Black Archive #65: The Myth Makers

“Yes, well personally, I think this whole business has been carried just a little bit too far. I mean, that Helen thing was just a misunderstanding.” The first full production of Doctor Who’s second producer, The Myth Makers (1965) plunges the series into previously unexplored territory at the edge of legend and history. It’s a story of ambition and pragmatism, the epic and the domestic, the silly and the tragic and the literary and worldly. In this Black Archive, Ian Potter delves into the archaeology and literature that informed the serial, explores the careers and characters of its prime movers, traces the programme’s development through previously unseen script drafts, examines how it may have appeared on screen and explains a handful of its jokes.