TV MEMORIES # 7 - THE FIVE FACES OF DOCTOR WHO

 Its Monday the 2nd of November 1981.

My Mum met me out of school that night as she usually did and said that we had to go to the garage to drop her car off. I went to school in Sutton-in-Ashfield, the small mining town where we lived, but the garage was in the neighbouring town of Mansfield. The car was booked in for an overnight stay (I've no idea what was wrong with it, it seemed to be working OK to me). My Mum told me that meant we would be having tea at Grandma's house (she lived in Mansfield) and that Dad would come pick us up in his car after he'd finished work around 10 that night. I had only one concern...would this mean I was going to miss Doctor Who ?

This wasn't any old Doctor Who - this was special. This was The Five Faces Of Doctor Who  - a repeat season that was showing old stories featuring old Doctors that I'd only ever heard about in snatches of conversations. To me this was like seeing ancient myths and legends come to life before my very eyes. There was no Internet, no DVD'S, even VHS was in it's infancy back then and you certainly couldn't get these stories on video even if you where rich enough to afford one. This seemed like a once in a lifetime chance to meet the original three Doctors, something that may never come to pass ever again. This repeat season was advertised on TV the week before (probably after Look North) and I was absolutely stoked to see it.

We dropped the car off in Mansfield (which obviously took AGES ). The clock was ticking. We had a long walk across town before we got to Grandma's. On the way I kept pestering Mum - would we get there in time ? Would Grandma let me watch it ? My mum patiently fielded all my questions in that cautiously non-committal way that adults always do to annoying little kids - yes, we'll get there in plenty of time but Grandma might be wanting to watch something on the other side and I'm not to play up or get upset or be naughty if I can't watch it.

It was a dark and cold night. We had proper seasons back then, not the globally warmed mish mash that we get now. It was damp and foggy with a hint of ice or even snow in the air. Winter was on it's way. We trudged through that freezing cold night and eventually arrived at my Grandma's little terraced house.

Once inside, I of course did the first thing my Mum had asked me not to - I pestered my Grandma about watching Doctor Who. Thankfully she was absolutely fine about it. I settled down in front of the telly, switched over to BBC 2 and waited...

There was still about half an hour before Doctor Who came on - I think there was an old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes film being shown (this was in the days when BBC2 used to show vintage black and white movies in the afternoon). My Grandma made me a plate of beans on toast, Sherlock Holmes dragged on...

Suddenly it was the magical appointed hour - 5.40. The posh and reassuring tones of the continuity announcer proclaimed that the Five Faces of Doctor Who was about to start and what was more it was going to show the very first episode ever starring William Hartnell as the original Doctor Who...

The story began. It was in black and white which threw me off a bit - it seemed so old, like a transmission from some ancient civilisation. I'd seen plenty of black and white films by this point but I was used to Doctor Who being in colour. Within seconds we got our first glimpse of The TARDIS still in it's familiar Police Box shape. There was something reassuring about that.

The episode continued and we don't get to see the Doctor straight away, instead we get two school teachers and a girl with a 1960's haircut who may or may not be some kind of alien. It was totally different to what I was expecting, it seemed more like some weird episode of a soap opera like my Mum would watch. I was still riveted though.

The school teachers follow the mysterious girl home (they'd get put on a register if they did that sort of thing now) only to find that she lives in a deserted junkyard- the same junkyard we saw the TARDIS parked in earlier. Onscreen it's a dark and foggy night much like the one me and my Mum had just been out in. Things are getting interesting...

And then we see him - an old, grumpy, slightly sinister and very angry old man - the Doctor. He's much less friendly than Tom Baker was. He's shouting at the school teachers and acting all shifty...like he's got something to hide. Ian (the male teacher) barges past him into the police box. I know what's coming next...Ian and Barbara get the shock of thier lives - the box is bigger on the inside than the outside. Welcome to the TARDIS. 

The angry old Doctor flips a switch on the console and the TARDIS arrives in prehistoric times, where the shadow of a ragged caveman looms over the newly arrived timeship. The episode ends. The continuity announcer helpfully reminds us that part 2 of this story can be seen tomorrow night at the same time. I'm addicted to Doctor Who all over again.

For the next three nights I faithfully tune into BBC2 to see the Doctor and his companions fight for thier lives against a tribe of cavemen. The Doctor becomes more likeable (and a bit more vulnerable) as the story progresses but it's still a million miles away from what I'm used to seeing. I still think it's great though. At the end of the fourth and final episode on Thursday 5th of November they announce that next week it's the second Doctor's turn in a story called "The Krotons". I head on out with my Mum to a bonfire night display wondering what a Kroton is.

