Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock [1977]

A season opener, this follows on directly from the high water-mark of The Talons of Weng-Chiang in several ways: it's another period piece [Edwardian, rather than Victorian - though entirely set on an offshore island, remote from the London of the earlier serial] and another near-pure horror story; it's also among the grimmest serials, in that the entire guest cast - whether sympathetic characters or not - are killed off by an alien invader, and Louise Jameson's Leela steps forward from sidekickery in the earlier serial to become a smart, independent character whose mindset actually repulses the Doctor. One of the disposables at the lighthouse is a stereotype screamer, a prissy upper-class woman [nevertheless, it is implied, mistress of an unethical financier] who complains and whines before the terror sets in. She gets a slap from Leela, who shows no fear in deadly peril, and has a real character moment as she exults in the death of the alien invader ['I hope you enjoy your death as I have enjoyed killing you!'].

The serial, scripted by Terrance Dicks, fills in a hole from earlier stories in that the menace is a Rutan, one of a race who have been referred to a couple of times as the opponents of the Sontarans in a universe-spanning, pointless war of conquest. The Rutan is barely glimpsed until the finale, and turns out to be a green ball-like glowing jellyfish which mostly slithers in the lighthouse stairwell - it could have been more fearsome, though it deliquesces effectively when pierced with a harpoon.

The doomed guest cast have solidly two-dimensional characters, but are no less effective for it - and the Tower of Evil-style lighthouse setting is used well, with the light converted into a laser beam to see off the Rutan mothership. It's simpler than its immediate predecessors had been, but plays well - next up was K9, more humour, less horror and a general shark-jumping from which the original show never fully recovered.
KIM NEWMAN

First published in this form here.

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