”The Highlanders” is a whimsical little story, weak on historical accuracy, strong on entertainment. The last of the Doctor Who historicals until “Black Orchid,” it is also quite a strange story in that the English are the baddies – it certainly takes some getting used to! However, the thing that Gerry Davis and Elwyn Jones’ four-parter will forever be remembered for is the introduction of Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines); not only the definitive second Doctor companion, but one of the all-time greats!

A fast-moving plot sees the TARDIS crew separated, Ben being taken prisoner with Jamie and the Scottish rebels, Polly on the run with Kirsty (a young Scottish woman) and the new Doctor still employing his early penchant for curious disguises. In “The Highlanders,” we see him add the suspicious German Doctor Von Wer, a moustached English redcoat, and an old washerwoman to his repertoire!

Much of this serial is quite light-hearted in nature, but nevertheless it does have its grittier moments. Polly and Kirsty are forced to blackmail an English redcoat, and Ben and Jamie are sold into slavery by a corrupt solicitor. The episode three cliffhanger is particularly disturbing as Ben tears up Solicitor Gray’s ‘contract’ and is ducked into the sea. If Mary Whitehouse was gonna complain about the drowning sequence in “The Deadly Assassin,” I don’t know how this one got past her!

Aside from Jamie’s introduction (who incidentally, isn’t his usual self in this story), for me the best thing about this story is Polly. Along with her sidekick Ben, she has to be one of the most underrated Doctor Who companions. Anneke Wills gives one of her best performances in “The Highlanders”, Polly coming across as very strong and resourceful, be it dressing up as an orange seller, blackmailing soldiers or even using her feminine wiles to get her out of sticky situations! 

Sadly, “The Highlanders” only exists today as four audio episodes with linking narration by Frazer Hines and as a collection of telesnaps from John Cura. I managed to compile a little reconstruction of my own by combing the two surviving elements on my PC, and I think I’ve managed to get a good feel for the story. Its loss isn’t in the same league as some of the other missing Troughton stories, but even so it’s a charming little story, well worthy of its place in the Doctor Who canon.

Back when I reviewed 'The Mutants', I said that it was a story that I'd always underrated and that watching it again I appreciated it more than I ever had before. This is also true of 'The Tenth Planet'. Furthermore, I've noted on several occasions that I wish I could have watched several Doctor Who stories without foreknowledge of what is to come, and this is very true of this story. 

'The Tenth Planet' is a first in that it is the first real “base under siege” story in Doctor Who; the action takes place almost exclusively in the Snowcap base, which is under siege from the Cybermen. This scenario is an effective story-telling device, creating a sense of claustrophobia, since the base personnel have nowhere to escape to and the Doctor and his companions also remain trapped, isolated from the TARDIS, which remains outside the base, with the Cybermen. The base personnel are unfortunately fairly forgettable, and there are some dodgy accents on display in episode one, but fortunately Robert Beatty's General Cutler more than compensates for this. Initially just hard-bitten and with a no-nonsense attitude, he eventually becomes an internal threat to the Doctor and his companions as he blames them for the apparent death of his son and intends to have them shot. Whilst I have doubts that a man willing to risk irradiating half of the planet to save his son would have been allowed to reach the position of power that he occupies in any military organization, he is nevertheless an excellent character; for all his short-sightedness and obsession with saving his son, his motivations are always understandable (if not entirely sympathetic) and Beatty plays the part with conviction. His frank confession to Dyson that he is scared in episode three helps to make him more than just a paranoid megalomaniac willing to go to any ends to achieve his own aims, in defiance of direct orders. Dudley Jones' Dyson and David Dodimead's Barclay provide adequate support, although neither is particularly memorable, and the rest of the base personnel are little more than cannon fodder. 

Ben and Polly continue to impress, with Ben again taking the majority of the action, especially in episode three when the Doctor falls ill. Of particular note is his confrontation with the Cyberman in the projection room, which he is forced to kill with his own gun. The look of anguish on his face at the fact that he has had to resort to this tells the viewer more about his character than any amount of dialogue. Later in episode four, it is Ben who realises that the Cybermen are vulnerable to radiation, a discovery that allows the base personnel to defeat that particular wave of Cybermen and buy enough time for Mondas to burn up. Polly unfortunately gets very little to do and even gets relegated to the role of coffee maker, although she is instrumental in persuading Barclay to help Ben sabotage the rocket and therefore (probably) save the Earth. 

