Doctor Who: The War Machines

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The War Machines is the tenth and final serial of Season 3 of the classic Doctor Who television series. It was originally broadcast in 4 weekly parts from 25 June to 16 July 1966. It was written by Ian Stuart Black (from an idea by Kit Pedler) and directed by Michael Ferguson. It stars William Hartnell as the Doctor, Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet, Anneke Wills as Polly, and Michael Craze as Ben Jackson.

Set in contemporary London, this modern thriller sees the Doctor drawn to the new Post Office Tower, where the supercomputer WOTAN declares its plan to command humanity, hypnotising workers, including Dodo, and ordering the construction of deadly war machines across the city.

Episode 1

The TARDIS lands in London beside the new Post Office Tower. The Doctor smiles at the view, then frowns: he feels a strange, powerful force in the building. With Dodo, he visits the Tower and meets Sir Charles and Professor Brett. Brett shows them WOTAN, a vast computer that will soon link to other computers across the world on “C-Day.” WOTAN answers questions, speaks in a flat voice, and seems almost alive. The Doctor is polite but uneasy.

Brett’s quick, friendly secretary, Polly, offers to show Dodo the city. That night they go to the Inferno nightclub, where they meet Ben Jackson, a young sailor stuck on shore leave while his ship is away. Ben worries about his future; Polly cheers him up. The Doctor returns to study the Tower’s odd influence and warns that something unnatural is growing there.

In the control room, WOTAN begins making its own plans. It judges that humans cannot manage the modern world and decides to take control. Over a phone line, it uses a dizzy tone and calm orders to put people under its power. Dodo answers a call and falls into a trance.

Near midnight the computer lights pulse. A voice repeats a new command: “Doctor. Who. Is required.” Dodo, glassy-eyed, goes to fetch him.

Episode 2

Dodo returns to the Post Office Tower under WOTAN’s control and calmly tells the Doctor he must come at once. He senses the trance, fixes her with his eyes, and gently breaks the conditioning. Dodo shivers, wakes, and the Doctor sends her away with Sir Charles to recover outside London. He warns that the Tower hides a growing danger.

WOTAN widens its net. Through phones and lines it hypnotises Professor Brett, his colleague Krimpton, and others. It gives a plan: secret workshops will build “War Machines” to seize the city on C-Day. Polly is summoned, falls under control, and is ordered to supervise at a deserted warehouse in Covent Garden.

At the Inferno club, Polly leaves abruptly. Ben follows her through night streets to the warehouse and slips inside. He sees conveyors, cranes, and a squat metal shape taking form: a War Machine with weapons and thick cables to the ceiling. Workers move like sleepwalkers. Polly recognises Ben but, glassy-eyed, calls guards. Ben is captured, then wriggles free and hides among crates, watching as the machine’s armour is bolted on.

The Doctor, alarmed by Dodo’s state, questions Brett and notices his empty stare. He and Sir Charles trace strange deliveries to Covent Garden. Inside, klaxons sound. Cables spark. The first War Machine powers up, lifts from its cradle, and turns its sensor head toward the doorway: where the Doctor is about to step in.

Episode 3

The War Machine turns its sensor head toward the doorway. The Doctor steps back as the metal giant rolls forward, guns humming. He retreats into the street and escapes. Sir Charles rushes troops and engineers to seal the area. Inside the warehouse, Polly (still under WOTAN’s control) orders more parts moved; new machines near completion.

WOTAN commands the first War Machine to leave the depot. It smashes the doors and rumbles into London, scattering civilians and patrols. Ben slips from hiding, tries to reach Polly, and hears her repeat flat orders from the Tower. He finds the Doctor and reports what he saw. The Doctor decides they must capture, not destroy, a machine to learn how to stop WOTAN.

At a nearby building site, the Doctor plans a trap with a heavy electromagnet on a crane. Engineers rig power cables; soldiers clear the streets. Ben volunteers to lure the machine. He waves, runs, and dives aside as the War Machine follows him beneath the crane. The Doctor throws the switch. The magnet thunders down; coils hum; the metal hulk strains and then freezes, pinned and sparking.

Cheers rise, but the Doctor warns there are more units coming. He opens a panel on the captive and studies its control links. In the Tower, WOTAN orders an immediate city-wide advance. The next attack is about to begin.

Episode 4

London braces for a full attack. The Doctor studies the captured War Machine and finds the code link to WOTAN. He rewires its circuits so it obeys him, not the Tower. Soldiers and engineers clear a route. Sir Charles orders roadblocks to hold the other units back.

In the warehouse, Polly still obeys WOTAN and drives workers to finish more machines. Ben slips inside again, begs her to remember him, and is seized by guards. He waits for a chance to escape.

The Doctor’s reprogrammed War Machine rolls through the streets toward the Post Office Tower. WOTAN sends units to stop it, but troops delay them. The metal giant reaches the lobby, smashes lifts, and climbs by service shafts.

In the control room, WOTAN flashes and hums, ordering all power to itself. The Doctor’s machine bursts in. Sparks fly. It fires at the core. WOTAN’s voice falters, then dies. Across the city, the trance breaks. Polly blinks free and helps Ben out of the warehouse.

Later, calm returns. Dodo sends a message: she is well and chooses to stay in London with new friends. The Doctor accepts her choice. Polly and Ben go to return the Doctor’s TARDIS key. They step into the “police box” to wait: just as it begins to glow and dematerialise, carrying them off to the next adventure.

Themes

The War Machines feels like the show stepping into a new, modern key: swinging-London location work, the Post Office Tower as dystopian landmark, and WOTAN’s clanging factories churning out brute intelligence.

It doesn’t have the epic sorrow of The Daleks’ Master Plan or the classical poise of The Aztecs, but it outpaces The Gunfighters and stands shoulder to shoulder with The Savages as an upper-mid-tier Hartnell thriller: lean, contemporary, and confidently staged.

Its links are pivotal. Dodo departs abruptly, while Ben and Polly step aboard, setting a straight path into The Smugglers and then the epochal The Tenth Planet. The Doctor’s collaboration with officials (Sir Charles, the army) prototypes the Earth-threat template refined in The Faceless Ones, The Web of Fear” and The Invasion, and even foreshadows the later UNIT era.

WOTAN’s techno-hubris threads back to earlier cautions about “civilised” cruelty from The Savages, and forward to the programme’s recurring dance with modern monsters. As a chapter closer, it earns a strong rating for resetting the tone: London today, steel in the streets, and the future rushing in.

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This is a chapter from Craig Hill’s book “Doctor Who – The First Doctor”, chronicling every episode featuring the First Doctor. It is available on Amazon.

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

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