Andrew Morgan is a respected television director whose credits include Sutherland’s Law, Secret Army, Swallows and Amazons, The Onedin Line, Juliet Bravo, Eastenders and Casualty. He directed two Doctor Who stories starring Sylvester McCoy – Time and the Rani and Remembrance of the Daleks. He also directed Children of Auron for the 3rd series of Blake’s 7.
SA: Did you always want to be a director?
AM: No, not at all. I originally wanted to be an actor and I actually got into RADA and had an amazing couple of years there. Although I loved acting I soon realised that I wasn’t going to make much money at it so I found myself gravitating towards directing. My long term plan was to become a producer. I managed to get a job as an assistant floor manager at the BBC and gradually worked my way up. The first directing job I did was an episode of Sutherland’s Law up in Scotland. I absolutely loved it and decided to forget about producing and stick at directing. I’ve never looked back.
SA: How did you get the job on Blake’s 7?
AM: I had decided to go freelance and then the work started to flood in. I was offered Blake’s 7 and an episode of Secret Army at exactly the same time. It was a very, very busy time for me. I actually did the filming for Blake’s 7 straight after the filming for Secret Army and then went into the studio for Secret Army followed by the studio for Blake’s 7!
SA: What are your memories of the cast?
AM: They were a very nice bunch, a very close-knit team. Jacqueline Pearce was a superb actress and she was very precise about her character. It was quite a big episode for her and she did a marvellous job. It was a big episode for Jan Chappell as well. I think she was particularly pleased to be given something to do as there had been a tendency to leave the girls in the background looking decorative. In fact Jan had a double role in this one. She played both Cally and her clone twin so we had to use split screen whenever they were seen together. Yes, she was quite excited by that. This was also one of Josette Simon’s earliest episodes and she was clearly a star in the making. They went through quite an arduous struggle to get her because she didn’t have an Equity card and they had to go through a lengthy casting session. Josette has done incredibly well in the business. I bumped into her many years later and I was delighted when she actually recognised me.
SA: Were you surprised when you learned that Blake himself would not appear in the third series?
AM: I wasn’t surprised but I was a little disappointed because Gareth Thomas was actually a friend of mine. I was keen to have him come in and do a brief voiceover for my episode so at least there would be a sense that Blake was still a driving force in the show. Gareth wasn’t averse to the suggestion but he was simply too busy. There was a lot of talk at the time that Gareth had washed his hands of the series but it was all very amicable as I recall. In fact he did agree to make guest appearances further down the line.
SA: What do you remember about the filming?
AM: The main memory is filming at Leeds University and nearly blowing out all the windows! We set off an explosion in a courtyard which was surrounded by glass-fronted buildings. The FX boys had packed in a little too much explosive and the blast was huge. I went white as a sheet as I watched the thing go off with an almighty bang and all the windows started to shake. It was a massive relief when the wobbling stopped and the windows were still intact.
There was another complicated sequence which we shot at a dam in Yorkshire. I was determined to make the shot look as though it really was taking place on an alien world. We used a glass shot to increase the scale and make the dam seem wider than it actually was. We shot it in one take and everyone was very pleased with how it looked. When we got back and watched the rushes I noticed a tiny fly walking right up in the middle of the glass shot and totally destroying the illusion. I had to cut the length of the sequence. It still annoys me to this day!
SA: What was it like working on the Liberator set?
AM: It was a pretty amazing set and I think the BBC had actually spent a bit of money on it. It had become a bit tatty around the edges due to the number of times it had been taken down and reassembled but I was determined to make it look as impressive as possible. They blew it up at the end of that series which I thought was quite sad.
SA: Were you happy with the finished episode?
AM: I was pretty happy with it. I was never really blown away by the script and I was still finding my way as a director but I was generally pleased with how it ended up. I could do a much better job of it now of course!
SA: Would you have liked to do more episodes?
AM: I was asked to go back to direct the last episode of the same series (Terminal) but I was busy on something else. I would have been happy to return as I enjoyed the experience. I had to turn down a Doctor Who round about the same time. (Timeflight) I was quite disappointed by that as I was keen to get involved in the video effects side of things. Fortunately the producer John Nathan-Turner kept in touch and I did eventually get a shot at Who.
SA: What are your memories of your first Doctor Who story?
AM: It was called Time and the Rani and it was quite a prestigious one to get because they were bringing in a new Doctor, Sylvester McCoy. I was very involved in the casting process and we screen-tested a number of actors before settling on Sylv. I think John always wanted Sylvester but we had to go through the motions of casting the net wider. I think we made the right choice because Sylv was absolutely brilliant. He was born to play the part.
SA: Were you disappointed that Colin Baker declined to return for a regeneration sequence?
AM: Very disappointed but I understood his reasons. He was a good friend of mine and he had been treated very shoddily indeed. The original version of the script had Colin in it throughout with the regeneration talking place at the climax but that fell by the wayside when Colin declined to return. I thought it was a shame not to show the change so we managed to reach a compromise. I wanted to use an old clip of Colin and then add the effects and gradually reveal Sylvester but that didn’t work out. We ended up shooting Sylv in a blonde curly wig and then morphing into a shot of Sylv without the wig. It wasn’t ideal but at least it was onscreen.
SA: What was it like working with the Daleks in your next story?
AM: Remembrance of the Daleks was a much happier experience all round. The script was a corker and I was excited to be doing a Dalek story for the quarter-century season. Sylvester was well into his stride and we had an excellent supporting cast. The only problem with the Daleks was getting them to move along a cobbled street. We had formulated an entirely new way of getting the Daleks to move around but it was a complete disaster. We had to go back to the tried and true method of castors and tracking boards!
SA: It’s an awful question but which is your favourite – Doctor Who or Blake’s 7?
AM: You’re right, that is an awful question. I will always have a soft spot for Blake’s 7 because it was right at the beginning of my career and it was such an exciting time. But I would have to say that it’s Doctor Who that I recall with the most fondness. It’s the one thing I’ve done that keeps coming up time and time again. Particularly now it’s back on TV.
SA: Would you like to direct for the new series?
AM: Oh absolutely! It’s wonderful that it’s come back and been such a great success. I’d go back in a heartbeat. I’d like to have another shot at Blake’s 7 too so hopefully they’ll bring that back next!
This article originally appeared in Scorpio Attack fanzine by Jonathan Helm