Of course, 'The Tenth Planet' is particularly notable for the debut of the Cybermen, arguably Doctor Who's second most popular monster. 

The Cybermen are chillingly effective in this story, due to their towering stature and their clear vestiges of humanity. At this point, they resemble far more than just marauding alien robots, with human hands and the implication of a skull beneath their cloth-covered faces. I've never noticed this before, but the whites of the actors' eyes are visible through the eye sockets in their masks; this may be unintentional, and probably wouldn't have shown up on a 425 line television set, but it is curiously effective, showing a stark glimpse of lost humanity in the midst of their impassive faces. They even have individual names. Appearance aside, they are also impressive as a species. Their lack of emotion is conveyed well here and most crucially, they seem neither cruel nor vengeful. They calmly inform the humans in the base that they will take them to Mondas to become Cybermen and later they explain that Earth must be destroyed so that Mondas can survive. Their matter-of-fact statements of these facts make them all the more chilling, and emphasize the horror of the potential fate of the base personnel and the TARDIS crew. Polly's almost hysterical response to Krail's announcement that their emotions will be removed perfectly conveys the horror of dehumanizing technology that inspired Kit Pedler when he created the Cybermen. What also fascinates me about the Cybermen here is their scientific interest; Krail is genuinely puzzled when Polly asks him why he doesn't care about the fact that the astronauts are going to die, simply pointing out that people all over the planet die every day, but Polly doesn't care about them. It's a perfectly logical response, which only an emotional perspective can rebuke and is the first, and most effective, demonstration, of just how different from humans the Cybermen have become. This characterisation is maintained throughout the story, even when Mondas is nearing saturation point; the Cybermen become slightly more urgent in the execution of the their plans, but this always seems true to their logical imperative to survive, rather than becoming panic or anger, which it so easily could have done had they been less well scripted. 

If I have any criticisms of 'The Tenth Planet', they are of Mondas and the Z-bomb. The idea of a twin planet to Earth drifting through space and of a bomb capable of destroying either planet just sitting in the basement of Snowcap base feel too much like they have been lifted from a comic book. In particular, I'm suspicious that, even if Mondas had the same continental structure as Earth, it would have undergone such similar patterns of continental drift after floating around out of its orbit for so long. These are minor quibbles however. 

Finally, there is the Doctor. For the first two episodes of 'The Tenth Planet', the Doctor is his usual self, imperious and commanding whether dealing with the obstreperous Cutler or the Cybermen. Interestingly, he knows of Mondas and it seems also the Cybermen, perhaps hinting at the unseen adventure mentioned in Keith Topping's 'Byzantium!'. Even when he asks the Cybermen questions, he gives the impression that he already knows the answers and is merely teasing them out of Krail for the benefit of everybody else. Then suddenly, at the start of episode three, he collapses without explanation. Whilst not originally planned for this episode, his sudden illness and absence from the story during this episode (brought about by Hartnell's real life illness) sets the scene perfectly for episode four, as he briefly recovers and challenges the Cybermen once more, only to rapidly deteriorate once on board the Cybermen's ship. By the time the Cybermen have died and Ben arrives at the ship, he is a mere shadow of his former self. Having never watched this era of the series in order from the beginning before, the impact of what follows has never really been impressed upon me before. Since I started watching '100,000 BC' all those weeks ago, William Hartnell has been “the Doctor”, rather than “the First Doctor”. I actually felt a (slightly embarrassing) pang of regret as, during the superb final scene in the TARDIS, he collapses to the floor and changes his appearance. For the first time in the series history the program's star changes, leaving the TARDIS itself as the only remaining constant from the first story. It is a hugely effective moment, particularly since it is not explained here, but instead fades straight into the closing credits. I really wish I'd seen it at the time. 

In summary then, 'The Tenth Planet' as well as being memorable for introducing the Cybermen and ending William Hartnell's tenure as the Doctor, is an effective and gripping story in its own right and a fine end to the era.

