What's Wrong With... The Happiness Patrol

It is very much a "Marmite" story - in that you either love it or hate it - but in terms of plotting it actually holds up for the most part. The problems are minor compared to some.

For a start, how can you have a Late Show at the Forum, when there's a curfew in place? We hear that attendance is compulsory, so not sure how that works in practice.

Additionally, when we do get to see inside, there's hardly ever anyone there.

Failure to be happy earns you a death sentence, yet Gilbert M is grumpy all the time, and the doorman at the Forum even more so. You can understand why Gilbert M might be tolerated, but surely the doorman could be easily replaced.

Actually, some of the worst offenders are the Patrol members themselves, who hardly ever smile and are usually squabbling.

If making people happy is the prime driver on Terra Alpha, how does the creation of thousands of widows and orphans help achieve that?

Silas P is employed to root out Killjoys by pretending to be one of their number - handing over a card that claims to offer a support group for them. On the reverse, however, is his true identity as a member of the Patrol. Problem is, he hands over the cards with the real ID face upwards, and the Killjoys in each case have to turn it over to show the fake side - without spotting the Patrol ID.

And if he is such a prominent member of the Patrol, ensnaring many Killjoys, why does Priscilla P shoot him down without first checking that he's okay. He's simply acting groggy after being knocked out, so not his usual self. Has she carried a grudge against him for a while and was looking to get rid of him, possibly to get his role? If that's the case, there's nothing to suggest it on screen.

Trevor Sigma is conducting a galactic census, and seems to suggest that he is doing this entirely on his own, on foot - which seems more than a little unlikely.

One production error that makes it into the finished episode is when a Patrol member appears on screen a little too early, whilst the Doctor is messing about with the go-kart.

And what is the point of these vehicles if you can overtake them easily at a brisk walking pace. (We saw a similar problem with the buggies in the Varosian punishment dome).

There's also the business with the Kandy Man's head. It was altered part way through production to add the metal mouth piece and so looks different when we see him in the pipes in the final episode, recorded earlier.

We know that scripts were generally running overlong during this period of the show, with a lot of cutting going on to make episodes fit the time slot (either in the script editing, or in the actual recording edit). This may be why Gilbert M seems to pop up out of nowhere then vanish again at times. On one occasion his disappearance from the Kandy Kitchen actually allows the Doctor to re-stick the feet of the Kandy Man and so escape.

Finally, I suppose we need to talk about that bizarre villain. In the original scripts, the Kandy Man was supposed to look human in a lab coat but with a shiny glazed face, and with belongings like spectacles and pencils which proved to be made of sweets. A decision was then taken to have him made entirely of different sweets, but they elected to go for ones that made him look almost identical to a long established commercial character - Bertie Bassett. This drew a complaint form the company. Surely they must have known that there would be copyright issues here? There are lots of sweet varieties they could have used that would have served the purpose but left him looking unique, and not some copycat. When you consider the issues of product placement at the BBC, it is especially strange that this decision was made. (This was the era when Blue Peter presenters couldn't call it Sellotape, and brand names on things like washing up liquid bottles - ideal for Apollo rockets - were taped over).

Knowing how much he craved publicity for the series, one suspects that JNT provoked this controversy deliberately.

He had to promise that the character would never be returning to the series - so maybe not something wrong after all...

Episodes: Afterlife - The Yeti

Apart from a cameo appearance in The Five Doctors, when it wasn't even seen very clearly due to being filmed - often at distance - in a darkened cavern, the Yeti have never returned to Doctor Who - despite the Great Intelligence being brought back three times in the modern series.

As is well known, one idea for writing Jamie out of the series had been a third Yeti / Great Intelligence story provisionally titled "The Laird of McCrimmon". This would have seen the TARDIS visit 18th Century Scotland, arriving at Jamie's ancestral home. The castle would have been besieged by Yeti whilst the Intelligence possessed the locals - all apart from a girl named Fiona. The current laird was on his deathbed, and the Intelligence wanted to possess Jamie as he was next in line - thus giving it another remote power base from which to spread.

The story ended with the Intelligence expelled once again and Jamie staying on to take up his inheritance, presumably with Fiona by his side.

The dispute with Derrick Sherwin over cuts to The Dominators and the unauthorised marketing of the Quarks led to Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln ending their relationship with the series, and we never got our third proper Yeti appearance.

Unlike the Daleks, Cybermen and Quarks, who all managed to encounter the Second Doctor again in comic strip form, the Yeti never made the transition, despite their popularity - due to the same Quark issue which prevented "The Laird of McCrimmon" coming about. 

What we got instead of robot Yeti were the Ice Apes, which featured in TV Comic issues 881 - 884 in November 1968. A race of aliens bombed the Antarctic in 1970 as a show of strength, unwittingly revealing a race of giant Ice Apes which lived below the icesheet. The Doctor and Jamie had to fight both aliens and Apes, in a story called Ice Cap Terror. The final instalment was published on the series 4th anniversary.

It's not known if the Yeti, had they been used as intended, would have been under the control of the Intelligence - in the same way that the Quarks were presented as a fully autonomous villain in their comics strips.

The Yeti did feature in one Doctor Who Weekly comic strip - one of the ones at the back which didn't have the Doctor. This was "Yonder... The Yeti", and it appeared in issues 31 - 34. 

As mentioned, we did get to see a Yeti one more time in the series - menacing the Second Doctor and the Brigadier, in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, in The Five Doctors. This was purely a cameo, and viewers at the time could be forgiven for not knowing what they were looking at until the Doctor shouted "It's a Yeti!". The way the creature was filmed - a Mark II survivor from The Web of Fear - may have been due to the poor state of the costume. The script fails to acknowledge the fact that the Yeti are robots, controlled by the Great Intelligence. The Doctor chases it off using a firework, reacting like a wild animal.

One of my childhood memories was of great impatience felt waiting for Doctor Who to start. The guy reading the football results was, I'm sure, delivering them intentionally slowly to annoy us - but worse for me was Basil Brush...

Each episode of the puppet series ended with a story being related by the "Mr..." of the day, and Basil would interrupt constantly, dragging it out. As a child you don't think about programme running times etc - you just think that darned fox is delaying the start of your favourite programme. (You really had to be there). Things weren't quite so bad one Saturday evening in 1975, for a sketch which saw Basil and Mr Roy mountain climbing in the Himalayas featured the appearance of a Yeti. This was a bit of a hybrid, having the top half of a Mark II, but with the bottom half of the original version. The difference is noticeable from the colouring of the fur. The sketch can be found on The Mind Robber DVD.

