State of Decay Part Two

The one where the Doctor and Romana discover that the tower is the Hydrax...

The first 10 minutes of this episode are sublime, some of the best written, performed and directed Doctor Who ever, but you'd be forgiven for not realising it. It's all done so subtly, so organically, that you don't quite realise that you're watching brilliance. It's almost like you're spellbound by the brilliance. It all starts with Terrance Dicks' effortless yet elegant dialogue, which inspires the performers to riff on it gleefully, and it's all directed so precisely by Peter Moffatt.

Everything that takes place or is said between the Doctor, Romana, Zargo and Camilla is so well done. Moffatt directs the foursome like they're performing an Elizabethan dance, keeping the characters on the move all the time through what is a very dialogue-heavy scene. If they'd all just sat down and chatted for 10 minutes, the scene would be much less engaging, but thankfully it's orchestrated like a stage play, with characters moving in and around one another, foregrounded and backgrounded, so that the visual is never dull.

Apart from the fact it looks so sumptuous and lush (kudos to production designer Christine Ruscoe, costume designer Amy Roberts and make-up artist Norma Hill), the exchanges between the characters are packed full of wit and danger. When the Doctor and Romana introduce themselves, Camilla says: "We know who you are", and Tom Baker mutters "Really?" Zargo adds: "We know everything here", to which Baker replies, almost inaudibly: "Gosh." It's so well done, four actors at the top of their game, the rhythm of the scene working in tandem with Moffatt's fluid staging.

But Dicks is the true star. On the peasants, Romana asks: "What do you do for them, apart from saving them from gluttony?" And when Romana cuts her hand on the wine glass, the surge of interest in the drops of blood from Camilla is telling.

Tom Baker is magnificent too, bouncing off the mood of the piece, nimbly racing from light-hearted to deadly earnest in a heartbeat, just like he did in the early days of his tenure. This is classic Tom Baker. Look at the way he prods the Lords about the Hydrax, the "ship of state", knowing full well that they know more than they're telling him. He's steely yet mercurial.

And when Zargo and Camilla are called away, I adore the Queen's parting shot: "If you need anything, there are guards outside the door. Many guards!"

But the Lords' departure doesn't bring an end to the brilliance, because then we get several minutes of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward together alone, riffing off one another in such splendid ways despite the fact they weren't on good terms at the time (Tom was annoyed that Lalla refused to rekindle their romance, and you'll notice he can barely bring himself to look her in the eye throughout their scenes together). But their off-screen relationship does not bleed through to the screen, and they're delightful together, sitting on the thrones, Lalla swinging her legs girlishly, Tom grinning at her brilliance. The exchange about consonant shift is delivered with the lightness of touch it needs, to make the theory clear to viewers of all ages. I love a bit of linguistics.

The Doctor establishes that Zargo, Camilla and Aukon (who they are yet to meet) are direct descendants of the original Hydrax crew (Sharkey, MacMillan and O'Connor), and that the tower is actually the Hydrax itself. They discover a secret passage beneath the thrones (actually pilot seats) and climb into the bowels of the ship to explore. These murky scenes on film, where the Doctor and Romana climb first to the top, and then to the bottom, of the Hydrax, are my very first memories of watching Doctor Who. People climbing ladders is perhaps the least exciting first memory anyone has ever had, but something about it stuck with me! I was only four when these scenes went out.

In the turret of the tower they find the Hydrax's flight deck. There's a bit of residual energy left in the controls, but more disturbingly they hear a rhythmic, thudding noise, perhaps a giant heartbeat. It's odd that they hear the heartbeat right at the very top of the tower, the furthest point away from where the source actually is, at the very bottom. They descend to the fuel tanks at the foot of the tower, and make a grim discovery: shelves packed with dessicated corpses, all drained of blood. And where's the blood gone? Gruesomely, the Doctor finds gallons of it stored in the Hydrax's fuel tanks, piped along winding transparent tubes. This is not so much Hammer Horror as full-on Clive Barker territory!

It's all so marvellously gothic and rich, I love it. What more could you want than Tom Baker's voice doomily intoning: "Creatures that stalk in the night and feast on the blood of the living. Creatures that fear sunlight and running water and certain herbs. Creatures that are so strong they can only be killed by beheading, or a stake through the heart." Bliss!

Most of the episode is Tom and Lalla, with bits of other characters scattered through for variety, but there's not a lot going on there, apart from the fact Aukon visits the village tavern and hand-picks a certain Alzarian orphan. He senses Adric's difference, his vitality and intelligence, all things which the indigenous people have had scared out of them. Adric has a mind that shields itself, but when Aukon selects him, Adric precociously asks what's in it for him. "Wealth, power, dominion over this world, and over many others."

I'm not totally clear on what Aukon's plan is for Adric. The villagers are usually chosen to staff the tower, but we're gradually finding that the truth is they end up drained of blood at the bottom of the Hydrax. Aukon speaks of The Arising, and the need for more Chosen Ones to serve the Great One. So they're trying to swell their vampiric numbers, but why can't they do that with the villagers? Aukon says Adric is "strong, clear but malleable. We can make him what we wish." But surely the minds of the villagers are usable too? How easy would it be to shape the minds of an oppressed, obedient serfdom?

A quick mention here for Emrys James as Aukon, who gives a deliciously Shakespearean performance which matches the atmosphere and mood of the story perfectly. In other stories he might come across as fruitily OTT giving this performance, but here it is ideal, proving he's well cast. There's a richness to his performance which never strays into parody. He plays it as seriously as he did the many parts he played on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company in his long career.

This, for me, is a fine episode of Doctor Who, with everybody hitting the right notes. It all begins with Dicks's effortless script, directed by Moffatt with casual but confident experience, and performed by Baker, Ward and James with clear imagination.

First broadcast: November 29th, 1980

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Any scene with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward in. They're hypnotically good together.
The Bad: The bat attack at the end of part 1 comes to nothing in the reprise.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★★

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 24

NEXT TIME: Part Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; 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/2014/09/state-of-decay.html

State of Decay is available on BBC DVD as part of the E-Space Trilogy box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Space-Trilogy-Warriors/dp/B001MWRTUY