Power of the Daleks is easily one of the better Dalek stories, both in terms of plot and characterization. I recently listened to the BBC audio with Anneke Wills providing narration where needed to cover the missing visuals. I’ve also read the novelization and seen the existing clips from the story, along with the telesnaps. All of it falls somewhat short of actually watching the story, which is sadly impossible, but regardless I found that Power easily held my attention over the entire six episodes. This has to be attributed in large part to the variety of plot threads present in the story. A lot is happening, leaving little need for story padding. There are the Daleks of course, who spend the majority of the story biding their time until they can get the power they need. There is the political unrest in the colony and the power struggle between security chief Bragen and deputy governor Quinn. There is Lesterson, the scientist determined to unlock the secret of the Daleks and put them to work for the colony. And there is the newly regenerated Doctor.

It would be interesting to see this story without being as comfortable with the idea of regeneration as I am after seeing most of the series. As it is, it’s not difficult at all for me as the listener to accept the new Doctor right away. Had I been watching in 1966 I might have felt differently. The dialogue given to Ben and Polly in episode 1 is very good, since it has to mirror the reactions from the audience. Polly is ready to accept the new man as the Doctor while Ben is determined not to believe that it’s possible. The closest I can come to understanding the feeling of the contemporary audience is perhaps experiencing the switch in actors playing James Bond. I really like Pierce Brosnan in the role, and I’m not eager to see someone else play it, but the new actor will probably do well and I’ll end up enjoying his performance. I imagine that there was a similar reaction to Doctor Who’s change of lead actor at the time. It’s a credit to all involved in the show that the switch from Hartnell to Troughton was successfully executed. 

Ben and Polly both get strong roles, even though both are missing for an episode. Ben is the voice of disbelief for the first two episodes. He’s very strong in his denunciation of the "impostor", but once he’s convinced of the Doctor’s identity, he’s as loyal to him as he was to his previous incarnation, even attempting to draw off the rebels at one point so that the Doctor can remain free. Polly accepts the Doctor’s change far more easily than Ben, and shows here, as in The Faceless Ones a strong sense of moral indignation and disdain for the violent and self-serving actions of the rebels.

Troughton plays the Doctor far differently in this story than he does later on in his mostly intact third year. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about his performance is the utter conviction he brings to the role, and that is very evident in Power. You can really believe that the Doctor hates and fears the Daleks, and considers them to be a major threat. When it comes to other topics he’s evasive, often dodging questions about himself or his actions, even from Ben and Polly. He is single-minded in his purpose of thwarting the Daleks, even to the point of ignoring the politics of the colony. Some scenes of note in this regard are his warning to the Dalek at the start of episode 3 (ÒI will stop you. I will!") and his solution at the end of the story, where he is not content simply to cut the power to the Dalek capsule, but instead overloads it and destroys them. "I prefer to do things my way" he says at the time. He also adopts some of his eccentricities, such as his recorder, five hundred year diary and very tall hat, which thankfully seems to have been lost rather early on in his tenure. I liked his very loud checked trousers though, and it’s a shame they toned those down.

The Daleks are at their best here. This story showcases their arrogance and xenophobia better than almost any other, as well as their almost joyful exuberance at the thought of exterminating the humans in the colony. They are hardly emotionless, and can barely conceal their real feelings, slipping up several times. "Daleks are bett... different than humans" being one example. Another occurs when the three Daleks join in a chorus in front of Lesterson saying "We will get our power!" over and over again. They also look forward to the coming exterminations at the end of part five when the Daleks sit around in a group and chant "Daleks conquer and destroy!" over and over again. One of the few clips we have from part two shows the Dalek chanting, "I am your servant" over the Doctor’s insistence that they be destroyed. There is slyness in the Dalek’s voice in several other places in the story that would not readily be apparent if the visuals were there to distract the viewer.

The other subplots keep the action moving along well. The rebels are, for once, not rebelling against an oppressive regime, but are themselves simply hungry for power. They want to use the Daleks to their advantage. The scientist Lesterson also wants to use them, though for more benevolent reasons. The main flaw in the story is that no one realizes for the longest time just what a danger the Daleks are. You could argue that each side is so caught up in their own agenda that they are blinded to the danger, and this is reasonable enough to make the story work until the light starts to dawn. Lesterson in particular undergoes a role reversal when he finds out for himself just what is going on and is pretty much driven mad with fear. As an aside, since no one knows what Daleks are, I have to assume this story takes place before Dalek Invasion of Earth in 2164, though the date of 2020 mentioned in the trailer seems unlikely. The Dalek Invasion trailer gets the date of that story wrong, so it’s easy to assume this one does too. Perhaps the Daleks learn of humanity in this time period and this leads to the invasion of Earth.

