Marco Polo

Information

Writer: John Lucarotti
Director: Waris Hussein (episodes 1-3,5-7), John Crockett (episode 4)
Script Editor: David Whitaker
Producer: Verity Lambert, Mervyn Pinfield (associate producer)
Executive Producer(s): None

Originally Broadcast: 22nd February – 4th April 1964

Episodes: 7
Duration: 25 mins each episode
Production Code: D
Series: 1
Story Number: 4
Enemy: Tegana
Setting: 1289


Synopsis

The TARDIS lands in Central Asia in 1289, where The Doctor and his companions fall in with Marco Polo as his caravan makes its way along the fabled Silk Road from the Pamir Plateau, across the treacherous Gobi Desert and over the Himalayas to end up in Peking at the height of its imperial power.
Along the way they face many dangers, from natural hazards to assassination attempts from a Mongol warlord. The Doctor strikes up a friendship with Kublai Khan in his summer palace, before eventually departing again in the TARDIS, which has been carried with them across thousands of miles.

Cast

William Hartnell - The Doctor

Companions Carole Ann Ford - Susan Foreman

Jacqueline Hill - Barbara Wright

William Russell - Ian Chesterton

Mark Eden - Marco Polo

Derren Nesbitt - Tegana

Zienia Merton - Ping Cho

Martin Miller - Kublai Khan

Jimmy Gardner - Chenchu

Charles Wade - Malik

Philip Voss - Acomat

Paul Carson - Ling-Tau

Gábor Baraker - Wang-Lo

Tutte Lemkow - Kuiju

Claire Davenport - Empress

O. Ikeda - Yeng

Leslie Bates - Man at Lop

Michael Guest - Mongol Bandit

Peter Lawrence - Vizier

Basil Tang - Office Foreman

Story Notes

• This was the first true Doctor Who historical story.
  
• This was the first story to feature live animals (the Mongol horses).
  
• This was the first and only television story to feature a narrative and a map tracking the journey of the main characters (although The Deadly Assassin begins with a narrative and BFA: Seasons of Fear includes some narration).
  
• Many colour and black and white photographs of this story remain. Along with the soundtrack these were used by Loose Cannon Productions to make a reconstruction of this story. (see external links).
  
• The working title for this story was A Journey to Cathay.
  
• Episode 3 was made under the working title The Cave of Five Hundred Eyes and this name even appeared at the end of Episode 2.
  
• No footage of this story now exists having been lost in the purges of the 1970s.
  
• The original audio soundtrack of this episode remains and was released on CD as Marco Polo as part of the BBC Radio Collection in November 2003. This was narrated by William Russell.
  
• Although originally planned to be the third story in the series it was delayed by The Edge of Destruction.
  
• Although Telesnaps of this story were made all of these were lost. However in 2004 telesnaps of episodes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 were found by Derek Handley in the private collection of Waris Hussein who directed these episodes. These telesnaps were reproduced in Doctor Who Magazine.
  
• Kuiju the mercenary bandit is never named in the story and is only included in closing credits.
  
• As Lance Parkin notes in A History of the Universe, some historians now question the veracity of Marco Polo's accounts, particularly his friendship with Kublai Khan.
  
• John Lucarotti also wrote a Canadian TV series about Marco Polo.
  

Preceded by: The Edge of Destruction - Followed by: The Keys of Marinus