I think it’s interesting to note how many of an incoming producer’s best stories are made during their first season, when they are essentially making their predecessor’s work. For example, Philip Hinchcliffe gives Graham Williams Horror of Fang Rock & Image of the Fendahl; Barry Letts’ first season is probably the most consistently excellent series of Doctor Who ever made1; and JNT was gifted Meglos. The same is true with Season 12, Hinchcliffe & Holmes’ debut season. Out of the five stories that make it up, 2 have made this list while one nearly did – a better hit rate than their other two seasons2.
Following on from Robot, which seems a story that deliberately introduces our new Doctor by putting them in a textbook story from the previous one’s era, The Ark in Space is Hinchcliffe & Holmes’ first proper story, that they get to make all by themselves. It’s credited to Bob Holmes himself, although it was originally supposed to be a John Lucarotti story – once again, not being able to contact the writer for rewrites meant that Holmes had to do the job himself. Apart from making you wonder what 70s Who would have looked like if they had Zoom, it’s as close as we get to the vision of the show that would carry it forward for the next 3 years.
We’re back in space, for a start. The UNIT family is jettisoned, as is the familiarity of stories set on Earth. The Doctor is a wanderer in Time AND Space again! That’s not to say Hinchcliffe is daft enough to never bring us back to Earth: of the 17 stories made during his tenure, 9 of them are set on Planet Earth (just over 50%) – but only 4 are contemporary Earth. The setting here is Space Station Nerva: very nearly future Earth, just a bit in orbit.
Of the 5 stories that make up Season 12, this is the only one that features a new foe – but it won’t be the last. Letts flooded the season with commissions of familiar monsters, so Daleks, Cybermen & Sontarans join UNIT in easing the new Doctor into the TARDIS, but after this the only other villain brought back by Hinchcliffe is The Master – and even then he’s virtually unrecognisable. Graham Williams also followed this approach, in contrast to John Nathan Turner, who fell over himself to bring something back every other story. Both approaches have their merit in my book: it’s only really The Master who gets tiresome, popping up all the time, and you’d love to have another Zygon, Auton or even Cyberman story in the 70s.
The H&H version of The Doctor is firmly set up here. We’ve seen him before, of course, but in his post -regenerative befuddlement; here he is writ large. He’s charming, he’s funny, but he’s also caustic: chewing out Harry for being hamfisted, and using reverse psychology on Sarah that’s so reverse it makes you wonder if it’s actually reverse at all. When he launches into the tentpole speech of this story -“Homo Sapiens…!” – is he celebrating mankind or treating them with scorn? With Baker’s more alien than ever performance it could go either way3.
We’ve already had an example of a first episode containing no-one else than the regular cast4, but this one probably does it better. It doesn’t feel forced or padded, the story moves smoothly throughout the setting of Nerva until we get to that memorable cliffhanger and realise that the episode is done before we noticed & no one else has turned up. The following episodes are then perfectly paced as well, with enough time given to Noah’s transformation into the Wirrn to make us feel for him, but also enough action & plot development to keep us engaged. Just like Pyramids of Mars, this could be looked at as a 3 parter with a dogleg; just like that story the resolution is also neat & feels natural rather that contrived. Speaking of Noah, we need to salute Kenton Moore for his turn in the role: Noah’s torment as he goes through the various stages of his transformation is so well played that he is one of the best in a long line of tragic supporting characters (I’m thinking Pyramids of Mars again). Hinchcliffe wanted a more adult tone to get the grown ups watching as well as the kids; Moore certainly helps him deliver that.
The pairing of 4th Doctor, Harry & Sarah doesn’t last long enough in my humble opinion – Harry was famously brought in to support what they thought would be an older Doctor with the action scenes, but found himself surplus to requirements once Tom Baker was cast; and to be honest I wouldn’t hang around just to have my character called an imbecile week in week out. I’d have liked to see Harry get some proper character development over the series and not leave the old fashioned chauvinist he arrived; this story isn’t the best for him but it’s still great to have him around, and I’m thankful that Ian Marter stuck around after leaving the show to write so many wonderful books – including the novelisation of this one. Sarah Jane Smith will go on a journey of her own with Hinchcliffe & Holmes that I like to call “Watch the Journalist Suffer” – quite often she’s the only female cast member and is prone to being damselled, but it doesn’t always seem obvious due to the strength Elisabeth Sladen brought to the role. In the small supporting cast we have Wendy Wiliams as Vira to bring some balance; both characters have agency & authority that doesn’t get repeated often in the next few years.
Behind the scenes we need to shout out designer Roger Murray Leach & director Rodney Bennett, who make the Nerva interiors look vast and spacious when they’re really cramped studio sets; and Nigel Wright for lighting the set in a way that makes it bright & clinical, but not overlit.
The Ark in Space is thought of as a classic, and rightly so. Everything comes together very nicely to launch the Hinchcliffe era proper – with the rocket stabilisers being properly set, it soars from here on.
COMING TOMORROW: “Hey, Macarena….”
- OK, there’s only 4 stories but they’re all 10/10… ↩︎
- Only by the “Nearly”, admittedly… ↩︎
- And I’ll let you decide which way you want to take it ↩︎
- https://skiesfullofdiamonds.wordpress.com/2023/10/04/51-the-mind-robber/ ↩︎
Skies Full of Diamonds 