Who Reviews Delta and the Bannermen by Alex Wylie

I am going to defend this story. Not because it is a stand-out piece of Classic Who – it is by no means excellent – but because while Season 24 gets a bad press and is undoubtedly the weakest first season of any Doctor and widely seen as such for a number of perfectly valid reasons, Delta and the Bannermen is somehow memorable and engaging and features colourful characters and a 1950s holiday camp in Wales makes for a surprisingly appealing setting. And despite the seemingly light-hearted tone which runs through the season, as they'd essentially been told to tone it down after the controversially visceral Colin Baker years, this serial is in fact dark and shocking, even when compared with the theme of cannibalism of the previous (frankly rather silly) adventure.

The plot, which sees Delta (Belinda Mayne), both Queen of the Chimerons and also last of the Chimerons, flee her home world and end up in Disneyland, Florida – oh wait, no, oops, Shanghri-La, Wales – only still to be pursued by her persecutors; the eponymous Bannermen responsible for her people's genocide. The Bannermen are led by Gavrok, played by the magnificent Don Henderson, an underrated Doctor Who villain (oh and trigger warning for sensitive vegans!). Delta carries with her a mysterious spherical object...is she really Last of the Chimerons?

Writer Malcolm Kohl is thought to have been influenced by Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected episode Royal Jelly, and this serial does feature some similar transformation of sorts, although it is somewhat bothersome that neither male nor female Chimeron resemble bees nor insects of a Kind. That the behaviour of a Chimeron can deter Bannermen (presumably they are a somehow a natural predator but this is not explained, only that there has been a genocide) is a nice touch – but why did this not work before? The only explanation is that 1950s Earth tech aides this evolutionary defence...but Chimerons have spaceships that traverse galleries?

This is really quite a dark roller-coaster of a watch. Funster and jokester Ken Dodd, a popular comedian at the time and an example of Producer John Nathan Turner's famous (infamous?) stunt-casting, is introduced in the opening scene and swiftly killed. You can also even work for the Bannermen and they'd rather kill you than pay you when the job is done. A coach load of tourists are also wiped out and again, not really for any reason. The Bannermen are, in a sense, the worst of them all in this respect. And this in a 'toned down' season after a severe slap on the wrist for darkness and violence.

Other characters are a delight. The noble (and rather tasty) Billy (David Kinder); the friendzoned would-be companion Ray (Rachel Griffiths), who feels like a bit like a retro, proto-Ace; camp director Burton (Richard Davies); delightfully eccentric bee keeper Goronwy (delightful sitcom actor Hugh Lloyd), whose mixture of obtuseness and wisdom kinda sorta makes the episode, brief as his appearances actually are and last – but my no means least – Hawk (Morgan Deary) and Weismuller (Stubby Kaye), the two CIA agents chasing a lost satellite and also the comedic relief of the episode, and presumably also added for the US audience as it grew exponentially in the 80s and Stubby Kaye was a known comedy face in America dating back to Vaudville.

Where Ray is not exactly an to alternative Ace (she was reputedly set up as replacement for Mel (Bonnie Langford) is that she only learnt all about motorbikes to attract the attention of Billy, and while this story is set in the 1950s, this line just now feels a teensy bit cringe.

In summary while Delta and the Bannermen is often Dubbed 'too camp' or 'cheesy' its moments of dark drama are quite something. The cast, including guest stars, is excellent and the feel of the 1950s is pitch-perfect, down to Chris Clough's deliberately clichéd direction and also to the tone of the music contrasting beautifully with the action. While the climax feels somewhat underwhelming, one very underrated moment is the confrontation between the Doctor and Gavrok, which has to be one of the best Doctor-villain stand-offs in the show's history! Not the heights of later serial Battlefield, and maybe an odd choice off cliffhanger, but pretty strong all the same. McCoy's speeches are part of what makes him as a Doctor after all!

One disappointment is that the novelization describes the Doctor 'peeing over a shelf' (presumably cut from TV for time since it didn't really go anywhere and added little to the story). Oh, and seek out the bloopers – which have to be among the best you could watch.