The Web of Fear Episode 1

The one where the menace is spreading and Londoners are fleeing...

Picking up right from the end of last week's episode, in which the Doctor's evil double Salamander was sucked out of the TARDIS and into the void, this episode opens full-pelt. There's some great "hanging on" acting from Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling, and Frazer Hines is particularly good at pretending he's clutching onto the TARDIS wall, then "falling" onto the console. What bothers me most about all this is how the Doctor doesn't seem at all bothered or regretful of the fact Salamander is, as he puts it, "floating around in time and space". Evil he may have been, but surely he didn't deserve that?

We're also treated to another of those marvellous scenes which are becoming a hallmark of Season 5, in which the Doctor expresses childlike glee and enthusiasm for the adventurous life he leads. Previously touched upon in The Tomb of the Cybermen ("Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing") and The Ice Warriors ("Let's go in!"), I adore how Troughton expresses the excitement of the Doctor's peripatetic existence. "I wonder where it'll be this time?" says Jamie, to which the Doctor - in beautifully lit close-up - replies: "Yes, I wonder!" The look on his face says it all. This is how Doctor Who should be - fun, carefree, exciting and surprising - and not the soap opera gloominess it sometimes became in the 21st century.

We're not three minutes in to the episode and we're given our first sighting of the monster - and it's a Yeti! This Yeti is a deactivated robot exhibit in the museum of one Julius Silverstein, who bought the dormant machine from our old friend Professor Travers 30 years ago when he bought it back from his expedition in Tibet. This is a direct sequel to The Abominable Snowmen, complete with Jack Watling reprising his role as Travers, albeit an elderly man now. However, I'm not hugely impressed with Watling's portrayal of the older Travers, it seems too blustery and OTT. It feels like an affected performance he's putting on, rather than making it seem natural. He does go all out for the "crazy old man" facial expressions though!

It seems Travers has rather unwisely reactivated the silver sphere that powers the Yeti, and now the globe's gone missing from his laboratory. It's pretty obvious where the orb is heading, and sure enough, the shiny ball is soon smashing its way through the museum window and plopping back into place inside the Yeti's cavity. And then, rather marvellously, the Yeti regenerates into a much more svelte and ferocious-looking creature, and one that actually roars (I disliked the mute Yetis of the earlier story). The scenes in Silverstein's dimly lit museum are shot incredibly well, with a fantastic eye for silhouette and shade by both director Douglas Camfield and lighting technician Clive Leighton. The killing of Silverstein (a lovely little turn from Frederick Schrecker) is brutal and tragic.

Back in the TARDIS there's more evidence of the wonderful rapport Troughton, Hines and Watling had nurtured, and they spark off one another so well. It's plain to see that they had a lot of fun making Doctor Who and loved each other's company very much. The bit where Victoria goes off to change her outfit and comes back looking like she's on her way to Woodstock is a bit puzzling. The skirt is ridiculously short and I don't believe for one minute that Victoria would have chosen to wear it. A respectable Victorian teenager like her would surely prefer to tog up and cover her legs a bit more (she comments on how "disgusting" she finds the short skirts of Britannicus Base in The Ice Warriors), not parade around flashing her thighs. I mean, she's not even wearing tights or stockings! Believe me, I'm no prude and I can see why the production team wanted Watling to show a bit more flesh, but I genuinely question whether it's in character. The summery dress she wore in The Tomb of the Cybermen seemed out of place too. Maybe Victoria has been directly influenced by Fariah's short skirt in The Enemy of the World? I don't know, it just feels wrong for the character, especially for her to think the outfit is "sophisticated"!

More fabulously moody Bela Bartok music accompanies the TARDIS trio's exploration of what they soon realise is the London Underground, and David Myerscough-Jones's sets are simply stunning. It genuinely looks like they're on location at Covent Garden, when in actual fact they are in studio. The Doctor suggests that the Tube network is a bit after Victoria's time, which is simply not true. By 1867, the date of The Evil of the Daleks, work on the Underground was already several years down the line, and would be known to her (although Covent Garden didn't open until 1907). I do like the Doctor's reference to the stairs at Covent Garden though, which are notoriously exhausting - there are 193 steps from bottom to top, and nowadays are only used in an emergency!

It seems there is a military presence on the Underground, and that the trains haven't been running for some time. A newspaper billboard tells us that there has been some kind of catastrophe in the capital, and Londoners have fled as an unnamed menace spreads. I'm guessing that menace is something to do with the Yeti, who now seem to have their own guns which shoot a strange web-like gunk (the same substance that trapped the TARDIS in space). It's a truly bizarre combination of elements - the Tube, the Yeti and the Army, but that's what Doctor Who does best.

There are some nice characters emerging too, much better written than those of The Abominable Snowmen. I love Jon Rollason's effete journalist Harold Chorley, while Tina Packer's Anne Travers is a splendidly spiky feminist ("What's a girl like you doing in a job like this?" asks Captain Knight. "Well, when I was a little girl I thought I'd like to be a scientist, so I became a scientist!"). Anne's not standing for any mansplaining chauvinism, but tackles it with a cheeky smile and a knowing self-confidence. Knight's got a point though: what is she doing there? She's only just flown in from somewhere at her father's behest, so for her to suddenly be embroiled in the military shenanigans on the Underground feels a bit of a jolt.

And quite why the Army is blowing up Charing Cross station is beyond me. If they do that, they won't just block off a tunnel or two, the whole roof might cave in and goodness knows what chaos will result. Seems a bit drastic to me, whatever their ultimate plan is.

First broadcast: February 3rd, 1968

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: David Myerscough-Jones's Underground sets are astonishingly realistic, shot wonderfully by Douglas Camfield and lit beautifully by Clive Leighton.
The Bad: Jack Watling's performance is too large to fit the mood of the piece.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 2...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 2; Episode 3; 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-web-of-fear.html

The Web of Fear is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Web-Fear-DVD/dp/B00FRL73G6.