Is Seven episodes too long
for a Doctor Who story? Absolutely not. The reason why not is because three
exquisite Doctor Who stories in a row were all seven episodes, not one of them
was laboured, or slow to get going on full throttle. These were the three season
7 series stories, in Jon Pertwee's debut season. And by far the most impactful
and superb of these stories for me was, and still is, Inferno by Don Houghton.
Inferno surely must rank
in the echelons of the very best Doctor Who stories ever. It has every single
ingredient that makes the best of the show.
1: Douglas Camfield as the
Director: Dougie was always one of the most respected directors to ever grace
the show. His art of always getting the absolute best from his cast and crew
was absolutely second to none. Inferno is a true illumination of this. It was
such a sad shame that during the show's production he was taken unwell and
could no longer commit to the rest of the filming. But it is an astonishing
credit to Barry Letts that he took over the reins for the rest of the
recording, and one cannot tell whose scenes are who’s at all. There is no slip
in performance at all from anyone.
2: The cast of the story
are all absolutely sublime. Olaf Pooley is simply fantastic as the pig headed
and unreasonable Professor Stahlman. Sheila Dunn (coincidentally the wife of
the Director Dougie!) was absolutely winning as his not quite so hard-nosed
underling Petra Williams. When the trouble begins and we see her go through
quite some brilliant emotional curves. It is an absolute delight to see
Christopher Benjamin in a story too. Maybe he's not as well remembered for his
Sir Keith Gold as he is for his Henry Gordon Jago, but Sir Keith is just as
brilliantly judged character by Christopher. His being at loggerheads with
Stahlman is a strong part of the story. Nick Courtney gets to be evil as his
alternate universe Brigade Leader, who is the total antithesis of the
Brigadier. And its little wonder Nick stated this story was his favourite of
all time.
3: The constant blaring of
the drill head noise means that everyone has to basically shout to be heard.
This scenario adds a real tension as the story passes, and there are countless
superb set pieces and shots that really impress to give this story an epic
quality not matched by many other Doctor Who stories.
4: The cliffhanger to part
6 is one of the most horrifying and stark climaxes to an episode ever in the
entirety of the show. In fact, it may be unique in that this is the only time
in the history of the show where this cliffhanger will not be resolved at all,
and that all the characters are going to face a horrific death. This was an
extremely bold way to end an episode, and I don’t know about any other fans of
this story but I was truly pushed out of my comfort zone with this incredible
ending of the episode.
5: This story also has the
distinction of having the single largest stunt fall in the history of the
programme too, and it’s an extremely impressive scene. Derek Ware was the brave
man who did the over 90 feet fall. It’s a cracker of a scene and one that truly
sticks in the mind long after watching.
Perhaps maybe the monsters
of the piece, the Primords, may just be the weakest part of the story. They
don't look overtly convincing as primal regressed hairy brutes. But despite
this, the story telling is so strong that this little quibble barely matters at
all. Or at least it doesn’t bother me in the slightest!
In the whole of this
absolutely incredible story, there is only one disappointment in store. This
was sadly to be Caroline John's last story. This is such a shame as it means
that she never got a goodbye story at all. And for me this was a bit unforgivable as I absolutely loved Caroline John's performance as the
scientist. In fact, I would state that she is definitively my favourite
companion of Jon's Doctor. But despite the fact she doesn’t get a goodbye
scene, at least her last story is one of such quality.
That the story has its own
special introductory story titles too which are very effective, with shots of
lava and fierce volcanoes being displayed as the credits for each seven episodes
roll. This also gives the story a unique feel too.
Jon Pertwee too gets to
really shine in this story. I think this is the story where all the foundations
of his Doctor's character really emerge in full. This was the story where
they’d worked out what would make this now Earthbound Doctor tick, and Jon
plays it off to terrific effect. He gets several pivotal scenes and is a
brilliant, brilliant Doctor indeed. His verbal bashes with Stahlman are greatly
amusing, a little touch of humour amongst the flow of perhaps one of the show’s
most mature and adult scripts ever.
Saying this I'm not sure
whether this story is one totally right for little kids. For this story's tone
is so intense and frenetic and taught that it truly at times seems more like a
film than a TV studio production. I cannot believe that with the quality of
this story that it had the lowest viewing figures of the season and the whole
Jon Pertwee era. I don’t know what outside influences may have had an impact on
this, but it still seems nonsensical to me. Because Inferno most assuredly is
one of the most superb and brilliant entries in the whole Doctor Who canon. It
definitely deserves the mantle of a "Must See".
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