'Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin' (1976)


And so my journey to catch up with all the classic 'Doctor Who' stories that I either watched or read, as a kid, continues, via wherever I can find them on DVD (because the thrill is in the chase). 'The Deadly Assassin' was first shown in 1976 and I would have all of about a year old so if I did watch back then, I can't remember it. I first came across this tale via the library and was immediately struck by the cover, check it out...

Honestly, a cover like this pretty much demands that you read the book, especially if you're me ;o) It was a little while longer before I'd get to watch the story and even longer before I'd finally get a chance to watch it again. Here we are though, let me tell you all about 'The Deadly Assassin'...(with some spoilers, this story is forty six years old now...)

Gallifrey. Planet of the Time Lords. The Doctor has come home, but not by choice.

Summoned by a vision from the Matrix, he is drawn into a web of political intrigue and assassination. Nothing is quite what it seems and in the shadows lurks his oldest and deadliest enemy...

I guess the first place to start is by saying that I have never seen 'The Manchurian Candidate', a movie that people like to compare 'The Deadly Assassin' to. I can't, because I haven't ;o) What I can say though is that even on a second viewing, and knowing who the enemy is, 'The Deadly Assassin' is an absolutely compelling watch. It's one of those stories where you just know that if you take your eye off the ball for even a minute, you're going to miss something important. I made that mistake once and now I'm going to have to watch the whole thing all over again to get that final piece of the jigsaw in place. It won't exactly be a chore though.

All of this is in no small part down to Tom Baker's performance as the Doctor, both on Gallifrey and in the Matrix itself. There's real gravitas happening here, so much is at stake and the Doctor reacts accordingly. At the same time though, he's back on Gallifrey and you get the feeling that there's a lot there that he can't take seriously (maybe that's why he left?) Either way, it's a superb performance.

Talking of which, you don't get to see a lot of Peter Pratt under all that costume and make up but his performance, as the Master, is also worth noting for it's mix of desperation and sheer venom as the Master fights to hold onto what is left of his final regeneration before it is too late. And considering this was all shot in 1976, that outfit is more than just a little bit scary. I like it.

The plot itself is a good mixture of 'courtly intrigue' (that show the Time Lords in a different light, 'adjusting the truth'...), whodunnit and these sweet little moments of horror as we see what happens to the Master's victims in death. And those scenes in the Matrix... Considering it's all presumably taking place in the same quarry, it really works in terms of all the different locations that the Doctor must travel through. And it's brutal regarding what the Doctor must face, there's real 'fight to the death' stuff happening here and you can see the Doctor having to face, and even exceed, his limits, just to survive.

If I ever get round to making a list of my favourite 'Doctor Who' stories, I think 'The Deadly Assassin' would be right up there, probably in my top five. Everything about it just hit the spot and I can't see myself leaving it so long before I watch it again.

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