There was one place in 1995 where you could see not only Yeti but the Great Intelligence, Professor Travers, Lethbridge-Stewart and Victoria Waterfield. As well as all these characters from The Web of Fear, we also had the return of Sarah Jane Smith - plus the first look at Kate, the Brigadier's daughter. It was written by someone who worked on Doctor Who - Marc Platt - and directed by someone who worked on Doctor Who - Christopher Barry.

The production was called Downtime, and it was an unofficial video release from Reeltime Pictures, designed to act as a direct sequel to the 1967/8 story, as well as letting us know what Victoria did after Fury From The Deep.

The story revolves around computer technology and the main setting is the New World University, run by Victoria and being used as the latest bridgehead for the Intelligence.

Victoria had gone to Det-sen Monastery in response to a dream, believing she might be reunited with her father. Instead, the Intelligence was behind this, still possessing the mind of Travers. 15 years later she's running the university, many of whose students have been brainwashed by the Intelligence through the internet. The entity needs something called the Locus to fulfil its scheme, which it believes to be in the hands of the Brigadier - but he has given it to daughter Kate, who lives on a narrow boat with his grandson and is estranged from him. Sarah Jane is brought in to track down the Brigadier by the university, unaware of its motives.

The Brigadier is aided by one of his old pupils from Brendon School, who eventually sacrifices himself to defeat the Intelligence. Travers dies after being freed of its influence.

As well as three Troughton stories, there are references to Evil of the Daleks (the death of Edward Waterfield on Skaro) and Mawdryn Undead (the Brig's helper). The Intelligence employs the world wide web nearly two decades before Steven Moffat used the idea.

As well as boasting performances from Debbie Watling, Nicholas Courtney, Lis Sladen and Jack Watling - all reprising their old roles - John Leeson, James Bree and Geoffrey Beevers feature in other roles. This Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is played by Beverley Cressman.

The Yeti in this resemble more the Mark II version, without the glowing eyes or ribbed midriff. They get a big action sequence on the university campus (recorded at the University of East Anglia).

The final scene sees Victoria standing isolated on a beach - mirroring her departure in Fury From The Deep.

The spin-off was novelised by Virgin in 1996 as part of its "Missing Adventures" range, using the same cover art as the VHS release - the Yeti looking more like Bigfoot.

The production was long out of print (both as novel and VHS) until November 2015 when Downtime was released on DVD in remastered form, and with a new making-of documentary.

Episode 197: The Web of Fear (6)

Synopsis:

Driver Evans is tending to Staff Sergeant Arnold's wounds in the fortress ops room when they see the wall bulge and break open, and the web begins to flood in...

Arnold insists they warn the others but Evans elects to flee and save himself.

The Doctor pauses in the tunnel and informs Anne that, until they know who they can trust, they should not let anyone else know about their controlled Yeti. They immobilise it for 90 seconds, to allow them to get clear, then order it to resume taking orders from the Intelligence.

A few minutes later they encounter Jamie and the Colonel who inform them that Victoria and Travers are being held at Piccadilly Circus. They hear that this information came from Arnold, and that he had somehow survived the web.

Elsewhere, the controlled Yeti comes back to life and moves off, joined by two others.

The tunnel party then encounter Arnold who tells them that the fortress has fallen. They are all then surrounded by the trio of Yeti and captured - as is Evans by another of the creatures nearby.

At a junction, the Colonel and the Doctor stage a diversion which allows Arnold to escape unnoticed.

In the ticket hall of Piccadilly Circus station, Travers and Victoria discover a large transparent pyramid, and the Professor deduces that it is the machine which the Intelligence intends to use on the Doctor. They see a shadowy figure which disappears when challenged to show itself, and assume - rightly - that this is the entity's human agent. They hear its voice, warning them not to interfere in its plans. Travers hates himself for having caused all these events due to his scientific curiosity, whilst Victoria tries to reassure him.

On one of the platforms downstairs, the Doctor lets Jamie into the secret of the controlled Yeti - still not trusting the Colonel. He has to explain that he doesn't know which of the creatures guarding them is theirs.

He gives Jamie the voice control microphone and then arranges his escape - hiding him in a large tool box. He is to summon their Yeti once everyone has left.

Arnold is in the tunnels and comes across Harold Chorley. He questions him as to how he could have survived on his own down here for so long, then asks him to accompany him.

A Yeti appears at the Piccadilly Circus platform with Evans. The Doctor warns everyone to do as they are instructed and not resist. He is taken away first and a second Yeti gives him a helmet which has electronic attachments. He uses his control device to immobilise them both and begins to tamper with the helmet.

After everyone else had been taken away, Jamie emerges from the toolbox and begins calling for the controlled Yeti. He has a near miss with one, but it is programmed to go elsewhere and ignores him.

Travers and Victoria see the Doctor brought into the darkened ticket hall, wearing the helmet, followed soon after by the others. He urges everyone not to interfere and assures them he will be fine.

Chorley then emerges from the shadows, flanked by a Yeti.

Everyone assumes that he has been the agent of the Intelligence, but he points to the real enemy who appears behind him - Arnold, who wears a similar helmet.

The Intelligence explains that Arnold is dead and it is merely using his body.

Jamie is then brought in by another Yeti and Arnold orders it to kill him if the Doctor fails to co-operate. The Doctor is ordered to sit inside the pyramid, and Arnold connects up the helmet. The machine will transfer the contents of his mind into the Intelligence, but the Doctor must submit willingly.

Jamie suddenly orders his Yeti to attack Arnold, whilst the others take the opportunity to pull the Doctor free - despite his protestations. Jamie pulls off the helmet and throws it at the pyramid which blows apart. All of the Yeti suddenly collapse.

The Doctor is furious - accusing them of ruining his plan. He had crossed the connections in the helmet, so that it would have drained the Intelligence instead of his mind. Now all they have done is eject it back out into space, free to attack again some day.

They are horrified to find that Arnold has been reduced to a charred corpse.

Chorley is quick to exploit their victory and insists on an interview with the Doctor, hoping to make him a household name. Travers wants to discuss many things with him as well.

The Doctor decides instead to hurry back to Covent Garden with Jamie and Victoria to retrieve the TARDIS. The Colonel and Evans also leave, to check on street level conditions, accompanied by Travers - leaving Anne to face the inquisitive journalist alone.

Nearby, the Doctor warns his companions that they will have to get out of the tunnels quickly, before the electricity supply is turned back on...

Next time: Fury From The Deep

Data:

Written by Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln

Recorded: Saturday 17th February 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.25pm, Saturday 9th March 1968

Ratings: 8.3 million / AI 55

VFX: Ron Oates

Designer: David Myerscough-Jones

Director: Douglas Camfield

Critique:

There were quite a few differences between the original version of this episode and the broadcast version. A cage had been set up in the ticket hall. Travers attempted to sabotage the pyramid electronics using his penknife but was stopped by a Yeti, which knocked him aside then threw him into the cage with Victoria. He woke up when the others were brought into the room.