Mention has to be made of Anneke Wills’ narration, which is uniformly good throughout the story. I greatly enjoy Fraser Hines’ narration on the other audios, and he does an excellent job. However, it’s refreshing to hear Anneke for a change of pace, and she does have a lovely speaking voice. Power of the Daleks is unique among the Troughton stories in that it doesn’t feature Jamie and so she’s certainly appropriate here, but I hope that this is not her only narration job for the Troughton audios. 

In my opinion, this is a better story than Evil of the Daleks, even though both are stories that put the Daleks in their best light. Power of the Daleks stands out strong even in a season that featured both the debut and return of the Cybermen, the first regeneration and another excellent Dalek tale in Evil. I’d highly recommend this story. Get the audio, download the telesnaps from the BBC website, and enjoy a lost classic.

Doctor Who’s final historical story, ‘The Highlanders’ is in much the same vein as ‘The Smugglers’. Like ‘The Smugglers’ it is populated by well-drawn supporting characters and is draws more on romantic fiction than specific historical events. Also as with ‘The Smugglers’, it is neither serious historical drama like ‘The Crusade’ or ‘The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve’, but nor is it a out-and-out comedy like ‘The Romans’ or ‘The Gunfighters’. Overall however, it is wittier than ‘The Smugglers’, thanks largely to Troughton. 

If the Doctor clowned round during the first two episodes of ‘The Power of the Daleks’, here he goes on step further. Near the beginning of episode one, he cowers from a cannonball, and later in the episode he is nearly hanged, but after this he gives an impression of being in complete control of his situation. From the moment he meets Solicitor Grey, he cheerfully sets about extricating himself and his companions from their predicament, and is clearly enjoying himself all the way. In ‘The Power of the Daleks’ he was frequently tense thanks to the urgency of the threat presented by the Daleks. Here, he clearly realises that he is smarter than his enemies, and runs rings around them, enjoying himself enormously in the process. He adopts disguises, including the outrageously accented “Doctor von Wer” (oh, very funny), a washerwoman and a Redcoat, and does so with relish. His over-the-top performance as the German doctor is very entertaining, my favourite scene being the one in which he repeatedly bangs Perkins’ head on the desk and then asks him if he has a headache. His ludicrous washerwoman voice is very Monty Python, and the scene in episode four where an escaped and exhausted Ben climbs out of the sea and bumps straight into a Redcoat who turns out to be, by coincidence, the Doctor, is almost farcical, but Troughton plays it with such panache that it works. His eventual defeat of the arrogant Solicitor Grey first by baiting him with the Prince’s seal and then by picking his pocket resulting in his arrest is delightful. His first meeting with Jamie and the Laird, when he treats Colin’s wounds and orders Ben to surrender the pistol, is a very typical Doctor moment; Alexander has just threatened him, but he’s always prepared to help those in need. 

Ben and Polly get arguably their best roles here since ‘The War Machines’. Despite his English accent, the ever-likeable Ben soon manages to earn the trust of the Highlanders and takes the initiative on board the Annabelle, an action that gets him keelhauled. By utilizing an old Harry Houdini trick, he then escapes, demonstrating once more his considerable resourcefulness. Polly meanwhile gets perhaps her finest hour in the series so far, as she puts the pompous and cowardly Algernon ffinch at her mercy and forces him to help her and Kirsty out on several occasions. She clearly makes quite an impact on him, since when he finally gets the chance to get revenge for being manipulated, he instead arrests the scheming Solicitor Grey and gallantly bids Polly farewell. 

