Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 1

The one where the Doctor goes pot-holing...

After a great opening scene in which two men are attacked by what seems to be a giant lizard while pot-holing (it'd make a great pre-credits sequence), we join the Doctor flat on his back under his new car, seemingly the new wheels the Brigadier promised him last week. In a jarringly self-referential move, the Doctor appears to be fixing a new registration plate to the car, WHO 1, and has named it Bessie. I've never really wondered why the car is called Bessie before, but it begs the question of what the Doctor names the car after. Bessie is short for either Elizabeth or Beatrice, and derives from the Hebrew for "pledged to God", which gives some insight into how the Doctor might see himself - or, of course, he could have named it after his new companion, Liz!

This new Doctor is shaping up very nicely already, no doubt helped by Jon Pertwee's very self-confident performance and sense of self. Pertwee was a very confident man who knew exactly who he was and what he wanted, and this seeps into his Doctor very naturally. He is a self-assured presence in any room, but retains a rather sweet politeness, especially towards Liz. I'm not sure what happened behind the scenes between Spearhead from Space and this story, but Liz does seem to have softened a little, and her leggy attire suggests new producer Barry Letts perhaps viewed the character quite differently to his predecessor, Derrick Sherwin. I do hope the character won't get watered down too much.

I like how Liz manages to persuade the Doctor to go to Wenley Moor, as the Brigadier ordered, by convincing him that it'd be a good ride out for Bessie, and that there are caves at the end of it. She is obviously a good judge of character and knows how to deal with the Doctor's self-importance ("I never report myself anywhere, particularly not forthwith!"). We then get a gorgeous shot of the Doctor and Liz speeding along a high street among all the regular traffic, the bright yellow Bessie sticking out like a sore brake pad!

At Wenley Moor Atomic Research Station, boss Dr Lawrence seems to be a somewhat unpleasant man. Peter Miles is perfect casting as the supercilious director, with his fruitless comb-over and Kenneth Williams-esque nasal voice. He is not happy that UNIT have camped out in his research station to investigate the strange goings-on (that perfectly sums UNIT up, doesn't it? "Strange goings-on"!). There's been an unusually high amount of absenteeism and psychological problems among staff over the last three months, plus a series of unaccounted power losses which run the risk of turning the atomic cyclotron into a bomb.

Most of the episode sees the Doctor investigating the problems thoroughly, talking to personnel such as Dr Quinn and Dr Meredith and piecing together different parts of the puzzle. This is Doctor Who as Quatermass, with very little sign of anything alien or otherworldly. It's a world of admin and buff files, of trimphones and computer spools, and although it's all pleasingly human drama, like an episode of Doomwatch or Strange Report, I imagine the younger audience at the time were a little bored by proceedings (tellingly, viewing figures fell by 1.5m between episodes 1 and 2, and pretty much stayed that way).

There's a nice turn from Fulton Mackay as Dr Quinn though, a man who seems to be in cahoots with Miss Dawson over something ("They've got to stop," whispers Dawson. Who's "they"?). Quinn presents a facade of carefree cooperation to hide his true intentions. His aim seems to be the attainment of some kind of knowledge, and judging by their ever-so-slightly familiar body language, he and Miss Dawson may well be more than just colleagues (she places her hand on his shoulder and calls him John). Writer Malcolm Hulke also manages to give the so-far minor character of Major Baker an entire back-story in one line by revealing that he "slipped up badly once some years go, and has been trying to make up for it ever since". Clever characterisation.

Poor Liz gets little to do except shuffle papers, which is far beneath her capabilities. The Brigadier says: "Personnel, this will be dealt with by Miss Shaw", to which Liz spikily replies: "Oh yes?". The Brig isn't exactly a feminist when it comes to these matters, which is unsurprising as he's very much a military man (remember his shocking sexism towards Isobel and Zoe in The Invasion?), and so his underestimation of Liz and her skills is quite characterful. I hope Liz doesn't give in without a fight.

Pertwee is magnificent, striding about Barry Newbery's wonderful cyclotron room set like a man who's been playing Doctor Who for years. He looks stunning in his black and red opera cape and frills, and gets right to the heart of the drama, showing that the Doctor is instantly suspicious of pretty much everyone and everything. He quickly identifies that there are missing records in the log book, and appears to see through Quinn's somewhat bemused attitude to events.

The Doctor is, however, outraged that the Brigadier won't take his suspicions seriously, leading to a nicely written and played tete-a-tete between the two in which a pencil goes flying across the studio! "You're not exactly a little Sherlock Holmes yourself, are you?" flames the Doctor (the Brig seems visibly angered by this), but the two reconcile quite easily when the power fails yet again, and the Brigadier proffers: "Come on, Dr Watson!" It's a nice little scene which reflects the fundamental dynamic between the two - mutual respect, but with an edge of mutual frustration too.

Mind you, the Doctor does make quite a leap by linking Spencer's wall drawings to the assumption that whatever he saw while pot-holing in the caves has sent his mind back by millions of years. Spencer is obviously very disturbed, but to assume he's reverted to Paleolithic times just because he's drawing a lizard on the wall is quite a leap! And why doesn't the Doctor take a bit more notice of what exactly Spencer is drawing on the wall, rather than questioning him? The clues are there...

The cliffhanger sees the lone Doctor go down into the caves to investigate what Spencer and Davies might have seen. He finds a pickaxe, then a rope, then... bloody hell, it's a rubber dinosaur puppet! I'm sorry, but no matter how much director Timothy Combe tries to hide the fact by crash-zooming in on its eye and teeth, that dinosaur is really rubbish!

Oh, and I can't really let this review end without mentioning the lovely Roy Branigan as Roberts. There, done.

First broadcast: January 31st, 1970

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Barry Newbery's design of the cyclotron room and the caves is really convincing and impressive, but then Newbery's work was always exemplary.
The Bad: That rubbery dinosaur.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 1
Neck-rub tally: 0

NEXT TIME: Episode 2...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 2; Episode 3; Episode 4; Episode 5; Episode 6; Episode 7

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.com/2014/04/doctor-who-and-silurians.html

Doctor Who and the Silurians is available on BBC DVD as part of the Beneath the Surface box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Beneath-Silurians-Warriors/dp/B000ZZ06XQ.