Doctor Who: Season 10/Oxygen Review

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(Screened on Saturday 13th May 2017)

 

I love Peter Capaldi’s interpretation of the Doctor. I find him so watchable, very alien and I love his brusque manner, in which I can see overtones of the “irascible old man” as played by Doctor #1, William Hartnell.

 

I also find myself liking new companion Bill, played by Pearl Mackie. From the advert at the time of her unveiling I didn’t think I would, but within two minutes of screen time she’d won me over. I think the main thing that appeals to me is her credibility as a character. She asks questions, she’s morally grounded, she’s afraid when we would be afraid; she’s sassy but not flippant. She comes across as a person, not a caricature.

 

This season seems to be going for moodier, darker stories told at a slower pace. The often-frenetic and dizzying speed of New Who has irritated me in the past and I have felt it lacked substance and was one colourful set-piece after another, none of which actually held together in a plausible narrative, with a heavy “moving moment” jammed in to try and make us feel something. Season 10 though, seems to be going for something altogether more sinister and compelling and satisfying.

 

Capaldi and Mackie seem like the perfect team; their characters are interesting and rounded and nothing seems forced or out of place. The inclusion of Matt Lucas’ dead-pan butler, Nardole, works well (for me) and Lucas is used sparingly throughout the season; this week sees his major role so far, since the Christmas special.

 

So, on to this week’s episode, the ingenious Oxygen by Jamie Mathieson. This was a classic, claustrophobic “base under siege” format, set on a space station and featuring zombies. I loved the darkness and the atmosphere. I loved the slower pace, which allowed for genuine tension to build. I wonder whether younger viewers had enough whizz and bang to keep them hooked, but then I’m not really bothered, as it was perfect for the child in me.

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The “zombies” were actually dead people in automated spacesuits, which was an interesting and realistic twist, so there was actually nothing actually "alien" about this whole story. The ultimate evil was in fact capitalism. The solution made sense and didn’t involve any techno-babble or deus ex machina plot contrivances. It all just worked perfectly. Although the Doctor saves the day, it is at a price. In a shock ending he sustains a (so far) lasting injury and as the titles roll he is left blind.

 

Oxygen has been my favourite story this season – in a season that I have largely enjoyed. In fact, it’s been my favourite story for some time. I love Capaldi and am sorry he will be bowing out at Christmas. I have always been less enamoured with show-runner Steven Moffat, who is also moving on at the end of the year, but it seems that he is finally providing Capaldi with the sort of stories that his greatness deserves.

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CULT CLASSICS – THE PRISONER 

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I am not a number!

A Brief Introduction to The Prisoner.

 

 

This year, 2017, marks the Golden Anniversary of the cult TV series The Prisoner. Fifty years since it came to the screen and delighted half the nation and confused the other half.

 

In the early ‘Sixties, Danger Man, was one of the most popular, must-see programmes on TV.  It starred Patrick McGoohan as secret agent, John Drake. McGoohan was the highest paid television actor, a much sought-after property and as the success of the series grew, so did his input and influence.

 

Legend has it that McGoohan was offered the role of James Bond, but turned it down because he disliked the violence and casual sex of the role. He was a highly principled husband and father with strong Christian values.

 

Danger Man had a very successful run throughout the ‘Sixties in black and white and had just gone into colour, when McGoohan suddenly and inexplicably pulled the plug. He had tired of the role and had a new project which would completely consume him and become one of the most important and influential cult classics of all time, The Prisoner.

 

McGoohan plays a secret agent, like John Drake; whether he is John Drake or not is the subject of much debate. He is never mentioned by name and the script referred to the character simply as “P”, for either Patrick or Prisoner. One day he resigns from his job, for no apparent reason other than he’s had enough. He packs a case to leave for a holiday, is gassed and rendered unconscious. He wakes up in a replica of his home – but when he looks out of the window it isn’t London he sees – it is a strange cosmopolitan place called “the village”. No one has a name, everyone has a number; he is Number Six. Amongst his fellow villagers, he cannot be sure who are the prisoners and who are the warders, so he can trust no one.

 

Number Six is constantly pressed by the authorities of the village for the reasons behind his resignation; he never gives in; he never breaks, despite the use of a gamut of dirty tricks, hallucinogenic drugs, mind-swapping techniques and disorientation, all designed to get him doubting reality, questioning his sanity and uncertain of his own identity.

