The Enemy of the World Episode 3

The one where Fedorin becomes Deadorin...

Oh, be still my pounding heart - it's Jamie in a rubber uniform! I know it's rather seedy to start a review off with such salacious observations, but it's impossible for me to ignore the fact that Frazer Hines looks very tasty in that costume (thanks Martin Baugh!). I remember feeling similarly impressed with Jamie (and Ben) in rubber wetsuits in The Underwater Menace, but this outfit excels in every way!

Right, enough of that. What's happening with furry-faced Fedorin? I'm wondering how much of the dossier Salamander has on him is true and how much is fabricated, because Fedorin himself gives conflicting evidence. He claims the file is all lies, but also says that Salamander has "found things out" about him. He says they're lies, but as the Mexican tyrant puts it: "Lies... truth... Who knows?" Either way, I'm not sure how secure that file is in Salamander's flimsy wall safe.

Meanwhile, outgoing Controller Denes is being held prisoner in a corridor, because apparently it's easier that way. What, easier than putting him in a cell or small box room? Denes is being guarded by the very sweet and handsome Janos, who I'm sure could pass for the Eleventh Doctor if he tried hard. Actor Bill Lyons would go on to great achievements behind the camera as a writer of series such as Z Cars, EastEnders, Eldorado, Emmerdale and even Blake's 7 (Season 4's Games), but for now, I'm happy to appreciate his younger, boyish self (in Martin Baugh's rubber costume). Ahem.

Janos is only a minor part, but at least writer David Whitaker gives him a real name (unlike the person who wrote the end credits) and a bit of a character. He flirts with Astrid when she comes to deliver the message ("You like wine?" he beams), and it's lovely the way Mary Peach plays the moment, grinning back with guarded amusement. A little later, she's forced to clobber him during Denes's escape, apologising as she chops him to the ground. A delightful mini story arc.

By far the best character in this episode though (and sadly, only this episode) is Griffin the chef, played with philosophical relish by Reg Lye (a future frequent collaborator with Dick Emery and Morecambe and Wise). Griffin is a beautiful gem of a character placed in the middle of the story by David Whitaker and gifted with line after line of sparklingly funny dialogue. Griff is a gift of a part, but could have been wasted by an actor who didn't recognise the comedy value of the lines. Griff is the world's eternal pessimist, a man who expects that a firing squad would miss him, that rats will gnaw through the gas pipes and blow the palace up, who expects it to rain when he goes out for a walk, and who believes that dinner will be a national disaster. Maybe this cynicism stems from his own mother's lack of ambition for him, seeing as she always said he should become a dustman!

I adore Lye's performance and everything about his physicality (a lanky Sid James) and delivery (a voice of gravel and tar). His pot shots at twee Victoria and her frankly pathetic attempt at a menu (or "may-new" as Lye has it) are fab (I mean, who thinks a menu is "Soup, fish, meat, pudding"? That's a description, not a menu!). Victoria's attempt at a recipe is for Kaiser Pudding, her version of the more commonly known Kaiserschmarrn, known well in Hungary. It's also known as Emperor's Mess, somewhat appropriate for Salamander!

The Griffin cameo is topped off beautifully by the moment where he crawls under the table to avoid the gunshots and proclaims the immortal line: "Why did I ever leave Woolloomooloo?" It's hilarious! And yes, Woolloomooloo is a real place, a suburb of Sydney, and is referenced in pop culture quite regularly, by the likes of Monty Python, Flight of the Conchords, and even Jean Michel Jarre!

From the presidential kitchens to a kitchen of a different kind for the one and only scene in this episode featuring the Doctor. Benik's destructive assault on Kent's caravan is an extension of Salamander's thuggery, and although it's a little silly watching Andrew Staines's guard smash up little pieces of crockery with his gun butt, the damage is palpable. Milton Johns makes Benik unctuously smarmy and sneering, and instantly unlikeable. This caravan set is disappointingly makeshift though, with insecure and wobbly cupboards and basins, so it doesn't take much effort for it to be smashed up!

Giles Kent is starting to develop a really unlikeable side too. Maybe he is getting a little impatient with the Doctor's uncharacteristic insistence on hard evidence before he gets involved, but over the course of episodes Kent has become increasingly neurotic and obsessive, to the point where Bill Kerr delivers his dialogue almost like a stream of consciousness ("Years ago, Doctor, when one country wanted to invade another, it set about attacking the confidence of that country, throwing it into confusion, making it weak. Then it was ripe for takeover. Now, isn't that exactly what's happening here, only in a different way?", which he delivers like a runaway train).

A quick mention for the use of stock music in this serial, this time by Bela Bartok, who was born in Hungary (how appropriate!) in 1881. Director Barry Letts uses his scores for Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta as well as The Miraculous Mandarin to underline mostly action scenes, but the use of it is often eccentric, the music fading up and down quite suddenly between rapidly cut scenes. The music is beautiful and energetic, a perfect choice for the story, but it's not used to its best advantage. In this episode there's a moment where the raucous score fades up and we cut to Victoria wheeling a tea trolley along a corridor! Strange. I think it's used much more effectively and judiciously in the next serial, The Web of Fear.

Talking of rapid cuts, that cut between the two last scenes - where Victoria pushes her trolley into the guards, and then when she and Jamie are brought before Salamander - is terribly abrupt, and jars the viewer out of the action so suddenly that you're left wondering what happened.

The death of Fedorin is sadly inevitable. The way Salamander dispatches him is deliciously evil, using the poison Fedorin couldn't bring himself to use on Denes in his drink. Actor David Nettheim chokes on his poisoned Alaskan wine* rather too quickly to be true (within a millisecond of bringing it to his lips!), and dies swiftly. Salamander heartlessly tells the Guard Captain it was suicide, but as he says himself, Fedorin had "one chance". How very Tenth Doctor.

We end with Salamander and Bruce realising that there may be somebody impersonating him in the "Australasion" Zone. It's a nice moment tying the three episodes up rather neatly, but it's hardly a humdinger of a cliffhanger. Despite all its brilliance, The Enemy of the World really does have some weak cliffhangers.

* Alaskan wine really is a thing, although they use berries and vegetables more than grapes.

First broadcast: January 6th, 1968

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Griffin the chef.
The Bad: The eccentric use of Bartok's score is puzzling.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 4...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 4; Episode 5; Episode 6

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-enemy-of-world.html

The Enemy of the World is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Doctor-Who-Enemy-Special/dp/B079MQBNB7/.