The Curse of Fenric Part Three

The one where evil takes a body...

Wow, when Perkins gets an order, he certainly carries it out to the very best of his abilities, doesn't he? And with so much gusto! Charged with the task of disabling all of the radio transmitters on the base, he sets about chopping them up with an axe, sparks flying everywhere! Millington rushes in, hoping to find that Perkins isn't as loyal as he fears, but too late - the hardware's in bits. "Splendid work, Perkins, splendid work!" jeers the Doctor. "Now put them back together again." And just look at the sweet little smile from Ace behind him when he says that. That girl really loves that man (for now).

There are so many little moments like this in the relationship between the Doctor and Ace / Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. The chemistry between them is like lightning in a bottle, and beyond the narrative development of the relationship and characters, it can be found in the organic performance between the two, the unscripted looks and gestures which were also present between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. That naturalness, that ease between them, is palpable. It happens again when Ace blows up the brick wall with her nitro-9, and as they're all escaping, the Doctor stops Ace and says: "I'll talk to you later", and Aldred responds with a big goofy grin. It's a timeless, organic working relationship and we are so lucky to have witnessed it.

Outside, the weather is on the blink and the heavens have opened. We get to see the Doctor use his question mark brolly as an actual umbrella for once (we also saw it used as a sun shade in Silver Nemesis). But yet again the Doctor comes out with something I struggle to understand how he knows, when he mentions Haemovores, and that they're not vampires. How does he know about Haemovores? He hasn't seen any yet (apart from the distinctly un-Haemovore-like Jean and Phyllis), and nobody's mentioned them.

Nevertheless, the Haemovores are certainly in great force. The shots of them relentlessly marching along the beach at Maidens' Point toward Sorin and the Russians is wonderfully well directed, swathed in fog. They walk slowly but with such determination, their talons held aloft. Dead men coming out of a black fog, as Sorin recounts. Nicholas Mallett certainly had a filmic eye for this story, even if his grasp of episodic structure was a little lacking. Mark Ayres scores the Haemovore scenes with such power too, making them a genuinely scary prospect as they slowly, but oh so surely, advance on St Jude's.

The Doctor, Ace and Wainwright return to the church to get the parish records, which the Doctor hopes will reveal the descendants of the original Viking settlers. And he's right, the records show that Joseph Sundvik (1809-72) married a girl called Florence (1820-98) and together they had four daughters: Sarah, Martha, Jane and Clara. How weird that these are the names of Doctor Who companions, past and future (Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones and Clara Oswald!). Of course, being daughters, they would have changed their name from Sundvik when they married, and it's important to the Doctor to find out who they married, and what their names are now. A glimpse of a gravestone tells the viewer that a Mary Millington shares the grave of the Sundviks, suggesting the commander is a descendant.

While the vicar researches the records, the Doctor and Ace go down into the decommissioned lab to search for an oriental treasure. The bit where the Doctor drops a box on his foot and he hops about in pain is pure Season 24, a brief glimpse back at "version one" of the Seventh Doctor before the darkness fell. In a way I think there are three versions of the Seventh Doctor, one for each season, because the much gloomier, less fun version seen in Season 26 is a world away from the eccentric hippy of Season 25. I prefer version two, I think.

The Haemovores finally reach the church and attack the Doctor, Ace and Wainwright in the vestry in a wonderfully tense and action-packed scene in which the creatures smash through the stone windows and wooden doors with their grasping claws. While the vicar fends them off with a rubbery goblet, the Doctor struggles to free himself from the monsters' grasp, and Ace makes for the roof to try and summon help. It's rather convenient that Ace has been carrying a cumbersome rock-climbing ladder all this time (mentioned very briefly in part 1), but it makes for some breath-taking shots of Aldred (and her stunt double) climbing down the side of the church tower, the bracing Kent countryside rolling off into the distance.

Again, Mallett's direction is pacey and tense, with Ace making it to the next roof down only to be captured by two Haemovores, who claw at her exposed neck ready to bite (it's great that she gives one of them a good kicking first!). She's rescued by Sorin and two soldiers, who see the struggle and scale the church walls like flies. The Russians pump bullets into the monsters, but they are the walking dead, they cannot die, and they simply get up again and continue their advance. Wonderful, scary stuff!

Meanwhile, back in the vestry, the Doctor uses his faith to fend off the Haemovores, but what does he have faith in? It's not made explicit, but you can lip-read what McCoy is intoning, and it seems to be the names of his companions, giving a unique insight into the source of the Doctor's strength. He begins with Ace, then says something else, before moving on to Susan, Barbara, Vicki, Steven (but no Ian?). I wonder what the someone else was though, between Ace and Susan? Can I make out him saying Tegan?

This episode tries to convince me that Ace has a thing for Captain Sorin, but I'm sorry, that won't wash. For a start, before being rescued on the roof, she's met him just once on the beach, when he was pointing a gun at her. It might be Sorin's heroism in rescuing her that inspires some kind of chemical reaction in Ace toward the manly Soviet, but I just don't buy that she's so into him already. Earlier, Ace told Kathleen that she used to think she'd never get married, but now she's not so sure, and I don't understand who she's thinking of. Again, she barely knows Sorin. Of course, it might not be a specific man she has in mind, rather than the concept, inspired perhaps by her connections with Mike Smith and Bellboy, but I just cannot accept she's thinking of Sorin.

