Mawdryn Undead Part Two

The one where Tegan meets a past version of the Brigadier, and the Brigadier meets a new version of the Doctor...

Thanks to the transmat control unit exploding, Turlough fails to smash the Doctor's head in with a boulder. The TARDIS then materialises, momentarily, before disappearing again, which shouldn't have happened. Then we see the TARDIS materialising in the same place again, but the Doctor and Turlough are no longer there. It's a puzzling course of events and no mistake!

Rather wonderfully, the Brigadier arrives at the obelisk with Hippo, and the Doctor's face lights up as he spots his old friend and comrade, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Sadly, it's not quite the reunion hoped for, as the Brigadier doesn't appear to know who the Doctor is, in this fifth incarnation or any other. Curiouser and curiouser...

The Doctor is just as puzzled by the gap in the Brig's memory as the viewer is, and what plays out for the rest of this episode is a series of beautifully written and directed scenes where we explore what's happened to the Brigadier since we last saw him in Terror of the Zygons. The Doctor tries to jog the Brigadier's memory by mentioning the TARDIS, but no dice. He does remember his own staff, such as Benton (who retired in 1979 and now sells second-hand cars) and Harry Sullivan (who was seconded to NATO and now works in secret at Porton Down laboratories), but hasn't a clue who Liz Shaw, Jo Grant or Sarah Jane Smith are.

However, mention of them begins to loosen some kind of blockage in the Brigadier's memory, and we're then treated to a gorgeous trip back in time through the UNIT years, as the Brigadier's memories begin to flood back via The Web of Fear, The Invasion, The Claws of Axos, Day of the Daleks, The Three Doctors, Robot and Terror of the Zygons. Paddy Kingsland's melancholic music is perfect for this nostalgia-fest too - now the Brigadier remembers!

It emerges that the Brigadier had some kind of mental block, perhaps the result of a past trauma, but this does not go down well with the Brig, who gets very touchy on the subject of his mental health. He alludes to "a bit of bother a while back", diagnosed as a mental breakdown, perhaps brought on by overwork. The Brigadier is not a man who likes to admit defeat. As a former soldier, he believes he's made of sterner stuff, and pushes any thought of emotional or mental weakness away ("There's nothing wrong with me, I tell you. Fit as a fiddle, always have been... Breakdown. Don't know the meaning of the word. This one goes on 'til he drops.") It's a fascinating insight into a man whose backstory was rarely explored during the UNIT years, but this feels plausible. I also notice that he's living as a single man: no Doris, who was first mentioned in Planet of the Spiders. It's a rather sad, quietly tragic situation to find our old hero in: retired, single, and battling his demons alone.

The scenes between Peter Davison and Nicholas Courtney are lovely, with Davison giving the occasional warm smile as he sips tea and listens to his old friend reminisce (he retired from UNIT in 1976 and took up a post as a maths teacher at Brendon the following year). I wish the Brigadier had had some more introspective moments like this with the Seventh Doctor in Battlefield, but 'twas not to be.

As if all this wasn't wonderful enough, writer Peter Grimwade (who made such a hash of Time-Flight) throws in a real curveball when the Doctor makes passing reference to Tegan, and the Brigadier recognises the name ("Attractive girl, spirited, spoke with an Australian accent.") I think my spine tingled as much as the Doctor's, because how is that possible?

We soon see Tegan meet a past version of the Brigadier, from not long after he's started working at Brendon. The date is June 6th, 1977, Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Set designer Stephen Scott does a sterling job of redressing the 1983 Brig's quarters to look suitably different, neater, less cluttered, and make-up technicians Carolyn Perry and Sheelagh Wells work wonders making Courtney look younger and leaner, like in his UNIT days. Tell you what though, the Brigadier definitely aged in those six years. Must be the effect of working at a boys' school!

I absolutely love the fact we see 1983 Brig remembering the events of 1977, and that we can see those past events with Tegan play out. Classic Doctor Who rarely used time as a catalyst for storytelling (which was odd for a show all about a time-traveller), but here Grimwade has the courage to tell a story across two time zones, weaving them together judiciously so that things aren't too complicated for the viewer (although you do need to concentrate, you can't be reading Woman's Weekly at the same time).

Elsewhen, Tegan and Nyssa have found a charred, seriously injured and skimpily-dressed man inside the transmat capsule which appears in 1977. They instantly assume it is a regenerated Doctor, without very much cause or evidence to lead them to that conclusion. It could quite easily be somebody completely different (which it is), but for now they believe it to be a Sixth Doctor, as played by David Collings (oh, imagine if that were true...) As the episode draws to a conclusion, Tegan, Nyssa and the 1977 Brigadier discover that if this is the Doctor, his regeneration has gone seriously wrong, because he now looks like a mutated, disfigured spaghetti-headed monster (wearing the Fourth Doctor's Season 18 coat). Back (or forwards) in 1983, the real Doctor and the older Brigadier realise that whoever that person in the TARDIS is, it's not him.

It's starting to show signs of getting complicated, but so far it's working, and working well. The two separate strands are running concurrently for the viewer, but Grimwade is weaving it so delicately that the characters are learning things in the future as they play out in the past. It's a very fine line to tread, so let's hope he manages to keep it up.

What I want to know is when will the 1983 Brigadier no longer be able to remember what's happening in 1977? There must be some connection to his amnesia, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this plays out. This is the cleverest Doctor Who's been for years!

First broadcast: February 2nd, 1983

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The twin storylines running concurrently, so we have the 1983 Brigadier telling the Doctor what happened to him and Tegan in 1977. Love it!
The Bad: It's only his second episode but already Turlough seems surplus to requirements.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

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.

Mawdryn Undead is available as part of the Black Guardian Trilogy BBC DVD box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Guardian-Terminus-Enlightenment/dp/B002ATVDBY