Holmes of the Formakin Animal Centre in Benson, Oxfordshire. O'Brien was absent from rehearsals for the second episode on 11 March to film for the subsequent serial, The Space Museum (1965). Russell was absent from filming the third episode as he was on holiday. The establishing shot of a desert in the third episode was sourced from of silent 35mm stock footage supplied by the ABPC Film Exchange. During recording of the final episode on 26 March, Lemkow injured himself with a knife, which went to a finger bone on his right hand; he was taken to hospital for a tetanus shot. Camfield arranged for a cow carcass to be present during recording in order to achieve particular shots through the rotting rib cage; the carcass attracted flies and emitted an odour beneath the studio lights. Reception Broadcast and ratings Episode is missing The serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 27 March to 17 April 1965. Viewership fell from the previous serial; the first episode dropped to 10.5 million views. The second episode fell to 8.5 million views, and dropped out of the top 20 for the week, as did the following two. The third and fourth episodes received 9 and 9.5 million viewers respectively, which were still considered acceptable. The Appreciation Index recovered briefly from the previous serial, moving from 51 to 48 across the four weeks. The original tapes for the second episode were wiped in 1967, followed by the first and fourth in 1969; the third was also wiped at an unknown date. The overseas film prints were destroyed around 1972 by BBC Enterprises. A 16mm film print of the third episode was retained by the BBC Film and Videotape Library. A film copy of the first episode was discovered in the ownership of film collector Bruce Grenville in New Zealand in January 1999, and returned to the BBC; it was sourced from the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, who had acquired the serial in the 1960s but never screened it. The second and fourth episodes remain missing, existing only through tele-snaps and off-air recordings. Critical response Following the broadcasting of the second episode in April 1965, John Holmstrom of The New Statesman wrote that the show was failing, citing "the wooden charmlessness of the adventures". Following the serial's broadcast, Bill Edmund of Television Today directed praise at Glover's performance and Whitaker's writing, declaring