Well, funnily enough, The Savages is a
serial that I have very slight memories of and it's surprising I suppose because
it's the serial in which I left and consequently you think well it's the one
that's most recent therefore I'm likely to remember it. I do remember one or two
things about it. I remember Chris Barry the director who was terrific. I liked
Chris immensely, he was lovely. I also remember that he cast the most glorious
girl in it called Claire Jenkins who had legs to die for. She was just gorgeous.
I remember her very well indeed. I remember Freddy Yeager, he was a nice guy and a
good actor. The character was called Jano. I can remember very little about it. I
can remember hardly anything of the story except that I left the series
there and I was written out. Innes Lloyd, in his great wisdom, he'd done one great
change of course. He decided that the episodes, individual episodes, would be
numbered instead of having titles. I mean what an innovation that was. My god, he
probably was promoted immediately following that. But he also decided that
he wasn't going to keep the companions for longer than a year. Didn't quite work
out like that. I think Fraser stayed a lot longer than a year but anyway I had to
leave. I'd been in it a year and he wanted to replace me and he replaced me with
Michael Craze which is fair enough. It's his decision. I wasn't happy about it.
The first I knew about it was four weeks before I actually left was that my
contract was not being renewed. And unfortunately the BBC did that to people
in those days. They didn't give you a lot of warning. Maureen O'Brien came back
from holiday, summer holiday, to record the serial called The Myth Makers which
was a brilliant serial. And when she read the scripts she discovered that she left
in episode 4. She didn't know. She hadn't been told. So she discovered it via
script. I was actually told and they stuck me on one side and said,
I'm afraid Peter we're not going to renew your contract. No reason given, just
that. So it was either I was a terrible actor or it was just Innes Lloyd's whim.
Anyway, that aside, I do know that the planet where the savages were needed
someone to take control and run things for them. And I was going to be a nice
benevolent leader. And I was left on the planet in a very happy state to be the
leader of what were the savages. And of course we ended up being a wonderful crowd.
I've always rather wished that perhaps we could have another serial which
starts with the Tardis arriving on this planet shortly after I've taken over. And
I've been an absolute bastard and ruined it all. But there we go. I think we're
making a great serial. But we'll never know. It will probably never happen. But
I'd like it.
The Tardis materialises in a rocky ravine on a distant planet. Excited, the
Doctor proclaims that for once he knows exactly where they are. He informs his
companions that they've arrived at an age of great peace and prosperity. However,
as they soon discover, things are not quite how they seem.