The Savages is the ninth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Ian Stuart Black and directed by Christopher Barry, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 28 May to 18 June 1966. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companions, Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), arrive on a distant planet where they discover the Elders maintain their idyllic society by draining the life source of the primitive savages.
Black approached the programme's production office to pitch a story, having watched the programme with his children for years. He wanted the serial to appeal to the audience's reasoning, rather than resorting to violence and action. Raymond Jones composed the 27-minute score for the serial. The Savages marked the final appearance of Purves as Steven, as the production team found the character inflexible and difficult to write. Filming took place at Riverside Studios from May to June 1966.
The Savages received an average of 4.9 million viewers across the four episodes, the programme's lowest figures since its debut. Reviews were mixed, with praise for the concept, performances, and score. Scholars highlighted the story's anti-colonialist and pro-democratic themes. Its videotapes and film prints were wiped by the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, and it remains missing; the only extant material includes telesnaps, short film segments, and a complete off-air recording. The story was novelised by Black, and the off-air recording was released as an audiobook. An animated reconstruction was released in March 2025.
Plot The TARDIS materialises on a distant planet in the far future. The First Doctor and his travelling companions, Steven and Dodo, find the planet inhabited by both an advanced, idyllic civilisation known as the Elders, and bands of roaming savages. The Elders welcome the Doctor, revealing they have admired his exploits from afar and predicted his arrival. Their leader, Jano, showers the Doctor and his companions with compliments and gifts. However, the Doctor becomes suspicious of the Elders' seemingly perfect civilisation, and Dodo finds their secret: they are only able to maintain their energy by draining the life force of the helpless savages. The Doctor, appalled, tries to stop the Elders and persuade them of their immorality.
At Jano's orders, the Doctor is forced into the transfer device and his life force is channelled into Jano, who desires his intelligence. The plan backfires Jano is imbued him with the Doctor's mannerisms, outlook, and morality, causing a personality crisis. Dodo and Steven meanwhile venture outside the city and make contact with the savage leaders, Chal and Tor. The savages are the remnants of a once highly skilled and artistic race, but over the centuries the energy transfer process stymied their creativity and ability. Chal hides the two fugitives in a deep cave system, pursued by a guard, Exorse, whom Steven overpowers. They return to the city to find a weak but determined Doctor, and help him escape the city.
The time travellers help the savages fight back against the Elder guards. The Doctor realises the Elders must be forced, not persuaded, to change their ways. His mixed personality convinces Jano to help the savages; he tries to convince the other Elders to treat the savages as equals, while Exorse also realises the error of his ways. Jano and Exorse begin the destruction of the technology underpinning the society, soon joined by the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo. The technology's destruction means the end of the oppression, and Jano and Chal begin discussing how a new society can be built together. The Doctor surprises Steven by convincing him to remain behind as a mediator. When both sides agree to accept Steven's decision, he decides to stay. The Doctor and a heartbroken Dodo bid their friend goodbye before departing in the TARDIS.
Production Conception and writing While working on the BBC2 series Ransom for a Pretty Girl in late 1965, Ian Stuart Black approached the neighbouring Doctor Who production office, where he asked producer John Wiles and story editor Donald Tosh if he could pitch a story; he had watched the programme with his children since its first serial, and he wanted them to watch something he had written. Wanting to appeal to the audience's reasoning, rather than including violence and action, Black conceived a story in which humans' energies were absorbed to power an artistic civilisation. Tosh and Wiles approved, and Black was contracted for a four-part story in December 1965. He delivered his proposed storyline on 13 January 1966, paid () per episode.
The production team encountered difficulties with the preceding serial, The Gunfighters, and considered replacing it with Black's scripts; the difficulties were later resolved, and Black's story kept its original placement. Wiles called Black's synopsis "very exciting". Tosh and Wiles departed the series in January, replaced by Gerry Davis and Innes Lloyd, respectively. Davis commissioned Black to write Doctor Who and the White Savages on 19 January, under the production code AA. The four scripts were due weekly from 21 February, though they were all delivered early: the first on 26 January, and the remaining three on 8, 10, and 23 February. Christopher Barry was assigned as director of the serial, now renamed The Savages; Barry, who had previously directed The Daleks (1963–1964) for the programme's first season and the combined The Rescue and The Romans (both 1965) for the second, was invited to return by Lloyd, an old friend. Barry found the script uninteresting and the programme generally stale.
