P is for... Perkins

Engineer on a luxury spacecraft which was modelled on the famous Orient Express. During one of its voyages a number of people died suddenly, apparently seeing something invisible which horrified them in the minute or so before their deaths. Intrigued, Perkins decided to investigate and discovered that one of the passengers had the same idea - the Doctor. Perkins found him in the baggage car examining the latest victim. He went on to help the Doctor identify the perpetrator - a mummified soldier, enhanced with alien technology, which inhabited a pocket of time 66 seconds outside its normal flow.

Everyone had been lured onto the Orient Express in order that a shadowy corporation might retro-engineer and weaponise this technology. After the Doctor had destroyed the mummy, the corporation - which communicated though an AI known as GUS - elected to remove all evidence of what it had done by blowing up the craft. The Doctor saved everyone by getting them into the TARDIS. Perkins was most impressed with this, but declined to stay on and become its engineer.

Played by: Frank Skinner. Appearances: Mummy on the Orient Express (2014)

• Real name Christopher Graham Collins, Skinner is best known in the UK for his comedy, but he has also acted and presented.
• He collaborated with fellow comedian David Baddiel and band The Lightning Seeds to release the song Three Lions for the 1996 Euros (subsequently re-released twice since then, to tie in with other football tournaments).
• Also a huge Doctor Who fan, he presented a documentary on Terrance Dicks on the Season 8 Blu-ray box set and featured on a Big Finish audio adventure.

P is for... Penley

Computer expert working at Britannicus Base who went into self-imposed exile after frequent arguments with his boss, Clent. The world was in the grip of a new Ice Age, and the base was one of several across the globe attempting to hold the glacial advance at bay. Elric Penley's disagreements with Clent revolved around the latter's obsessive reliance on its computer, despite his own expertise in this area. He felt that human instinct and feelings had to be applied to any situation. 

On leaving the base, he found a refuge in an abandoned botanical museum, which was also home to a scavenger named Storr. He had a profound dislike of science, believing it responsible for the global catastrophe.

Clent's deputy, Miss Garrett, kept discreet contact with Penley - hoping that he might one day return to the fold. She could see how her leader, whom she greatly admired, was struggling to cope with the pressures of command.

When the Doctor arrived at the base and immediately diagnosed a computer problem, he was given Penley's role - but advised that Clent really ought to get his expert back. The two men were too proud to reconcile, however.

The Doctor's companion Jamie was badly injured when investigating a crashed Ice Warrior spaceship, discovered buried within the glacier, and he was rescued and taken in by Penley. Storr died trying to befriend the Martians, and Penley agreed to take Jamie to the base for medical help after meeting with the Doctor. He was able to stun the creatures when they invaded the base, by turning up the temperature and humidity.

He resumed his old role and took the decision to implement the latest action to stop the glacier, when the computer could not provide the answer - leaving Clent unable to give direction. Not only did this halt the advance, but it also destroyed the Ice Warriors and their ship.

Played by: Peter Sallis. Appearances: The Ice Warriors (1967)

• Sallis (1921 - 2017) was all set to return to the series when cast as Captain Striker in Enlightenment. Industrial action led to studio dates having to be changed, and he had to drop out - to be replaced by Keith Barron.
• Sallis will forever be associated with the role of Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine, a part he played for 37 years (295 episodes / 31 seasons). That, and as the voice of Wallace in the Wallace & Gromit animations, voicing the character in all five productions between 1989 - 2008.
• He is buried in the same rural Yorkshire churchyard as his Summer Wine co-star Bill Owen, after they had used the location for filming and fallen in love with it.
• Sallis featured in a couple of Hammer horror movies earlier in his career - Curse of the Werewolf and Taste the Blood of Dracula, the latter of which features a number of Doctor Who guest actors.

P is for... Peladon, King

The young monarch of the planet of the same name, who hosted a commission from the Galactic Federation tasked with assessing his world for membership into that body. He was in favour of this, seeking to modernise Peladon whose society and customs sometimes mirrored that of medieval Europe.

His father had helped open the planet up to the wider galaxy by marrying a woman from Earth, and he wished to build on these ties. In favour was his Chancellor, Torbis, but opposed was High Priest Hepesh, who feared that their old religion and customs would be swept away.