There is a theory, of course, that Ace is a lesbian, and just doesn't know it yet, or at least hasn't accepted it. She makes connections with more females than males (Mel, Susan Q, Shou Yuing, Gwendoline), but that may be because she's female herself. Maybe Ace is thinking about marriage in terms of both genders?

One thing's for sure, her attempt to flirt with Sergeant Leigh is embarrassingly naive. Sophie Aldred tries her best to come over all alluring and sexy, but when she's given such nonsensical dialogue to say - something about time and clocks, and a storm whipping through her clothes - the scene is unsalvageable. It comes across as distinctly unsexy, stilted and entirely unconvincing. If this is how Ace thinks she's going to get her (wo)man she needs some sage advice from an expert flirter first! Hanging out with a centuries-old mad professor isn't helping her, I suppose.

The scene where the Doctor, Ace, Wainwright and two Russian soldiers traipse along the tunnel from the church to the camp is another tensely directed moment. The Doctor allows the Russians to fend off the ensuing Haemovores for two minutes, then to follow, but at the other end, Millington fails to wait for them, and seals them in, consigning them to their bloody fate. The Doctor is rightly outraged by Millington's merciless order, and it's heart-breaking to have heard the soldiers firing relentlessly on the monsters in the distance, then hammering on the doors to get out. They were heroes, two minor characters played by unspeaking, uncredited supporting players. But rather wonderfully, their deaths are given meaning, and power, a common motif in the McCoy era under script editor Andrew Cartmel. Even the unknown soldiers are remembered.

Of course, another tragic death acknowledged but not seen is that of Frank Dudman, Kathleen's husband and father to baby Audrey. An early scene sees Ace given short shrift by Kathleen when the teenager dares to suggest Kathleen's not married ("I've got a baby!"), shining a light on the stark difference in social attitudes between 1943 and 1987. Later, Ace finds Kathleen sitting dumbstruck on her bunk, a crumpled telegram in her hand, tears welling.

Ace reads the telegram aloud: "It is with deepest sorrow that I write to inform you that the ship on which your husband, Frank William Dudman, was serving, was struck by enemy torpedoes. Your husband was trapped in the fire and has been listed as missing, presumed dead. Please accept our sincere condolences." It's a devastating moment, and as the two girls hug, the viewer too is drawn into the emotional impact of it all. We never met Frank, but we know Kathleen loved him, and we can see how much his death hurts. Of course, we later find out that Ace has just witnessed the moment her grandmother became a widow, and consoled her grieving grandparent as her infant mother looked on. Wonderfully surreal, and such a powerful little scene.

Just when you think things can't get more emotional, Ace and the Doctor have an argument. Or rather, Ace lays some home truths at the door of her "professor", who can do nothing by quietly acknowledge that she's right in everything she says. "You always know!" she spits at him. "You just can't be bothered to tell anyone. It's like it's some kind of game, and only you know the rules. You knew all about that inscription being a computer programme, but you didn't tell me. You know all about that old bottle, and you're not telling me. Am I so stupid?"

McCoy and Aldred are dynamite here, the Doctor pacing uncomfortably, and Ace giving it to him with both barrels. This row has been a long time coming, and the Doctor isn't ready. He tries to placate her with his usual blather about "evil since the dawn of time", then tries to push her away by telling her to stop asking questions. But Ace is not giving up. "TELL ME!" she shouts at him, and finally he spills, explaining what Fenric is. The fact that by the end of the exchange Ace is back on his side, now that she's had it explained to her properly, says so much about the strength of their relationship. A strong friendship is one that can withstand arguments like this, and still emerge intact. The trust Ace has in the Doctor is all-encompassing, but she needs him to reciprocate. She's not a little girl any more...

Elsewhere, Reverend Wainwright tests his faith once and for all - and fails. He thinks he has faith in the good book, but when Phyllis asks him to look inside himself ("There's no good in you") that's when his faith crumbles, and they devour him. It's a tragic demise for a sympathetic character, and it's uncompromisingly sad that he loses. You might expect his faith to be restored by something, or that his faith was indeed strong enough after all. But no, he dies. Horribly. And all because he didn't have faith in himself...

In the decrypt room, Dr Judson applies the oriental treasure to the Ultima machine, which starts summoning something called Ingiga. Suddenly, Judson is struck by a bolt of energy from the flask, and is propelled backwards in his wheelchair and falls to the floor with a scream. This moment is played so badly by Dinsdale Landen, who you can see rolling the wheelchair back with his hands, while giving out a most unconvincing scream of pain. No wonder Alfred Lynch and Anne Reid look on with such horror, it's a really poor performance!

The Doctor rushes in, and rather wonderfully grips the grieving Nurse Crane by the shoulders to very quietly and gently tell her Judson's dead (lovely, subtle moment). But Judson isn't dead, at least his body isn't. The evil which Millington calls Fenric has taken a body, ironically that of the invalid Dr Judson, and rises up behind the Doctor, his eyes ablaze. "We play the contest again, Time Lord," says Fenric. Cue titles. What a cliffhanger! I cannot wait to find out what history these two have, and where it's all heading.

First broadcast: November 8th, 1989

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The scene where Ace confronts the Doctor.
The Bad: The nonsensical flirting scene between Ace and Leigh.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★★

Ace says "Professor": 105

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; 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.

The Curse of Fenric is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Curse-Fenric-Sylvester/dp/B01I076IXW