The Gunfighters is the eighth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Donald Cotton and directed by Rex Tucker, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 30 April to 21 May 1966. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane), arrive in Tombstone, Arizona, in the Wild West, where they become involved with the events leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Script editor Donald Tosh commissioned Cotton to write The Gunfighters after his work on The Myth Makers. Tosh wanted to parody American Westerns, and Cotton took a fictional approach. Tosh's successor, Gerry Davis, disliked the scripts, while new producer Innes Lloyd preferred science-fiction stories. A ballad composed by Tristram Cary and sung by Lynda Baron plays throughout the serial in place of incidental music. Filming took place at Television Centre and Riverside Studios from April to May 1966. Tucker disagreed with Lloyd's editing of the fourth episode and requested his directorial credit be removed.
The Gunfighters received an average of 6.25 million viewers across the four episodes, the season's lowest figures to date. Contemporary reviews were negative, with the fourth episode receiving the programme's lowest ever Appreciation Index score. The serial's reputation has improved over time, with retrospective reviews praising the set design and performances but criticising the accents; responses to the ballad were mixed. The story was novelised by Cotton in 1986, and the serial was released on VHS, DVD, and as an audiobook.
Plot In Tombstone, Arizona, the Clanton brothers—Ike, Phineas and Billy—search for Doc Holliday to avenge the death of their brother Reuben. They meet their hired hand Seth Harper at the Last Chance Saloon. This is overheard by bar singer Kate, who warns Holliday.
The TARDIS arrives in a stable, with the First Doctor in agony from a toothache. He and his travelling companions, Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet, encounter local marshal Wyatt Earp, who offers them protection. The Doctor finds the dentist, Holliday, while Dodo and Steven head to a hotel. They are mocked by the Clantons, who suspect the Doctor is Holliday. Seth invites the Doctor to the hotel. Holliday is initially happy to let him be shot in his place, but Kate intervenes to save the Doctor. Holliday hides upstairs at the hotel, firing his gun to con the Clantons into thinking the Doctor is indeed Holliday.
Wyatt and Sheriff Bat Masterson arrive and take the Doctor into custody for his own protection. Steven is confronted by a rabble, who are intent on lynching him as an associate of Holliday. Wyatt and Masterson defuse the situation and take Phineas into custody. The Doctor and Steven are freed and told to leave town. Dodo falls in with Kate and Holliday, who both plan to leave town and take her with them. When Seth stumbles across their escape plans, Holliday kills him, and the trio depart. Seth is soon replaced by a new arrival, Johnny Ringo. The Doctor and Steven return to the saloon in search of Dodo and encounter Ringo. Wyatt's brothers Warren and Virgil arrive at Tombstone to help him enforce the law. The other Clanton brothers visit the jail to free Phineas and kill Warren.
Steven and Kate are taken by Ringo to the Clanton ranch, where the Clantons tell their father that they killed Warren. Wyatt swears vengeance and starts to build a posse of lawmen. Holliday returns to Tombstone with Dodo and offers his services to Wyatt. The Doctor is unable to prevent a gunfight at the O.K. Corral; Ringo and the three Clantons are shot dead. Shortly after, the Doctor, Steven and Dodo depart in the TARDIS. They arrive on a strange planet, and decide to explore. As they leave, a man is seen approaching the TARDIS on the scanner.
Production Conception and writing Donald Cotton enjoyed working with Doctor Whos script editor, Donald Tosh, while writing the serial The Myth Makers (1965). Tosh commissioned Cotton to write another four-part serial, Dr Who and the Gun-Fighters, on 30 November 1965, with a due date of 14 January 1966. Cotton's friend, Tony Snell, was touring the United States at the time and provided research about the history surrounding the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Cotton ultimately favoured fictional depictions, such as Earp's 1931 biography and the American film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957); several characters in the serial—such as Pa Clanton (who was dead), Bat Masterson, and Johnny Ringo—were not actually present in Tombstone at the time. Tosh wanted the serial to parody American Westerns like the 1957 film.
Under the title Doctor Who & the Gunslingers, Cotton delivered the first two scripts on 15 December 1965 and 14 January 1966. Tosh resigned from Doctor Who in January, replaced by Gerry Davis, who Cotton was unhappy working for as he granted less freedom than his predecessor. Davis admired Cotton's sophistication and intelligence but felt he was not fit for Doctor Who and disliked the serial. The programme's new producer, Innes Lloyd, preferred science-fiction stories as he felt audiences preferred them over historicals. Tosh felt the wit of Cotton's scripts became less effective after being inherited by Davis and Lloyd because they disliked it.