The Doctor and Jo Grant became involved when the TARDIS landed on the planet. He was mistaken for the expected Earth delegate who was to chair the commission, and he presented Jo as a member of the royal family since no commoner could enter the throne room of the citadel. The young King fell in love with her. However, she realised that he cared for her only as a means to achieve his goals. 

Hepesh had Torbis killed, blaming the death on the curse of Aggedor. This was their sacred beast, long extinct and now deified. However, he had found a living specimen and was using it to help undermine the work of the commission. He was working with one of the alien delegates - Arcturus - who sought to exploit the planet for its own race by keeping it out of the Federation.

When the Doctor was accused of blaspheming the sacred Temple of Aggedor, after being tricked into entering it by Hepesh, Peladon claimed that he could not go against their ancient laws in this matter - even if it meant his execution and potential retaliation by the Federation. The best he could do was commute the sentence to mortal combat with his champion, a mute giant named Grun.

Hepesh's guilt was soon exposed and Arcturus destroyed, but the High Priest then seized the throne room and took Peladon hostage - threatening to kill him if he did not reject the Federation. The Doctor found the real Aggedor and brought it to the chamber where it killed Hepesh in retaliation for his cruelty towards it.

The planet would go on to become a member of the Federation and Peladon did marry, his Queen giving birth to a girl named Thalira who succeeded him to the throne. 

The TARDIS had brought the Doctor back to Peladon 50 years after his last visit, where he hoped to meet the King again, but he had already died.

Played by: David Troughton. Appearances: The Curse of Peladon (1972)

• Son of Patrick Troughton, David had once shared a flat with future Doctor Colin Baker.
• In 1986 he co-starred with Peter Davison in A Very Peculiar Practice, playing the obnoxious Bob Buzzard.
• He first appeared in the series in a walk-on role as one of Salamander's guards in The Enemy of the World, and followed this with a more substantial role as Private Moor in The War Games.
• He would return to the series in 2008 to play Professor Hobbes in Midnight - a late replacement for actor Sam Kelly when he broke his leg.
• On telling his father that he had been given a job with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was told not to worry as something else might turn up. His father was famously uninterested in stage work, referring to it as "Shouting in the evenings".
• His sons Sam and William are both actors, and another, Jim, a cricketer. His nephew is Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies.

P is for... Peinforte, Lady

Lady Peinforte resided in 17th Century Windsor, accompanied by her servant Richard Maynard. 

A ruthless individual, she once poisoned her neighbour after she stole her cook.

In the 1630's she discovered a silvery substance in a meteorite which had fallen to earth, and realised that it had strange powers. She fashioned the substance int a statue of herself posing as Nemesis, the goddess of retribution. The substance was actually a Time Lord weapon - a living metal named Validium - which had been brought from Gallifrey by the Doctor. He succeeded in wrestling it from her and launched it back into space.

Lady Peinforte employed a mathematician to plot the time and palce when its orbit would return it to Earth. A mistress of the dark arts, she brewed a potion which she believed would allow her to travel through time to the landing location - which proved to be outside her home in November 1988. The potion needed but one more ingredient - human blood, which she gained by murdering the mathematician. Little did she know that she was actually being manipulated by an ancient entity known as Fenric which, though imprisoned for centuries could create time storms.

On arriving in the present day she found that her home had become a tea room. Not only was she seeking the Nemesis statue, but so also were a group of mercenaries led by a one-time Nazi officer - De Flores. Each held part of the statue, without which it could reach critical mass and its powers be unleashed. She held its arrow, and he its bow. A keen archer, she had melted her gold down and recast it into arrow heads, which she dipped in poison.

The Doctor and his companion also became involved as the he was alerted to the return.

He had regenerated since Lady Peinforte had last seen him, but could still recognise who he was. During her earlier encounter with the Validium, it had revealed secrets to her about his background.

Seeking a weapon to help create a new Mondas, the Cybermen soon arrived in search of the Validium. They seized the statue and moved it to an old crypt nearby - which proved to be that of Lady Peinforte.  Maynard noted that her tomb did not contain her body, however. Her gold-tipped arrows despatched a number of Cybermen.