The biggest change related to the original idea that the museum housing the Yeti exhibit would have been London's Natural History Museum, for in this version Arnold survived - freed of its influence when the Intelligence was ejected. Travers would have recognised him as the commissionaire who had let him in on the evening the Yeti came back to life, and Arnold would have had no memories after going round locking the museum up for the night.

The controlled Yeti would also have survived, with a frustrated Jamie telling it to "go blow a fuse" - which it then did, literally.

Studio recording for this final episode was granted an extra 15 minutes, with recording beginning at 8.15pm. Patrick Troughton's son Michael was in attendance. He would go on to appear in the programme himself some five decades later, playing Professor Albert in Last Christmas.

The episode opened with a reprise of the model filming of the web bursting into the fortress.

Jack Woolgar provided the rasping voice of the unseen Intelligence, and adopted similar tones for the possessed Arnold. He taped various versions of the voice prior to production, testing out different vocalisations. You can hear these as an extra on the Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray of the story.

Some of the Intelligence's dialogue was pre-recorded. 

The script had stated that the helmets should look strange, but not silly.

A number of recording breaks had to be taken to reposition actors in the tunnel set, to make it look longer than it was and to have different characters meeting each other.

For the climax, another break allowed for the pyramid prop to be removed and for Woolgar to have his charred make-up supplied. A model shot of the pyramid exploding was then inserted, with a whiteout covering the joins. A smashed up pyramid prop was then placed on set. One shot saw the camera overexposed by widening the aperture, so that Arnold's face appeared to blacken.

Roger Jacombs, who had been an extra in earlier serials such as The Faceless Ones, joined the ranks of the Yeti this week. John Levene had taken on the role of unofficial union rep for the Yeti, ensuring that the performers were freed from their heavy costumes regularly. One performer did actually pass out under the hot studio lighting. Levene's Yeti was already destroyed, so he crawled out of shot to the stricken actor to help him out of the suit.

Immediately after broadcast of this episode, a short trailer was shown for the following story. This comprised some of the opening location sequences, showing the TARDIS descending to the sea, the opening of the pipeline inspection hatch, and the Doctor and his companions caught in the crosshairs of a rifle.

The videotapes for The Web of Fear were cleared for wiping in July 1969, by which time film copies had been sold for broadcast in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar, Zambia and Nigeria.

In 1978, the BBC's archivist Sue Malden came upon a pile of film cans returned from Hong Kong, which were about to be destroyed. On the top of the pile was the first episode of The Web of Fear.

35 years later, Philip Morris, who ran a film and television archive retrieval service, came upon film copies of all six episodes, as well as those for The Enemy of the World, at a broadcasting relay station in Nigeria. As mentioned when we looked at it the other week, by the time he went back to take possession of the films, the third episode had disappeared - denying us further the first ever meeting of the future Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart with the Doctor.

Prior to the episodes' return, a few brief censored clips were returned to the BBC from Australia in May 2002, including scenes of the Yeti attacking troops at Covent Garden and in the Underground tunnels, as well as shots of web-shrouded corpses.

For their next submission, Haisman and Lincoln would move away from the Great Intelligence and its Yeti servants, though a third story featuring them was planned for later. What happened to that, we'll talk about another time when we consider the brief afterlife of the Yeti.

Of the new characters created for this story, Haisman later stated that the Colonel and Driver Evans were the writers' favourites. They continued to receive payments for Lethbridge-Stewart, but he claimed that there had been complaints from Welsh viewers about the latter's cowardice, which is why the character was never brought back.

In the end, this was the final appearance by the Yeti in the series, save for a cameo, whilst the Intelligence would be brought back in The Snowmen - the 2012 Christmas Special - then in The Bells of St John and The Name of the Doctor, stories which opened and closed the seventh series in its 50th Anniversary year.

The former is a prequel to the two Troughton stories, depicting the Intelligence first arriving on Earth in Victorian times. The Web of Fear is specifically referenced when the Doctor uses a London Underground lunchbox to conceal a Memory Worm from the Intelligence's host, and gives it the idea that the network might provide a strategic weakness that could be exploited if attacking the city. The Doctor also states that the box dates to 1967, so another nod to this story being set at time of production and not 1975.

When it was announced that these lost episodes had been recovered it was noticeable that, of the two stories, The Web of Fear was the one which caused the greatest excitement and eager anticipation. This was due to its reputation, such as word of mouth from fans who had seen it at the time, a very good novelisation, and a strong opening episode. The David Whitaker story, on the other hand, relied heavily on a lacklustre orphan instalment and a generally poor reputation. It was simply the one with no monsters in Season 5. Once the missing episodes were made available, interest did shift somewhat towards The Enemy of the World - nowhere near as bad as Episode Three suggested - but the reputation of this story remained strong.

It's still very much one of the best Troughton stories, with a lot going for it. Base-under-siege format, popular monsters, a very dark tone - both in terms of atmosphere and themes, with a high body count of popular guest characters - and excellent performances all round. And into this mix we get the introduction of one character who will prove to be hugely popular and significant, whose presence is still felt in the programme to this day.

The Web of Fear is the third of four stories which lead inexorably towards the Pertwee era, which is still fondly remembered by many as the beginning of a Golden Age for the series.

The War Machines showed how the Doctor could be placed in a contemporary, urban setting, allied with the military to defeat an "alien" menace. The Abominable Snowmen then laid the groundwork for this story, introducing the Great Intelligence, the Yeti and Professor Travers - elements which could be brought together in a similar setting to the Hartnell story. Both even have pitched battles between army and monster in Covent Garden, in the very heart of London.

The success of this combination would lead to the creation of UNIT and the return of Lethbridge-Stewart in The Invasion - a story in which it was hoped Travers might also return - which acted as a dry run for the Pertwee / UNIT years.

Trivia:

• The ratings end strongly, comfortably over 8 million and with the joint highest appreciation figure for the story.
• Once again Huw Wheldon, controller of television programming at the BBC, had praise for the series at the weekly review meeting, calling this instalment "a connoisseur's piece".
• On Friday 22nd March, Francis Hope wrote about this story and the next as part of an article on the horror elements of Doctor Who for The Listener. 
• The Radio Times letters page for April 4th featured a missive from D Milbour praising the story: "Every episode was excitingly made, each ending in a gripping crisis, and what superb acting! Long live the Yeti, to fight again".
• A poster for the 1967 classic In The Heat of the Night (starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier) appears on the wall of a corridor at Piccadilly Circus. To avoid rules governing advertising on the BBC, it was retitled "Block-Buster". A poster for the Scottish National Party can also be seen, featuring a thistle-shaped design.
• DWM produced a choice of two covers to mark the return of the missing episodes in October 2013, this one covering The Web of Fear.

