Doctor Who and the Silurians Episode 3

The one where UNIT searches for an escaped creature on Wenley Moor...

There's a monster on the loose on Wenley Moor. Not many people have seen what it looks like, and those that have seen it are turned to gibbering wrecks (except good old Liz!). It's a cast-iron classic horror film scenario - a monster lurking on a wild and windy moor, and a desperate search by the military to capture it before it kills again. It all feels very Quatermass, but also foreshadows a couple of my favourite genre series, 1981's The Nightmare Man and 1991's Chimera (that even has a monster holed up in a barn).

Director Timothy Combe does a grand job of making the search look professional and believable, with the budget stretching to a helicopter, flare guns, military vehicles, search dogs and loads of extras. His camera shots from the helicopter are wonderful and sweeping, especially the ones taking in Dr Quinn next to his car on the lonely track. These scenes add scale and truth to proceedings, even though we see next to nothing of the creature in question.

Malcolm Hulke's script is so cleverly pitched too, right down to the briefest of lines, such as when the Doctor holds the injured Liz's chin in his hand and she looks at him with fear in her eyes and says simply: "I saw it." Just the way she says it, and the look she gives, is enough to say that she found it pretty horrifying.

The finest demonstration of Hulke's beautiful writing can be found in the fantastic scene between the Doctor and Quinn at the latter's cottage. Throughout the episode the Doctor has expressed a certain suspicion of Dr Quinn, especially when Liz points out that him turning up at the barn doesn't make sense as it's miles out of his way. When the Doctor calls at the cottage, it sets the stage for a tense face-off between two actors who are obviously revelling in the moment.

Pertwee is at his very best here, as the Doctor humours the clearly rattled Dr Quinn and tries to catch him out with his spiralling web of lies. "I thought you were going straight back to the research centre?" queries the Doctor when Quinn opens his door, the faintest of smiles in the corners of Pertwee's mouth. He then nonchalantly forces his way into the cottage ("What a charming place...") and continues to push Quinn at every turn, particularly when it comes to his supposedly broken thermostat: "It is rather like the reptile house at the zoo, isn't it?" says the Doctor, pointedly. Quinn's reaction says so much more than words!

Fulton Mackay is equally as good, making Quinn both nervy and deceitful at the same time, portraying a man who is very slowly getting out of his depth by piling lie upon lie. In fact, Mackay's performance throughout the story has been wonderfully energetic, making Quinn's thirst for scientific knowledge a real enthusiasm (Mackay is a world away from the role he's best known for, as jailer Mr Mackay in Porridge). It's clear that the Doctor suspects there may be something on the other side of the locked door off Quinn's hallway, but the Doctor doesn't push Quinn too hard, although he does give him the opportunity to ask for help. Quinn declines, and hurries the Doctor out, but not before our hero's parting comment: "They didn't catch it, you know." And then that one last look through the window, a cheeky smile and a little wave. It's pure, perfect Doctor Who, and I don't think Pertwee was ever better than he is in this episode. His performance is thoughtful and nuanced, and he delivers tension to the scene in the moments of silence, the pauses and the glances between lines.

Quinn holds the injured creature hostage, refusing to return it to the caves until it tells him whatever it is he wants to know (it's never very clear exactly what that is). He thinks he has the upper hand over these creatures, but as is often the case in Doctor Who, anybody hungry for power or knowledge usually gets their comeuppance, and indeed so does Dr Quinn, who the Doctor finds slumped dead in his living room chair at the end of the episode.

It's a little remiss of the Doctor not to check the locked room as soon as he arrives, seeing as he is suspicious of what's in there, but when he activates the recall device, he soon gets to see what Spencer, Doris and Liz have already witnessed - a bipedal reptile with a face that screams WTF!!! As the creature advances at pace on the Doctor, Combe crash zooms in on its bizarre scaly face, then cuts to the Doctor's astonished expression before the titles roll in. Pertwee's face at the very end there kind of sums up how the viewers feel too!

This entire episode is concerned with the hunt for the creature, taking a side-step from the research centre for the most part and concentrating on this one venture. It works brilliantly well, with scenes of scale and edginess enhanced by some masterful direction, writing and acting.

First broadcast: February 14th, 1970

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The scene between Fulton Mackay and Jon Pertwee is wonderfully tense. All they talk about is broken heating and home decor, but it's all between the lines and in the actors' faces and delivery. Wonderful!
The Bad: Absolutely nothing.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★★

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

NEXT TIME: Episode 4...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; 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.