: Nothing leaves until I have explanations.

{Novel, page 123}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

The scene which begins with the Doctor's line 'How many more times...' was originally transposed in order with the following scene which begins with Josiah's line 'Nothing will delay my plans...' That scene has an additional 26 seconds at the end, after Josiah's line 'Not as much as you'll enjoy sending her, my dear':

SMITH: And Redvers Fenn-Cooper?
REDVERS: Redvers kicked over his traces and lost himself in the bush. Lord knows if he'll ever find his way out again.
SMITH: And your other quest, Redvers?
REDVERS: I can't... recall. The heat haze is dazzling.
SMITH: I need you, Redvers. Stay out of trouble. We have a royal appointment to keep. (LAUGHS)

{Novel, page 127}

After Light's line 'No sooner had I finished than it all started changing':

LIGHT: New species. New sub-species. Evolution running amuck. I had to start amending my entries. Oh, the task is endless.

Continues with the Doctor's line 'That's life.'

{Novel, pages 124-125}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

Between Light's line 'No. This is not Earth. It cannot be!' and the entrance of the maid with the soup tureen:

LIGHT: Where are the ice fields? The proboscis pachyderms and the horse-tailed forests?

This line is an interpretation of a patch of slightly indistinct dialogue which does not appear in the novel or script book.

After Gwendoline's line 'Come away with me to Java!':

(LIGHT STARES DOWN AT THE DEAD MAID. HE BENDS OVER HER, ENSHROUDING HER BODY WITH HIS CLOAK. THERE IS A FLASH AND THEY BOTH VANISH. MACKENZIE ENTERS THE HALLWAY JUST AS THEY VANISH. HE LOOKS UP THE STAIRS, AND SEES MRS PRITCHARD AND SOME MAIDS DESCENDING)
MACKENZIE: Lady Pritchard. I've been wanting a word with you. Now perhaps we can sort, this business out...
(THE MAIDS MOVE IN)
MACKENZIE: ... over a pot of tea?
(AS MRS PRITCHARD TURNS ON HIM HE DASHES UP THE STAIRS. MRS PRITCHARD HANDS ONE MAID A MACHETE)
MRS PRITCHARD: Dispose of that specimen immediately.
(THE MAIDS CHASE AFTER THE INSPECTOR)

{Novel, page 133-134; scripts, pages 130-131}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

This cut scene makes sense of MacKenzie's next scene where, just before he is killed by Light, he says the place is 'a mad-house!'

After the above scene:

(ACE LASHES OUT AT GWENDOLINE WHO IS ARMED WITH CHLOROFORM)
ACE: You're a right vicious little Victorian, aren't you!
(ACE GETS AWAY, AND GWENDOLINE CHASES AFTER HER)

{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'Just in time for dinner':

(THE DOCTOR HOLDS OUT HIS ARM FOR CONTROL, WHO ACCEPTS IT)

{Novel, page 143}

After the above scene:

(AN EXTERIOR SHOT OF THE DARK HOUSE. A WHITE FIREBALL SHOOTS OUT OF AN UPPER WINDOW AND ZOOMS AWAY INTO THE NIGHT SKY)

{Novel, page 144}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Josiah's line 'Light will come!', an additional 21 seconds:

(LIGHT MATERIALISES IN AN UPSTAIRS ROOM. NIMROD WATCHES IN AWE)
LIGHT: It is still changing, seething. Every plane and crevice crawls with life. But I recognize the stench of its over-ripe infested carcass.

{Novel, page 145; scripts, page 134}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After Light's line 'I have decided Earth's future':

LIGHT: We must collect items from the ship. Follow me.
(LIGHT THEN VANISHES, AND NIMROD STARES AT THE STONE FIGURES ON THE BED)

{This scene appears on the DVD}

Between the Doctor's line 'Myself mostly' and Josiah's 'The British Empire is an anarchic mess!':

DOCTOR: But you're not really Empire material are you? Look. Your background's a bit dodgy and Light wouldn't be amused.
ACE: And neither will Queen Vic!

{Novel, page 150}
{This scene appears on the DVD}

After the Doctor's line 'A very big explosion, very soon' and the group run for the lift:

(JOSIAH APPEARS FROM THE DINING ROOM AND WATCHES AFTER THEM)

{Novel, page 156}

This item appeared in TSV 40 (July 1994).

Index nodes: Script to Screen, Ghost Light