The Deadly Assassin Part One

The one where the Doctor returns to Gallifrey as a criminal on the run...

Right from the start this episode is different to anything that's gone before. Opening with a sombre voiceover by Tom Baker/ the Doctor (making it sound like one of his 1978 Late Night Stories!), warning us that the Time Lords of Gallifrey are about to face the "most dangerous crisis in their long history", it features a slightly shoddy version of the famous Star Wars "opening crawl", a whole 14 months before it appeared on cinema screens in the UK (although scrolling text had already been used as a recap device as far back as the Universal Buck Rogers serials of 1939, which served as inspiration for George Lucas. It makes me wonder whether these serials inspired director David Maloney too).

The Doctor returning to his home planet of Gallifrey is pretty monumental stuff in the grand scheme of things. We've visited Gallifrey before, of course - first in The War Games, subsequently in Colony in Space and The Three Doctors - but we've never had a story actually set there, or centred on its people quite as much as this. The Deadly Assassin is a major serial in the Doctor Who canon, the first to delve into the Doctor's past life seriously. The Deadly Assassin is the classic series' equivalent of The Timeless Children.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the Time Lords are not expecting the Doctor, which is odd seeing as he'd had a very specific "call to Gallifrey" at the end of The Hand of Fear. So the call was sent by an individual, rather than an official recall by his people. Intriguing... It's also intriguing that the shape of Type 40 TARDISes are "infinitely variable", suggesting that not all TARDIS models have chameleon circuits, or if they do, they are more restrictive. Nevertheless, the Time Lords are still able to recognise the TARDIS as a TARDIS despite the fact it looks like a police box. Maybe they are able to see through the "cloaking device"?

The Time Lords we meet are divided into two distinct types: guards and elders. And when I say elders, I mean elderly! They're all doddery old men (no women at all) in skull caps and boring beige robes, and I must admit my heart sank when George Pravda appeared as Castellan Spandrell. He's not an actor I find easy to watch, and his performance in The Mutants was just as impenetrably mediocre as it is here. When I can actually understand what it is he's saying, I find him delivering it with about as much energy and wit as a mollusc. I feel rather warmer toward dear old Erik Chitty as Engin, but there's also prissy Angus Mackay as Borusa, President Llewellyn Rees (who's, shall I say, limited?), as well as Maurice Quick as Gold Usher, and John Dawson and Michael Bilton as two random bumbling Time Lords. There's only really Bernard Horsfall (Goth) and Hugh Walters (Runcible) that you could describe as "young"! The combined age of Pravda, Chitty, Mackay, Rees, Quick, Dawson and Bilton at the time was 440. Gallifrey definitely has a problem with an ageing patriarchy!

It seems the Doctor is classed as a renegade subject to a malfeasance tribunal order dated 309906, and is from the Prydonian Chapter of Time Lords, as is Chancellor Goth, who describes Prydonians as able to "see a little further ahead than most". This suggests that Time Lords can see into, or at least predict, the future to some extent, which explains why the Doctor has a premonition of the President's assassination at the start of the episode. Other Time Lord Chapters include the Arcalians and Patrexes. Confirmed Prydonians in the Doctor Who universe include the Doctor, Romana, the Master and Rassilon, while notable Arcalians include Genniploritrelundar, who taught the Doctor stellar engineering at the Academy (New Adventure Original Sin), and Tepesh, who was actually a Great Vampire incinerated by Rassilon in the Big Finish audio Zagreus. Patrexes are harder to spot, but include Narvin, coordinator of the Celestial Intervention Agency according to Big Finish.

Talking of the CIA, there's a hint here that the Doctor previously worked for, or was involved with, the CIA, following his exile on Earth, telling us that the involuntary missions he was assigned during the Pertwee era (Colony in Space, The Curse of Peladon, The Mutants etc) were for the Celestial Intervention Agency. Surprisingly, almost a quarter of a century later, this riffs quite well with the revelations of The Timeless Children (for CIA, read The Division).

As is so often the case during this rich era, the design is wonderful, including James Acheson and Joan Ellacott's costumes and Roger Murray-Leach's sets (Acheson went on to win three Oscars, while Murray-Leach and Ellacott were both BAFTA-nominated). The sets have a grandiose quality, especially the Panopticon, and much thought has gone into the costumes, with their now iconic head-dresses and the use of the Seal of Rassilon (last seen on the planet Voga!). It's interesting to note that Runcible says these ceremonial gowns are "seldom worn", but they would go on to become pretty standard attire for Time Lords in both the classic and new series.

A villain starts to emerge in the form of a shadowy cowled figure who helps the Doctor get free of a Chancellery guard (by killing him, thus implicating the Doctor), and seems to be in collusion with an unidentified Time Lord who rasps gruffly (if you're concentrating, it's obvious which actor it is!). The close-up on the cowled figure's deformed face is truly horrible, one of the most gruesome camera shots to appear in Doctor Who to date. Who this mysterious villain is remains to be seen, but he seems to know the Doctor as a "quixotic fool".

The episode sees the Doctor on the run, trying to out-think his people so that he can remain free enough to warn the President about the premonition he had about his assassination. I wonder why Gallifrey doesn't have more by way of CCTV, especially in the Capitol itself?

The episode also runs quite short at just over 21 minutes, leading up to the moment the Doctor foresaw: but this time it appears it is he who is the deadly assassin, shooting down the President without explanation. The episode ends with a freeze frame, not the last time in this serial.

But... but... what's that I see in the end credits? They only go and ruin it all by crediting Peter Pratt as "The Master"! All mystery surrounding the cowled husk is removed, and watchful viewers know who the bad guy is an entire week before it's revealed within the narrative. ARGH!

First broadcast: October 30th, 1976

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The gruesome face of the unidentified villain is truly horrible, with its rictus grin and googly eyes.
The Bad: Why are all the Time Lords old codgers? And why did David Maloney give one of the lead guest roles to the awful George Pravda?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

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

NEXT TIME: Part Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part Two; Part Three; Part Four

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: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-deadly-assassin.html

The Deadly Assassin is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Deadly-Assassin-DVD/dp/B001UHNYWI