Later, in trying to obtain the statue, Lady Peinforte threatened to reveal the Doctor's secrets. Physically attempting to seize hold of it, its power consumed her.

Played by: Fiona Walker. Appearances: Silver Nemesis (1988).

• Walker had previously played the villainous Kala in The Keys of Marinus back in 1964.
• She appeared in I, Claudius as Agrippina, and went on to marry its director Herbert Wise.
• Lady Peinforte's name derives from a method of torture /execution - peine forte et dure. This involved the victim being slowly crushed by heavy weights, in cases where someone refused to submit a plea. By dying without a plea, a victim could ensure their property could be inherited by their family and so avoid confiscation by the crown.

Episode 169: The Evil of the Daleks (7)

Synopsis:

The Emperor of the Daleks informs the Doctor that he will be forced to take the "Dalek Factor" and spread it throughout all of human history using the TARDIS...

In a special weapons room nearby, the Daleks prepare a machine.

In their cell, Maxtible is telling his fellow captives about the promise made to him by the Daleks, to provide him with the secret of turning base metals into gold. When Jamie threatens him, a Dalek guard orders that he is not to be harmed.

Waterfield attempts to get Maxtible to use his apparent influence with the creatures to help them but he refuses. The Doctor tells Victoria that he may have to sacrifice everyone to avoid doing what the Emperor has demanded. He cannot see the whole human race destroyed just to save their lives. At one point he considers taking them away in the TARDIS, possibly to his own planet.

In the weapons room, a Black Dalek is shocked when one of the worker Daleks questions an order. It goes to report this to the Emperor.

A panel opens in the cell, and the prisoners are able to see into the weapons room where the machine is ready. Maxtible then witnesses a quantity of iron being turned into gold. He is encouraged to move forward to see the device more clearly, but as he passes under the door arch his body is enveloped in a strange forcefield.

The Doctor realises that he has been subjected to the "Dalek Factor" and now, mentally, he is one of them.

The Emperor meanwhile insists that the Black Dalek to identify the test Dalek which had questioned its orders.

That night, Maxtible hypnotises the Doctor and has him pass under the archway - promising that he will be reunited with the TARDIS which has been placed outside the city. This is a ruse to turn him into a mental Dalek like himself. They will now work together to refine the "Factor".

Maxtible shows him the equipment they will use, but the Doctor secretly tampers with it - swapping a glass vial for another he had in his pocket. He indicates to Jamie with a wink that he has not been transformed. he then insists on being taken to see the Emperor.

In the control centre he explains that the Daleks who have been infected with the "Human Factor" can be cured with exposure to the "Dalek Factor". All Daleks must pass through the arch to ensure that no rebellious element remains to sow dissent.

The Emperor agrees, and the Daleks begin to file under the arch.

The Doctor admits to the prisoners that he has swapped the "Factors" and the Daleks are actually being humanised. He was not affected by the arch as he is not human.

He sends the others to the tunnel system so they can escape the city, though Waterfield insists on staying to look for Maxtible.

Throughout the city, the Black Daleks come across humanised Daleks. When they begin to destroy them, they fight back. Seeing this, the Doctor encourages the humanised ones to rebel.

He finds himself trapped in a corridor as Black Daleks bear down on him and open fire - but Waterfield throws himself into their path, knowing that only the Doctor can save everyone. As he dies, he asks that he look after his daughter.

The Emperor recalls all loyal Daleks to the control centre to defend it as battle rages through the city. 

As they pass along the tunnel, Maxtible attacks the fleeing prisoners. He kills Kemel by throwing him over a precipice, but then withdraws due to the Emperor's recall order.

The Doctor sees him heading into the midst of the fighting, before making his own escape.

Soon the conflict reaches the control centre and the Emperor itself is attacked.

The Doctor heads for the hillside where the TARDIS is located, and where Victoria and Jamie are now waiting. He tells her of her father's sacrifice, and informs Jamie that they will take her with them.

As they stand overlooking the burning city, the Doctor tells them both that they have just witnessed the final end of the Daleks...

