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Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day 270: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Episode Six

Dear diary,

There was a point when watching Spearhead From Space where I nearly described it as looking like a 1970s Doctor Who move. It was simply down to the fact that it was all shot on film instead of videotape, which gave it just the right texture to give that effect. Actually, though, I think Doctor Who and the Silurians is playing out almost like a feature film itself!

I really think that you could take this script, with minimal trims here and there (to bring it down from a total running time of almost three hours), and put it on the big screen as a Doctor Who movie. It's sort of got everything you want. You've got the Doctor doing all his clever science stuff, assisted by Liz (here she's mostly reduced to running around collecting things for the Doctor or giving out the antibiotics, but it's her suggestion that leads towards a cure), while the Brigadier mans operations and prepares for a battle as lizard men rise from beneath the Earth. The introduction of the virus has given this story a real shot in the arm (I know. I'm sorry. Please excuse that pun…), and has changed the playing field from being the single moor to the entire world. Before today's episode is out, we've seen pockets of London infected, and there's the first international death in Paris, too.

People (myself included, it has to be said) often think of large-scale invasions in Doctor Who being a hallmark of the more recent series, but here we are in 1970 with some fab location filming at Marylebone station which really gives this story some size. During The Invasion, one of my biggest complaints was that while the whole city - heck, the whole world - was under threat from the Cyberman invasion, everywhere felt really empty. Most of the action takes place in the IE property, so we don't see a great many people being drawn into the story.

Here, we've got the complete opposite. Marylebone station is absolutely packed with people (of course it is! It always is!), and while your gaze is usually focussed on Masters as he alights from the train and woozily makes his way towards a taxi, the hustle and bustle in the background can't help but to make things seem more real. Perhaps the crowning moment is a high shot a little later, in which people are dropping like flies in the station, and the action seems to carry on for ages. Right into the background people are being affected, but we get to see it right in the centre of the screen in a place as busy and as important as this.

(Oddly enough, I've been on trains today that passed me through busy London rail stations, and I did worry that I might be struck down by this Silurian virus. I got even more suspicious when I ran into Steven Moffat boarding the same train this afternoon. Thankfully, it's now 9pm, and I'm feeling fine...)

Like several things in this story, I never knew any of this was here. I couldn't have told you that the Silurians planned to wipe out humanity with a virus, and I couldn't have told you that any of this story took place in London, aside from that opening scene of the Doctor working on Bessie. UNIT really does feel vital to the safety of the city, and all of this is really impressing me. The only thing is… I'm desperate to see all the station sequences cleaned up in HD! How stunning would they look!?!

Yesterday, I briefly praised the performance of several members of the guest cast in this story, and today we've managed to lose another two of them. I can't let them go without mentioning Peter Miles' rather fantastic final scene. He rants and raves at the Brigadier, even going so far as to jump on the table and strangle the man at one point. It's ridiculous. It's over the top. It's overacting of the highest level.

And it's brilliant! I was completely captivated, and despite the fact that it's one of the largest performances we've seen in the entire series, it's completely right for the moment. Dr Lawrence has been building up to this moment ever since the first episode, and it's great to see him going out so boldly now. It gives us a great chance to take a real look at the make-up for the virus, too, which is looking really quite effective.