What's Wrong With... The Crusades

There really isn't very much to say about this story, regarded by many as the best of the historical stories. Performances are fine across the board - even Hartnell managing to steer clear of noticeable fluffs. It has been argued that, when playing against a strong stage or screen guest artist, Hartnell always managed to raise his game. Here, he has Julian Glover to play against. Apart from some business with a cloth merchant, the script is also firmly on the heavy side - both in tone and in content. There's not much larking about in this episode. All the guest cast play this like it's Shakespeare, and writer David Whitaker has looked to the Bard when scripting his dialogue for them.
We could mention the blacking-up of some of the characters - like Bernard Kay portraying Saladin - but this was par for the course in 1965, and so only appears reprehensible when viewed from the present. Things only really changed in this respect in the 1980's, as more opportunities arose for actors from diverse ethnicities to gain more prominence in British drama.
If there is anything wrong with The Crusades, then it's in its historical accuracy, but even here Whitaker has got most of his facts right. Like Eric Morecambe's piano-playing, he has all the right notes - just not necessarily in the right order. For instance, Sir William des Preaux really was abducted and held hostage by Saladin's forces, but here Richard comes up with his plan to marry his sister to Saladin's brother Saphadin after this event, whereas he had already decided on this plan two months prior to the events of this story (said to take place in November 1191).
The version of Richard we see here is the romanticised one, such as seen in some of the adaptations of Robin Hood. He comes across as a man who longs only for peace, contrasted with the belligerent Earl of Leicester, and he longs to return to England. The Doctor fails to mention that when Richard recently captured Acre he slaughtered thousands of Muslim prisoners of war. Richard didn't speak English, and actually loathed the place - much preferring his French kingdom. He spoke French, and chose to be buried in France, and hardly set foot in England. There is no sign either in this story of Richard's ill health - he had been suffering from crippling scurvy for months.