• And finally, another fantastic retro movie-style poster from Oliver Arkinstall-Jones:

P is for... Priests

Diminutive beings who were the corrupted survivors of a super-race which once thrived on the planet Uxarieus. They had developed a weapon capable of destroying whole star systems, but its radiation gradually wrecked the planet's environment and its people retreated into an underground city. 

The civilisation collapsed into superstition and barbarism. Some individuals formed a priest class as they turned their backs on technology and began to worship the weapon and its Guardian - one of their number who controlled it and fed on its energies. The Priests were mute and almost blind due to their subterranean existence, developing telepathic powers instead.

Part of their ritual involved sacrifices to the weapon, by casting their victim into its nuclear furnace. Jo, and later the Doctor and Master, were threatened with this fate.

The Doctor was able to convince the Guardian of the limitless potential for evil which the weapon posed, and it elected to sacrifice itself by self-destructing the device. He tried to help the Priests flee the city but, their telepathic link to the Guardian broken, they simply staggered aimlessly through the complex and were destroyed in the subsequent explosion.

Played by: Stanley Mason, Antonia Moss. Appearances: Colony In Space (1971)

• Mason would return in the very next story, playing Bok in The Daemons.

P is for... Priest Triangles

Crystalline diamond-shaped entities which acted as caretakers in the Temple of Atropos on the planet Time. They carried out routine maintenance and looked after the Mouri - beings who helped control the sentient force of Time itself. They were incapable of carrying out detailed repairs and so awaited the arrival of someone who could fix the damage to the Mouri caused by Swarm and Azure. They mistook Vinder and the Doctor's companion Yaz for maintenance specialists when they were carried to the temple.

Swarm destroyed one of the Triangles and Azure another when it recognised them as agents of Time. 

The Doctor was later approached by a third which enquired if she was the help it awaited.

Voiced by: Nigel Lambert. Appearances: Flux: Once Upon Time (2021)

• Lambert had previously played scientist Hardin in The Leisure Hive. He voiced all three of the Triangles.

P is for... Price, Captain

A UNIT officer in charge of the mobile HQ when the organisation raided the ATMOS factory outside London. This produced a highly efficient catalytic converter for motor vehicles, combined with an integrated GPS system.

Owner Luke Rattigan was a teenage tech genius who had invented a revolutionary new search engine and made his fortune. He was secretly in league with the Sontarans, however, who were going to exploit ATMOS as a weapon against the human race. Rattigan believed the aliens were going to relocate he and his high IQ followers to a new planet.

Captain Marion Price led on co-ordinating the global response to the threat, arranging for a nuclear strike against the Sontaran flagship.

As the aircraft Valiant cleared the toxic air around the ATMOS factory and the battle against the Sontarans turned in UNIT's favour, Price suffered a momentary loss of self-control and kissed her superior officer, Colonel Mace, revealling unstated romantic feelings for him.

Played by: Bridget Hodgson. Appearances: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky (2007)

• Spin-off literature has Price later put in command of the Valiant, at the time when it is shot down by the Daleks in The Stolen Earth.
• Film roles for Hodgson, who previously acted under the name Biddy Hodson, include Wilde (2004) and Hellboy (1997). She appears to have left screen acting after Doctor Who.

P is for... Priam

King of of Troy at the time of its decade-long siege by the Greek forces commanded by Agamemnon. A world-weary figure, he was often disappointed and frustrated by his children. Whilst he admired the bravery of eldest son Hector, he despaired of the cowardly and effete Paris - the man who had led to this conflict after running away with Helen, wife of King Menelaus and sister-in-law to Agamemnon.

Daughter Cassandra usually squabbled with Paris, when she wasn't complaining about being disrespected and having her prophesies ignored.

Paris brought the TARDIS into the city, believing it to be a gift from their god Poseidon, and Cassandra naturally denounced it as an evil omen. Priam reluctantly agreed it should be burned - which prompted the Doctor's companion Vicki to emerge from it. Priam took to her, and had her change her name to the more Trojan sounding Cressida.

When it became clear that she knew Steven Taylor - suspected to be a Greek Spy - Priam had her thrown into jail. She had suggested to the Trojans that she also had the gift of prophesy (knowing as she did of future events) and had to prove herself or face being burned as a witch. Priam's youngest son, Troilus, had fallen in love with her in the interim.

The old king allowed himself to be swayed by Paris when a large wooden horse was apparently left behind by the departing Greek army, and had it brought into Troy - another gift from the gods.

The warrior Odysseus was among those hiding inside - along with the Doctor who had reluctantly proposed the plan - and he slew Priam and Paris, and took Cassandra captive.

Played by: Max Adrian. Appearances: The Myth Makers (1965)

• According to myth, Priam had 50 sons and many daughters. He was killed, aged 80, not by Odysseus but by Achilles' son Neoptolemus.
• Oddly, Priam as presented here does not bat an eyelid when favoured son and heir Hector is killed. In Homer's Iliad he is grief-stricken and goes to Achilles to beg for the return of Hector's body.
• Adrian (1903 - 1973) was a regular collaborator with writer Donald Cotton and had performed in a number of his radio productions. Cotton was therefore able to secure his talents for this story.
• It was often claimed that William Hartnell refused to work with Adrian as he was gay and Jewish, but the Doctor and Priam simply never share any scenes together.
• To many in Britain, Adrian is best known for playing patriarch Ludicrus Sextus in Up Pompeii, opposite Frankie Howerd.
• Horror fans will recall him from the vampire segment in Dr Terror's House of Horrors, opposite Donald Sutherland.
• He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and an original member of the National Theatre, appearing as Polonius in its very first production (Hamlet being played by Peter O'Toole). He played the Dauphin in Olivier's film of Henry V, and Alec Guinness and Olivier read the lessons at his memorial service.

The Movie Re-release

It has been announced this morning that the McGann movie has been remastered and will be released on 4K and Blu-ray formats.

There's only a December 2099 placeholder date so far. The extras don't appear to differ too greatly from the earlier Blu-ray apart from new featurettes on the three main guest artists, and a Matthew Sweet conversation with the director.

As I have never been a huge fan of this, I'll only be ordering if the Blu-ray version has been decently remastered as I don't own a 4K player and have no plans to get one anytime soon.

Many fans have been hoping for a "Wilderness Years" release as part of The Collection sets, which would have included this - but this appears to discount that possibility.

