The Dæmons

Lore & Background

The serial was developed from an audition scene for companion Jo Grant, which was later written into episode four. Producer Barry Letts wanted to write a story dealing with black magic, but script editor Terrance Dicks worried it might be seen as Satanist, so it was reworked as strictly scientific with occultist themes. The Master was originally to worship the demon standing on an altar, but fearing upsetting religious viewers, the scenes were reset in a crypt, later called a cavern, though the set resembled a church crypt. Letts co-wrote the script with Robert Sloman under the pseudonym Guy Leopold because the BBC frowned upon production staff writing for their series. The working title was The Demons, commissioned on 17 December 1970, with scripts completed by mid-February 1971. Notably, the clip of the Brigadier's helicopter exploding was borrowed from the James Bond film *From Russia with Love*.

Reader's Guide

The Dæmons is significant as the finale of the eighth season and for its ambitious production. Much of the serial was filmed on location in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, with two weeks of filming—more than double the usual amount—resulting in many outdoor scenes. The location shoot saw pleasant weather the first week and sudden overnight snow the second, causing delays. The story caused great excitement in Aldbourne, with many residents appearing as extras. The final episode featured a model church being blown up, which was so realistic that viewers believed the BBC had destroyed a real church, prompting several complaint letters. The clip of the Brigadier's helicopter exploding was borrowed from the James Bond film From Russia with Love. The incantation used by the Master is the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' said backwards, as well as Damaris Hayman's name said backwards. The story was repeated on BBC One as a single entry.

Did You Know?

• The clip of the Brigadier's helicopter blowing up as it crashes into the heat shield is borrowed from the James Bond film From Russia with Love.
• The final episode contains footage of a model church being blown up; the scene was realistic enough to lead many viewers to believe the BBC had blown up a real church.
• The working title for this story was The Demons, commissioned on 17 December 1970.

The Story of Devil's End

The Dæmons unfolds in the fictional village of Devil's End, where an archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age burial mound called the Devil's Hump sets the stage for catastrophe. A local white witch named Olive Hawthorne warns the community of impending evil, but her warnings are dismissed as the ravings of a crank. The Third Doctor, watching a television broadcast about the dig alongside his companion Jo Grant, recognises the danger and races to stop the excavation. By the time he arrives, the tomb door has already opened, releasing icy winds that freeze the dig leader and the Doctor himself, while a stone gargoyle named Bok appears to animate. The Doctor recovers owing to his alien physiology, but the situation escalates as an invisible dome-shaped barrier, ten miles wide and a mile high, seals the village, causing anything that tries to enter to burst into flame. The Doctor discovers a condensed spaceship within the mound, revealing that the Master is attempting to summon an ancient alien force known as the Dæmon, who has used Earth as a long-running experiment woven into human mythology throughout history.

The Master's Gambit

Roger Delgado's Master operates from within the village as the Reverend Magister, the new local vicar, conducting secret ceremonies in a cavern beneath the Church to summon Azal, an ancient horned alien of immense power. The Master's goal is to be granted Azal's power, but the relationship between the two is far from one of simple servitude. Azal warns the Master that he is not his servant and declares that upon his third appearance, he will decide whether Earth deserves to continue existing. The Master's hypnosis fails to break Olive Hawthorne's will, and the Doctor is captured by a mob of villagers working for the Master, tied to a maypole, and nearly burned alive before escaping with help from Hawthorne and Sergeant Benton. In the climactic confrontation, Azal chooses to grant his power to the Master and fires electricity at the Doctor, but Jo steps in to take the blast in his place. Azal, unable to comprehend this illogical act of self-sacrifice, has his power turn against himself, destroying both himself and the Church. The Master is captured by UNIT troops.

Behind the Pseudonym

The Dæmons began its life as an audition scene for the companion Jo Grant, a sequence eventually written into episode four. Producer Barry Letts wanted to write for the show and conceived a story dealing in black magic that would be both interesting and frightening. Script editor Terrance Dicks raised concerns that audiences might interpret the material as Satanist, prompting a rework toward strictly scientific framing with occultist themes. The Master was originally set to worship the demon on a church altar, but fears about offending religious viewers led to the scenes being reset in a crypt, subsequently renamed a cavern, though the set still resembled one. Letts initially planned to write the script himself but found his producer duties left him short on time. His wife suggested a friend named Robert Sloman, a playwright and journalist, and the two collaborated in the evenings after work. Because the BBC frowned upon production staff writing for their own series, Letts and Sloman adopted the pseudonym Guy Leopold, combining Sloman's son's name and Letts' middle name. The working title was The Demons, commissioned on 17 December 1970, with scripts completed by mid-February 1971.

Direction & Location Filming

Director Christopher Barry had previously worked on Doctor Who but was not particularly eager to return, preferring to focus on less genre-specific productions. However, the script's rural setting and his personal interest in archaeology won him over, and he would go on to direct for the show many more times, consistently naming The Dæmons as his favourite and calling it "a damn good script." Much of the serial was filmed on location in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, with additional brief shoots at Membury Airfield in Berkshire and Bridge Farm in Ramsbury. The location shoot was awarded two weeks of filming, more than double the usual allocation at the time, which meant a significant portion of the finished story was set outside rather than in the studio. Filming commenced on 19 April 1971 and initially enjoyed pleasant, sunny weather during the first week, but sudden overnight snow arrived in the second week, causing delays. Some scenes from episode one were filmed at night, a rarity for the production at that time.