Trivia / Doctor Who S15 E5 "Underworld"

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• Actor-Inspired Element: The Doctor shepherding the Trogs through the caves and onto the P7E was organised by Tom Baker himself.
• Follow the Leader: According to production notes, the recently released Star Wars was an influence on production, especially since the UK premiere of the film was ten days before "Underworld" was scheduled to air.
• No Budget: The show was in such dire financial straits that this serial couldn't even afford to build proper sets.
• Troubled Production: The story (and the one that followed) suffered from The BBC slashing the rest of the season's budget due to the economic crisis the UK was suffering, leaving them with barely enough money to build the spaceship set, and nothing to build sets of the caves, or to shoot them on location. As a result, they ended up having to resort to filming all the non-spaceship scenes on a bluescreen, and matte the actors into miniature cave sets. The mood was extremely tense during this time, and Tom Baker’s relationship with Louise Jameson continued to worsen. On top of that, the actress who played Tala had a severe allergic reaction to the makeup used for her. It was a surprise that this wasn’t the end of Season 15.
• Wag the Director: Originally, Leela was supposed to scream when overwhelmed with the gas in the second episode. Louise Jameson declined to do this, thinking it was out of character for Leela.
• Working Title: Underground.

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