It’s a well known adage that you can trace where you are in the Pertwee era by the size of his bouffant; well I also believe that you can by how seeing how much of a dickhead he is acting towards everyone else. When he starts off in Season 7 he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but there’s still a twinkle in his eye and a chemistry with Liz. Come Season 8, Liz has dumped him and he’s in full on grounded teenager mode, with no one spared the bite of his tongue. Seasons 9 and 10 see Jo Grant figure out how to burst his ego and bring him down to Earth, and so by the time Sarah Jane comes in in Season 11 he’s as cuddly as we ever get him.
But he’s such an arsehole to all and sundry in Season 8. Part of it is in the production; there’s a pivot between Inferno and Terror of the Autons as Barry Letts & Terrance Dicks move away from the Doomwatch style hard sci-fi show they inherited from Derrick Sherwin and towards the more comfortable family viewing that will define the reest of their era. However it swings a little too far, as The Brigadier goes from respected military man to the butt of The Doctor’s jokes in stories such as The Mind of Evil. The 3rd Doctor is perhaps the worst behaved towards Jo Grant, looking down on her & condescending from her first story to this one. Thankfully in the following Seasons Jo learns not to take any of his shit & shuts him down when he starts.
The 3rd Doctor is something of contrarian: he clearly dislikes authority figures, but makes himself the biggest authority of every room he walks into. He hates the military, but works for them – or alongside them – for 5 years in a salaried role, and even longer Freelance. You could argue that a lot of this is thrust upon him by his exile by The TimeLords, but lets face it, there’s nothing to stop him going private, founding Apple two decades early to funnel the profits into fixing his TARDIS while saving the world as a side hustle. You’ve got to imagine if he’s that unhappy with life at UNIT, he’s got the talents to make a life for himself anywhere else.
So why then is this era so popular? And why has this story scored so high in my list? Well again, the production plays a large part: Letts & Dicks have a vision of the show, as I’ve spoken of before, and they have a lightness of touch when it comes to adding, erm, lightness to their serious & dramatic stories. They find Moments of Charm for their leading man to enjoy – and the audience. There’s also the UNIT Family: while Pertwee is indeed the star of the show, there’s enough extra characters surrounding him to take some of the ficus & soften the blow for us.
This story also succeeds due to the presence of one of Letts & Dicks’ greatest creations: The Master. Brought in as the Moriarty to The Doctor’s Sherlock Holmes, their relationship is actually closer to Batman and The Joker: there’s an interdependence on each other that sustains to this day. No matter how hard he tries, you never believe that The Master actually wants to kill The Doctor, and he is certainly trying this season – it’s interesting that the Season that has The Master in every story, coming along with a hairbrained scheme that backfires on him so that he needs The Doctor’s help to get him out of it1 doesn’t get the same rap as Season 5.
Of course, The Master here is played by the one & only Roger Delgado. Every actor who has played The Master since has brought something of their own to the part, but for me the original is still the best. Delgado is suave but deadly; The Doctor may feel safe but no one else does in his company – apart from Jo Grant actually, where you get the impression he’s just too much of a gentleman to do her any real harm. This Master has bags of charm to go with his danger; he’s never over the top or pantomimey2 which makes him the equal & opposite to The Doctor – again, Batman & The Joker.
Here we find The Master hiding out as the village vicar of all things – hiding, but in plain sight: none of the Ainley Master’s rubbish disguises for this Master, just a new name & a dog collar. This is The Master at his best: he’s wormed his way into the village community, learnt all their secrets – which he will use for blackmail when the time is right – and set up his satanic cult. It’s glorious; gloriously daft but totally plausible, he’s played the long game to get here you feel, and has used his natural charm as much as his hypnotism. He’s charmed and gaslighted the villagers so he can wrap them round his finger.
The village itself is almost character in it’s own right here: Aldbourne stand in for Devil’s End and has dined out very well on the experience (as will those who visit for conventions or just day trips to see the location I’m lead to believe). Thanks to the quality of the writing from Norman Ashby & Robin Bland’s mate Guy Leopold, the village is packed with a rich breadth of believable characters, but the setting is perfect: Little England, the quiet village with the dark secret, full of the occult. The story sometimes ties itself in knots trying to explain it’s dark magic elements as something scientific, when you feel it would do better to just cut loose & lean right into the folk horror atmosphere that is so perfectly concocted.
Of all the supporting characters we need to sing the praises of Miss Hawthorn, the white witch who was so memorably brought to life by the wonderful Damaris Hayman. Miss Hawthorn is the perfect foil to Pertwee’s Doctor, standing steadfast in the face of his insistence of a scientific explanation, taking no shit from anyone, and always on hand with a well placed reticule when needed. She’s a delight, and I would recommend everyone check out the fan fiction of my friend Lucy McCaul, who has paired her with Sergeant Benton in a series of equally supernatural short stories: https://www.whofic.com/viewuser.php?uid=36705
This is a good story for Benton, who gets to do some good soldiering, and also I suppose Mike Yates, who gets to ride around looking flash. In fact most of UNIT get a good showing here, with the first appearance of an Osgood, but if you think I’m going to talk about this story and not mention the chap with the wings, well… That would be five rounds rapid for you. One of the best lines in all of Doctor Who, played straight as an arrow by Nick Courtney, and all the funnier for it.
Where I think this story excels the most, and what I think has pushed it into my Top 10, is the ending. Once the danger of Azal has been defeated – and I again strongly encourage you to do and listen to the wonderful Pete Lambert on the Hamster With a Blunt Penknife Podcast explain what happens at the end and why it’s important in one of the best readings of this story you’ll ever hear3 – and the dust has settled on the destruction of the church so realistic that the public were fooled into thinking it was done for real, the characters get some hang time. Jo & The Doctor go for a dance, as does Miss Hawthorne & Benton, while The Brig & Yates nip off for a pint. As the camera pans back over Aldbourne, it’s probably the happiest, warmest, most feel good ending of any Doctor Who story ever. There’s a reason that the UNIT Family are called a family, and why when they started to split it was the end of this era, and it blazes through out of this scene. Even if you think the 3rd Doctor is the biggest arsehole going in this Season, I defy you not to love him dearly come its end.
COMING TOMORROW: “Crush the lesser races! Conquer the galaxy!! Unimaginable power…!!!”
- “Oh, so it’s basically The Go Jetters then?” said my wife when I explained this to her ↩︎
- Except for in The Time Monster, but that’s a different story ↩︎
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DaYjdzxrMTMtUwRuu5J0n?si=44371817ff464536 ↩︎
Skies Full of Diamonds 