Day 73 — March 14th 2021
The Highlanders — Episodes Three and Four
The Highlanders — Episode Three
I mentioned during The Tenth Planet that they seem to be trying different things with the story titles at this phase in the programme’s history, and I’ve only noticed with this episode that The Highlanders is another one trying something new. It’s not a visual thing here, but the story title, episode number and writer’s credit is underscored by a little bagpipe theme. I quite like that as something a little different!
I’ll admit that this episode hasn’t grabbed me as much as the first two did, but there’s still plenty to enjoy here. Doctor Who and Polly are reunited and it’s great to see them back together. Polly continues to be incredibly pro-active in this story, and I think The Highlanders must be a high point for her character. Here she gets to dress up as an ‘orange seller’ and it brings her back into contact with Ffinch for a good deal more teasing.
Once she’s back with Doctor Who it’s telling that she’s the one pressing him to do more to help rescue Ben and get them away from here, when all he wants to do is take a nap after a particularly tiring day. It’s interesting how often Ben and Polly get split up so that they each take turns with Doctor Who, and I think it probably works better for them as they both get a chance to shine.
I also love that Polly and Kirsty are only able to rustle up a handful of small weapons while Doctor Who manages to come back with a full wheelbarrow off them. There’s something quite amusing in that!
I’ve not got an awful lot more to add for this one, so I’ll score it a 7/10 and move swiftly on…
The Highlanders — Episode Four
I’ve always been a bit skeptical of the story that Jamie was kept on as a last minute decision with this serial. There’s a few versions of the tale, but the most common one has Frazer Hines catching a lift back from location with Innes Lloyd and being asked if he’d like to ‘join the old TARDIS crew for a year or so’. Some other versions of the narrative have positive audience reaction to the character resulting in the decision, but the dates definitely don’t line up for that.
The thing that’s always struck me as the most unlikely part of the story is Hines’ assertion that they originally recorded the departure of the TARDIS with him simply watching on, but that after he’d agreed to become a companion they had to go back to location and film an alternate version where he went along with them. It just seemed ridiculously improbable to me. Location filming is still a relatively new thing for the series at this stage, this is the first time in the programme’s fourth recording block that they’ve set foot outside a studio, and the timescale of production is incredibly tight at this time too. There’s simply no way that they’d get the regular cast back out to the same location just so they can record an alternate version. I don’t believe it.
And yet… it’s true! Looking at the dates, all the location work for the story was undertaken over two days from Monday November 14th 1966, but the main cast were only present for the first day, before returning to London to rehearse for The Power of the Daleks Episode Five. Whether or not Hines got a lift back with Lloyd is unrecorded, but there’s evidence to suggest that he was asked about staying on towards the end of the week, and the cast did indeed return to Frensham Ponds the following Monday (21st) to record a different sequence of the TARDIS’ departure.
We’ve got quite a handful of film trims still surviving from various old Doctor Who stories, and I’d love them to turn up the original, unused, version of the filming, with Jamie staying behind. Like the unbroadcast pilot surviving where so many actual episodes don’t, or the bits deemed to violent to remain for Australian audiences being all that we have for so many episodes, it would be a delicious bit of irony!
As for this episode itself, being the last one I ever had to experience from Old Testament Doctor Who when I first heard it last year… I mean it’s decent enough, but I’ll admit my interest had wandered by this point. It’s another one where I think recovering the episode would do it some favours, as there’s a large scale fight sequence that dominates the middle, and the tele-snaps make it look pretty atmospheric.
Once the main plot is done, this one seems to have more endings than The Lord of the Rings — every time you think the TARDIS crew have escaped, another obstacle briefly rears its head, right down to finding Solicitor Grey waiting for them back near the TARDIS. Sadly, I feel like I might have enjoyed the episode a little more had it just been them trying to make their way back home.
Once they’e saved the day (the first time), Ben says ‘Well, the real job’s only just beginning. Getting back to the Tardis with only a rough idea of where it is and the whole English army out to stop us,’ and I can’t help thinking that there’s a story to be told there! I’m surprised there’s not been a follow up story in any of the expanded media which tells of their journey back to the ship, and gives Jamie a chance to bond with the others. I’ll write it if anyone wants to send a contract my way!
I’m continuing to really enjoy Doctor Who’s utter delight at messing around in history, and he gets to really indulge a love of dressing up and playing characters in this one. He’s spent two episodes pretending to be an old washer woman, he returns to his role as ‘Doctor Von Wer’ aboard the Annabelle and he even gets to play at being a wounded soldier here, to rescue Ben as he comes ashore.
Polly’s interplay with Ffinch continues to be fun, too, and I love her giving him a little kiss goodbye after all the teasing she’s given him. I like to imagine that once Polly got back to ‘good old’ 1966 she looked up Algernon Ffinch, and researched his life. Maybe she even tracked down a great great grandchild somewhere and made a new friend? There’s something a bit magical about that idea, like Ian Chesterton having gather together some historical mementos in his introduction to The Crusade.
I’ll be giving this final episode a respectable 6/10, which rounds the overall score for the story to 7.25. I can’t remember what score it received in 2013, but I’m sure it was considerably lower than that. I’m loving the chance to revisit some of these stories and find new things to love in them. Doctor Who’s brilliant, isn’t it?
