Trivia / Doctor Who S16 E5 "The Power of Kroll"

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• Creator Backlash: Basically nobody was proud of this serial.
  • Graham Williams later described the story as "tacky" and that it contained the worst effects shot of his tenure.
  • Mary Tamm described this as her worst filming experience, being stuck in the mud and miles away from anywhere.
  • Robert Holmes hated it and named as his least favourite of the Doctor Who serials he wrote. His dissatisfaction with the prompt (write a story around the biggest Doctor Who monster) led him to take a six-year hiatus from writing for the programme.
  • The BBC's Head of Serials, Graeme MacDonald, hated the set designs of the story enough to order that designer Don Giles was never to work on the show again. By coincidence, episode three has the Doctor mock the look of the Swampies' execution chamber and recommends its architect be fired.
  • Philip Madoc had expected a larger and meatier role.
• The Other Marty: John Leeson replaced Martin Jarvis as Dugeen, Philip Madoc replaced Alan Browning as Fenner and Neil McCarthy replaced George Baker as Thawn.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: Due to the above mentioned The Other Marty (and Thawn being more suited to his usual Typecasting), many assume that Philip Madoc got the role of Fenner under the impression he was portraying Thawn and cut his ties with the series out of disappointment.
• What Could Have Been:
  • This Key of Time episode was a replacement for a story called "The Doppelgangers" (written by Ted Lewis). In that story, the Doctor and Romana would have met Robin Hood, but discover that he was actually a villain. Unfortunately, Lewis' crushing alcoholism made his writing process stagnate, and he had to be let go. Consequently, this story and the previous one, "The Androids Of Tara" were made in its place.
  • Michael Sheard was offered the role of Dugeen.
• Working Title: Moon of Death, The Horror of the Swamp and The Shield of Time.
• Writer Revolt: Graham Williams coaxed Robert Holmes back to write a story he intended to be the big Spectacle story of Season 16 — the most popular writer, returned and writing about the biggest ever monster. However, Holmes disliked writing "big scary monster" stories (preferring Paranoia Fuel, over-the-top humanoid villains and Things That Go "Bump" in the Night) and didn't like doing "business as usual" Who either, and was no less burned out as he had been the last year. The BBC was also mandating him and the other writers to tone down the humour in their scripts, which prevented him from doing a more subversive take on the "giant monster" formula (beyond a few lines where the Doctor lampshades the stereotypical nature of the story). He eventually turned in a script that used all of the most unsatisfying Who Cliché Storm elements almost as if he had listed them, and quit writing for the show. He took a break from writing for the show thereafter, and would not return for six years.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Familiar looks:
    • Philip Madoc makes his last appearance in Doctor Who. He'd previously played villains in "The Krotons", "The War Games" and "The Brain of Morbius". He also had a part in "Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D."
    • Neil McCarthy previously played Barnham.
    • John Abineri (Ranquin) had previously played Van Lutyens in "Fury From the Deep", General Carrington in "The Ambassadors Of Death" and Richard Railton in "Death to the Daleks".
  • Familiar sounds: John Leeson, the voice of K9, plays Dugeen.

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