Doctor Who - Inferno [DVD] [1970]

This was one of the first classic Doctor Who episodes I watched, and after viewing more than 40 others, this is still my favourite.

The Doctor is being provided with the means to experiment with his TARDIS console in exchange for him working as a scientific advisor at a drilling project. But when he goes into a parallel universe using his TARDIS, he discovers the horrors that will take place if the drilling on our world isn't stopped...

This episode is fantastic. It was the last episode to be recorded without incidental music, but the ever present sound of the drill reminds us constantly of the danger the Earth is in.

If I had to point out one bad point of this story, it would be that LIz does an awful lot of running between the drill and the Doctor's hut, even in the parallel universe. However, the acting is superb, and although the sound effects of the monsters aren't very convincing, it still deserves five stars.

My final point is that the cliffhanger to episode six is the best I have ever seen in Doctor Who.

In the finest tradition of the BBC's Quatermass serials, the 1970 season of Doctor Who featured a spellbinding array of serials dealing with doomsday scenarios on Earth, in a way that mirrored the realism of both the 1950s 'Quatermass' tales and the contemporary 1970 BBC series 'Doomwatch'.

Of all that first Jon Pertwee season, 'Inferno' was the most spectacular in terms of the scale of the disaster: with England rocked by earthquakes, and tormented by volcanic erruptions, as Project Inferno comes closer and closer to its goal of penetrating the Earth's crust; ultimately unleashing a fury which causes the world to dissolve in a cloud of expanding gas.

The most terrifying aspect of seeing 'Inferno' unfolding for the first time, in 1970, was watching the actual end of the world play out in the climax to Episode 6. Yet running this a close second was the metamorphosis of the Doctor's much loved companions - Liz, the Brigadier, and Benton - into ruthless killers on the parallel world. Perhaps as shocking as the world being consumed in flame is the scene in which Liz guns down the Brigadier in cold blood.

Doctor Who always works best when the story has a really convincing villain. And here, in a serial which preceeded (and perhaps inspired) the introduction of The Master the following year, we have not merely one such creation, but two. The obvious villain is the evil Professor Stahlman, a mad scientist in the classical tradition, intent on his project to blow up the world; but, incredibly, we also have a second villain - perhaps more terrifying than Stahlman - in Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, or, at least, his alter ego in the parallel world. The viewer is left wondering if the Doctor can possibly pull his metaphorical rabbit out of the hat this time, in the face of such odds?

The truly astonishing aspect of this serial is that when Don Houghton turned in his original script, it was only a four-part serial, and there was no parallel world story. Incoming producer Barry Letts, desperate to fill 26 weeks (and ultimately failing to do so!) turned down this serial, as being too short! Houghton was asked to re-submit it as a 7-parter, but using only the existing sets and locations so as not to increase the production costs.

In desperation, he came up with a mad idea for setting the extra episodes in a parallel world, in which the drilling project is more advanced than on "our" world, and of dropping the Doctor in it; and of ultimately seizing the opportunity to blow-up the world! What must the producer have thought, having asked for a story that didn't increase the production costs!

Yet so good were Houghton's eventual scripts, that the concept of the parallel world works seamlessly. There is absolutely no way to tell that it was only an after-thought, as the scenes on the other world are carefully interwoven with scenes in "our" world throughout the entire serial, rather than being simply shoved in as the middle three episodes, and events from both worlds are contrasted against one another to show how small changes in "our" timeline ultimately save one of the two worlds from sharing the fate of the other.

A tremendous guest cast reached back into the very beginnings of Doctor Who, recalling Derek Newark, who had appeared in the very first William Hartnell serial in 1963. Also included is Christopher Benjamin as Sir Keith Gold, a pivotal figure around whom the plot centres, and who would later return in the Tom Baker serial 'Talons of Weng-Chiang'. The menacing Professor Stahlman is played with tremendous panache by Olaf Pooley, providing a sinister, meanacing figure in both worlds, as the infection which he sustains begins transforming him from a somewhat unpleasant Doctor Jeckyl into a murderous Mister Hyde. And regular companions Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, and John Levene all get to play dual-roles, as their evil alter egos in the parallel world.

This is one of the very best stories ever, from one of the best seasons ever. The writing is excellent, despite the story being a 7 parter, and having the consequent occasional story lags. The quality of the acting and direction matches that of the writing, even though director Douglas Camfield was taken ill part way through the filming, and had to be replaced by Barry Letts. Only the realisation of the Primords disappoints. The story is almost devoid of incidental music, and somehow this adds to the tension and feeling of foreboding. Regarding extras, the documentary is very interesting, and the commentary is entertaining but the commentators have a tendancy to repeat themselves. Mind you they do have 7 episodes to cover. All in all this DVD is superb, and a must have for any Who fan.