Stuart Walker was assigned the serial's designer—his only work for Doctor Who. For exterior scenes, most of the studio floor was covered in forestry; a wall of honeycomb rock was based on rock formations in south-west France. Daphne Dare and Sonia Markham continued their usual roles in charge of costume and make-up, respectively. Nanina's fur costume was previously used in the film One Million Years B.C. (1966). The actors portraying Elders wore make-up to appear shinier and darker, reflecting their restored "life force". Senta's laboratory was considered the set's centrepiece, with several working props including a cabinet that pumped dry ice and a dark tank filled with bubbling liquid. Raymond Jones, who worked with Barry on The Romans, composed the serial's music; the 27-minute score, including a string quartet and percussion player conducted by Jones, was recorded in early May 1966, and supplemented in the first two episodes by stock music from the Radiophonic Workshop.
Casting and characters
Barry was seen as a competent director, and most actors appreciated his professionalism and patience. He had developed a positive rapport with lead actor William Hartnell following his previous work on the programme, having respected his earlier film career. Black similarly had no problems with Hartnell. According to many, the actor had begun deliberately acting older than his age to ensure his requests were followed. For scenes wherein Jano adopts the Doctor's persona, Hartnell assisted Frederick Jaeger to imitate some of his own mannerisms. The Savages was Peter Purves's last appearance as Steven. Purves and Hartnell were sad to end their working relationship; the former had learned much from their time together, and the latter had failed to bond with Purves's successors, Michael Craze and Anneke Wills, while filming the next serial. Though Davis enjoyed working with Purves, he and Lloyd felt Steven lacked depth and flexibility.
Lloyd told Purves about Steven's departure after filming the second episode of The Ark on 25 February, the day after his contract had been renewed until the end of The Savages. Purves was surprised by the news, feeling a cast change had not been indicated to him beforehand. He had considered departing the role, having missed working with the programme's original producer, Verity Lambert, and feeling Steven had lacked development over recent serials, though he later said he would have remained if given the choice and was upset with the manner in which it occurred. Steven's departure was announced on 26 April, alongside Dodo's in the following serial; Lloyd said the characters were difficult to write due to their fictional backgrounds. Purves pitched a sequel to The Savages in which the Doctor returns to the planet to discover Steven's regime as corrupt as the Elders'.
The Savages is the first Doctor Who serial in which every guest character survives. Barry cast several actors with whom he had worked before: Clare Jenkins as Nanina, having sought a larger role for her after casting her in Moonstrike (1963) and Take a Pair of Private Eyes (1966); Kay Patrick as Flower after working together on The Romans; and Peter Thomas as Edal after casting him in No Cloak – No Dagger (1963). Ewen Solon wore whiskers and latex as Chal to avoid recognition, wanting to break out after starring for several years in Maigret (1960–1963). Many actors returned to Doctor Who later: Jenkins in The Wheel in Space (1968) and The War Games (1969), Robert Sidaway (who portrayed Avon) in The Invasion (1968), Patrick Godfrey (Tor) in The Mind of Evil (1971), Jaeger in Planet of Evil (1975) and The Invisible Enemy (1977), and Solon in Planet of Evil. Tony Holland portrayed an assistant; in 1985, he became known as the co-creator of the television programme EastEnders with Julia Smith, who directed the Doctor Who serial The Smugglers (1966). The casting of two young, attractive guest actresses (including one in a revealing outfit) in The Savages started a trend of Doctor Who stories featuring "something for the dads".
Filming
Early filming took place at Ealing Studios from 27 to 28 April; Purves and Jackie Lane were released from rehearsals for The Gunfighters. On 29 April, Barry filmed in a desolate gravel pit, which he felt resembled the Moon's surface, in Chalfont St Peter; years later, the pit was later covered by the M25 motorway. Purves and Lane attended filming at Oxshott Quarry near Esher on 1 May. It was Lane's first outdoor filming since her introduction scene in The Massacre (1966), the second time Doctor Who had been filmed in a quarry, and the first time one was used to represent an alien planet on the series—later a staple of Doctor Who and other science-fiction programmes for the BBC. Weekly four-day rehearsals started on 9 May, and recording took place in Studio 1 of Riverside Studios each Friday from 13 May.
Each episode was edited three days after recording, almost two weeks before broadcast. Several extras were utilised in multiple roles in the first episode: in early scenes as citizens and later as laboratory assistants. As the fourth episode's opening immediately followed the climax of the third and featured smoke effects, its first eight scenes were recorded on the same day; an additional 30 minutes were allocated after the third episode's primary recording. The remainder of the final episode was recorded on 3 June, largely centred around the destruction of the laboratory, which could only be recorded once. The first episode was budgeted at and the remaining three at each; the first two went over budget while the last two went under. The serial cost a total of ().
Reception Broadcast and ratings