The guest cast is uniformly excellent, with the arguable exception of Dallas Cavell as Trask; for the most part, his OTT performance is rather entertaining, but there are occasions when his ridiculous cries of “ye scurvy swaaaabs!” grate somewhat. Then again, this is more the fault of the script than Cavell. David Garth as Solicitor Grey makes an interesting villain, motivated purely by money rather than power as such. It’s an understated performance and rather fine, helped along by Sydney Arnold’s rather comic Perkins, Grey’s foil for most of the story until he rebels at the end and joins the Highlanders purely to save his own skin. Of the Highlanders, Hannah Gordon’s Kirsty and Donald Bisset’s Laird are both decent characters. Kirsty provides a nice contrast to the increasingly doughty Polly, as she struggles to live up to her far more confident friend’s expectations whilst helping to save her father and the others. Frazer Hines as Jamie doesn’t actually get much to do here, but he’s immediately likeable and plays the role with ease. His last minute joining of the TARDIS crew is not signposted in the story, and might have been quite a surprise on first broadcast, since this current TARDIS crew was hardly crying out for a new member (a problem that is evident in the next two stories…), but at least he has promise. 

Overall then, ‘The Highlanders’ ends Doctor Who’s tradition of historical stories on a merry high and sees Troughton cement an already assured performance.

“Just one small question. Why do you want to blow up the world?”

Most great seasons in television have at least one clanger, and Doctor Who’s near-perfect fourth season is no exception to the rule. Of the nine stories that make up Doctor Who’s fourth run, Geoffrey Orme’s “The Underwater Menace” is the worst, and it’s the worst by a mile. Ironically, the earliest surviving Pat Troughton episode is Episode 3 of this serial – hardly the best showcase for his era. To think that survived the fires when so much wonderful stuff was lost…

To be fair to Troughton, there is nothing wrong with his performance, nor that of any of his companions; quite the opposite in fact - even Frazer Hines makes the best of a bad situation, after his character had been hastily pencilled in at the last minute. The newly regenerated Doctor is very entertaining - the problem is that the story isn’t compelling. Take the first episode for example. The TARDIS lands on an extinct volcanic rock surrounded by sea, circa 1970. It turns out to be the lost Kingdom of Atlantis. Living there, is a mad scientist called Zaroff who, for no apparent reason, wants to blow up the world. Okay, so initially Zaroff claims that he wants to raise Atlantis from the depths of the ocean, but as the story progresses and he descends further and further into madness (and Joseph Furst descends further and further into over the top, clichéd acting) it becomes clear that the man has no motive; he’s just completely radio rental. 

If anything, “The Underwater Menace” is reminiscent of James Bond… only crap. We have the Doctor signing notes “Doctor W.” (aaaah!!!), Ben and Jamie sent away to work as slave labour (how original), and worst of all we have the absolute worst cliff-hanger of all time. I mean it; it’s dire.

“Nothing in the world can stop me now!”

It’s so bad in fact, that it is the only good thing about the story. At least you can have a laugh at it!

The most surprising thing about The Underwater Menace is its appalling reputation. This is hardly one of the worst Doctor Who stories ever, its not even the worst story of season four (that belongs to the horribly dull The Faceless Ones) and taken as a whole (I listened to the audio of episodes one, two and four with Anekke Wills excellent narration with the aid of telesnaps from DWM and of course I watched the infamous episode three on DVD) it is actually a great deal of fun. Of course it is impossible to take the thing seriously for a million and one reasons but it has some effective moments and the story flows along nicely and (surprisingly considering how cheap this story is known for) there are some lovely visuals too. I kid you not. I put of listening to this BBC audio for quite some time and only surrendered when I was so bored one day there was no other options. 

Most terrifying of all is Joseph Furst’s stratospheric performance as the evil and misguided Professor Zarroff. Isn’t he great? Finally a villain who is bad because he just totally around the twist, a Master before his time and just like the Doctor’s arch fiend his motives are just as crazy. He wants to destroy the entire world (and Atlantis)…just because! Why not? It would make him the most amazing scientist in the world to achieve such a feat…although he doesn’t seem to realise he himself will be destroyed along with everyone else because he…is on the Earth himself! Furst plays the part as OTT as it is possible to get, screaming like a loony, brandishing guns in as camp a fashion as possible and laughing like a totally loon even when he is real trouble. His eventual fate is a shame, drowning along with Atlantis as this denies us a re-match with this most memorable of baddies. A mad scientist with a big bad octopus as a pet who wants to blow up the entire world for a laugh…what a guy!

