The Seeds of Doom Part Three

The one where Harrison Chase plays in his green cathedral...

I've said it so many times before, but it's always worth reiterating: the chemistry between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen was mesmerising. When they were firing on all cylinders, which was most of the time, they were like a well-oiled double act, and very few Doctor/ companion pairings have ever come close (I'd nominate Pertwee and Manning, and McCoy and Aldred, as contenders, with Hartnell and O'Brien an honourable mention). The scene at the World Ecology Bureau where the Doctor tears Dunbar and Sir Colin off a strip is wonderful ("If we don't find that pod before it germinates, it'll be the end of everything... Even your pension!"), with the two leads playing off one another beautifully (the Doctor getting so angry with the civil servants that he nominates Sarah to take over, but then she gets really worked up too so he takes back over again!).

The car laid on for the Doctor and Sarah outside the World Ecology Bureau is actually a plant (excuse the pun) by Harrison Chase, who wants the lone survivors of the Antarctic explosion wiped out. He sets his homicidal chauffeur on the case, who takes our heroes into the middle of nowhere with the intention of shooting them, and presumably burying the bodies in the quarry.

Poor Alan Chuntz gets terribly muddy when the Doctor slams him into the car door, and the duo make their escape, but the way in which our hero seems to relish the violence really leaves me cold. He jumps down from a height on top of the chauffeur and knocks him out with one heck of a thump that makes me wince. The Doctor has never been the most pacifist of heroes (the First Doctor could be extremely violent, and the Third was a dab hand with the Venusian aikido), but to see him thump a baddie in such a manner smacks of The Sweeney or The Professionals, not sweet ol' Doctor Who. Later, when the Doctor assaults Scorby and twists his neck, I physically flinched. These days, a neck-twist like that is shorthand for breaking someone's neck (killing them), so it's miraculous that Scorby seems to survive, but it's still far more violent and raw than I'm happy with. That's #NotMyDoctor

After finding a painting by the eminent artist Amelia Ducat (not "Ducket") in the boot of the car, the Doctor and Sarah pay a visit to the dotty painter, played by the magnificent Sylvia Coleridge. Miss Ducat is as eccentric as they come, in the best traditions of that other stalwart of British eccentricity, The Avengers (which Robert Banks Stewart did write for), and Coleridge shines brightly in her only scene in this episode. And you can clearly see Tom Baker revelling in the madness of it all, culminating in that wonderful line: "The car is immaterial!"

The rest of the episode is something of a runaround, but it's action-packed and beautifully shot at Athelhampton, so you can't knock it. The gardens at Chase's place don't look quite as well-tended or colourful as you might expect them to be, but it's an undeniably stunning location. Once the Doctor and Sarah are captured by Scorby in the grounds, I instantly found myself eagerly anticipating the prospect of seeing Tom Baker and Tony Beckley go head to head in the next scene, and it doesn't disappoint. Baker is dependably insolent and flippant, and Beckley remains as smooth and oily as ever. It's also lovely that the Doctor refers to Sarah as his best friend.

Chase nonchalantly sentences his captives to death (or "execution", as he refers to it) for interfering in his affairs, showing what an utter psychopath he is (and he's surrounded by them too, as Scorby and the guards don't bat an eyelid at this suggestion). But first, Chase subjects the Doctor and Sarah to a guided tour of his manor, which is a little odd seeing as they are about to die (what's the point?). At the end of this tour we get to hear Chase's truly awful musical compositions, made specially for his plant friends. The music is a tuneless cacophony, like Malcolm Clarke on a bad day, and his Floriana Requiem (dedicated to Carl Linnaeus, the 18th century Swedish botanist and naturalist) is a particular dirge. And all of this is topped off by the immortal line: "I could play all day in my green cathedral", delivered with camp earnestness by Beckley.

Poor Sarah finds herself in quite a lot of personal danger in this story, which feels more edgy and raw than most Doctor Who. As mentioned above, it feels more like an episode of the tougher 1970s action shows like The Sweeney (which Banks Stewart also wrote for) than the usual family fare on Doctor Who, and moments where Scorby grips Sarah's jaw, pushes her around, and her arm is then clamped down ready to be infected by the Krynoid pod all feel much harsher than we're used to. This is Doctor Who in an adult world, one where things aren't quite as safe and cosy as normal. One where you really do feel like bad things might happen...

First broadcast: February 14th, 1976

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: "I could play all day in my green cathedral"
The Bad: The violent Doctor. He needs to put those fists away and start solving problems with his considerable brain instead.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 05

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Four; Part Five; Part Six

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/2014/07/the-seeds-of-doom.html

The Seeds of Doom is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Seeds-Doom-DVD/dp/B003Y3BEZA