Horror of Fang Rock Part Four

The one where Leela's eyes change colour...

"Shameleon factor"? What's all that about, Doctor? It's surprising that someone as well-read and knowledgeable as Tom Baker could get the pronunciation of such a word so wrong, but then this isn't a unique example. He also wavers on the pronunciation of Rutan in this episode, while other Doctors have slipped up too, including the Seventh bodging Spiridon in Remembrance of the Daleks, and the Eleventh fudging Metebelis III in Hide.

Within moments of this episode opening, poor, sweet, innocent Vince is killed by Reuben the Rutan, which is such a crying shame. This era is scattered with deaths like these, characters that you get attached to, and so you feel it more when they die (Dr Carter in The Hand of Fear, Runcible in The Deadly Assassin, Casey in The Talons of Weng-Chiang...).

Horror of Fang Rock Part Three

The one where Adelaide regrets not listening to Miss Nethercott...

I'm not sure whether Terrance Dicks intended Adelaide Lesage to be quite so annoying, or whether it's as a result of Annette Woollett's shrill interpretation, but either way that girl needs a slap to shut her up. She erupts into hysterics at the slightest hint of trouble, and someone needs to give her one of those bracing slaps across the face that all "delicate" Victorian ladies received from stiff-upper-lipped gentlemen in the old films. These days it's the other way around: men tend to get slapped by women, including our very own Doctor.

Adelaide regrets not listening properly to her astrologist, Miss Nethercott, who gives her a reading every month, and had last warned of tragedy in her stars. Adelaide now feels rather foolish for not listening to Miss Nethercott, and wishes they'd never left Deauville. And so the moral of the story is to listen to your astrologist!

Horror of Fang Rock Part Two

The one where the survivors of a shipwreck arrive at the lighthouse...

It's a stroke of genius by writer Terrance Dicks to shake things up a bit and bring in four more characters in part 2, merely adding more fodder to this claustrophobic base-under-siege tale. But Leela seems less than happy to see these shipwrecked survivors. When Reuben points out that it's too late as the ship strikes the rocks, Leela moodily replies: "They will all die then," as she petulantly turns away from the scene. She seems to be in quite a mood for some reason, not taking kindly to being tasked with sounding the siren (although she eventually learns to find childish fun in it!). I do love Louise Jameson's acting choices: Leela's every mood and whim is so plain in her physical performance.

While sounding the siren, alone in the lamp room, Leela spies a strange green blobby creature with tentacles down on the rocks. It's hardly an impressive-looking foe, but it seems it's one to be feared...

Horror of Fang Rock Part One

The one where the Doctor and Leela encounter murder in a lighthouse...

It's Doctor Who's fifteenth series. A new season, a new start, a new story. And Paddy Russell means business from the off, with a strange pink comet falling from the sky above a beautifully convincing model of a lighthouse. Actually, the shot of the model lighthouse on the rocks, its light blinking intermittently, looks marvellous, but is rather spoiled by the effect of the bright pink comet, which looks less convincing. We then get an idea that something is watching the lighthouse, perhaps something not of this world...

The setting is a lighthouse circa 1900, and one that has recently been converted from oil to electricity, a fact that causes some friction between the three-man crew. The small cast is a delightful bunch. We've got principal keeper Ben, second-in-command Reuben (a gruff, elderly man with some 30 years of experience under his straining belt!), and rookie Vince Hawkins, all played as a convincing "family" by Ralph Watson, Colin Douglas and the very sweet John Abbott. Ben and Vince are all for the new electric technology, whereas old Reuben prefers the traditional whale oil. It's great to have a bit of background as they discuss the pros and cons of each over supper. Writer Terrance Dicks obviously did his homework!