Update: this release is expected 25th May in the UK.

Inspirations: Face The Raven

Sarah Dollard was a Melbourne-based fan of Doctor Who who had written for Neighbours and other Australian series, before contributing to the BBC fantasy dramas Merlin and Being Human.

Her inspiration for this story began when a friend explained to her about Trap Streets. These were small non-existent thoroughfares added to maps by their makers to catch out cartographical copyists - as the only way the street could appear on any other map was if it had been plagiarised.

Dollard envisioned these streets as being real, but unknown to the general public. As such they could offer sanctuary to a group of people. It was Steven Moffat who suggested that these may be alien refugees. The idea that the Doctor and Clara might investigate a murder in one of these zones also came from the showrunner.

In order to get the Doctor and Clara into the mystery quickly, the script editor suggested reusing an established character, and graffiti artist Rigsy from Flatline was hit upon. In that story he had mentioned a mother living in London so it was decided that he had located there from Bristol, and he would be accused of a crime he did not commit - providing the motive for the TARDIS pair to get involved. The episode would therefore become a whodunnit.

Dollard then developed the idea that the isolating community had their own unique mode of dispensing justice - a creature which would be released from a cage to kill an individual who had been marked for execution.

This provided a countdown and a fixed timescale in which the Doctor had to come up with the real killer, so a race against time.

The entrance to the Trap Street was originally going to be through the door of a mural Rigsy had painted of the TARDIS. The Mayor was going to be a beetle-like alien, whose deputy was a Sontaran.

Once the episode was moved to tenth position in the series, leading into the finale, it was later decided to introduce the new character Ashildr / Me into Dollard's story as she played a role in the final episode. She then took on the role of Mayor.

Having already stayed on much longer than anticipated, this would be Jenna Coleman's last series. Moffat debated with himself having her leave in the finale or - for shock value - having her killed off earlier. (In the end, he would manage both).

It would be made clear that her death wasn't some form of self-sacrifice. Rather, she died due to her over-confidence and increasing lust for danger and excitement - a belief that she could match the Doctor's abilities. Me would not be held responsible and the Doctor would not be vengeful.

The raven features in many mythologies. 

Odin is also known as the Raven God. He had two pet birds which gathered intelligence for him and acted as spies.

In the indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest the bird is both a trickster and a bringer of light to the world.

Celtic mythology has them birds of ill omen, especially when it comes to battle.

The ancient Greeks held that they were servants of Apollo, and were originally white. Apollo singed them in a rage after they brought him bad news.

The design of the Trap Street was based on narrow lanes off Oxford Street in London, and The Shambles in York. Many have noted a similarity to Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films though Dollard has said that this wasn't intentional.

Among the aliens we see in the street are a Cyberman, Ood and Sontaran.

Among returning guest artists are Robin Soans as "Chronolock Guy". He had played Consul Luvic in The Keeper of Traken. Me's deputy, Rump, is Simon Paisley Day who, as Simon Day, played the Steward on Platform One in The End of the World.

Next time: the Doctor gets caught up in the works and takes a very long time to extricate himself, in what many regard as one of the greatest Doctor Who episodes of all time...

Episode 196: The Web of Fear (5)

Synopsis:

Two Yeti burst into the fortress, and everyone is horrified to see the missing Professor Travers accompanying them - now possessed by the Great Intelligence...

Through Travers the Intelligence informs the Doctor that he has been brought here deliberately, but not as revenge for what happened in Tibet. The Intelligence has been observing his travels and it wants to acquire his knowledge. This will leave him physically unharmed, but with the mind of a child.

If he refuses to co-operate, it will take what it seeks elsewhere, beginning with his companions. The Doctor must submit willingly. It also lets slip that it has other human agents at its command.

Travers then seizes Victoria and gives the Doctor an ultimatum. He has 20 minutes to agree to what the Intelligence demands, and the girl will be held as hostage until he does so.

Travers drags Victoria out, followed by the Yeti. Jamie insists on going after them, but the Colonel cautions that the Yeti will be waiting outside.

Evans then suggests that they do as the Intelligence wants, and allow the Doctor to be taken.

The Doctor tells them that if he cannot come up with any other solution in the time available then he will indeed hand himself over. He tells Jamie that he and Victoria will have to care for him until his mind develops again. 

They discover that the Yeti have gone, so the Colonel organises a search of the fortress with Jamie and Evans whilst the Doctor and Anne hurry to complete their work in the lab.

The Colonel and Jamie then decide to go in search of Travers and Victoria, leaving Evans to guard the Doctor and Anne. They are working on a means of overriding the control signal to a Yeti sphere, so that they can give it their own instructions.

Jamie and the Colonel get only as far as the main surface entrance when they find a wall of web behind it.

They return to the lab where the Doctor is testing their control box. He is sure they can now block the signal to a Yeti to immobilise it, then replace its sphere with the one that they now control.

Evans is now sure that either Jamie or the Colonel is the Intelligence's agent, but the Colonel dismisses him out of hand. He and Jamie are going to use the tunnel exit to go look for their missing friends.

They, meanwhile, are at Piccadilly Circus station, guarded by a Yeti. The Intelligence has released its hold over the professor and he is trying to comfort Victoria. They attempt to slip away - only to be confronted by a second Yeti as it emerges from the tunnel.

As time ticks away, the Doctor and Anne have completed their work, but the control box only has very short range. They will at least have voice control over their adapted sphere but will have to get very close to one of the Yeti to use it.

Jamie and the Colonel find a handkerchief of Victoria's in the tunnel and realise she has dropped it as a clue to the direction they have taken.

As they sit on the platform by the tunnel entrance, Travers and Victoria hear a whispered call. Hiding in the shadows is a bedraggled Staff Sergeant Arnold. They ask him to return to the fortress to tell the others where they are being held.

After testing out their sphere on an alarmed Evans, the Doctor sets off to find a Yeti to capture - and Anne insists on accompanying him. The cowardly driver refuses to come with them.

The Colonel and Jamie encounter Arnold, who tells them about finding Travers and Victoria. All he can recall about his earlier disappearance with the trolley party was becoming smothered in web then blacking out.

The three head for the fortress to find the Doctor, only to learn that he and Anne have already left. They then see that the web is continuing to close in on them, moving inexorably down the Northern Line. Warren Street falls, and Goodge Street is next.

At Piccadilly Circus, the Yeti move Travers and Victoria away from the platform.

The Doctor and Anne encounter a Yeti and are relieved to find their device works. The Doctor removes its control sphere and replaces it with the adapted one. 

The robot now obeys his verbal commands.

