Inferno Episode 1

The one where the Doctor gets his face stretched in limbo...

The production team really enjoyed experimenting with the title sequence in Season 7, didn't they? Apart from the theme tune starting at differing places (the initial stutter of earlier stories is rectified here), there's the different ways of telling us what the story's called - traditional with Spearhead from Space, adding a controversial "Doctor Who" to The Silurians, and the energetic zoom and TWANG of The Ambassadors of Death. Here we have the titles intercut with images of exploding volcanoes and rolling seas of lava. It sets us up suitably for something apocalyptic...

The story begins with the Doctor hollering a bit of Verdi as he speeds towards another industrial location, a Season 7 stalwart, followed by drill site maintenance man Harry Slocum whistling his way to work on a bicycle. Slocum bumps into Bromley and they exchange pleasantries, but neither of them seem very keen on talking to each other any more than they have to, and the lines seem rushed, garbled and lost.

We're introduced to a new array of characters, including yet another supercilious egotist in the form of Professor Stahlman, a man who knows he's in charge and makes sure everybody else knows it too. He's the latest in a run of self-important authority figures which includes General Scobie, Dr Beavis, Major Baker, Dr Lawrence, Bruno Taltalian and General Carrington. Anybody with any amount of swagger in Doctor Who at this time is almost always portrayed as a complete git.

I like Sir Keith Gold though, who is played beautifully by Christopher Benjamin as permanently bemused by the pomposity he witnesses around him, unaffected by Stahlman's catty barbs. And then there's Petra Williams, the blonde, leggy secretary who is far more than meets the eye, as drilling consultant Greg Sutton soon discovers. What a complete idiot Greg Sutton is, an unapologetically sexist, misogynist pig who wastes little time in speaking condescendingly and disrespectfully to poor Petra (I physically flinched when he suggested he'd like to "borrow her"). I've taken an instant dislike to Greg Sutton.

There's a lovely little scene between the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton which reflects the developing family atmosphere that the regular cast of this era felt on set. The Doctor teases the Brigadier about his moustache, but when Benton smirks at this amusement he's served a disapproving glare from his superior. It's a delightful little moment. I'm also intrigued by the Brigadier's Army photo: I've stuck together the two halves of the photo seen on screen (below), but it's hard to work out which person is supposed to be the Brigadier. He says he is "fifth from left, third row", but does he mean the back row or the front row? Either way, neither man looks very much like the Brig.

The story is already intriguing enough to hold the attention, concerning Stahlman's project to drill down into the Earth and penetrate the planet's crust in order to capitalise on the ancient trapped gas caught beneath (Doctor Who does fracking!). Already I'm thinking this is not a good idea and that perhaps the Earth's crust should be left well alone. When green goo begins to ooze from the pipes, I think my fears are reinforced. Mind you, what's the very last thing you would do if faced with a blob of steaming green slime from the prehistoric depths of the Earth? Yes, touch it, but that's exactly what silly old Harry Slocum does, and it seems to send him ape. I love director Douglas Camfield cutting from Slocum smashing a man's head with a wrench, to Benton hammering a nail into a wall!

The Doctor is using the nuclear power from the Inferno project to try and get his TARDIS working again, although how and why he's removed the console entirely from the TARDIS itself is baffling (I wonder what the TARDIS control room looks like without it?). Stahlman has already drilled 20 miles down into the Earth which should be a huge cause for concern for the Doctor, but he seems happy to let it continue (for a real-world comparison, we have only ever drilled 7.6 miles into the Earth's solid surface). He's keen to be present to witness the scientific achievement, but surely some alarm bells must be ringing for him because they certainly are for me!

Liz Shaw pops up an entire 15 minutes in (I'd actually forgotten all about her!) and helps the Doctor channel the nuclear power into his console, leading to disastrous consequences. The Doctor is transported into some weird limbo existence where he is physically torn apart by an attack of Mirrorlon. Actually, the sequence in limbo, with Pertwee's gurning face being pulled apart and stretched like a rubber band, are very effective and quite disconcerting, putting me in mind of a 1980s horror film such as Basket Case or Hellraiser.

The episode ends in a state of chaos, with alarm sirens wailing as smoke begins to envelop the drill site. What with the drilling disaster, the staff murders and the rabidly infected Slocum, things really have spiralled out of control in these first 25 minutes, and it's been an enjoyable romp to witness!

First broadcast: May 9th, 1970

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The Doctor in limbo is both amusing and surreal, and is by far Doctor Who's most effective use of Mirrorlon.
The Bad: Greg Sutton is a unlikeable sexist pig, but his behaviour is probably quite similar to how many men in the BBC treated women in the corridors of Television Centre at the time.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 4
Neck-rub tally: 0

NEXT TIME: Episode 2...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 2; Episode 3; 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/inferno.html

Inferno is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Inferno-Special-DVD/dp/B00BEYWVGW