I once found
myself chatting with Pennant Roberts back stage at an event and when the
conversation switched to `Warriors of the Deep` I pondered why he’d not decided
to spruce up the atmosphere by having everything doused in emergency red
lighting, like that on a submarine. Was it, perhaps, something technicians
would not agree with, was it too expensive or was it because it was felt viewers
would find the results too murky? As it turned out, it was none of these
things. He agreed it would have definitely added something to what is a
somewhat over lit production but admitted that, simply, nobody had time to
think about it. This was a hint of what we now know was a troubled production
that had two weeks’ time taken from its schedule. By those criteria it’s a miracle
anything much turned up on screen. Even when things were proceeding as normal
there were crazy deadlines and limited scope which was Doctor Who’s
biggest enemy whatever the era.
