of the fourth. The first day of production was focused on effects and long shots of the Chumblies on the planet. Live action shooting began the following day, requiring the Chumbley operators. A photocall for the Chumblies and Drahvins took place at Ealing on 24 June; this was also Martinus's first day on the programme, when Hartnell, O'Brien, and Purves were released from rehearsals of the third episode of the preceding serial, The Time Meddler (1965), to film inserts. Martinus had planned for long tracking shots in the first episode to indicate the expanse of the set, but the camera crew convinced him to focus primarily on Hartnell, as viewers were mostly interested in his performance. Hartnell also wanted to offer guidance to Martinus, based on his decades of experience in the industry. The cast had troubles during the rehearsal process for the serial due to transitions within the production staff: Purves was upset following Spooner's departure as he had developed much of Steven's character, and Hartnell's relationship with Wiles began with difficulties; O'Brien helped Hartnell through his struggles with the production, and Purves began developing a friendship with him, inviting him to dinner every fortnight. Weekly recording for the serial began on 9 July 1965 in Studio 4 of the Television Centre; the final episode was recorded on 30 July. To depict the destruction of the planet in the last episode, an exploding planet prop was filmed and then shown in reverse. The serial's final scene with Jackson as astronaut Garvey was filmed alongside the following story, "Mission to the Unknown", on 6 August 1965, and inserted into Galaxy 4 during editing. Recording for the four episodes cost a total of . Reception Broadcast and ratings Episode is missing The serial was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 11 September to 2 October 1965. Viewership was higher than in the previous year, giving a strong start to the new season; it averaged 9.9 million viewers across the four weeks, with the third episode of Galaxy 4 becoming the most-viewed of the show's third season with 11 million viewers, and the last two episodes made the top 20 shows of the week. The Appreciation Index remained consistent throughout the serial, dropping one point each week, from 56 to 53. The videotapes of the serial were wiped in the late 1960s: the first, second, and fourth episodes on 17