Next time: The Tomb of the Cybermen

Data:

Written by David Whitaker

Recorded: Saturday 24th June 1967 - Lime Grove Studio D

First broadcast: 6.25pm, Saturday 1st July 1967

Ratings: 6.1 million / AI 56

VFX: Michealjohn Harris & Peter Day

Designer: Chris Thompson

Director: Derek Martinus

Critique:

And so Season 4 comes to an end with what could be described as the first ever proper season finale. The series hasn't done anything really special to close its seasons so far - or to open a new one - but here we see the final destruction of the Doctor's arch-enemies after four long years, something akin to the type of finale we have been given since 2005.

As we've previously noted, Terry Nation was seeking to launch the Daleks in their own TV series and interest from the BBC had not been forthcoming. He was still adamant that such a series could be a success and so was now looking to the US for a production partnership.

Unhappy with the way Whitaker treated his creations, and the complication of their ownership being shared with the BBC, Nation had elected to withdraw permission to use them in Doctor Who.

The Evil of the Daleks would therefore see the Daleks being written out of the series with the Doctor finally defeating them by triggering a cataclysmic civil war.

This pleased Innes Lloyd as he now had the popular Cybermen as the new recurring menace for the Doctor to encounter - and the BBC did not have to pay extra for their use as they had with the Daleks.

Whitaker titled this episode "The End of the Daleks".

For the Dalek weapons room he included in his script references to a number of specific machines, all of which had featured in the 1965 publication The Dalek Pocketbook and Space-Travellers Guide from Souvenir Press - mostly his own work. These devices included a Dust Gun, capable of spraying deadly dust throughout the cosmos; the Magnetron, which can attract spaceships out of the sky and force them to land on Skaro to be examined and retro-engineered; and the Dreamwave, capable of transmitting images into the minds of their enemies at great distances. 

A Magnetron device had actually featured in the TV series, in The Daleks' Master Plan.

Filming for the final episode took place on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th April, when some 15 Louis Marx toy Daleks were filmed at Ealing for the battle sequences. Some had their domes painted black but otherwise they had not been adapted, unlike the ones used in The Power of the Daleks for the production line sequences.

They had small explosive charges built in and some contained packets of a gooey substance. These were shot on silent 16mm film.

The destruction of the Dalek city model was also captured during these sessions.

More substantial filming too place at Ealing between the studio recording of Episodes 1 and 2, for the live action battle scenes. These were directed by Timothy Combe, who was given a credit for these on this episode. He had been working on the series as a Production Assistant since 1964, and would go on to direct two Jon Pertwee adventures.

This took place on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th May. Footage was again silent, but on 35mm film this time, using two cameras. 

Peter Day and Michealjohn Harris provided lightweight Dalek props, made of balsa-wood and polystyrene to be blown up, their casings filled with green foam. A lightweight version of the Emperor was also created for scenes where it is apparently wrecked. This had removeable panels, with electronics installed behind. The molten foam caused problems as the studio staff refused to clean up the mess afterwards. Three of the Daleks had been given black domes, with two silver. Sound effects included pouring water onto hot metal to produce a sizzling noise.

As the Emperor prop was about to be exploded, word came down from Sydney Newman, via Innes Lloyd, that there was to be some hint that the Daleks might survive - leaving the door open for their potential return at some later date. Once the Emperor blew up, Combe arranged for a small light to continue to pulse within it, suggesting that it still lived.

This filming was captured by studio designer Tony Cornell on 8mm and, along with some of the city model filming and the off-air audio recording, has subsequently been released as "The Last Dalek" on DVD / Blu-ray, giving us a taste of the story's epic conclusion. Another version on DVD features a commentary track by the VFX staff in place of the soundtrack.

The final episode was recorded at Lime Grove on Saturday 24th June when Patrick Troughton's son Michael, who would go on to appear in Last Christmas, was in attendance as a visitor. He got to sit inside a Black Dalek. Two of the props had black domes and the other three silver, though once again the domes were interchangeable if necessary. The fifth Dalek was operated by Ken Tyllsen, who had once played a Sensorite and had operated a Dalek before in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Two recording breaks were planned - the first coming after Maxtible had been to report to the Emperor, accompanied by a Black Dalek, and the other after the Doctor encouraged his friends to leave the cell through the transforming arch.

