THE INVISIBLE ENEMY
FEATURE BY JONATHAN HELM
Some Doctor Who stories are bigger than others. Over the decades there have been many occasions when the series presented stories on a grander scale than the norm. Although Doctor Who has always had a modest budget, this has never curtailed the writers’ vision or dampened the enthusiasm of the visual effects teams. In the first of an occasional series, we’re going to examine some of these epic productions from an effects perspective and speak to some of the people involved in achieving miracles on a miniscule budget. Our first target is 1977’s The Invisible Enemy, which was broadcast in the middle of Star Wars mania. At the time, The Invisible Enemy was the most ambitious Doctor Who story every attempted. To this day it remains one of the hardest shoots in the history of the series and it pushed the production team to the limit. We’ve spoken to some of the key players, both in front of and behind the cameras, as well as members of the new series production team to establish if there is such as thing as Doctor Who being ‘too ambitious’.