Doctor Who: Full Circle [1980]

First in the so-called 'E-Space' trilogy, in which the TARDIS is trapped in a smaller bit of space reached through a gobbledegook gate of some sort and is otherwise no different from the other reaches of space explored in the show - though it means no trips to Earth for three serials. It opens with dangling continuity about Romana [Lalla Ward] being recalled to Gallifrey then lands on one of those planets where a primitive society has degenerated from the crew of a crashed starship and castes based on the old rankings survive. The set-up turns out to be more unconventional, since it seems that life on Alzarius goes through an evolutionary cycle [an idea we've seen before] and the humanoids here are just imitations of the long-gone astronauts.

The serial mostly serves to bring on a new companion, Adric [Matthew Waterhouse], a smartarse brat with a shaggy hairdo who was never going to be that popular - though, to be fair, the rest of his tribe are equally badly-played and unappealing. It's one of the gayer tribes in Who history: maybe not quite as camp as the Thals, but with pastel costumes and a tendency to swim in clinging briefs, these lads do seem pitched at a different type of viewer. Baker holds back on the looning that had been his keynote for a few seasons and Romana is semi-possessed for much of the time. There are Black Lagoon-look mutants, with impressive heads and baggy rubber costumes, and an unfortunate glowing-eyed spider thing. The script tries to seem sensible and some sequences are well-directed, but it really isn't that grabby: rather like a serial developed for Peter Davison but unexpectedly ready in time for Baker: the Doctor is so neutrally-written any of the series' stars could have played the part here and Romana gets glowing-vein mind-control condition that Tegan would suffer in Kinda and Snakedance.
KIM NEWMAN

First published in this form here.

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