William Hartnell

Doctor Who continued … The final episode of this serial, and the first season of Doctor Who, is a fast-paced piece with revelations that resolve the plot and plot turns that sync with established history. William Hartnell again has a great scene as the First Doctor rescuing Susan from the […]

40. Prisoners of Conciergerie

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who continued … The second animated episode of The Reign of Terror. At last the plot really moves on apace.  Ian is captured and shackled for information.  Barbara is allowed to speak to the Doctor so that they can be overhead.  Oddly, Barbara says that Susan had a fever […]

39. A Bargain of Necessity

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who continued … Some of the early episodes of Doctor Who are missing from the BBC archives.  For this serial, The Reign of Terror, the BBC had the missing episodes animated.  This is the first of those animated episodes. The plot again doesn’t go anywhere.  Ian (back from William […]

38. The Tyrant of France

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who continued … Ian escapes thanks in part to a convenience of a key being left in the lock and also by intention of being allowed to escape. Again it’s Hartnell that steals the show, both in bluffing the shopkeeper and then at the jail carefully taking things in […]

37. A Change of Identity

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who continued … An episode that doesn’t really further the plot much.  Susan devolves back into the screamer with alarming ease, apparently not being able to do anything without the men being there.  I rather felt for Barbara at the time, particularly the expression on her face when Susan […]

36. Guests of Madame Guillotine

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Doctor Who continued … I thought the early scenes in the TARDIS were superb, with Hartnell in particular being really on form.  The only trouble is that he’s suddenly gone back to being this irrational grumpy Doctor that we saw in the first episode, as though his mellowing, trust, and […]

35. A Land of Fear

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Reign of Terror / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Kidnap A Desperate Venture finishes the story adequately, but it felt like a bit of a poor pay-off after waiting six episodes (weeks) for this.  A bit more could have been made of the few people scavenging away underground.  Also, given that episode 5 came across as little […]

34. A Desperate Venture

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … A Race Against Death With the episode being called “kidnap”, I spent the entire episode thinking “so who’s been kidnapped?”  Apparently it refers to the cliffhanger at the end of the episode.  That made me think that a number of these episode titles have done that.  They don’t […]

33. Kidnap

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Hidden Danger Although slightly tempted to rename this “Slow Plod Against Death”, this episode is effectively the stepping stone between parts of the story – concluding the “city” part of the story and moving into the “dark tunnels and monsters” part of the story.  Changing locations and adjusting […]

32. A Race Against Death

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … The Unwilling Warriors While we’re still in the ship, the adventure continues as normal.  Some of the decisions by the characters seem a little ropey – such as Susan’s decision to go with the Sensorites.  I know she’s only supposed to be a child, but addressing some of […]

31. Hidden Danger

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … Strangers in Space … This episode continues in the same style and strength as the opening story.  Having not yet shifted to the Sense Sphere, we still have the rich (and sometimes claustrophobic) setting of the ship – which, through clever filming, looks much bigger than it probably […]

30. The Unwilling Warriors

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by
Previously … The Day of Darkness … Another six-part story begins with a strong episode.  It helps that we don’t see much of the aliens at this point, and we instead have the TARDIS crew in a confined set (the bridge of a spaceship) trying to work out what’s going […]

29. Strangers in Space

 in Doctor Who / Doctor Who / Reviews / Television  tagged Barbara Wright / Carole Ann Ford / Doctor Who / Ian Chesterton / Jacqueline Hill / Susan / The Sensorites / William Hartnell / William Russell by