That question is soon answered on the following Monday night (the 9th of November). The Krotons are a race of evil crystalline robots that are bullying a peaceful tribe of space people who are sharing a planet with them.

This is much more like the show I'd become used to. I know they're not very well regarded today but back then I thought the Krotons where brilliant space monsters.

The second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) seemed a lot more familiar to me as well. He wasn't as bad tempered or shouty as the first Doctor was. He seemed more playful and mischievous- like a big kid really, and like Tom Baker he was funny.

I remember the cliffhanger to that first episode - the Doctor is attacked by this creepy metallic tentacle. I remember talking about this episode the next day at school with my friend Martin who was also into Doctor Who. We both agreed that the second Doctor was brilliant (second only to Tom Baker) ànd we wondered what would happen with the deadly tentacle and how the Doctor would escape.

The following Monday (the 16th of November) bought us the incredibly exciting sounding "Carnival of Monsters" starring the third Doctor played by Jon Pertwee, better known to me as Worzel Gummidge.

My first impression of the third Doctor was one of surprise. Being familiar with Pertwee from his Worzel Gummidge role, I naturally assumed that his Doctor would be more like Worzel - a scruffy looking man with a "country bumpkin" accent. So it was quite a shock to see the suave, silkily smooth man of action that the third Doctor actually was. He bore absolutely no resembelence to Worzel or any of the other Doctors that I'd come to know. If anything I liked him even more than than I did the second Doctor from the previous week's story.

The story definitely lived up to it's title - this WAS a monster packed tale. I loved the Plesiosaur that attacked the sailing ship. I was still bang into Dinosaurs at that time so this was a definite plus point.

For a 1970's Doctor Who monster done on a BBC budget I think he looks quite good. I can also remember the Drashigs - multi-eyed giant reptiles that burst out of a swamp to attack the Doctor and his assistant Jo Grant.

I thought they where pretty damn cool as well. I found out in later years that the Drashigs teeth and jaws where taken from dead Terriers. Which is both sad and horrible when you think about it. I don't think any dogs where actually killed to make the show (at least I hope they weren't), I think they where corpses procured from an animal shelter but it still gives the Drashigs a bothering edge that other Doctor Who monsters lack.

The following week we got a nice little bonus in the shape of "The Three Doctors" - not only did we get more Jon Pertwee, we also got William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton back in this repeat of Doctor Who's tenth anniversary story.

For some reason I missed the first half of the first episode (there was something going on after hours at school I seem to remember) but my Dad soon got me up to speed when I got back home. I can remember being puzzled by all the army men running around and why the Doctor seemed to be living at thier headquarters, so my Dad had to explain to me about UNIT and the third Doctor being exiled to Earth.

It was great seeing the different Doctors interact with each other and I really liked how the second and third Doctors where constantly bickering, but the things I liked most where once again the monsters. I particularly liked what I christened "The Jelly Men"...

Something about walking blobs of red jelly just appealed to me for some reason. So much in fact that "The Jelly Men" went on to have starring roles in several stories I wrote at school. In one of my stories a Jelly Man ripped someone's head off in graphic detail. My teacher was absolutely horrified by this and I was banned from writing stories with monsters in for several weeks after that. If that had happened today I'd have been whisked off to a child psychologist and my parents probably questioned about potential child abuse, I'm glad I grew up in simpler times...

I also loved the story's main villian - another evil Time Lord called Omega.

The fact that you never see his face (due to his helmet) coupled with his booming voice put me in mind of Darth Vader. I was also just getting heavily into Star Wars at this point so anything that shared similarities with it was a good thing in my book.

The final story of the season was a repeat of Tom Baker's swansong "Logopolis" (which I've already talked about). I can see why they picked it as it featured the then only appearance of Peter Davison (after all you can't have the Five Faces of Doctor Who if you miss out face number 5, even if he is only onscreen for about a minute). I was a little disappointed that I wasn't getting to see a "new" Tom Baker story but I still tuned in and enjoyed it all the same. Of course, seeing the regeneration for a second time got me excited all over again for the new Doctor, who would be making his debut in a few short weeks (which was sort of the point of the entire season I suppose).

The Five Faces Of Doctor Who was something I have a lot of nostalgia for. I'm not alone in this either as the season is still talked about on Doctor Who fan forums to this day. It was another one of those key moments that helped cemet me into being the lifelong fan that I became and still am today.

All that remains for me to say is HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY DOCTOR WHO !!!