History Trivia / DoctorWhoS4E1TheSmugglers

* TroubledProduction: This was during the time when Creator/WilliamHartnell’s poor health was too much to ignore, and after some discussion, it was decided he would leave after this serial. Furthermore, first-time director for the show Julia Smith was intimidated by Hartnell, and during scenes filmed on deck, both cast and crew experienced sea-sickness.
* MissingEpisode: All four episodes are missing, kicking off a season from which no story survives in a complete form. Ironically, the only surviving visual portion of the episodes are the violent scenes, thanks to overseas censorship. There's also some rather interesting colour footage, filmed by a local fan who went to watch the filming and brought his cine-camera.

* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/AnnekeWills named this as her and Creator/MichaelCraze's favourite story, partly thanks to its extended location shooting in Cornwall.

* MissingEpisode: All four episodes are missing, kicking off a season from which no story survives in a complete form. Ironically, the only surviving visual portion of the episodes are the violent scenes, thanks to overseas censorship. There's also some rather interesting ''colour'' footage, filmed by a local fan who went to watch the filming and brought his cine-camera.

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalOfDishonour it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse. That said, the belief historicals ended ''because'' they were low-rated - something that really only took hold in the 1980s - is not particularly accurate. The series' viewership had been trending mostly downwards since Season 2, and this was merely the point it bottomed out[[note]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" was watched by more people than "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E9TheSavages The Savages]]" or "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E10TheWarMachines The War Machines]]", for instance, and both were sci-fi stories.[[/note]]. Creator/PatrickTroughton's announcement and the unexpected popularity of the Cybermen seemed to reignite interest in the series, leading to an increase in viewership once more, including Troughton's only historical story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E4TheHighlanders The Highlanders]]".

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalOfDishonor it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse. That said, the belief historicals ended ''because'' they were low-rated - something that really only took hold in the 1980s - is not particularly accurate. The series' viewership had been trending mostly downwards since Season 2, and this was merely the point it bottomed out[[note]]"The Gunfighters" was watched by more people than "The Savages" or "The War Machines", for instance, and both were sci-fi stories.[[/note]]. Creator/PatrickTroughton's announcement and the unexpected popularity of the Cybermen seemed to reignite interest in the series, leading to an increase in viewership once more, including Troughton's only historical story, "The Highlanders".

* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/AnnekeWills named this as her and Michael Craze's favourite story, partly thanks to its extended location shooting in Cornwall.

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalOfDishonor it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse. That said, the belief historicals ended ''because'' they were low-rated - something that really only took hold in the 1980s - is not particularly accurate. The series' viewership had been trending mostly downwards since Season 2, and this was merely the point it bottomed out[[note]]"The Gunfighters" was watched by more people than "The Savages" or "The War Machines", for instance, and both were sci-fi stories.[[/note]]. Creator/PatrickTroughton's announcement and the unexpected popularity of the Cybermen seemed to reignite interest in the series, leading to an increase in viewership once more, including his only historical story, "The Highlanders".

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalOfDishonor it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse. That said, the belief historicals ended ''because'' they were low-rated - something that really only took hold in the 1980s - is not particularly accurate. The series' viewership had been trending mostly downwards since Season 2, and this was merely the point it bottomed out[[note]]"The Gunfighters" was watched by more people than "The Savages" or "The War Machines", for instance, and both were sci-fi stories.[[/note]]. Creator/PatrickTroughton's announcement seemed to reignite interest in the series, leading to an increase in viewership once more, including his only historical story, "The Highlanders".

* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Anneke Wills named this as her and Michael Craze's favourite story, partly thanks to its extended location shooting in Cornwall.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Anneke Wills named this as her and Michael Craze's favourite story, partly thanks to its extended location shooting in Cornwall.

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalOfDishonor it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse.
* MissingEpisode: All four episodes are missing, kicking off a season from which no story survives in a complete form. Ironically, the only surviving visual portion of the episodes are the violent scenes, thanks to overseas censorship.

* GenreKiller: While the poor reaction to the previous season's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters The Gunfighters]]" had spelled the end for pure historical stories, this story helped cement their demise, by posting the lowest-ever viewing figures for a ''Doctor Who'' story until that point, a MedalofDishonor it would hold for a whopping two decades until "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet]]" did even worse.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Anneke Wills named this as her and Michael Craze's favourite story.

* MissingEpisode: Ironically, the only surviving visual portion of the episodes are the violent scenes, thanks to overseas censorship.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Anneke Wills named this as her favourite story.