David Maloney brought a welcome seriousness to the scares in Doctor Who. We rate his tense, atmospheric direction highly, with a caveat for anyone impatient with the programme’s habit of taking its time.
Fi1m perspective
David Maloney lets the dangers in Doctor Who (1963) feel serious, however strange their surroundings. His taste for tension gives the actors something to respond to; their alarm need not look foolish just because the situation is absurd. We rate his contribution highly, with the familiar warning that the programme can take its time. Atmosphere helps us stay with a serial, but it cannot excuse every delay.
The Mind Robber (1968), his first serial as director, shows that the interest in strangeness was there from the beginning. The darker stories associated with producer Philip Hinchcliffe gave his taste for horror a firmer place in the programme. We found Genesis of the Daleks (1975) unsettling because it makes the creatures’ origins a moral problem. The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), his final Doctor Who serial as director, puts that appetite for unease into a Victorian gothic setting.
That atmosphere required practical work. Maloney worked closely with production designers on solutions for sets and effects, and Roger Murray-Leach was among his collaborators. He could turn round a 30-minute drama in two days’ shooting, a schedule that leaves little opportunity to repair a poor decision. We admire the resourcefulness, but speed alone would be a thin reason to return to the programmes. The finished drama still has to frighten us, and his strongest work does.
Producing Blake’s 7 (1978), created by Terry Nation, moved him from individual serials to responsibility for a continuing programme. He oversaw its first three series through 1980 and directed three episodes himself, then produced The Day of the Triffids (1981). That is a substantial second chapter, though we would keep the programmes he oversaw distinct from the ones he directed. For a first encounter with his directing, choose Genesis of the Daleks and allow it room to talk.
Biography
David Maloney (14 December 1933 – 18 July 2006) was a British television director and producer. He joined the BBC as a production assistant and trained as a director at the corporation. He first worked on Doctor Who (1963) as a production assistant in 1965 and went on to direct eight serials between 1968 and 1977.
Maloney produced the first three seasons of Blake's 7 (1978–80) and directed three episodes of the series himself. He also produced the BBC adaptation of The Day of the Triffids (1981) and the final series of When the Boat Comes In (1981). Later in his career he made factual programmes and documentaries for the ITV contractor Central. He appeared in several television and DVD documentaries about his work on Doctor Who and provided commentaries for three serials he directed.
