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Inferno


The Doctor and UNIT are attached to the Inferno project - a top secret drilling operation, which aims to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a major new source of energy. When a toxic liquid leaks from the pipes, the project is thrown into crisis, and when the Doctor finds himself thrown into a parallel universe, the true danger that faces Earth is revealed...
   
-- from the DVD release, 2006

Repeatedly requested on fans' wishlists and repeatedly postponed for technical reasons, this finally appeared on DVD six years into the release run, as the new RSC technique had been perfected with The Claws of Axos.

Episode timings on DVD: 23'25", 22'08", 24'37", 24'24", 23'45", 23'35", 25'01"
Episode timings on PasB: 23'21", ??'??", 24'34", 24'57", 23'42", 23'32", 24'33"

 

VHS releases


 
03/04/1995: UK - BBC Enterprises - BBCV5269
06/07/1994: Aus - PolyGram - BBC52692 [deleted 01/1996]
20/09/1995: US - CBS/FOX - 8292 [renumbered E1298 in 2000 by Warner Home Video]

Cover art by Colin Howard. All photos on the back were in b/w, which seemed to confuse the US copy-writers into claiming the story itself was monochrome.

The episodes were sourced from Canada, who had been accidentally provided with an early edit - a scene with a radio announcement by Jon Pertwee (cut at the last minute by Barry Letts) was therefore included.

DVD releases



19/06/2006: UK - BBC Worldwide - BBCDVD1802
06/07/2006: Aus/NZ - Roadshow - Cat# Unknown
11/09/2001: US - Warner Home Video - E1163
06/11/2006: UK - BBC Worldwide - B00015YDIW

UK/Aus cover art by Clayton Hickman.

For Christmas 2006, Amazon UK arranged for the six Pertwee DVDs available to date (Spearhead from Space, Inferno [2 discs], The Claws of Axos, The Three Doctors, Carnival of Monsters and The Green Death) to be packaged together as 'The Third Doctor Collection'. A similarly themed Cyberman set was also released on the same day. No extra features were added to either.

DVD Bonus features

 
Commentary
By Terrance Dicks, Nicholas Courtney, Barry Letts and John Levene. Levene was recorded independently on episodes two and five, making use of a rare trip to the UK, and edited in later.

Information Text
By Martin Wiggins.
Can You Hear the Earth Scream? (34'47")
A look back at the making of Inferno.
  • Terrance Dicks sets the scene for the end of season seven, and explains why they brought Don Houghton on board. Barry Letts remembers his first thoughts on the script and they both discuss why the script needed padding out to make up seven parts.
  • Dicks explains Letts' feelings towards martial arts and why he ultimately suggested Venusion Aikido.
  • Letts and Dicks recall Camfield's work with fondness - Caroline John remembers being somewhat afraid of him before they met. John Levene and Nicholas Courtney share their memories of him too.
  • The guest casting comes under scrutiny, as Dicks, Courtney and Letts remember Olaf Pooley and Derek Newark. Ian Fairbairn is also there, to talk about his relationship with Letts.
  • Levene, John and Courtney remember the location shooting with varying levels of terror - Fairbairn and Letts give a lot of credit to Camfield for his planning.
  • Derek Ware and Fairbairn on Pertwee's vertigo - Ware also explains why he ended up appearing on screen and John recalls being afraid for the people involved in Ware's stunt drop and Dicks laughs about the "mad stuntmen".
  • Ware and Levene talks about the latter's relationship with HAVOC. Archive footage of Alan Chuntz (1970) allows the stuntman to explain what happened during an accident while performing.
  • Fairbairn recalls a practical joke not involving eyepatches, and Dicks recalls one that did.
  • Letts, Dicks and Courtney explain why Letts ended up taking over directing duties following Camfield's illness.
  • Letts, John and Courtney on the parallel universe aspect opening up opportunities for the regular actors, Fairbarn on bending bars and Levene on getting invited to Edinburgh Castle because of a bad salute.
  • Letts talks about the ultimately cut sequence with Pertwee as the radio announcer.
  • The contributors give final thoughts on the tone of the show and what it had to say about the world.

