Only two of the four episodes are held in the BBC archives; two remain missing. Episode 2 is the earliest surviving episode to feature Troughton starring as the Second Doctor (he previously appeared uncredited in The Tenth Planet) and the earliest surviving episode to feature Hines as Jamie.
An animated reconstruction of the serial was released in November 2023 as part of the program's 60th Anniversary.[1]
Plot
The Second Doctor and his companions, Polly, Ben and Jamie, are captured when they arrive on a deserted volcanic island by the survivors of Atlantis. Their high priest, Lolem, decides to sacrifice them to the great god Amdo. The Doctor is given a meal, and realises that it must have been prepared by Professor Zaroff, a missing scientist who was presumed dead. The Doctor sends Zaroff a note and Zaroff comes to their rescue.
Polly is taken by Damon for conversion-surgery into a Fish Person, while Ben and Jamie are taken to work in a mine. The Doctor cuts off the power, which gives Polly time to escape and hide in the Temple of Amdo. Zaroff tells the Doctor that he plans to drain the sea so Atlantis could come back to the surface. The Doctor realises this will destroy Earth and escapes to find a solution and look for his companions.
Ben and Jamie, along with two shipwrecked sailors, Sean and Jacko, discover Polly's hiding place. The Doctor finds a priest named Ramo along the way and tells him Zaroff's plans. Ramo takes the Doctor to Thous, King of Atlantis, who sides with Zaroff.
The Doctor and the priest are taken to be sacrificed to Lolem at the temple of Amdo. They are saved by Ben faking the voice of the statue of Amdo and giving them a chance to escape. The Doctor kidnaps Zaroff and takes him to the temple of Amdo where Ramo and Polly are left as his guards. Zaroff then fakes a seizure, stabs Ramo, and takes Polly as a hostage. Ramo survives and goes to warn the Doctor, which gives Jamie, Sean, and Jacko the chance to rescue Polly. Zaroff escapes and goes straight to Thous. Thous begins to worry about the strike amongst the Fish People and realises Zaroff is mad. He immediately orders him to stop his plans, but this angers Zaroff, who shoots Thous and his royal protectors.
With Zaroff out of sight, the Doctor finds Thous bleeding but alive and takes him to the temple of Amdo for safety. He plans to stop Zaroff by sinking Atlantis even further so the reactor and Zaroff's laboratory could be destroyed. The Doctor and Ben cause a radiation leak to put their plan in action while Sean and Jacko warn the Atlanteans to get to higher level. The walls of Atlantis start to crumble but Polly and Jamie find a way out to the surface. When the Doctor and Ben find Zaroff, he is determined to not let anything stop him, even the flooding. They trick Zaroff and lock him out of his laboratory just in time but he won't give up which results in his death by drowning. The Doctor and Ben make their way towards the surface where they reunite with Jamie and Polly. Knowing many will have survived the crisis, the Doctor and his companions flee in the TARDIS.
Working titles for this story include Under the Sea, Atlanta and The Fish People.[4] The history of this script was particularly troubled. After its commission, it was dropped from the production schedule, partly because of concerns that it would require a higher budget than was available. A new script by William Emms, "The Imps", was commissioned to replace it; Emms, however, subsequently fell ill. When it was realised that it was unlikely that he would be able to complete changes to the script, which was due to begin shooting in a month, the original script, now titled "The Underwater Menace", was brought back into the schedule. A further complication arose because Frazer Hines was brought on as a regular member of the cast barely a month before the serial was due to start production, and his character, Jamie, had to be worked into the script. Because of all of these problems, the individual episodes were recorded just a week before they were due to be broadcast. Recordings took place at Riverside studios in Hammersmith.[5]
In December 2011, the BBC announced that Episode 2, previously missing, had been discovered among material bought by former TV engineer Terry Burnett with only cuts from Australian censors missing. The missing frames are still held by the National Archives of Australia, and, once re-incorporated, made the episode complete for the first time since the master tape was wiped in July 1969. A brief clip of Zaroff drowning from episode 4 survives for similar censorship reasons. Brief moments from the Episode 1 cliffhanger also exist due to censorship.[6][7]
Actor Patrick Troughton was reputedly particularly unhappy about the production. He is reported to have described the show as having "ridiculous costumes and make-up of the fish people". Producer Innes Lloyd appeared to concur, admitting "it did look like something from a '50s American 'B' movie".[8]
A novelisation of this serial, written by Nigel Robinson, was published by Target Books in February 1988.
Home media
As with all missing episodes, off-air recordings of the soundtrack exist due to contemporary fan efforts. In February 2005, these were released on CD, accompanied by linking narration from Anneke Wills.[12] Episode three was released on VHS in 1998, along with the documentary "The Missing Years". They were later included on the Lost in TimeDVD set; several brief surviving film clips were also included.
Episode 2, which was found in December 2011, was initially prepared for release on DVD in 2014.[13] After an extended period of uncertainty, the BBC confirmed a release date of 26 October 2015.[14] The two surviving episodes are supplemented by reconstructions of the missing two episodes, using restored audio and stills from the production. They were originally due to be animated, but the project was abruptly cancelled after the studio raised its commissioning prices.[15]
On 29 May 2020, the television soundtrack, again with narration by Wills, was released on vinyl by Demon Music Group.
A second DVD release - this time with the missing episodes supplemented by animation - was announced on the 11th of August 2023, with the release date scheduled for November 13th of the same year.
Reception
Doctor Who: The Television Companion's David Howe and Stephen Walker were unimpressed by the story, stating that despite reasonable dialogue, effective sets and effects it was otherwise "very difficult to find anything good to say about this story, which is undoubtedly the weakest of the second Doctor's era, if not of the sixties as a whole".[16]
Starburst's Paul Mount said the serial was "tacky, cheap and unsubtle" but partially redeemed by "a sterling performance from Patrick Troughton, rising way above often lamentable material".[17]
CultBox's Ian McArdell received the story more positively praising Troughton's "wonderfully charismatic" performance and Joseph Furst's "genuinely scary" Zaroff. He did note however that the Fish People's costumes were "frankly bizarre" and "their floating ballet sequence from Episode 3, though ambitious, fails to achieve".[18]
Den of Geek's Andrew Blair selected The Underwater Menace as one of the ten Doctor Who stories that would make great musicals.[19]
* Story is missing all episodes. † Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using animation. ‡ Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using available visual material.