 

The premise came from McGoohan’s co-creator, script editor George Markstein, who had become aware that during the war there was an establishment in Scotland, Inverlair Lodge, where people were kept in a sort of open prison; people who were perhaps Germans who had married British people, they weren’t traitors exactly, but were considered sensitive and had to be kept an eye on, in case they suddenly started goose-stepping and eating sauerkraut. Ex-secret agents and valuable scientists would also be housed here, well looked after, but under close surveillance. This was an ideal premise for McGoohan to use as a jumping off point to look into aspects of society and individualism.

 

Of course, the filming location, the hotel and resort village of Portmeirion in North Wales, made a huge contribution to the lasting imagery of the series. Portmeirion was created by architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, as a sort of architectural fantasy. There is nowhere quite like it. It adds a feeling of otherworldliness and timelessness to the series – and the two, Portmeiron and The Prisoner, are inextricably linked. To really frighten yourself go to one of The Prisoner conventions at Portmeirion and watch fans re-enacting popular scenes. You won’t forget it in a hurry.

  

The Prisoner is an adventure, a very psychedelic adventure; it is a comedy, an allegory; it is about freedom, repression, dehumanisation, the Cold War, nuclear annihilation and the dizzying speed of progress.

 

The final episode had the nation on the edges of their seats… and then throwing things at the TV screen when the series failed to deliver a neatly tied up solution. The switchboards at Lew Grade’s ITC were jammed with complaints and McGoohan reputedly fled the country.

 

Episode 17 is the most surreal, the most allegorical and the most challenging conclusion to a TV series possible. It does make sense with a bit of insight, but it isn’t an easy ride, much like the penny-farthings that some of the villagers use. It is a bizarre world where people wear colourful capes, where giant condoms bounce around and suffocate those who try to escape, where life-size chess is played on the lawn using real people. It’s utterly brilliant, a work of genius; frustrating, confusing, entertaining, enlightening, frustrating again and an absolute classic. If you believe in the illusion of freedom then watch it – but it provides as many questions as answers. We’re all pawns…

 

The Prisoner has influenced writers, artists and musicians the world over – and will most probably continue to do so. There was a remake in 2009, but it was a complete failure. The Prisoner was set in the ‘Sixties and was like a historical document; it carries the zeitgeist of that period and cannot work at any other time. It was – and remains – utterly unique.

 

Be seeing you.

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NB. My script, The Long Goodbye, starts off as an homage to The Prisoner and includes many references and visual conceits and employs the clipped acting style of McGoohan (as Number Six) for the central character. If the audience aren’t familiar with the intricacies of the series then these references just become part of the generic spy caper, which works just as well.

 

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CULT CLASSICS – THE AVENGERS

 

Mrs Peel... We're needed.

An overview of the Avengers

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The Avengers we remember fondly today, Steed and Mrs Peel, with their cool and flippant dialogue and outlandish plots, is not how the Avengers began. The programme was created by Sydney Newman, the main creative force behind Doctor Who, as a gritty, hard-hitting drama. The first season stared Ian Hendry as a doctor, whose fiancé (who later married Patrick MacNee) was killed by a drug ring. MacNee’s Steed, at this point, was a shadowy figure in a trench-coat; he was sinister and ruthless and nothing at all like the Steed we would come to love in later years.

 

After one season of studio-bound stories, Hendry left to pursue a career on the big screen, which sadly never came to fruition, despite him being a fine and charismatic actor. A hurried replacement was drafted in, in the form of Jon Rollason, who essentially delivered Hendry’s lines in three scripts already written, after which he was replaced by naïve nightclub jazz singer, Venus Smith, played by Julie Stevens. Unfortunately, the Venus stories always have her singing a jazz standard – rather badly – which soon starts to grate. At the same time, Honor Blackman was taken on as anthropologist, Mrs Cathy Gale. Cathy was tough and independent, a complete contrast to Venus. There was a chemistry between Blackman and MacNee and their dialogue fizzled and delighted audiences. Most famously, and unlike Venus, Cathy Gale could handle herself; she wore a shiny leather fighting suit and knee-length boots (which kick-started the Avengers long association with kinkiness) as she karate-chopped her way through thugs and assailants.

 

For series 2, Venus and Cathy stories were alternated. For series 3, Venus was dropped and Cathy became the sole supporting character alongside Steed. Blackman quit at the end of the series, to play Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.

