Kidnap (The Sensorites Episode 5)

The one where the Doctor loses a jacket but gains a cloak...

If you want to see an old pro showing how it should really be done, watch the opening moments of Kidnap. You'll get to see William Hartnell acting his socks off while the episode and writer's captions fade in and out (I mentioned how awkward this could be in my review of Hidden Danger). Hartnell was always fantastic at acting with his face - he had very expressive features and knew it - but just watch him milk this close-up for all its worth, and wring as much creeping horror out of the moment as possible!

The Doctor literally has the coat torn from his back (but his shirt, waistcoat and skin are unharmed, oddly) by an unseen monster, and is rescued by a groggy Ian and a slightly unconcerned Susan. They soon establish the fact that one of the Sensorites must be working against them, but little do they know there's just such a whiskery fellow spying on them from behind the pipes!

Meanwhile, Ilona Rodgers seems to have been given the Barbara Wright role this week because she's suddenly very inquisitive and sensible, chatting to the Sensorite Scientist and asking all the right questions, although Rodgers still has the ability to give Carol a somewhat removed air. When she hears how much danger the Doctor, Ian and Susan are in in the aqueduct, she ponders: "Those poor people." Yes, those "people" you refer to have names! Those "people" you refer to have saved your life, and your fiance's! Are they no more real to you than just "people"?!

For all of Peter R Newman's clunky dialogue, there are gems too, like when Carol explains to the Scientist what eyelids are, because he doesn't have any. "Shutters over the eyes," she says. "To see all the time is not a good thing," he replies, suggesting Sensorites have permanently dilated eyes and never blink or sleep. But if they could close their eyes, as he might wish, surely he'd be afraid because it would be dark?

Newman's sporadic skill with the written word manifests beautifully in the City Administrator's next scene. After a faltering start in which Arthur Newall stumbles over his words ("I heard them over... over... talking!", followed by a resolute crossing of the arms), we hear what a fabulous orator the Trump-like City Administrator is. If he ran for office as First Elder, his rallying speeches would be spellbinding: "We are nearly surrounded by our enemies... These Earth creatures are working to destroy the Sensorite nation. Their pleasant smiles conceal sharp teeth. Their soft words hide deadly threats. And who opposes them? Weak and timid creatures like this Second Elder here..."

And then he turns nasty, showing his true sadistic side: "I shall imprison you in some room where no light can shine, and fill that room with noise!" A nightmare scenario for any Sensorite, and quite enough to make the Second Elder acquiesce to his demands. What a git.

The rest of the episode is rather inconsequential, consisting of another failed attempt by the Administrator to discredit the TARDIS team, a genuinely amusing impression of a Sensorite running by Susan, and the happy return to sanity for John. Oh, and the Administrator gets a legitimate promotion to Second Elder too, because the real one's been killed by a flimsy chop to the shoulder. The Administrator wastes no time in letting his newfound power go to his whiskery head too!

The Doctor's torn coat is replaced by a new cloak, a gift from the First Elder which actually results in the Doctor being acquitted of the accusation of murdering the Second Elder. "Beau Brummel always said I looked better in a cloak!" chuckles the Doctor. I wondered if this was the same cloak the Doctor wears in Planet of Giants (it's not, it's a different colour) or The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (it's not, there's a clasp on that one), but I do love Newman's tendency to broaden the world of the Doctor's travels by mentioning off-screen adventures (Brummel here, the planet Esto in The Unwilling Warriors, and Henry VIII in Strangers in Space).

There's also a scene where John, Carol and Susan are scoffing a finger buffet laid on by the Sensorites, and Carol boldly announces that she can't wait to get back to Earth because she longs for a thick, juicy steak. For a tiny moment there, I wondered what she was actually going to say, but it was a steak. Even more amusingly, John replies: "You'll just have to make do with a small, juicy fruit!" I really hope John and Carol aren't using euphemisms for their physical relationship here.

And just as I was beginning to think Kidnap was one of those Doctor Who episodes with a title that makes no sense, an entire 25 minutes in, Carol is kidnapped. Cue credits!

First broadcast: July 25th, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The highlight for me is Hartnell's caption-acting right at the start! It's just downhill from there.
The Bad: Something. Please. Happen. Soon!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: A Desperate Venture...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Strangers in Space (episode 1); The Unwilling Warriors (episode 2); Hidden Danger (episode 3); A Race Against Death (episode 4); A Desperate Venture (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/2013/06/the-sensorites.html

The Sensorites is available on DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Sensorites-William-Hartnell-x/dp/B006H4R9HA