Tag Archives: Patrick Troughton

The Five Doctors

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Ext. The Death Zone.  IAN and BARBARA CHESTERTON are walking across a barren, rocky landscape.  BARBARA looks frightened. BARBARA: Ian, what was that strange pyramid? IAN: Presumably some kind of travel device.  We seem to have been transported somewhere. BARBARA: … Continue reading →

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The Three Doctors

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Roger Pocock

There have been a handful of multi-Doctor stories over the years, so it is difficult to imagine how amazing it must have seemed the first time it happened.  More importantly, although it might seem like the most natural idea in … Continue reading →

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Cliffhangers: Second Doctor 2

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Yesterday we looked at some Second Doctor cliffhangers, particularly the ones that flowed naturally from the Hartnell era, and I mentioned at the end of the article how the common base-under-siege format of the Troughton era allowed for a new … Continue reading →

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Cliffhangers: Second Doctor 1

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Roger Pocock

It’s down there, in the darkness, in the pipeline, waiting. Last time we looked at the First Doctor cliffhangers, and identified three main ways to end an episode leaving us wanting more: placing somebody in danger, the monster reveal, and … Continue reading →

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The War Games

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Most Doctor Who stories are four or six episodes long.  Anything that goes on for longer than that is a rarity.  There are a few sevens, an eight, a ten, a twelve, and a fourteen.  In order to sustain a … Continue reading →

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The Invasion

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Make the most of The Invasion, because it will be nearly 50 years before anyone comes close to recapturing the magic and scariness of the 1960s Cybermen stories.  They have very little screen time in The Invasion, but that is … Continue reading →

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The Wheel in Space

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Season Five of Doctor Who is obviously known as being a series of base-under-siege stories, with people trapped somewhere while the monsters try to get in.  This doesn’t apply to every story, and in fact the series starts with a … Continue reading →

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The Tomb of the Cybermen

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Roger Pocock

I am going to have to get autobiographical here, because The Tomb of the Cybermen is my favourite Doctor Who story.  That’s not something that is unheard of.  Tomb is generally placed relatively highly in fan polls, but to consider … Continue reading →

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The Moonbase

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Now listen, everybody. I don’t know how many more of these Cybermen there are, but from our point of view we’re under siege. It is remarkable the extent to which the Troughton era arrives fully formed here, with a format … Continue reading →

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What is Who? A Cosmic Hobo

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Roger Pocock

When I first became a fan of Doctor Who, I quickly realised that some of the Doctors tended to get referred to with soundbites, little descriptions that were generally superficial and focussed on their appearances.  They cropped up again and … Continue reading →

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The Krotons

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Season Six of Doctor Who is a series of contrasts.  There are four stories that most people love, and three that most people hate.  Apparently nothing was just average this year.  Everything was either a glorious success or a dismal … Continue reading →

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The Dominators

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Roger Pocock

When I first became a fan of Doctor Who in the early 90s, the BBC had already released every complete Second Doctor story on VHS.  This was just before the return of The Tomb of the Cybermen was announced.  There … Continue reading →

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The Web of Fear

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Roger Pocock

The Web of Fear (and later The Invasion) were so successful that they provided the blueprint for the direction Doctor Who would take in the early Seventies: predominantly Earth-bound alien invasions, and the Doctor co-operating with the military.  Bringing the … Continue reading →

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The Two Doctors

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Hey, you know what would be a good idea? Let’s bring back an old monster! We’ve done quite a lot of that lately. I mean, what’s left? Sontarans. The short potato men? Yeah, but let’s make them really tall this … Continue reading →

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Fury from the Deep

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Roger Pocock

DOCTOR: That’s the noise I heard on the beach. VICTORIA: What is it, Doctor? DOCTOR: I don’t know but we’re going to find out. Come on, Jamie. Oh Victoria, no. Not you. VICTORIA: Why not? DOCTOR: I think it’d be … Continue reading →

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The Enemy of the World

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Sad really, isn’t it – people spend all their time making nice things and other people come along and break them. Every so often the Doctor says something that sums up life perfectly, and this is what the Doctor fights … Continue reading →

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The Faceless Ones

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Between 11th March and 13th May 1967 Doctor Who had a run of 10 episodes that made going on your summer holidays a very scary idea.  First The Macra Terror showed the viewers a holiday camp infested with giant crabs, … Continue reading →

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The Underwater Menace

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Roger Pocock

Every so often a Doctor Who story is so incredibly ahead of its time that it ends up being widely misunderstood, and these tend to also be the moments where ambitions far outreach the capabilities of the budget.  The Underwater … Continue reading →

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The Highlanders

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Roger Pocock

About two a clock in the afternoon a rascal of the name of Gray, Solicitor Hume’s man from Edinburgh, with his hatful of tickets, and Miller and Solicitor Web from London, with this fellow Gray, presented the hat to me, … Continue reading →

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The Macra Terror

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Roger Pocock

This is the first of two Classic Series stories set in a holiday camp, a location that would have been instantly recognisable to contemporary viewers.  It might be expressed in terms of a colony here, but the imagery would have … Continue reading →

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