The Knight of Jaffa (The Crusade Episode 2)

The one where Ian is knighted by the King of England...

The Crusade is the only serial in Season 2 to have any episodes missing from the BBC Archive, but luckily fan David Holman recorded the soundtrack off-air so that we can at least hear the episode. In tandem with John Cura's legendary telesnaps, this is the best way we can currently experience The Knight of Jaffa.

It's a much stronger episode than The Lion, but still has its faults. For instance, Barbara is written as a run-of-the-mill damsel in distress for much of the time, David Whitaker not giving Jacqueline Hill much to do at all except get kidnapped and escape. By the end of The Knight of Jaffa, Barbara has been abducted or captured three times (twice by El Akir, and once more in this episode's cliffhanger), demonstrating very little imagination on Whitaker's part.

In fact, Whitaker's imagination really is running low here, as he reuses a plot device he's lifted from colleague Dennis Spooner's The Reign of Terror. In that story (which Whitaker was script editor on), John Barrard's shopkeeper betrays the Doctor by informing on him to Lemaitre, and here tradesman Ben Daheer does exactly the same thing when he goes to the Chamberlain. Can it be a coincidence that both characters are traders in clothes?

This does lead to a charming scene when the Chamberlain confronts the Doctor about Daheer's accusation that he stole from him, but the Doctor succeeds in wrapping the Chamberlain and Daheer up in an amusing logic puzzle which again shows how masterful William Hartnell was at comedy. On the plus side, you can tell Whitaker is writing because he continues to show the delightful camaraderie that he first developed between the Doctor and Vicki in The Rescue, with the young girl aiding and abetting the time traveller in his ruse. Vicki is the Doctor's willing partner in crime; they work so well together!

I say Vicki, but maybe I should say Victor, because she is actually masquerading as a pre-pubescent boy! Quite why the Doctor feels the need to make Vicki pretend to be a boy is unclear, as surely Vicki could simply be his ward or granddaughter? Why lie? Either way it makes for a nifty sub-plot of subterfuge which I hope is played with a little in subsequent episodes, or else what really is the point?

The stagy acting doesn't seem quite so obvious in this episode, and Julian Glover gels really well with his screen sister Jean Marsh as Joanna. The fact Richard is intent on matchmaking between Joanna and Saphadin in order to bring about peace between the English and the Saracens is an interesting development, particularly as he has yet to tell his sister of this plan! It puzzles me why Saphadin has sent jewels to Joanna as a gift though, seeing as she is his brother's enemy's sister (and a Christian to boot!).

Another bit of Whitaker's writing that doesn't click for me is the fact Richard the Lionheart would entrust such an important mission as taking a message to Saladin and retrieving his friend William de Preaux to Ian, who is to all intents and purposes a total stranger. I mean, he hasn't even known him 24 hours and he's already naming him as his emissary and knighting him as a representative of the royal court. It serves the story for Ian to be sent to Saladin's camp, but it doesn't really make sense. Perhaps it's because Richard believes Ian to be expendable, but if Ian were to fail, then so too would his mission.

There's one reason I wish I could watch The Knight of Jaffa and that's for the scene where Richard sends Ian on his way. Ian is keen to start out, and Richard says: "Is it love of peace or is it love of your companion that prompts this enthusiasm?" There's a silent moment on the soundtrack where it's just possible Ian gave a telling look of some sort - could it be one of the very few on-screen clues as to how the two teachers really feel about each other? Perhaps we'll never know.

Another bit of the story that smacks a little too much of convenience for me is the presence of Luigi Ferrigo. He strikes a deal with El Akir - he will kidnap Barbara and bring her to the Emir if in return El Akir arranges an audience for him with Saladin. When Luigi gets his audience, Saladin rather conveniently asks for Ferrigo's advice on a "domestic matter" - how did Barbara escape? Of course, Luigi is the one to blame for this, but when he took Barbara he dropped his glove, which servant Sheyrah finds and then presents to Saladin as evidence. And who should be standing there with the matching glove? Luigi Ferrigo! All too neat for me, I'm afraid.

There's a funny little moment where the Doctor says he wishes he'd been knighted too, and Vicki laughs: "That'll be the day!" Of course, the Doctor was finally knighted by Richard's brother John in The King's Demons, but seeing as John was actually the shape-changing robot Kamelion at that point, the Doctor's true knighthood wouldn't actually come about until Tooth and Claw, courtesy of Queen Victoria!

First broadcast: April 3rd, 1965

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The comical scene between the Doctor, Chamberlain, Ben Daheer and Vicki lifts what is otherwise quite a straight episode.
The Bad: David Whitaker's writing may sound good but it's depending rather too much on capture/ escape misogynistic tropes, as well as coincidence.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: The Wheel of Fortune...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Lion (episode 1); The Wheel of Fortune (episode 3); The Warlords (episode 4)

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/2013/07/the-crusade.html

The Crusade's surviving episodes are available on the Lost in Time DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Lost-Time-DVD/dp/B0002XOZW4