 

Series 4 introduced a new character, Emma Peel, but the first actress playing her, Elisabeth Shepherd, didn’t work out. She was a popular name at the time and had a certain sex appeal. A couple of stories were filmed, but the producers were having issues with Miss Shepherd, who had come along with her own ideas, that weren’t quite in line with the producer’s vision. She was fired and new scenes featuring her replacement, Diana Rigg, were inserted into the existing footage. The Town of No Return (see below) was one of the stories filmed in its entirety with Elizabeth Shepherd. Sadly, aside from a few stills, no footage of the original Shepherd version remains.

 

Emma Peel was the perfect foil for Steed. MacNee and Rigg did one black and white series, which is considered to be the apex of the Avengers, edging more and more in a fun, flippant and quirky direction, followed by a colour series, which although very fondly remembered, was starting to get a little too gimmicky and far-fetched. When Rigg left, unhappy with the long hours, bad pay and being taken for granted – she also went on to star in a Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

 

Everything was to change for the Avengers. In their wisdom, the TV bosses had decided that the colour Rigg season was going too far in the direction of parody and science fiction, so they sacked the production team and tried to take the show back to its less humorous, harder-hitting roots. Steed’s new sidekick was a young Canadian actress, Linda Thorson, who was fresh from stage school and very inexperienced. She was to play a fledgling agent, who was besotted with senior agent, Steed. Thorson is not generally popular with fans – and coming straight after Diana Rigg, it was an impossible task – though she handled the acting and the action admirably and her relationship with Steed was fresh and different. With a few of the new-style stories already filmed, it was clear that they weren’t working at all and no one was happy, so, the new production team were fired and the old team were invited back. The show returned to the zany surrealism of the colour Rigg season, but the humour and off-beat situations were ramped up still further.  There is little subtlety in the Thorson series; the humour is obvious and often falls flat. There are some excellent stories in this long season, but there are also some very poor choices.

 

The Avengers relied on an American audience for its continued success. Unfortunately, at this time, the US placed it head-to-head with hit show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In; the Avengers couldn’t compete and quietly died. At the end of the Thorson season, Steed has built his own rocket and the couple accidently blast off into space with a bottle of champagne… Bizarre.

 

The Avengers changed beyond recognition from its earliest remit to its final incarnation. It evolved – not always totally successfully – but remains one of the most-loved shows of all time, with a massive loyal following. It had one of the biggest budgets and the most dedicated and ingenious crew. The fifty minute shows are a fine example of how stylish and slick good television can be. The series boasts that an episode is shown somewhere in the world every single day.

 

 

 

THE TOWN OF NO RETURN - Avengers Review

 

(Series 4, Rigg black and white season. Episode 1)

 

I’d never realised before, but watching this time, Diana Rigg’s portrayal of Emma Peel is not quite as rounded as it will become; it’s slightly too acidic. She always retains a trace of acid of course, along with her famous “Chelsea wit”, but here she seems to be reading the lines as Cathy Gale with a grudging resentment towards Steed, rather than with the smouldering sexuality and feline superiority that she later possesses; it’s not a complaint, just an observation. This episode has an intro sequence, or as much of an intro as we’ve ever had in the Avengers thus far – basically Steed and Mrs Peel have a fencing match – both physically and verbally – which allows a few small insights into their characters, mainly that Steed is more than happy to play dirty to win when necessary.

 

The classic scene on the train with Steed’s tea things in the carpet bag is priceless and just typifies the Avengers as we now think of it; this scene wouldn’t have fitted well into the earlier seasons, but the Avengers is now a different show with more emphasis on light entertainment and humour; it seldom relies on anything from the real world.

 

The two leads are amazing in this story and their relationship and interactions are a sheer pleasure to watch. The supporting cast are all excellent, including a brief appearance from Patrick Newell, later to become Steeds superior “Mother” – and Juliet Harmer, who must have been filming Adam Adamant Lives! around this time. Terence Alexander and Jeremy Burnham are brilliantly cast and turn in memorable performances.

 

The setting of Little Bazeley is atmospheric and the mystery builds nicely. Some of the shots of sand dunes, graveyard and abandoned military base are so filmic and well-composed that I had to keep pausing to admire the frames. The plot – when fully revealed – is outlandish, but hey, this is Emma Peel Avengers: outlandish and surreal is exactly what we want.

 

I can’t praise this episode highly enough. For me the pacing is just right, the humour’s spot on and everything comes together perfectly. This is Avengers-gold – one of the very, very best of the series. 10/10.