Evans is tending to Arnold's wounds when they see the wall of the ops room begin to bulge inwards. Within seconds it cracks open and a mass of glowing web pours into the fortress...

Data:

Written by Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln

Recorded: Saturday 10th February 1968 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 5.25pm, Saturday 2nd March 1968

Ratings: 8 million / AI 55

VFX: Ron Oates

Designer: David Myerscough-Jones

Director: Douglas Camfield

Critique:

The only changes from the draft script for this episode were that Victoria would leave an item of jewellery on the tracks for her friends to find, instead of her handkerchief, and the nervous Evans placed a dummy in the ops room as a decoy should the Yeti return to the fortress.

Later, Derrick Sherwin made some additional changes, one of which was the Colonel's speculation that Arnold was somehow immune to the web-like fungus. After having immobilised the single robot, the Doctor also realised that his control box might be made to block the signals to all of the Yeti, if he could get back to the fortress in time to perfect it.

A well known convention anecdote from Frazer Hines derives from camera rehearsals for this episode. It's the scene where Jamie finds the hankie belonging to Victoria, so he knows they are (literally) on the right track. During rehearsals he produced a pair of ladies underpants and held them up claiming "These are Miss Waterfield's. I'd know them anywhere!" - thus embarrassing Debbie Watling in front of her dad.

One of the visitors to the studio that day was Justin Richards, who would go on to write a number of original Doctor Who novels and edit the range.

For the scene in which the Colonel and Jamie tried to get through the door to street level, a physical prop was used to represent the web. This was made from transparent plastic with a light source behind, manipulated from the rear by stagehands.

The radio-controlled sphere which had first been used in The Abominable Snowmen was utilised again.

Only two Yeti were required in studio, played by John Levene and Gordon Stothard.

The episode opened with a re-enactment of the final scene from the previous instalment.

The climactic scene of the web bursting through the wall of the fortress was model work filmed on Monday 8th January. Two small sets were created - the ops room and a corridor - with firefighting foam representing the web.

It's the penultimate episode, so this week is mainly concerned with getting everyone into position for the finale. The Doctor has developed his device which he hopes to use against the Yeti, and the fortress finally falls to the web - so we won't be revisiting it again. The action has to move elsewhere.

This episode is interesting in that once again we see the Doctor spending a considerable amount of time with a more mature female character. We saw this previously with Astrid in the previous story, and will do so again before the season is out. Troughton seems to work well when he has adult characters to work with, and not just interacting with the juvenile companions.

One problem with this episode is the timeframe. We are told only a minute or two into it that the Doctor has 20 minutes to surrender himself. Yet towards the end of the episode, just before he and Anne set out to use their control device, only 8 minutes have elapsed. The episode, with a running time of 24' 19" ends with some of the 20 minutes still remaining, as we'll see when we get to the final instalment. Unless we have been viewing scenes which have actually been overlapping with each other, the timing is out.

It's a minor irritation, but once you notice it you can't un-notice (sorry). It could so easily have been avoided if the Intelligence had stuck to the good old "one hour" deadline. Besides, it would take more than 20 minutes to walk from Goodge Street to Piccadilly Circus - so the Doctor would almost have had to set off before the Intelligence had even issued his ultimatum!

(This timing business isn't unique to this story - just watch any story where the Daleks have a countdown).

We know the identity of the Intelligence's human agent, but viewers at the time would still have been pondering.

As far as they would have been concerned, further suspicion grows for it to be Evans - keen to see the Doctor hand himself over and thus let the rest of them go free. Or is this just his cowardly nature? Chorley is still missing, and now Arnold turns up out of the blue - unharmed save for some minor wound whereas everyone else has been killed by contact with the web, or the Yeti which lurk within it. As for the Colonel, he seems increasingly unlikely to be the agent - mainly because neither the Doctor nor Jamie seem to be treating him like a suspect.

Trivia:

• The ratings had peaked for this story the week before but remain healthy at 8 million viewers, whilst the appreciation figure increases.
• Radio Times featured another small item on the series this week, this time looking at the Watling family, as Debbie's sister Dilys was also appearing on TV:

Story 311: The Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death

In which the Doctor finally discovers the truth about Ruby's heritage, and encounters an old foe he thought long destroyed...

The Doctor and Ruby arrive at UNIT HQ in order to seek help in investigating the woman whom they have been seeing throughout time and space in recent weeks. She exists in the present day as well - a philanthropic tech mogul named Susan Triad. However, UNIT have been investigating her for some time and Kate Stewart has already placed an operative within her organisation - his one-time companion Melanie Bush. She is working as a media assistant to Triad. So far she has found nothing to be concerned about. She is a pleasant individual who cares for her employees and who wishes to make affordable IT available to the masses.

And yet the same face keeps appearing on different planets and in different time-zones.

At the same time, the Doctor wishes to investigate Ruby's origins and discover the identity of the hooded woman who abandoned her at the church on Ruby Road - which may go some way to explaining the odd phenomena which surround her, such as snow falling where it should be impossible to do so.

The TARDIS cannot revisit the moment of her abandonment again but Ruby has an old CCTV tape which her foster mother Carla has kept all these years. New scientific adviser Morris explains that this can be adapted using UNIT tech to create a 3-D image of the event, which might identify the woman.

As Triad prepares for a press conference in which she will announce giving away free technology, Mel takes the opportunity to obtain a DNA sample from her, then makes for UNIT HQ where she is reunited with the Doctor. She explains that she was able to return to Earth following the death of Sabalom Glitz.

Carla accompanies Ruby to the HQ, leaving Cherry in the care of neighbour Mrs Flood. After they have gone, Flood begins to act coldly towards the old woman and a storm begins to gather as she indicates that something is coming...

Triad's DNA sample comes up as human. Ruby arrives with her mother and Morris prepares a Time Window, which will create the three dimensional virtual reality simulation of what the VHS depicts.

As Ruby repeats the story she was told of that Christmas Day, snow begins to fall - even though the program is not yet running.

They witness the event, including the arrival of the Doctor. He notices that unlike the rest of the imagery, which is grainy and shadowy, the TARDIS looks solid, as though it is in the chamber with them. Attempts to identify the hooded woman fail as the image glitches at the key moment when her face might be seen.

He is then surprised to see something which doesn't match his memory of the event - the woman stopping to point towards him before turning away.

The Doctor realises that time is shifting and the event is changing. He deduces that the woman may not be pointing at him at all - but something behind him. This is the TARDIS. A UNIT officer named Winston is sent to look behind the TARDIS and see if anything is there. A strange black shadow is seen momentarily. They hear him call out then contact is lost. The entire image then breaks down, and they discover Winston's body - aged to death and crumbling into a sand-like powder.

