10 Doctor Who Scenes Actors Hated Shooting

Survival, the final serial of classic Who, has a title with many meanings.

It evokes the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ – a key theme throughout the story. It also, rather neatly, alludes to the show’s own struggle to keep going (though by accident rather than by design).

And given that the serial was shot at the height of summer, in temperatures of up to 43 degrees Celsius – which officially makes it hotter than Lanzarote/the Moon! – Survival also serves as an apt description of the serial’s production.

The story was filmed entirely on location, with Warmwell Quarry – since described by Sylvester McCoy as “the deserts of Dorset” – standing in for the Cheetah World.

“It was just like doing a spaghetti Western,” McCoy recalled. “It was incredibly hot and all these girls [playing Cheetah People] had to be dressed up in catsuits and all this fur stuff; it was just too hot for them!”

Most of the cast and crew persevered. But for one Cheetah Person actor, it was all too much. According to McCoy, she “suddenly freaked out and ripped all her clothes off, and was last seen running for the train”.

And to be honest, who can blame her?