Strangers in Space (The Sensorites Episode 1)

The one with Doctor Who's first properly scary cliffhanger...

The first couple of minutes of Strangers in Space are lovely. They act as a kind of summary of the state of the programme and its characters so far, after its first seven months, six stories and 30 episodes. The TARDIS crew regroup and think back over their previous adventures, reminding the viewer and each other how much they have changed since it began back in that cold, wet November of 1963.

"It all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard," says the Doctor. "Now it's turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure!" A perfect summation of the programme so far, I reckon! They then cheerily run through all of their televised adventures so far (they seem to have blocked out Inside the Spaceship!), and the Doctor throws one in pre-dating An Unearthly Child, about the time he and Susan met Henry VIII and the TARDIS was trapped in the Tower of London. Delightful stuff - has that story ever been told since, in books etc?

Despite Barbara wondering why they ever bother leaving the Ship (so much for that great spirit of adventure!), our heroes leave the Ship, and what a beautiful camera shot we get from director Mervyn Pinfield as they walk forward through the door onto the exterior spaceship set. It's simple by today's standards, but cleverly done, and gives a reminder of how the TARDIS works. Strangers in Space is almost like a fresh jumping-on point for anybody who hasn't been paying attention these last few months.

And what a great set the spaceship is! Raymond Cusick has done a fabulous job of creating this airy, open, sprawling spaceship bridge, with lots of computers, dials, screens and switches, and even some bizarre glass valves. And there's a structural intelligence to the set too, with buttresses and lintels reminiscent of the TV movie TARDIS from 1996. You can tell Cusick has put plenty of thought into this set, and it helps to sell the story.

Doctor Who's very best episode ones are those where there's a tantalising mystery to solve, which is revealed gradually and with ever-increasing intrigue until it culminates in a stonking cliffhanger, and Strangers in Space is a fine example of this template (another good, but less perfect, example is The Dead Planet). We meet two (seemingly dead) crewmembers, but they are very soon revived using a miraculous resuscitator kept on a shelf which is inconveniently out of their reach!

Captain Maitland and Carol are from 28th century Earth, and we quickly learn that there hasn't been such a place as London for 400 years. There's no Big Ben, and the Britain of this future is beset with too much air traffic, while the whole of lower England is now known as Central City. Of course, DC Comics fans will have alarm bells in their ears right now because Central City has been the location of the adventures of superhero The Flash since 1956!

We learn that Maitland and Carol have been put into a deep sleep (one which apparently stops their hearts!) by the mysterious alien Sensorites, who will not allow their ship to leave the orbit of their planet, the Sense-Sphere. However, they seem to be pretty benign captors because they don't show any signs of wanting the humans dead, and from time to time they pop up to the orbiting ship to feed the sleeping crew! It's an intriguing puzzle, but it seems that one thing is sure - the Sensorites are not necessarily deadly, there's something else afoot. This doesn't stop the Doctor wondering if they intend to kill them later in the episode though! Doctor, there's literally no evidence for that, calm down!

We see a mysterious hand use an alien egg slice to remove the lock of the TARDIS, which it manages to do without being rumbled despite the TARDIS being just feet away from where everybody's chatting. Even more incredible is the possibility that the Doctor is willing to turn tail and leave these poor humans to their rather bizarre fate. Carol and Maitland insist that nothing can be done to help them, so the Doctor accepts this and fully intends to leave (stopped only by the fact his TARDIS lock's been nabbed!). This is quite shocking - surely the Doctor could try and contact and communicate with these Sensorites and get to the bottom of what they're up to? It's difficult to believe that he'd be so willing to leave these two jolly nice people to a life of endless sleep without at least trying to rescue them. Susan does offer to take Maitland and Carol with them aboard the Ship, but Carol simply says they can't, because of John...

Ah, poor John. We meet the shambling, zombie-like John (Carol's husband-to-be) as he pursues Barbara and Susan around the ship's corridors and storerooms with what looks to be a huge migraine. How Barbara and Susan get to be in the corridors is a little silly - in search of some water, they walk straight past a huge sign saying "Water" and go through a bulkhead door (which, incidentally, opens exactly the same way as the doors on Skaro, complete with whirring sound effect! These days, fandom would be fully expecting a Dalek to appear at the end of the episode).

Stephen Dartnell (who must still be full after chewing all that scenery as Yartek in The Keys of Marinus) is so good as John, a man fractured and damaged by what he's seen and what he's been subjected to. His hair's gone grey (the actor was only 33 here) and he appears to have lost his mind, but there's great sensitivity in the performance. He's obviously tortured by something and is trying to communicate with Barbara and Susan, who don't really help matters by simply running away all the time. Why don't they try and talk to him instead of just staring at him in horror?

"Who are you?" whimpers John. "You look like my sister. Have you come to help me?" Dartnell makes John so sympathetic and you really feel for him, especially when the sound of the Sensorites approaching bolsters him back into action, and he insists he will protect Barbara and Susan. Aw, bless!

The arrival of the Sensorites at the end is a masterclass in building tension. First there's a noise, and we see their approaching kidney-shaped capsules. Carol says: "I can sense them all around us now", and the entire crew go quiet, as Ian slowly, stealthily walks around, listening. And then... WTF!? There's something outside the ship, in space, peering through the window at them! I'd argue that this is Doctor Who's first properly scary cliffhanger, as the viewer is presented with a truly arresting, unexpected, alarming sight to dwell on for an entire seven days.

The Sensorites gets a bad reputation as being boring and pedestrian, but this first episode really is a classic, and paves the way for more intrigue and mystery to come. Oh, and a new monster!

First broadcast: June 20th, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: That cliffhanger! You can keep your sink plungers and your staved-in skulls, this is the moment Doctor Who realised it could really scare the bejesus out of its young viewers - and the reputation stuck!
The Bad: Pinfield's direction, while obviously experienced, can be a little naive too. Having the Sensorite remove the TARDIS lock just feet away from the others is too obvious, while Barbara and Susan's complete ignorance of the "Water" sign, in plain and clear view, is a stretch too.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: The Unwilling Warriors...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Unwilling Warriors (episode 2); Hidden Danger (episode 3); A Race Against Death (episode 4); Kidnap (episode 5); 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