Synopsis:
The Doctor has been abducted and taken on board the Black Albatross, where he is confronted by Captain Samuel Pike, whose left hand has been replaced by a cruel-looking steel spike...
Cherub has informed his captain that "Holy Joe" Longfoot has died without revealing his secret - but he witnessed the Doctor apparently conspiring with the churchwarden earlier.
The Doctor learns that Pike and Cherub sailed with the notorious Captain Henry Avery, as did Longfoot. After Avery died, Pike took over his ship and they are now seeking his hidden treasure hoard. They suspect that the churchwarden passed on the secret of its whereabouts to the Doctor.
Ben and Polly are locked in the village gaol, suspected of killing Longfoot. When Polly screams after seeing a rat, Tom - the young man from the inn - comes to see what the trouble is. Realising that people in this age were very superstitious, they decide to use this to engineer their escape. Polly starts collecting up straw...
Innkeeper Jacob Kewper takes to a boat and rows out to the Black Albatross.
Realising that Pike sees himself as a gentleman, the Doctor decides to exploit this by humouring his sense of self-importance. He soon finds himself being entertained by the captain and offering to enter into a partnership with him for the treasure.
A pirate named Jamaica alerts Pike that a boat is approaching. The Doctor is locked away out of sight.
At the gaol, Polly has fashioned the straw into a doll and they call Tom back. They explain that they are really witches, and have captured his soul in the doll. If he does not let them go, they will use it to harm him. Once free, they make for the church in the hope of finding the Doctor there.
Kewper meets with Pike and Cherub and explains that he has come to do business with him. He is a member of the local smuggling ring, and is unaware that they are pirates. When the landlord mentions that the squire is part of his group, Pike accepts his proposal - but Kewper now knows who he is dealing with. Pike insists on meeting with Squire Edwards to discuss their proposal and seal the deal.
Ben and Polly have found the church to be empty and have gone down to search the crypt. They hear a rumbling sound and see a gravestone move. A man emerges from a secret passage and, thinking it to be the murderer of Longfoot, Ben knocks him to the ground. Ben will stay and guard him whilst Polly goes to find the squire and tell him they have found the real killer.
Pike and Cherub set off for their meeting leaving the Doctor and Kewper on the ship, guarded by Jamaica.
Ben learns that the man in the crypt - Josiah Blake - is actually one of the King's Revenue men, come to track down the smugglers.
Pike and Squire Edwards hit it off - the pirate happy to be associating with the local gentry. He claims that he and Cherub are merchants, looking to do some business with the smugglers.
Polly arrives - but recognises Cherub as the man who kidnapped the Doctor.
On the Black Albatross, the Doctor learns more about the background to events from the innkeeper. He realises that the village will be razed to the ground by the ruthless Pike in his search for the pirate treasure.
Already suspected of murder, Polly is not believed and the squire has come to trust his new merchant friends anyway. However, he does agree to come to the church to see the man she claims they have captured. Pike and Cherub elect to accompany him, claiming that Polly might be luring him into a trap.
Ben learns from Blake that the tunnel he has just used leads all the way to the cave where the TARDIS is located.
The squire appears at the top of the crypt steps with his new allies, a bound and gagged Polly in tow. He focusses on Ben, pistol in hand, stating that he will not escape a second time...
Written by: Brian Hayles
Recorded: Friday 15th July 1966 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:50pm, Saturday 17th September 1966
Ratings: 4.9 million / AI 45
Designer: Richard Hunt
Director: Julia Smith
Additional cast: John Ringham (Blake), Elroy Josephs (Jamaica)
In the original draft, the character of Jamaica was to be named Crow. A lengthy sequence between Pike and Cherub, which began on the Black Albatross and ended on the cliff top, was rewritten to take place entirely on the ship. The secret passage used by Blake was going to be called the "Devil's Stairwell".
As far as the script for The Smugglers is concerned, we are never given a specific date for these events. It can be pinned down to within 5 years or so, however.
In the first episode it is stated by the Doctor that the TARDIS crew have encountered someone from the 17th Century when meeting "Holy Joe", and from the gravestones they have already gathered that it is after the 16th Century.
Later, we will learn that there is a King on the throne, as the exciseman Blake will claim to be acting on the King's orders. There were five male monarchs in the 17th century - James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II and William III. From the costumes we're clearly not in the Jacobean or first Carolingian era, so it has to be sometime after the Restoration (1660).
The story revolves around the treasure of the pirate Henry Avery (or Every), who is already said to be deceased. We don't know his date of death, but he was last seen in the summer of 1696.
The Smugglers therefore has to be set between 1696 - 1702, when Queen Anne ascended the throne.
Filming at sea took place on Thursday 23rd June, when a fishing boat named the Bonny Mary, anchored in Newlyn Harbour, was press-ganged into appearing as the Black Albatross. A relatively small section of decking and stern-castle in 17th Century style was constructed by Richard Hunt and set up on the vessel on the previous evening. The image above shows how little space there was available. Michael Godfrey can be seen in the grey coat, left of centre.
Despite the season, the weather saw choppy seas and a number of the cast and crew fell victim to mal de mer - including the director, who had to carry on regardless.
All of the shipboard exteriors were filmed on this day - the last of the lengthy location shoot.
A scene scheduled for the cliff top the previous day had been deferred, and was mounted on the boat instead.
Smith had acquired library footage of a galleon from Rank Films to use as establishing shots of the Black Albatross. However, the print quality was very poor and she decided not to use the material.
Joining the cast for rehearsals on Monday 11th July was actor John Ringham, who would be portraying Josiah Blake, King's exciseman. He had worked with Hartnell before on the series, when he played Tlotoxl in The Aztecs.
In this story they would not share anything like the same amount of screen time.
The episode went into studio at the later time of 9pm that Friday evening. Michael Godfrey repeated his dialogue from the end of the first instalment by way of the reprise, stabbing his spike into the table.
Scenes in the gaol had their sound artificially echoed.
Recording breaks were used around Ben and Polly's escape from their cell and subsequent move to the church crypt.
The end credits rolled over a close up of the squire and his pistol before fading to black.
- The ratings see a slight rise, up half a million, whilst the appreciation figure falls only slightly. This story will see fairly stable scores throughout.
- Elroy Josephs was first and foremost a dancer, performing initially with the Les Ballet Negres. He later fused traditional European dance with Afro-Caribbean styles. Other acting roles include the Hammer film version of Quatermass and the Pit, where he can be seen as one of the workers who first find the skull in the Underground. He later taught dance in Liverpool, and has a memorial bench at the city's John Moores University.
- Michael Godfrey had a Hammer Quatermass connection as well. He had been one of the firemen seen in the opening section of The Quatermass Xperiment in 1955.
- Irish actor David Blake Kelly (Kewper) went under his real name of Diarmuid Kelly for the first decade of his career, adopting the anglified David in 1957.
- Combining his review for both the first and second instalments of The Smugglers, the critic of The Listener thought the serial to be "properly absurd" and "a sub-Treasure Island narrative". By its close, however, he would be praising it overall.
- This was the only one of the four episodes which did not require cuts from the Australian censor.
No comments:
Post a Comment