The Doctor insists on meeting Triad, after beginning to suspect that she may actually be his granddaughter Susan, perhaps unaware of her true identity. When he meets her in person, however, he cannot sense any Time Lord presence. On hearing that she hasn't been sleeping well due to vivid dreams, he mentions the names of some of the people he has recently encountered who look just like her and this seems to trigger some vague recollection.
At UNIT HQ team member Harriet suggests running the 3-D model again but this time in reverse, to try to identify the black shape. It now appears to emanate from the TARDIS itself, as though wrapped around it.

Kate worries that the entity might surround the actual TARDIS in their main control room. Harriet begins to speak oddly, and at the same time Triad interrupts her press announcement to make similar remarks about the coming of the "God of Death". Harriet points out her full name - H. Arbinger - the harbinger for the entity. Kate demands that it show itself. The features of Harriet and Triad are transformed into skull-like visions and it is revealed that the name of the IT company, S Triad Technology, has hidden a terrible secret in plain sight. Sue Tech - Sutekh.

A huge black jackal-like creature is revealed, wrapped around the TARDIS, announcing that it will bring death to the entire Universe...

Triad begins reducing people to dust as the Doctor and Mel flee the building on her moped. At UNIT HQ, weapons prove ineffective against Sutekh and his harbinger.

Triad has released Sutekh's dust of death, which destroys every living thing which it touches. Harriet does the same at UNIT HQ, killing everyone there. Mrs Flood, Carla and Cherry all perish as the dust cloud spreads through London and beyond.

The Doctor and Mel arrive at the HQ and join Ruby in the Time Window chamber where they enter the TARDIS - which proves to be quite unlike the real one. It contains a jumble of elements associated with all the incarnations of the Doctor, who explains that it is created from memories.

Sutekh then materialises with the real TARDIS and explains how he saved himself when they last met by seizing hold of the ship. Ever since then he has been attached to it, travelling through the Vortex and growing in strength. Having once been mistaken for a god by ancient Egyptians, he now has the powers of one.

Knowing of his granddaughter, Sutekh then laid a trap for him using Susan Triad, creating copies of her throughout his travels.

With Harriet in control of the real TARDIS, the Doctor, Ruby and Mel take to the Memory TARDIS and flee Earth.

From space they see the planet consumed by the dust, and the Doctor explains that it will be spreading across the entire universe to every planet and every time the TARDIS has visited.

Sutekh is joined by his servants and informs them that the Doctor and his companions must be tracked down, as the mystery of Ruby's parentage must be known.

Weeks pass and the Doctor discovers that the Time Window is still active, and he explains to his companions Sutekh's obsession with Ruby. He can see every moment in time and space, but this one fact eludes him and it is driving him insane. The Doctor and Ruby are unaware that Mel is beginning to hear the voice of Sutekh in her mind.

Accessing the Time Window through the Memory TARDIS, the Doctor is puzzled to see events from Ruby's future - when she encountered politician Roger Ap Gwilliam in 2046. They see him announcing the creation of a national DNA database. The Doctor realises that they can use this to check Ruby's DNA.

They travel to the Department of Health in 2046 and a blood sample is taken from Ruby which should provide the identity of her mother. Sutekh has been monitoring all of this through Mel, and he now orders her to bring the Memory TARDIS to him.

Mel transforms into one of Sutekh's servants and Harriet brings them all back to UNIT HQ. Here, the Doctor tells Sutekh that he now knows the name of Ruby's mother. He tries to bargain with him, even promising to worship him. Ruby then steps forward to say that she will reveal the name if Sutekh frees the Doctor. She will give him the name, which is recorded on a tablet screen. Sutekh climbs down from the TARDIS. Just as she is about to hand it over, Ruby drops and smashes the screen. It has all been a diversion, giving the Doctor time to uncoil a length of "intelligent rope" which he has taken from the Memory TARDIS. He uses this to ensnare Sutekh then takes to the real TARDIS with Ruby. He had known that Mel was possessed for some time due to her lack of empathy, and so had prepared this trap for Sutekh. The being is then dragged through the Vortex at the end of the rope, the Doctor arguing that if you bring death to death then the outcome is life. Life is restored to the Universe as they travel.

Once completed, Sutekh is cast adrift to disintegrate in the Vortex.

The TARDIS then returns to UNIT HQ in 2024. Susan Triad is there, now a normal human being with only the memories of this particular version of her - brought properly into being by Sutekh's demise. With her great technical knowledge, Kate offers her a role with UNIT.

Morris is able to use Ruby's DNA sample to find out the identity of her mother. She is Louise Alison Miller, a 35 year old nurse from Coventry. She had fallen pregnant at 15 with a troublesome teenage boyfriend, and this is why she had elected to abandon the baby at the church on Ruby Road. The reason for the hooded woman pointing in the Time Window reconstruction was to indicate the street name, and nothing to do with the TARDIS.

Some time later, Ruby has decided to go and see her mother and the Doctor transports her to Coventry in the TARDIS. Ruby elects to speak to Louise and reveal who she is. The pair are reconciled, and soon after Louise is making friends with Ruby's foster family as well. They all meet up at Christmas at Carla's home.

Ruby then decides to give up travelling with the Doctor to concentrate on family.

Neighbour Mrs Flood is on the roof of the building, and comments that only one chapter of Ruby's story is over - and greater terror awaits...

The Legend of Ruby Song and Empire of Death were written by Russell T Davies, and were first broadcast on Saturdays 14th and 21st of June, 2024.

They form the two part finale to Series 14, bringing to a close the first full seasons for Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Davies as returning showrunner. It also marks the end of Millie Gibson's run as a full-time companion, though Ruby will guest in some episodes of the next series. The story also sees the proper return of a classic companion in Mel, after her cameo in The Power of the Doctor as one of the companion support group.

The mystery of Mrs Flood, who knows what a TARDIS is and can seemingly communicate directly with the audience, is prolonged, whilst a popular villain from the classic series returns - only to be badly mishandled.

It's not a bad first half, but the pay-off is atrocious...

Sutekh was created by Robert Holmes after he took over the writing of what would become Pyramids of Mars from Lewis Griefer. An inhabitant of Phaester Osiris, Sutekh had decided to wage war against all living things and embarked on a crusade to achieve this with a band of zealous followers. The other Osirans, under the leadership of Horus, tracked him down on Earth - in ancient Egypt, where the animal headed aliens had been taken for gods. Sutekh himself had the head of a jackal. Unable to kill him, as that would make them no better than he, Horus elected to imprison Sutekh in an underground chamber, held immobile by a forcefield generated from a complex on the planet Mars.

