The Beatles In Doctor Who
In 1965 Dalekmania was sweeping the country and two Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing were produced by Amacus who were usually known more for their horror movies. Thinking of ways to promote the movie someone came up with the idea of having the Daleks meeting the Beatles.
Dalekmania vs Beatlemania
It may have happened because the parent company of the Beatles record company Parlophone was EMI who may or may not had some interest in the Dalek movies themselves. I can't find anything to suggest they did other than it was EMI that released them on video in the early 80s. Anyway the idea was approved and so the national papers one morning showed pictures of John Lennon hanging out with a Dalek
The BBC decided to jump on this idea and suggested that they appear on the show, in particular the upcoming Dalek story 'The Chase'.
What happened next is up for debate as I have heard 2 stories and there is no real documentation of what happened.
The first story is that they were to appear on the show as themselves playing a song but because each Doctor Who episode was filmed on one specific night of the week they would have to be free on that night or not be in it at all, they couldn't make it and so they used a clip from Top Of The Pops instead.
During 'The Chase' the Tardis lands in what they think is a haunted house but is in actual fact an exhibit in 'The Festival of Ghana' an event taking place in the future... 1996 to be exact.
The second story is that the BBC pitched the idea that The Beatles are playing the Festival Of Ghana as themselves and all the band members are aged with make up. Brian Epstein turned this down flat and told them just to use the Top Of The Pops footage of them playing Ticket To Ride instead. So that was what the BBC ended up doing using The Doctor's new toy, the space time visualiser which was like a television that could see any event in history.
Because of rights issues you won't find that clip of this episode anywhere outside the UK or Australia. Everywhere else the scene has been cut out of the story. Even uploading it to Youtube is fruitless as it's taken down as quick as it goes up. In fact I tried for this and I had the notice of it being blocked before I'd even finished uploading it, however I do have the stills from it.
(And a video clip ready to download, PM me for the link)
There are actually 2 gaffes in this clip.
The first is that Ian Chesterton seems to know the words to Ticket To Ride even though he left earth in November 1963 and has never been back since, Ticket To Ride wasn't even recorded until February 1965. (Maybe The Doctor has a copy stashed away in the Tardis somewhere)
Also Vicki says after hearing the song she didn't realise that The Beatles played classical music (She's from the 25th Century). Yet just a few seconds earlier she tells Ian & Barbara that she's been to their memorial theatre in Liverpool. You'd think she would have heard some in there.
Also it's worth noting that those few seconds of the band playing on Top Of The Pops is the only film clip that the BBC hold of them playing that show even though they appeared on it dozens of times. Like a lot of Doctor Who episodes from the time they too were also junked as they were thought to be of no more use.
We need one of those space time visualisers.