Synopsis:
Ian collapses onto the floor, and the Doctor asks the First Elder if he has the symptoms of their plague. The Sensorite ruler confirms that he has, so there is no hope for him...
The Doctor suspects some kind of poisoning and orders some salt and water to make an emetic. He and Susan then begin to work out what may have afflicted Ian in this manner. They have done everything together since arriving on the Sense-Sphere, except that Ian drank the inferior water. There must be a toxin in the water supply, which is why only certain parts of the city are affected at any one time, and why none of the Elders has succumbed. They use their own unique supply.
The Doctor asks the First Elder for permission to work with their scientists to identify the particular poison and so find a cure.
The City Administrator hears of this and suspects that the Doctor is trying to undermine their confidence in the water supply, which he believes to be perfectly healthy.
In the laboratory he realises that John senses his aggression towards them. The young man is undergoing therapy to clear his mind. The Administrator shrugs this off, believing no-one will take the astronaut seriously. Present in the lab with John is Carol, and she mentions to the Administrator that humans find the Sensorites so alike that they wouldn't recognise them without their various badges of office. This gives him an idea...
He has the Second Elder abducted, in revenge for his having stopped the use of the disintegrator and because he has been advocating in favour of the visitors. He will use his sash to impersonate him. The Second Elder is held under guard by the Engineer in the disintegrator room, which is rarely visited. If he tries to escape his family group will suffer.
The Doctor has had water sampled from each of the ten districts of the city and soon discovers the presence of atropine poisoning in one of them. The cause is the plant belladonna, otherwise known as Deadly Nightshade. With the toxin identified a cure is prepared.
As it is being taken to the Elders' palace for Ian, the Administrator - in the guise of the Second Elder - intercepts it and destroys it.
Unaware of this, the Doctor decides to visit the city aqueduct and investigate the source of the poison. The Sensorites warn him that it is very dark there, so they cannot follow, and the tunnels are also believed to be inhabited by monsters.
Fed up with waiting for the antidote, Susan goes to the laboratory herself and fetches another dose, which she gives to Ian. He makes a swift recovery.
The First Elder is alarmed to hear that it was his deputy who seems to have prevented delivery of the first dose.
In the darkness of the aqueduct, the Doctor hears the growls of some savage animal approaching...
Next episode: Kidnap
Data:
Written by: Peter R Newman
Recorded: Friday 19th June 1964 - Television Centre Studio 4 (TC4)
First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 18th July 1964
Ratings: 5.5 million / AI 60
Designer: Raymond P Cusick
Director: Mervyn Pinfield
Critique:
After a single episode back in Lime Grove D, this instalment returned to Television Centre, but to a studio it had not visited before (the smaller TC4).
Not present was Jacqueline Hill who was on a two week holiday. Her character had been left behind on the spaceship in the previous episode, and with nothing to add to the plot there had been no need for pre-filming any material involving Barbara.
Viewers probably didn't notice it at the time, but a major change occurs in this episode.
In An Unearthly Child, the Doctor wanted to get back to the TARDIS and leave, but was stopped by the cave people.
He was happy to leave the Thals at risk of attack from the Daleks, and was only prevented from leaving Skaro as the Fluid Link had been left behind in the Dalek city.
In 13th Century Cathay Marco Polo had confiscated the key to the ship so the Doctor was unable to leave.
On Arbitan's island the Doctor was leading his companions back to the TARDIS, having refused to help the old man, but was prevented from accessing the ship due to a force barrier surrounding it. When they returned from fetching the keys, the Doctor was quite prepared to leave, despite the Conscience machine now being held by Yartek, leader of the alien Voord.
In the Aztec city, the Doctor couldn't leave because he couldn't access the tomb in which the TARDIS was sealed.
Basically, other than the two-part TARDIS-set story, the Doctor has spent every adventure trying to get back to his ship in order to flee at the first possible opportunity.
In A Race Against Death we see the first occasion when the Doctor actually decides to stick around and do something to help just because it is the right thing to do. No-one asks him to investigate the aqueduct. He has already found the cause of the poison and therefore its cure, and could have used this to exhort the First Elder into giving him back the TARDIS lock.
But he doesn't. He puts himself at risk to go into the tunnels instead. Still an ambivalent character up to this point, the Doctor is starting to transform into the heroic character we are more familiar with.
What the Doctor is looking for in the aqueduct is evidence of the plant Deadly Nightshade. Atropa Belladonna is a toxic herbaceous plant of the Solanaceae family, which includes the eggplant, tomato and potato plants. It is native to Europe, North Africa and western parts of Asia, but has also been introduced into the USA and Canada. Every part of the plant can be poisonous to a different degree.
Historically, it was popular in ancient Rome. Agrippina, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero, is supposed to have employed it, on the advice of Locusta (See The Romans). The Empress Livia was also alleged to have painted some figs with it to poison her husband Augustus.
Before becoming King of Scotland Macbeth is supposed to have poisoned an entire invading Danish force.
It has hallucinogenic properties and is thought to be behind the myth of flying witches. On using it they believed they had flown and so confessed to having done so.
The Sensorites fails to mention where the Deadly Nightshade comes from. Has it been brought from Earth by the astronauts (and if so, why), or does it grow naturally on the Sense-Sphere?
It isn't a similar plant, as the Doctor specifically mentions the Earth variety.
No matter what the First Elder might think of his people, the City Administrator and his accomplice show that not every Sensorite is happy, peaceful and trustworthy. It seems odd, therefore, that none has previously tried to exploit their physical similarity, as the Administrator does here with a simple change of insignia.
Trivia:
- This episode had very low viewing figures, but it was another case of those who did watch liking what they saw. It had the highest AI figure of the story. The low audience figure, not seen since the first story, cannot be easily explained as later episodes, shown deeper into the summer, achieved higher figures. Competition on ITV consisted of cartoons and reruns of old adventure serials.
- Jacqueline Hill was given a credit on this episode despite her not appearing in it. This was the custom for regular cast members at this time.
- Ken Tyllsen is credited as 'First Scientist' for this instalment.
- Joe Greig stumbles over the word "antidote" - saying "anecdote" instead.
- Radio Times hadn't included a feature alongside Strangers in Space, but printed one on William Hartnell to accompany this week's episode.
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