Daleks’ Master Plan Episode 7 | The Feast of Steven | RECONSTRUCTION 1/2

(Part ½ due to copyright)
To celebrate 60 years since the first Doctor Who Christmas episode, here is ‘The Feast of Steven’, reconstructed here with action figures.
Arriving in present day England, the Doctor and his companions are arrested. Escaping in the TARDIS, they find themselves on a film set before celebrating Christmas in the TARDIS. This episode is missing from the archives
60 years ago, the production team on Doctor Who had a problem. They were working on a mammoth twelve-part serial that would follow The Doctor, Steven, and various other companions doing battle with the Daleks and their new ally, Mavic Chen. However, it didn’t take them long to realise that the seventh episode of this serial would fall on the day of a little-known Christian festival called Christmas. That’s right, the seventh episode would fall on the 25th of December, and because of this it was logically suggested that much of the audience at home would miss this episode, and viewing figures would be down due to opening presents or spending time with family, how times have changed. Because of this, the seventh episode was designed to be skippable, a literal filler episode you could say. These are the unusual circumstances that led to The Feast of Steven being created. The episode gets its name from The Feast of Stephen, also known as Saint Stephen's Day, which is celebrated on the 26th of December and commemorates Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, the title was supposed to be a pun (I guess?) as the masterful Peter Purves plays Steven Taylor throughout this serial and season, or perhaps they just had no idea what to call an episode like this, honestly I don’t blame them.
The seventh, and undoubtedly strangest, instalment in the epic Daleks’ Mater plan serial, reconstructed here using action figures and stop motion animation. Yeah, the Feast of Steven is really weird. There isn’t another episode like this in the whole of the original run of Doctor Who. I’ve always felt the oddest part of this story is when the Doctor recognises ‘Man in Mackintosh’ in the police station, because the actor playing him, Reg Pritchard, was also in The Crusade which the Doctor explicitly references: “Haven't I seen your face before somewhere? Yes, of course, I remember now, yes. The marketplace at Jaffa.” Surely no one watching at home would’ve understood this reference in the days before the internet, repeats, VHS, and fandom, so why was it included? Moments like this are what make the Feast of Steven so utterly absurd that I can’t help but wish it existed so we could watch the madness unfold!
This episode has been a huge challenge to reconstruct as the cast of characters in episode 7 is so much larger than episodes 11 and 12. It’s also challenging because it’s often very difficult to understand what is happening at times in the story from the audio alone. There is a sequence where Steven is picked up and carried down a corridor as he cries, “Put me down! Put me down!! I have never taken part in a scene I swear.” After this line, it’s difficult to picture what happens on screen. It would seem likely that the camera was simply facing down an empty corridor as we heard what was happening in the background, because this is what the camera script suggests. However, for my reconstruction I decided that I would try and visualise what is happening on screen, simply because I felt a static shot down an empty corridor for quite a long time would be very boring to watch, so I hope you feel this is a better alternative, even if it is slightly inaccurate! I do try to keep these reconstructions as accurate as possible; I’ve tried to match the existing photos of this episode where I could, you’ll probably notice this in the final TARDIS scene. Thank you so much for the continued support on my videos, I’m so grateful that people enjoy the animations I make it means so much, so thank you. I hope you enjoy this slightly mad episode of Doctor Who, the first festive episode they ever made, 60 years ago this coming Christmas…

This episode was last broadcast on Christmas Day 1965 at 18:35 on BBC One

Dr. Who - William Hartnell
Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
Sara Kingdom - Jean Marsh
Station Sergeant - Clifford Earl
First Policeman - Norman Mitchell
Second Policeman - Malcolm Rogers
Detective Inspector - Keneth Thornett
Man in Mackintosh - Reg Pritchard
Blossom Lefavre - Sheila Dunn
Darcy Tranton - Leonard Grahame
Steinberger P. Green - Royston Tickner
Ingmar Knopf - Mark Ross
Assistant director - Conrad Monk
Arab Sheik - David James
Vamp - Paula Topham
Clown - Robert G. Jewell
Professor Webster - Albert Barrington

I would like to give thanks to Loose Cannon for their excellent reconstruction of this episode and all the other missing episodes. Not only have they helped with the set design for my reconstructions, but they have also provided a satisfying and accurate way of watching the missing episodes.

NEXT EPISODE: Volcano | The Daleks' Master Plan