Rex Tucker was assigned the serial's director; he had previously been the programme's "de facto producer" during its creation in 1963, before its first producer had arrived, and had been assigned to direct some first season serials before rescheduling. Cotton delivered the last two scripts, now titled The Gunfighters, on 26 and 31 January. Davis felt the third required rewriting as it lacked action and required too many sets, while Tucker had several criticisms. Lloyd ensured Tucker that Davis would rework the scripts, and suggested that the director approach the serial in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, comparing it to the comedy film Cat Ballou (1965). Tucker watched Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Due to disagreements with Lloyd's editing, Tucker requested that his directorial credit be removed from the fourth episode; he remained credited in the Radio Times listing.
Music and design Cotton had intended the song "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" to be used throughout the serial, akin to Frankie Laine's "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" in the 1957 film. Tucker, wanting it to spoof Marlene Dietrich's ballads, used it to replace the incidental music, emphasising its humour and using its lyrics to tell the story of the gunfight. Tristram Cary, a friend of Tucker who had worked on several other Doctor Who serials, composed fourteen minutes of music for the ballad; he later considered it his best score for the programme. It was recorded at Riverside Studios on 5 and 12 April. Tucker wanted his 17-year-old daughter Jane, also an extra in the serial, to perform it, but her voice was too light. It was sung by Lynda Baron, who considered it difficult, requiring several retakes until the recording session ended. Tom McCall, who had worked with Tucker, played a Challen piano for the song, including off-screen during recording of the first episode; Winifred Taylor played it in the second.
Barry Newbery was assigned the serial's designer. He chose not to view Western films as inspiration, instead studying Yale University's photographs of buildings in 1880s Tombstone; he was surprised to their similarities to English architecture in the same period, and ultimately designed the exteriors as a blend of the photographs and the stereotypical western image. Newbery hired several props from the Old Times Props House in Putney. His design drawings for the second and third episodes were delivered late due to the script rewrites and his work on an earlier serial, The Ark (1966). Newbery, who had worked on Doctor Who since its first serial in 1963, moved to work on Adam Adamant Lives! (1966–1967) after The Gunfighters; he returned years later to design The Dominators (1968).
Casting and characters
William Hartnell claimed it was his idea to make a Western serial. The Doctor referring to Wyatt Earp as "Mr Werp" was an ad-lib by Hartnell; the camera scripts used his correct name. The scripts originally indicated that Dodo would sing "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" while Steven played piano; the roles were reversed due to Jackie Lane's poor singing skills, and Peter Purves reluctantly agreed, having had some experience singing at the London Palladium. He was unhappy with the scripts and disliked having to sing the ballad out of key. Hartnell, Purves, and Lane felt Tucker was more focused on the guest cast than them, though Lane enjoyed the serial's comedic aspects. Tucker recalled that Hartnell enjoyed working with him instead of the recent unexperienced directors.
From The Gunfighters, cast lists in Radio Times began to be sorted in order of appearance instead of billing order. Casting interviews began in February 1966. Lloyd suggested to Tucker that the supporting cast should be London-based American actors or English actors with authentic accents; most roles were ultimately filled by British actors lacking experience with American accents, granting the serial a comedic vibe instead of a traditional adventure. Donald Sutherland and Patrick Troughton were among the first choices to portray Wyatt Earp and Johnny Ringo, respectively, but were busy with other commitments; later in the year, Troughton debuted as the Second Doctor, Hartnell's successor in the title role. The serial's principal guest star, Laurence Payne, was cast as Ringo; he had worked with Tucker on an adaptation of The Three Musketeers (1954) and the miniseries A Farewell to Arms (1966).
John Alderson was cast as Wyatt Earp, having been suggested by production assistant Tristan de Vere Cole, while Anthony Jacobs was cast as Doc Holliday for his vocal skills, having worked with Tucker several times as well as extensively for BBC Radio. His children were fans of the programme; his son Matthew, who, then ten years old, operated the wall flap in the second episode, subsequently wrote and produced Doctor Whos 1996 television film. David Graham, who voiced the Daleks in Doctor Who at the time, portrayed the bartender Charlie; he accent was a blend of his work on Four Feather Falls (1960) and Fireball XL5 (1962–1963), inspired by Walter Brennan's voice. To avoid rehiring Graham for a single scene, an extra, John Caesar, acted as a body double for Charlie in the fourth episode. Graham later expressed his joy at playing Charlie, considering the character well-written.
Richard Beale (who portrayed Bat Masterson) had voiced a character in the serial The Ark; Alderson stayed with Beale while working on The Gunfighters. Reed de Rouen (Pa Clanton) had previously worked with Tucker and Purves, while Martyn Huntley (Warren Earp) had worked with Tucker in A Farewell to Arms and appeared in the Doctor Who serials The Sensorites (1964) and The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Maurice Good improvised Phineas Clanton's stutter; it was not present in the scripts. Victor Carin (Virgil Earp) had limited availability for the serial, missing all four read-throughs. The character of Kate Fisher was loosely based on Kate Elder. Several actresses were considered for the role, which went to Sheena Marshe. She was present at the serial's first music recording session but tests determined that her voice was not right for "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon".
Filming