The Roof of the World (Marco Polo Episode 1)

The one where the TARDIS's lighting and heating goes on the blink in one of the coldest places on Earth...

The first thing that strikes me about the start of The Roof of the World is just how grumpy the Doctor is! My goodness, he's in a mood! This seems odd seeing as he was in pretty high spirits at the end of The Brink of Disaster after making up with Barbara. But then, maybe this sudden mood swing is understandable: he's having trouble breathing in the thin atmosphere, he's freezing cold and has just discovered that his Ship's broken down (again!). The news that the TARDIS is on the blink would actually be pretty disturbing after what they've just been through, although only the Doctor seems very bothered.

"We're always in trouble, it follows us everywhere!" he blusters, reporting that the lights in the TARDIS have gone out, and the heating's broken too (it's a shame we don't get to see a shadowy TARDIS interior). "Everything's gone to pot!" William Hartnell is a little neurotic in this scene, overplaying the Doctor's anger and frustration a little. "We'll all freeze to death!" he exclaims. Blimey, calm down Doctor!

Ian and Barbara seem quite excited that they may be back on Earth at last, although their wondering is short-lived when they are accosted by a band of fur-clad warriors who take them to their camp elsewhere on the mountainside.

Looking at John Cura's invaluable telesnaps of this lost serial, and listening to William Russell's narration on the soundtrack CD, it's obvious that Barry Newbery's sets and Daphne Dare's costumes were lavish and detailed. One of the most important aspects of any dramatic production, be it on television, in the cinema or on the stage, is the design, both of the sets and the costumes. For an historical serial like Marco Polo, getting the look of the piece right is most of the battle won in convincing the audience we're in the 13th century, on another continent, among a very different civilisation, and Newbery and Dare were talented enough to pull this off with aplomb, and on what must have been a pretty modest budget.

And let's not forget John Lucarotti's elegant script. These characters speak fluidly, naturally, almost lyrically in parts, and his research shines through. Tristram Cary's music is also beautiful, using woodwind and strings to evoke that East Asian feeling without falling into caricature or parody. There's nothing about The Roof of the World that's inauthentic, and along with Waris Hussein's capable direction, it's an almost immersive experience, even without the moving pictures.

Back at camp our schoolteacher friends revert to their vocational origins, Ian explaining why the flames are low (due to the thin atmosphere and lack of oxygen), Barbara trying to identify where and when they are, and who that handsome chap in charge is (oh yes, I think she's taken a shine to him already!). Mark Eden is instantly an impressive guest star, not taking any limelight, but making the right amount of impact simply through his measured performance.

Carole Ann Ford also gets something to chew on, when Susan begins to bond with Ping-Cho, who asks where Susan is from. "I've had many homes in many places," she responds, giving us a suggestion that her travels with her grandfather have been going on for some time. Later in the episode she uses the word "fab" to describe her quarters at Lop, curiously telling Ping-Cho: "It's a verb we often use on Earth." Erm… you are aware you're on Earth in 1289, aren't you Susan? Surely you’re well-travelled enough to realise the naivety of what you're saying?

As Susan learns about the trappings of arranged marriage, so we learn that she is only 16 years old. Her teenage status has always been implied (she was attending secondary school after all), but this confirms that she is human, and so, by association, must her grandfather be. In these early days of Doctor Who, when such things as Time Lords and Gallifrey and regeneration were yet to be invented, the Doctor and his granddaughter were just human wanderers in time and space, most probably exiles from a far-flung future. In many ways, I wish it was still as simple and mysterious as that, more than five decades later…

Lucarotti's characterisation is strong, he creates believable people with great ease. The conversation between Marco and Tegana is packed with character, the former coming across as the open-minded adventurer, the latter close-minded and superstitious. They make for a pair of interesting opposites, and this dynamic will be reproduced in Lucarotti's second Doctor Who script, The Aztecs in the form of Tlotoxl and Autloc. Lucarotti gives these characters beautiful lines, and the actors respond well. "The sun's rays will dispel the shadows from your mind," says Marco. It feels positively Shakespearean.

Derren Nesbitt gives Tegana a rationality that feeds his villainous thought processes, as Lucarotti realises that a truly believable and powerful baddie needs to have convincing motivation. Tegana may be superstitious, but he is not stupid. He has already worked out that the Doctor's caravan (the TARDIS) is not big enough to hold four people. He has also worked out that it has no wheels, so how does it move? Derren Nesbitt is mannered and measured as Tegana, delivering his lines quite slowly and deliberately. This is no maniacal despot. Tegana is an intelligent man to be reckoned with, coming from a very particular point of view.

It's a lovely touch to have Marco writing in his diary, with cutaways of his hand writing his words overlaid with a map of the caravan's progress and destination. It also gives the viewer insight into Marco's thoughts in addition to his actions, and helps enormously to flesh him out as a fully-rounded guest character. But is he as benign as we think? "Success!" he writes. "My plan has worked. I wonder what the strangers' reaction will be when I tell them what I propose to do?"

What he proposes to do is give the TARDIS to Kublai Khan as a gift upon their arrival in Peking, which will hopefully persuade the Khan to allow Marco to return home to Venice after 18 years away. Again, it's so well written that we can sympathise with Marco. He has no idea that the Doctor can't simply build another TARDIS, although the wave of anger that flood out of Hartnell when the Doctor learns of this plan might tell him otherwise. "He doesn't know what he's talking about, the man's a lunatic!" he exclaims, before collapsing into a hysterical fit of giggles. The Doctor is genuinely disturbed by the thought of losing his TARDIS, and finds the idea both ludicrous and amusing. It's like his mind's snapped. It's a slightly incongruous performance from Hartnell, but it fits the character.

We end what has been a rich, involving episode with the discovery that Tegana plans to poison the entire caravan and steal the TARDIS for himself, using the time ship as a weapon to bring his enemy Kublai Khan "to his knees"! OK, so Tegana just turned the Villainy dial up to a full 10!

First broadcast: February 22nd, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: John Lucarotti's world-building is beautiful. We instantly like Marco Polo and we instantly distrust Tegana, but they are fully fleshed-out characters. There's great promise for Ping-Cho too.
The Bad: Although not bad as such, William Hartnell is slightly over the top at the start and the end of this episode, not matching the reactions of the characters around him at all.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: The Singing Sands...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Singing Sands (episode 2); Five Hundred Eyes (episode 3); The Wall of Lies (episode 4); Rider from Shang-Tu (episode 5); Mighty Kublai Khan (episode 6); Assassin at Peking (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.co.uk/2013/04/marco-polo.html

Marco Polo is available as a soundtrack CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Original-Television-Soundtrack/dp/0563535083