History Trivia / DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation

* CreatorBacklash:
** Creator/EricSaward disliked Creator/MichaelRobbins' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.
** Peter Moffatt strongly disliked Paddy Kingsland's incidental music for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with".
* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/PeterDavison named this as a favourite. Creator/MatthewWaterhouse recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement.
* InspirationForTheWork: The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of Creator/EricSaward's, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in Stuart era England.
* PropRecycling: One part of the Terileptil's laboratory re-uses a Hymetusite crystal from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon The Horns of Nimon]]".

** The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return so as to ShootTheMoney. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from Posikar in "The Trial of a Time Lord".

** Creator/EricSaward had submitted this story for the previous season.
** Saward originally intended for the serial to end with the Doctor claiming a new sonic screwdriver out of a cabinet full of the devices: we could've seen far more of the sonic in the classic series, but Creator/JohnNathanTurner decided that it made things too easy for the Doctor and was a writer's crutch. Also slightly coupled with ExecutiveMeddling.

** Creator/EricSaward disliked Michael Robbins' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.

* InspirationForTheWork: The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of Creator/EricSaward's, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in mediaeval England.

* [[RecycledScript/DoctorWho Recycled Script]]: For his first script, Creator/EricSaward recycles the basic premise and plot beats of Creator/RobertHolmes' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]".

** Eric Saward disliked Michael Robbins' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.

* InspirationForTheWork: The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of Eric Saward's, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in mediaeval England.

* [[RecycledScript/DoctorWho Recycled Script]]: For his first script, Eric Saward recycles the basic premise and plot beats of Creator/RobertHolmes' "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]".

** Eric Saward had submitted this story for the previous season.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/PeterDavison named this as a favourite. Creator/MatthewWaterhouse recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement.

** Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/DonaldPleasence were considered for Richard Mace.

** The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return to as to ShootTheMoney. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from Posikar in "The Trial of a Time Lord".

* ShootTheMoney:

** The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from Posikar in "The Trial of a Time Lord".

* ActingInTheDark: The opening sequence in the TARDIS follows on directly from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E3Kinda Kinda]]". Since this story was filmed first, the cast had to act out their characters' responses to the events of that story based solely on the script.

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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Terileptils and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from Posikar in "The Trial of a Time Lord".

* WorkingTitle: ''The Invasion Of The Plague Men'' and ''Plague Rats''.

** Ian Bannen, Creator/BrianBlessed, John Carson, Frank Finlay, Ronald Fraser, Donald Houston, William Lucas, [[Series/EmergencyWard10 Glyn Owen]] and Creator/DonaldPleasence were considered for Richard Mace.

** Eric Saward disliked Michael Robbins' performance as Richard Mace. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.

* PropRecycling: One part of the Terileptil's laboratory re-uses a Hymetusite crystal from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon The Horns of Nimon]].
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

** Ian Bannen, Creator/BrianBlessed, John Carson, Frank Finlay, Ronald Fraser, Donald Houston, William Lucas, [[Series/EmergencyWard10 Glyn Owen]] and Creator/DonaldPleasance were considered for Richard Mace.

* CreatorBacklash: Eric Saward disliked Michael Robbins' performance as Richard Mace. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Among those considered for Richard Mace were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/DonaldPleasance.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Among those considered for Rihcard Mace were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/DonaldPleasance.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Among those considered for Rihcard Mace were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/DonaldPleasance.