The inlay effect was used for people passing under the arch, as their bodies were seen to ripple and distort.

One sequence planned but never filmed was when a Dalek went out of control in the weapons room, smashing into various glass tubes and bottles. Unfortunately these had already been broken during the day through careless handling, so the shot had to be dropped.

As with the end of the previous episode, the set was composed of lattice-like elements which could be rearranged to form different rooms and corridors. This required careful lighting as other sets might show beyond them.

There were a number of small cuts made for timing reasons - six in all. The first was just after the reprise as the Doctor, Jamie and Waterfield are led from the control centre to the cell. The Doctor ponders why the Dalek Emperor is so sure he will help them. The second was a scene of Daleks checking their machines in the weapons room. The third was the end of a scene in which the Doctor and Maxtible discuss the control device which had been used on Terrall.

Next was a sequence just after Maxtible had been transformed, where the Doctor attempts to speak with Alpha before it is sent away. Jamie asked if it really was Alpha, but the Doctor wasn't sure.

The fifth cut came in the scene where Maxtible reports back to the Emperor that the experiment has been successful. The final edit came with a cell scene in which Victoria tried to reassure Jamie, after he believes that the Doctor has been transformed.

Interestingly, the Doctor at one point talks about taking his fellow prisoners away in the TARDIS, to either another universe or to his home planet - the first time he has mentioned this since his personal musings alone in the TARDIS at the end of The Massacre. Then he had talked of going home himself, before accepting that he somehow cannot. All we know of his home is that it is "a long, long way from Earth". We'll learn a little more about the Doctor in another quiet scene between him and Victoria in the next story.

The talk of going to another universe seems to be a throwback to the earliest days of the series, when the writers - Whitaker included - demonstrated a rather shaky grasp of cosmology. We'll later discover that there is only one prime universe, with others being only rarely visited alternative dimensions, accessed accidentally. Basically, the writers confuse universes with galaxies.

Some questions we need to ask: if the Daleks know that the test subjects had marks placed on their casings by the Doctor, why do they need to subject every one to the "Factor"? Surely they could just look for the marks - yet the Black Dalek claims they have searched "without success".

Also, why is the TARDIS moved outside the city, when Maxtible only needs to make the Doctor think it's there? If he believes his hypnotism is effective, why move it at all? It's a bit of a contrivance that the ship is safely outside the city when it is destroyed. 

Season 4 had seen the biggest shake-up in the series' history to date, with the high risk strategy of changing the lead actor at the conclusion of its second story; the arrival of the Cybermen as a popular new menace; and the introduction of a highly popular companion in Jamie. After initially wanting to have contemporary companions reflecting Swinging London, Lloyd had cooled on the idea and now gone for a pair of companions who both came from Earth's history (though he had tried to retain a contemporary companion had Pauline Collins agreed to stay on as Samantha Briggs). The issue that people from the past would need to have everything explained to them - as previously argued by John Wiles and Donald Tosh - had been resolved by simply ignoring the problem.

Behind the scenes there had been some consistency, in that Lloyd remained producer throughout, and Gerry Davis only stepped down part way through the final story. And whilst Lloyd was keen to move on, his successor was already working on the series and being groomed to take over, helping to make for a smooth transition when the time came - a time which was rapidly approaching...

Whilst it was the end of the season for the viewers, the production team would go straight into the next story, which would then be held back to open the fifth season.

Trivia:

