Trivia / Doctor Who S24 E2 "Paradise Towers"

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• Ability over Appearance: Pex was originally envisioned as a muscle-bound moron to parody such popular American heroes as Rambo. Unfortunately, no British actors of appropriate age and build were available, and some were reluctant to engage in the level of self-parody that the script required. So John Nathan-Turner suggested turning the concept completely on its head, by casting a small, slender actor who was clearly not the physical specimen Pex made himself out to be.
  Andrew Cartmel: Stephen (Wyatt)'s gag — which I wholeheartedly endorsed — was the idea that this guy was a total muscleman who fucks things up because he's incredibly stupid. He ends up being a victim. But when they cast it, they got Howard Cooke, who was cast by Nick Mallett. Nick didn't have the same vision for Pex, he was just concerned with getting a good actor who could do the business. So (Wyatt) was disappointed with that. It was a joke that was screwed up by the casting, but at least we ended up with a good actor.
• Dawson Casting: The Kangs are definitely meant to be younger than the actresses playing them. In an odd way, this adds to the general creepiness of the estate: none of these kids attend school, have grown up wild and without adult supervision, and the Doctor is the first parental figure they've had in perhaps a decade. Their immaturity is part of the point.
• Prop Recycling: The sharp-eyed might notice some of the barrels used as set dressing in the Kangs' lair still have the faded or painted-over remains of the Weyland-Yutani logo visible on them — they're one of many old Alien and Aliens props used throughout the Eighties.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the original script, a mutated creature was living in the Paradise Towers pool. When John Nathan-Turner voiced concerns about how effectively this could be accomplished, it was changed to an aquatic version of the cleaners.
  Andrew Cartmel: We needed a monster. And we went straight to John and said, "What about tentacles?" They could come out through the ventilation grilles". And he said, "Tentacles are difficult", spoken with the knowing manner of a man who's tried tentacles before.
  • Stephen Wyatt considered writing a Sequel Episode that would have revisited the Kangs, who had been sent to a boarding school but still were searching for their male counterparts.
  • The original music score for the story, by David Snell, was replaced at the last minute with one by Keff McCulloch (the DVD has Snell's unused score as an alternative audio track). Weirdly enough, both John Nathan-Turner and director Nicholas Mallett seem to have actually been okay with the Snell score, with script editor Andrew Cartmel admitting in his book Script Doctor that he was the main driving force in getting it thrown out, as he felt that the show should have a more energetic style of music.
  • Ian Richardson was considered for the Chief Caretaker.
  • Roger Daltrey was considered for the Deputy Chief Caretaker.
• Working Title: The Paradise Tower.
• Write What You Know: Stephen Wyatt was partially inspired by visiting friends who lived in tower blocks in London's East End. He noted how you'd get out of a lift and there would be no indication as to what floor you'd arrived on and local youths leapt in and pressed all the buttons, so you could get out anywhere.
• You Look Familiar: Clive Merrison (Deputy Chief Caretaker) previously played Jim Callum.

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