Doctor Who - Paradise Towers [VHS] [1987]

Paradise Towers is a luxurious 304-story tower block designed by a non-human entity, the Great Architect Kroagnon. An arrogant and tyrannical being, Kroagnon refused to let anyone inhabit his creation. Unable to remove him or have him killed, the Tower's inhabitants encase him in the basement of his own creation, hastily leaving the building in order to go and fight a war. They evacuate the very young and very old people to live in the Towers indefinitely while the war is fought.

Hearing great things about the Towers, particularly it's swimming pool on the top floor, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Mel (Bonnie Langford) decide to pay a visit. They find the place in disrepair and disorder. The rat-infested corridors are roamed by crossbow-toting street gangs called the Kangs; the apartments are inhabited by the Rezzies, canniballistic old women who jazz up their bland apartment existence by capturing and devouring anyone who crosses their path; the building is overseen by the caretakers, who hopelessy try to run the Towers behind a rulebook of inefficient bureaucratic regulations.

The sole outsider is Pex (Howard Cooke), a cowardly ex-soldier too scared to fight in the war. Meanwhile, Kroagnon, with the help of his deadly robotic cleaners is steadily plotting his escape...

The lighthearted almost comical approach to the story is dire, and reduces what could have been a great drama to the level of farce. The script leaves a couple of plot holes dangling and only towards the end does everything become completely coherent.

This has to be Bonnie Langford's worst story on "Doctor Who". Reduced to merely wandering around corridors and making, in light of what happens to her, unbelievably stupid decisions, she gives a very strained and unconvincing performance.

Howard Cooke (as Pex) and Richard Briers (as the Chief Caretaker) are also poor, not taking their roles seriously enough. It would have worked better had Pex been cast (as Wyatt intended) as a musclebound, Sly Stallone type. There were alot of pumped-up musclebound tough guys in cinema in those days, so to have one who was a coward would have been a novel twist.

On the plus side, McCoy is getting better (and less manic) as the Doctor and Brenda Bruce and Elizabeth Spriggs have the right amount of sinister relish as Rezzies Tilda and Tabby.

The sets are very good, but the lighting could have been more sinister and noirish in places. However, the special effects, especially the killer robots, are shoddy. The music isn't too bad though, and adds a bit of edge to the drama.

All in all, a good story with some excellent ideas. Later seasons would mould the mystery and satire presented here into much better stories.

Somewhere...