• The ratings see a slight dip for this final episode, though it manages to achieve the highest appreciation figure of the serial.
• The episode was broadcast at a later time due to live coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which placed it against the popular talent show Opportunity Knocks! on ITV.
• The episode was repeated at 5.15pm on Saturday 23rd August 1968, when it was watched by an audience of 5.5 million - a huge increase on the previous week. The AI was 49.
• An Audience Research Report was commissioned  for this episode in early August. There were 180 respondents, some of whom hoped that the Daleks were gone for good. A small number hoped that the entire series would not return. Positives included a general satisfaction with Patrick Troughton's performance, and the "absolutely wonderful" special effects.
• For some reason the story was sold to Australia later than most, so that it was first broadcast between The Web of Fear and Fury From The Deep. 
• It was shown in August 1969 in Hong Kong, Singapore in December that year, and New Zealand in the summer of 1970. By the mid 1970's all copies were believed destroyed, until Episode 2 turned up at a car boot sale in 1983.
• The story was released in animated form in 2021, along with the orphan episode. A couple of easter eggs to look out for are the names of later Doctor actors on the shields in the trophy room, and Maxtible has candlesticks in the form of Weeping Angels.
• The story generated a DWM comic strip sequel featuring the Eighth Doctor - Children of the Revolution - which depicts Dalek Alpha and the humanised Dalek survivors living secretly underwater.
• Cut lines from Day of the Daleks would have revealed that the rebellion on Skaro was eventually quashed.
• You could get your photograph taken with a Black Dalek at Dudley Zoo in 1967...

• And pop group The Troggs (best known for Wild Thing) had themselves pictured with one of the props...

• Finally, another wonderful retro movie-style poster from Oliver Arkinstall-Jones:

Cybermen @ Peterborough (2)

The last of my photo posts from the Peterborough museum exhibition covers the later Cybermen, from the JNT era through "Nu Who". You saw some images of the first of the three Cyber-displays when I covered the 1960's models in a previous post.

The second row features the 1980's ones, and includes some actual screen-used costumes.

A Cyberman from Earthshock (judging by the moonboots) and the Controller from Attack of the Cybermen. This is the actual suit worn by Michael Kilgarriff in the story, bought at auction. The mannequin had to be padded in order to mount it properly.

Then a standard Cyberman from Attack of the Cybermen - another original costume - and one from Silver Nemesis. This is a reproduction made for the Hyde Fundraisers group.

The latter suffered a mishap as the display was being set up. The mannequin fell over and the helmet smashed - lucky it was only a reproduction - so the donor had to quickly create a replacement.

We then move onto the revived series, with a rather oddly posed Cybus Cyberman accompanied by a Cybershade from The Next Doctor and one of the models first introduced in Nightmare in Silver:

In the room containing the masks and models we also have "Handles" from The Day of the Doctor and a Cybergun, in a case next to the Julian Bleach Davros:

It's then onto the Chibnall era to finish off, with Ashad and a Cyber-Warrior from Ascension of the Cybermen and a finally CyberMaster from The Power of the Doctor. Nice seeing the detailing on the latter's suit up close.

Personally, other than the impressive Emperor, I would say that the Cyberman display on show at Peterborough is superior to the Dalek collection in its wide range of costumes, from The Tenth Planet through The Wheel in Space to The Power of the Doctor (though I'm always biased in favour of the Cybermen over the motorised dustbins anyway).

That's it for now. I may be revisiting the exhibition very soon as I'm back in London, though I may hold fire until the autumn to see if they've added some other items.

That holiday runs 26th July to 3rd August when there'll be no posts, but I'll stick a "Blog Update" out nearer the time.

What's Wrong With... The Mark of the Rani

Too many Time Lords, that's one of the things.... Instead of getting her own introductory story all to herself, the Master gets shoehorned into what is really a very simple and straightforward plot by the Rani. She's out to harvest chemicals from the human brain which will pacify the people of the planet she has taken over. She has tampered with their neural chemistry so that they need to sleep less, and so can work more. This has led to them becoming overly stimulated physically and emotionally, however. 

She picks times of great upheaval so that no-one will notice that her victims are acting very aggressively.

In this instance she picks the period of English history known as the Luddite Riots - and there we have a couple of problems.

The first is that there were lots of nice big wars going on around this time - the biggest being the Napoleonic Wars but there were dozens of other conflicts all across the globe in the first quarter of the 19th Century to pick from.

Secondly, the Luddite Riots were primarily aimed at the manufacturing industries, especially cotton - a violent reaction by some workers to the threat to their jobs from automation. They occurred roughly between 1811 - 1816. Killingworth is very much a coal mining district, producing the key raw material needed to fuel the mill towns such as "Cottonopolis" - Manchester. There's no evidence of any manufacturing going on here. Automation had very little impact on jobs in the mining industry, which is why it remained labour intensive up to its decline.

