Sladen, Elisabeth - Elisabeth Sladen - The Autobiography

I really think Lennie achieved wonders with the mood on set. Everyone was willing to go that extra mile for him – just look at that Ice Warrior. The new rapport between Jon and me probably helped as well. We certainly tried to lead from the front. Jon was suffering quite bad back pain at the time and had to wear a corset to keep everything in place. Although Terry Walsh was always on hand to step in (although you probably shouldn’t see as much of his face and Pertwee perm-wig as you do during one fight scene), Jon still insisted on doing as many of his own stunts as possible – afterwards he’d literally have to be stretched on a human rack. A couple of chaps would grab Jon under the arms, hoist him up and wait for his spine to click back into place.

I had my moments of sacrifice, too. There was a scene where Jon and I had to leap into the pit with Aggedor, the so-called ‘monster’ of Peladon. I agreed to do the stunt myself and Terry talked me through it.

‘Now, Lis, we’ve got cushions at the bottom, perfectly safe. We can get someone else to do it, if you like, but I think you can do it easily.’

I looked down at the hole. It was only about six feet but in the darkness it seemed to go on for miles.

‘I’m not sure about this, Terry.’

‘You’ll kick yourself if you don’t.’

So like an idiot I agreed. Lennie gave the cue and off I jumped.

Terry came rushing up to me afterwards.

‘Well, did you enjoy that?’

‘No, I bloody didn’t!’

But he was right – I was glad I’d done it. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that I’d have to do it again – and again – until Lennie was happy.

By coincidence Todd Joseph was on set that day. Agents never miss a trick, do they, and I saw him talking to Barry.

‘Half past nine and look at the energy she’s got!’ Always trying to squeeze some negotiating power out of a situation.

Afterwards I knew how Jon felt with his back because my ankles were killing me and I’m sure my hip was out of joint. Max Faulkner, who played one of the miners, said, ‘You’re walking oddly. Lie down on that table.’

I was desperate for a rest so I climbed on while he had a look.

‘Thought so,’ he said. ‘One leg is longer than the other. You’d better go and see someone.’

I didn’t do any jumps after that and I’ve had weak ankles to this day, but at the time I was just pleased to have managed the stunt. At least we got our shot. It should look pretty spectacular on-screen.

Anyone who has seen the episode knows it didn’t. It looked about as dangerous as hopping into a bath. What a waste of time – all that pain for nothing. Wait till I see that bloody Terry …

* * *

As usual there was a lot going on in the Peladon story. Some of it, perhaps, passed over one or two viewers’ heads. If I’m honest, even I might not have noticed the allusion to the then current miners’ strike if it hadn’t been pointed out to me. I mean, yes, workers on Peladon are abused and so, according to them, were the miners in the UK, and they had no choice but to strike and fight for their rights. But, you know, I had enough to do: remember your lines and don’t bump into the furniture and all that. At the end of the day, it’s a kids’ programme and it’s an adventure and that’s what I preferred to focus on. If Barry and Terry wanted to put anything else in, then that was fine.

It wasn’t just the miners’ dispute that Barry asked the writers to focus on, though. After a couple of serials building Sarah Jane up as this thoroughly modern Millie, there’s a cracking scene where the Doctor gets so frustrated by Queen Thalira’s backwards thinking that he unleashes Sarah Jane to give one of her ‘feminism’ talks. He doesn’t stay around to hear it, of course, but I get to say that unforgettable line: ‘There’s nothing “only” about being a girl, Your Majesty.’

Once again there were some marvellous older actors in the show who I adored chatting to. Rex Robinson, who played Gebek, was great. And Donald Gee (Eckersley) was another fun one to have around, always a twinkle in Donald’s eye. He got to swan about in marvellous black leather. I think he’d been in Coronation Street by then and he was doing something for kids with Bob Hoskins, because he was talking a lot about that.

Stuart Fell had me in stitches, of course, playing Alpha Centauri, the alien with a giant eye for a head and myriad arms beneath his green cape. It’s hard to keep a straight face when you’re talking to what looks like a bobbing head in a curtain. In rehearsal Stuart would just stand there, saying his lines and hopping up and down like he needed a wee. Hysterical. Originally he didn’t have a cape but someone said he looked like a ‘giant dick’. So they draped this shawl around him, then Lennie, I think, said, ‘Now it looks like a giant dick in a cape.’ Not my finest, hour, I think, acting with Alpha Centauri. It was like doing Romeo and Juliet with a Teletubby.

While we were having a blast, I guess Jon was going through his own turmoil. On 8 February, a Thursday, Barry authorised the press announcement that he was leaving. I remember when David Tennant made his big goodbye speech live at the TV Awards – that made headlines around the world. I don’t think it was quite such a big deal in 1974, although it didn’t stop the press door-stepping us for a couple of days on our way into White City and Acton. The question on everyone’s lips was: ‘Do you know who the next Doctor will be?’ And of course I didn’t have a clue. Jon swam through it without a care in the world. Or so it seemed.

We didn’t have to wait that long to see the true impact of Jon’s resignation on him. If Peladon had seen him attack the part with renewed vigour, his swansong, Planet of the Spiders , saw a very morose Doctor trundle into work each day. I couldn’t blame him. By then, of course, the whole world knew he was leaving. Even worse, they knew his successor – that announcement had been made a week after Jon’s farewell. And as we trudged into rehearsals at the start of March, we only had a month before the Third Doctor regenerated into the Fourth.

You can’t say the Beeb didn’t pull out all the stops for Jon’s finale, though I think Barry should take most of the credit. As producer he may have kept a tight grip on the purse strings, but as a man he was determined that his friend Jon should go out in a blaze of glory. Clearing his schedule, Barry announced that he would take the helm for Planet of the Spiders himself . And, he promised, he’d make it one for Jon to remember.

And I really think he did. Jon loved his gadgets and all the physical stuff so this story was loaded with them. I just wished I didn’t have to ‘enjoy’ them as well! But when Bagpuss jumps into a helicopter, all his friends jump in too …

Live and Let Die had been the big Bond movie of the previous year, full of speedboat, car and all other sorts of chases. That was definitely an influence on Terry and Barry when they came to shaping Robert Sloman’s script. In one episode there’s hardly any dialogue at all. Jon is either on the water, in the air or pounding the tarmac in an incredible pursuit sequence.

Part of the chase had Jon haring across a lake in a speedboat. By the time he got out, he looked like the proverbial drowned rat. He was happy to go on but Barry said his hair needed attention. It had been completely matted by a combination of wind and water. So, there he sat, rollers in his hair, when a PR person appeared and said a local journalist had arrived early for her interview.

‘Fine,’ said Jon. ‘Bring her over.’

People who say Jon was vain really didn’t get it, did they? And trust me, since his death I’ve heard quite a few whispers to that effect. The truth is, the vanity was all for the programme: he wanted his Doctor to look a certain way and he was very protective of that. But personal vanity? Yes, he liked to look good, but only if he was on show. Behind the scenes, or off duty, he was as laid-back as anyone. It was all about the show. Why else would he give an interview in full rollers and back corset?