Clips mostly cropped into 16:9, some are pillarboxed.
Narrator: David Harley
Colourist: Jonathan Wood
Camera: Une Herzer
Sound: Angus Anderson, David Mason
With thanks to Richard Bignell, Derek Handley, Ralph Montagu, Andrew Pixley, Doctor Who Magazine
Produced by Steve Broster
BBC Worldwide
(C) BBC MMVI
The UNIT Family - Part One (35'36")
The first of a two part documentary (the other part to appear on a later Pertwee release) looking at the UNIT characters.
  • Terrance Dicks talks about his predecessors enforcing longer stories and making them Earthbound, ideas he did not support. Derrick Sherwin defends his decisions. Dicks then expands on how the UNIT family figured into this.
  • Nicholas Courtney discusses reading for The Crusade, getting cast in The Daleks' Master Plan and how they both led to him finally being cast as Lethbridge-Stewart.
  • The Web of Fear is covered by Dicks, Derek Ware and  John Levene (who played a Yeti). Discussion includes filming on the Underground (or not) and Courtney's moustache attempts.
  • The Invasion then comes under scrutiny by Dicks, Courtney, Levene and Sherwin - they talk about not going to Geneva, Levene's acting career and Douglas Camfield's direction.
  • Courtney, Caroline John and Levene take a pause from episode dissection to chat about how wonderful working with Jon Pertwee is.
  • Spearhead from Space is next up, with thoughts from Barry Letts, John, Courtney and Dicks on how John got cast, the legacy Letts was lumbered with, Liz Shaw's introduction and also her shortcomings.
  • Doctor Who and the Silurians: Dicks, Letts and Courtney talk about the story's birth, Liz Shaw's gradual change in character (and clothing) and the Doctor's reaction to genocide.
  • Next is Ambassadors of Death, which has comments from Letts, Ware, John, Levene and Dicks on hiring HAVOC for the first time, the actors performing stunts and a campaign for Benton getting more lines.
  • Finally, Inferno itself is under discussion, albeit briefly. Letts, Dicks and John talk about Liz's leaving and why it happened...

Clips are cropped into 16:9
Discussing the UNIT Family were Nicholas Courtney, Terrance Dicks, Caroline John, Barry Letts, John Levene, Derrick Sherwin, Derek Ware
Music Composed by Dudley Simpson
Arranged and Performed by Mark Ayres
Colourist: Jonathan Wood
Camera: Une Herzer, John Kelly
Sound: Angus Anderson, David Mason
Assistant Producer: Richard Molesworth
With thanks to Derek Handley, Ed Stradling, Doctor Who Magazine
Produced by Steve Broster
BBC Worldwide
(C) BBC MMVI
 
Visual Effects Promo Film (6'00")
A short extract from a film showcasing the work of the BBC's Visual Effects department, with clips from The Ambassadors of Death and Inferno.
 
Deleted Scene (1'57")
A short scene, included in the VHS release, from episode five in which Jon Pertwee plays the voice of a radio announcer.
Pertwee Years Intro (2'44")
The introduction from the special VHS release, in which Jon introduces the final episode of Inferno.
 
 
Photo Gallery (6'11")
56 colour and b/w photographs from the making of this story, along with seven candid shots of the production team of the time.
Photographs from BBC Photograph Library, Derek Handley, Richard Bignelll
BBC Worldwide
(C) BBC MMVI
 
 
Doctor Who Annual & Radio Times Billings
PDF features.

Restoration Notes

The Canadian-sourced NTSC 2" Quads were first passed through the RSC system, and then had their luminance and chrominance separated so a higher level of DVNR could be applied to the colour than to the b/w part of the image. Jitter throughout portions of the episodes was then manually corrected and the opening credits sequence recreated digitally in Adobe After Effects. The extra scene (see "VHS" above) was cut back out, using a b/w print as a guide, and a short sequence in episode six suffering from a severe offlock was dropped in from the b/w copy and colourised by hand.

Classifications

28/04/1994 - Passed as 'PG' by the BBFC for the UK.
07/06/1994 Passed as 'PG' by the OFLC for Aus/NZ.
15/03/2006 - Bonus features passed as 'PG' by the BBFC for the UK.
09/05/2006 - Menus passed as 'U' by the BBFC for the UK.
19/05/2006 - Passed as 'PG' [Mild Science Fiction Violence] by the OFLC for Aus/NZ.