1973 to 1977: Giant Maggot to K9

JAMIE LENMAN’s ongoing mission is to catalogue one Doctor Who object for every year of its existence – among them props, collectables and personal mementos…

Giant maggots in The Green Death (1973).

1973 Giant maggot

If 1973’s The Green Death had been an episode of the US sitcom Friends, it would have been called The One with the Giant Maggots. Indeed, for most people who saw it on first broadcast, it will always be The One with the Giant Maggots. Not The One Where the Doctor Gets His Hearts Broken, or The One Where He Dresses Up as a Bristly Milkman and a Cleaning Lady. No, it’s the maggots that stick in the memory.

And with good reason. Model maker Colin Mapson’s horrific puppets were among the most gruesome creations ever realised for the series, boasting an all-too realistic sheen of sliminess that almost eluded their creator. “It didn’t have that sort of slippery look to it,” says Colin of his initial attempts. “Then I was looking around, and I looked at my lunch – and it was covered in clingfilm. So I thought, ‘I’ll stretch some of that over the maggot.’ And it looked fantastic!”

‘Fantastic’ is certainly one word to describe the effect. ‘Repulsive’ might be another – and one that the cast of the show may well have used, as evidenced by their reported reluctance to go anywhere near the latex larvae.

Model maker Colin Mapson created the maggots.

Real maggots were used for some scenes in The Green Death.

Throughout the production, three sizes of maggots were used. The largest were the snarling three-footers, with several medium-sized props created for use in the middle ground. For scenes featuring miniatures, however, the real thing was utilised on set – an extremely unpleasant experience, by all accounts. “I think we just went to a fishing shop and bought a container full of maggots,” recalls Colin. “There were all sorts of flies whizzing about the place.” Evidently no attempts were made to coax these buzzing pests into mid-shots of the oversized insects, and wisely so.

Despite the grip it held on the nation’s psyche, public reaction to his work rarely reached Colin’s ears – but the commendations of his colleagues certainly did. “Ron Oates was the designer on that one, and he was really pleased, which is the thing that mattered really,” he says. “And obviously, the director [Michael E Briant] was pleased with them as well. I think given the time that they were used, the early 1970s, they stood up really well. I think they still stand up quite well today.”

So how does it feel to know that people are still talking about The One with the Maggots? “I felt at the time they were something special, because of the various new techniques we used to make them, and they did work extremely well.” Colin pauses for a moment, then adds: “I can’t say I’m actually surprised – but I am very pleased, and very proud to have done it.”