Setting a story in Atlantis is always a dubious idea but they manage to pull it off with a reasonable amount of style, certainly with more effort than the Doctor’s next visit to the esteemed lost city, The Time Monster. I quite like the sets overall even if they are a bit cramped in places. Especially good are the fish people tank which helps to convince this is underwater (whilst they do their crazy underwater ballet you can actually see water bubbles floating towards the surface) and the temple of Amdo, which is full of echo-ey and full of shadows and pretty creepy. Even the market place with its stalls, springs and a host of extras is pretty good. 

Most distracting of all is the horrific incidental music, which accompanies the story. It sounds like it has been performed by some mad drunk Australian on a kazoo! It is really distracting in places plink, plink, plonking its way through the marketplace and the fish person dance…you can squeeze your buttocks together and let rip some delicious farts that sound just like it! Hardly good for building up the atmosphere, the music I fear does contribute to this stories silly reputation. 

The regulars however all come across very well, including Patrick Troughton who is still clearly finding his feet at this stage. It would be in the next two stories, The Moonbase and The Macra Terror where you would see Troughton finally settle and become the dangerous little imp he would always be known as but there are strong signs of that here too, its just the script doesn’t let him play to all his strengths. He gets to fight the system as always but he is still a little muted, still dressing up in silly costumes (I’m glad this was dropped…although his old woman gypsy persona is probably his best yet!) and still holding back from really letting rip on the bad guys. Still his scenes with Zarroff are a delight, pampering to the nutters ego and then trying to foil his schemes however possible. I love his attempts to go back and save Zarroff at the end, that feels very right and his boasting at the end that of course he can control the TARDIS before to spirals madly out of control is classic Troughton clowning. 

In a story packed with companions somebody has to be left out and this time it is Jaime, who was never supposed to be included anyway and was added to the script at a late stage. Who cares, he looks damn hot in divers gear so I’ll forgive him anything. Polly finally succumbs to the helpless screamer state the 60’s demand of its female companions (she has been surprisingly resistant until this point) and wails and moans as scientists surround her attempt to turn her into a fish person. I love it when she dresses up later and gets in on all the fun of chasing around and getting tricked by Zarroff, it is proof of how good the combination of her and Ben was before they were abruptly written out. As for Ben, what can one say. What a babe. If there was ever a TARDIS crew I would like to dive into naked…oh sorry, distracted for a second. Ben is cool, a mouthy cockney years before Rose, a muscle brain who is fiercely loyal…there really isn’t much to not like about Ben. Michael Craze seems to be aware of how absurd the script is but still gives 100% and gets a fab moment when he pretends to be the false God Amdo. He dresses up too, so they are all in the fancy dress mood in this one! 

Most of the other guest performances are pretty subdued but then any acting would seem mil mannered next to Fursts! You get a nice turn from Noel Johnson, Tom Watson and Catherine Howe as Leader, High Priest and Slave…all trying their hardest to salvage some dignity from the absurd script and lend some believability to Atlantis. They don’t really succeed but all praise for their efforts. 

Did director Julia Smith (creator of Eastenders and this…ooh she’s got a lot to answer for!) fall asleep during the production and let her actors just carry on? There are a number of hilariously bad sequences that never fail to make me chuckle! What about when Zarroff pretends to be dying and asks is he can be helped up by his captor Ramo so he can ‘feel the goodness of his aura!’ and then he subsequently spears him to death! Or Zarroff’s mad laughing through the caves as he drags Polly along to be his hostage? Or best of all…his “You are a fool! You are a fool!” mad man speech at the end of episode three climaxing with (well it had to get mentioned sooner or later) “Nothing in the world can stop me now!” In fact all the rubbishy scenes involve Zarroff in one way or another but considering he is so damn likeable because of it I cannot bring upon me to condemn the story. 

And the script? Who on Earth would write a story containing Atlantis, an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman, a cross dressing Doctor, Fish People, a mad sacrificing cult and big camp scheme to blow up the world? What was Geoffrey Orme on and can I have some please? 

Ridiculously fun throughout and played mostly tongue in cheek so you don’t die of embarrassment whilst watching/listening, The Underwater Menace is a pretty silly story in a time when Doctor Who was consistently good. Saying that, its never boring and has some scenes in it that you will never forget the rest of your life. Just don’t go into it expecting a masterpiece of drama and you may just have a lot of fun with it.