The riots had peaked by 1813, and George Stephenson did not produce his first locomotive until the following year. (We see what looks like The Rocket, but that was actually built by his son Robert in 1829).

If the Rani needs brain chemicals to subdue an entire planet's population, surely it will take her decades to harvest enough fluid using the occasional customer of a village bath-house.

Going undercover at a hospital in a war zone would have been far more efficient for her needs.

We first see the Master standing in a field disguised as a scarecrow. Why? 

Did he somehow know that the Doctor's TARDIS was going to arrive there in the next few minutes, or has he been hanging around there for hours (or days / weeks) on the off-chance his arch enemy might show up?

Even if we allow for the fact that he deliberately caused the TARDIS to go off course, how did he know that the Doctor was heading for somewhere in this general time zone anyway?

(Kew Gardens did not open to the general public until 1840 by the way, well after the events depicted here).

What, exactly, is the Master's plan here anyway? It appears to be another attempt to meddle in Earth history by interfering with the Industrial Revolution which, considering it has been going on for a while by this stage, is surely "small time villainy" once again on his part.

How exactly does he intend to interfere, if he only finds out about the Rani's mind-controlling maggots after he has already come here? Was he going to hypnotise all the visitors to Ravensworth's conference individually? Was his plan to assassinate them? If so, then just about all their inventions would have been developed by their rivals / relatives / assistants anyway, sooner or later.

Back to disguises: no-one knows the Rani here, so why does she feel the need to wear a mask to run the bathhouse?

And is the Doctor putting some dirt on his face really enough to confuse the Rani? She's seen him enter the village on the back of a cart only a short time ago, but doesn't recognise it's him in the bathhouse until she's about to drain off his brain fluid.

It's a small place so she ought to spot strangers straight away, and this guy has just gone right past her holding a loudly bleeping electronic device.

When the volcano trap ignites, why do they not simply run out of the door? We know it's not locked because he opens it to let the gas out.

In the same way we questioned why a Time Lord would pause to name the type of weapon that's about to shoot him dead, instead of running away or punching his attacker, why does the Doctor feel the need to reel off the multi-syllable name of the chemical that is about to poison him and his companion?

It's mustard gas (which would have been quicker to say if he really does insist on Peri knowing what's about to kill her), so donning gas masks wouldn't stop them getting blistered skin.

And why does this basic gas trap need a TARDIS to power it?

There's some dreadful dialogue as well, such as the Rani's "You and the Doctor are a well matched pair of pests". One's a mass murderer and the other stands for everything which she doesn't, yet she can only describe them as "pests".

The Bakers are infamous for using ten words, the more elaborate the better, where simpler, more straightforward, language would do - e.g. "Fortuitous would be a more apposite epithet". It's all very well helping the kids expand their vocabulary, though I don't know how many went into school the next week saying this instead of "'Lucky' would be a better word".

At one point Peri says "You suspect another motive?". When does she ever speak like this? She would say "You think (s)he's up to something?".

Why does the Master think that shoving the Doctor's TARDIS down a pit will destroy it?

How can a Time Lord be fooled into thinking that the Rani has invented a scanner that can somehow show thoughts instead of real images when any old TARDIS has this function built-in anyway - like when the Doctor used such a device to show Zoe a summer repeat of The Evil of the Daleks?

Even the moronic Moroks had tech that could do this.

Why does the Master use one of the scarce maggots to hypnotise Luke, when he could just have done this himself and saved the beastie for another time? 

Why does Peri have to set out and concoct a herbal remedy? Does Killingworth not have any doctors?

We can't put it off any longer, but the plastic tree needs to be talked about. It's one of the worst effects in the history of the series. The pair which hold the Doctor up are just as bad. Note how the rope tying him has modern sticky tape on it and plastic tips.

The Rani emerges from her ship with only a couple of mines, yet later the dell is supposed to be littered with them. (And does the Doctor go back and deactivate them all after? Doesn't look like it).

Still, could be a lot worse. They could have had the Rani breathing on people and turning them into plants. That would have been really stupid...