His escape in 1911 coincided with the arrival of the Doctor, in his fourth incarnation, and Sarah Jane Smith. On gaining his freedom, the Doctor had trapped him in a time corridor, shifting the exit point so far into the future that he aged to death before he could ever reach it.

So Sutekh was simply a mortal, though long-lived, alien, who was killed whilst trapped in a time tunnel. Whilst the superstitious Egyptians believed him a god, he wasn't one. He just had some superior mental powers. Physically, he was humanoid but with a jackal-like head mostly concealed beneath a helmet. 
Rather than employ a mask to cover the actor's head, the production team opted to use a model head on a mannequin body, to give him a more alien appearance.

The new Sutekh is a massive CGI entity who looks more canine than humanoid, and has gained extra eyes. We are led to believe that he somehow escaped the time corridor - despite what was seen on screen in 1975 - and managed to hitch a ride on the outside of the TARDIS - a feat achieved, presumably, by suddenly managing to make himself invisible.

We are then compelled to accept that he has been hanging on to the TARDIS from Part Four of Pyramids of Mars throughout every single story up to this point... Instead of merely being thought to be a god, he somehow now is a god.

I've always argued that if you are going to bring something back in Doctor Who, then you should bring it back - i.e. as the thing that you actually liked and thought worth bringing back. If you plan to change it too much, why not just create something new? There should always be good reason for bringing anything back, not just ticking a nostalgia box. Sutekh was a fantastic stand-alone villain, in an era of the show that featured many other memorable foes. He should have stayed that way, as RTD2's story does nothing positive to add to the mythos - only to diminish it.

And the CGI's rubbish as well.

The other big disappointment about Empire of Death is the wrapping up of the Ruby's Mother story arc. Fan speculation ran wild on this, with many believing her to be the Doctor's granddaughter - even though RTD2 was attempting to steer them towards Triad for this. Even though no-one could agree who she might be, everyone felt that the character had to be significant and there had to be a pay-off.

But then it turns out she was just a normal teenage human. Nothing wrong with that, but to build up a mystery in the way that this season had done, the audience expected better. It's an anti-climax, and the end of the episode is dragged out to incorporate it. Looking back now, I don't feel the whole snow-falling business was ever properly explained, especially if neither Ruby nor her mother where anything special.

One further issue was Gibson's departure. Unfortunately, the shortness of this season, including a companion-lite episode, meant that we never really got to know Ruby and so never quite invested in her emotionally. Also, fans are becoming increasingly bored with companions who are defined purely by some big secret. They long for the days when the companion was simply an ordinary person like them, given the opportunity to embark on extraordinary adventures.

Fans were also looking to have Mrs Flood explained, but that was at least held back for a later date.

The only pay-off we got was Sutekh - and that was disappointing.

My criticism of this story is mostly reserved - deservedly - for the second half and I did like The Legend of Ruby Sunday, especially the whole "Sue-Tech" reveal, but even it had problems. I simply do not like what they have done with UNIT nowadays. Any notion that this might be a realistic scientific-military organisation of the 2020's is totally out the (Time)window. We have yet another scientific adviser who comes and goes and never gets another mention. What is the point of the Vlinxx? Even more pointless, what was Rose Noble doing in this? Things will get much worse when they are able to knock up a Zero Room in half an hour, but the rot is evident here.

Then there's the return of Mel - one of the positives, as the character was so badly developed back in the 1980's. Bonnie Langford always was a much better actress than people gave her credit for, and it's great that she gets to play a significant role here. If there's a problem, it's a minor one - the lack of any proper explanation as to how she got back to Earth in the present day.

Another positive is Susan Twist as Triad. Not only do we get an explanation for the recurring characters looking like her, but she is also well integrated into the story and delivers an engaging performance as both the likeable Susan and the evil "angel of death" version. That make-up is very good - which makes the use of CGI for Sutekh all the more frustrating.

Gabriel Woolf at least gets to voice the character once again, after originating him in Pyramids of Mars. He had, of course, already bridged the two iterations of the series by voicing the Beast in The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit.

Anita Dobson features only briefly as Mrs Flood - her mystery reserved for another time - and the story concludes with her once again breaking the fourth wall, dressed in white furs and holding a parasol on a rooftop. Fans had speculated about her as well - and this time they would be correct.

The latest scientific adviser is Morris Gibbons, played by Lenny Rush. He had been due to voice Space Baby Eric but the production team thought he deserved a much better role, and one on screen.

The only other new characters whom we haven't seen before are Ruby's birth mother Louise, played by Faye McKeever, and Harriet Arbinger, played by Genesis Lynea.

McKeever appeared in Sky One supermarket comedy Trollied, as well as real life crime drama serials Des (which starred David Tennant) and Little Boy Blue.

Lynea has appeared in Casualty and Silent Witness, but on stage she originated the role of Anne of Cleves in the musical Six, based around the wives of Henry VIII.

Overall, it gets off to a good start but begins to go off the rails the instant you see that Sutekh now looks like a big computer-animated dog...

Things you might like to know:

• The appearance of the Memory TARDIS would clearly be an attempt to canonise the Tales from the TARDIS, which first appeared for the 60th Anniversary as a framing device to get old companion actors to reprise their roles and introduce one of their classic era stories - a way to repackage repeats, basically.
• Apparently RTD2 was inspired to make Ruby's mother an ordinary human after watching The Last Jedi. And look how that turned out...
• Mel was originally to have perished with all the other UNIT characters at the start of the second episode.
• The Doctor claims never to have seen Susan since the day he left her behind in 22nd Century London. How that fits with all that spin-off material is anyone's guess - and what about The Five Doctors?
• He also claims to be able to recognise another Time Lord simply by looking into their eyes - even though he failed to recognise Missy and "O" as incarnations of the Master.
• Triad's little dance as she came on stage was a reference to one given by PM Theresa May during the 2018 Conservative Party conference.
• Other versions of Triad were to have featured in a longer pre-credits sequence, including one involving Zarbi.
• The Memory TARDIS was to have vanished once the Doctor regained his real one, but RTD2 decided to keep it for potential future appearances.
• Bonnie Langford's reaction to the Sixth Doctor's coat was a genuine one, as the actress recalled her time working on the show with Colin Baker.
• Some fans thought Mrs Flood might be Romana, purely because the final wintry outfit hinted at the one she had worn on the planet Ribos.
• Bizarrely, RTD2 introduces the concept that a Time Lord can have a grandchild before they have a child, being "non-linear" beings.
• But then he also came up with the concept of "the death of death means life" as a means of hitting his boringly predictable big reset button, and "intelligent rope" just to add to the cop-out ending.
• Finally, a good cartoon is worth repeating: