Doctor Who: The Smugglers Review

SYNOPSIS

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and his resourceful new companions,

Ben Jackson and Polly [Wright] (competently portrayed by Michael

Craze and Anneke Wills), to the Cornish coast of the late seven-

teenth century. 

Here, pirates led by Captain Pike (Michael Godfrey) are searching for

Henry Avery's legendary treasure, while the local Squire Edwards

 (Paul Whitsun-Jones) and Jacob Kewper (David Blake Kelly) the inn-

keeper operate a smuggling ring. Longfoot (Terence de Marney), the

church warden, passes on a cryptic rhyme to the Doctor, and is then

killed by Pike's henchman, Cherub (George A Cooper).

The Doctor is kidnapped by Pike's men, then Ben and Polly are

arrested for Longfoot's murder. Having escaped, the three travellers

are reunited at the church crypt, where Pike forces the Doctor to

reveal the treasure's location by solving Longfoot's riddle. The time

travellers sneak away when Revenue officer Blake (John Ringham)

and his militia arrive to confront the pirates.

BACKGROUND

Although The Smugglers has scant real plot and presents rather

hackneyed stereotypes, it is pure romp, and well worth a listen. 

William Hartnell is still on top form here. Despite nearing the

end of this incarnation, the Doctor is by no means on his last legs,

and he feels a "moral obligation" to act and thus prevent the

deaths of the villagers. Jonathan Morris described the adventure

as "exceptionally bloodthirsty" in the Missing Episodes First Doctor

Special from DWM (2013)

• the season four opener was transmitted from September 10 to October 1 1966
• the final historical story of the First Doctor's era was Hartnell's pen- ultimate appearance in the lead (it was during production of this story that Hartnell decided to relinquish the title role)
• director Julia Smith (co-creator and writer of EastEnders) assembled an excellent cast, and in 1987 she recalled Hartnell's formidable temperament and worsening health for DWM: "I remember asking [him] to cross the TARDIS [set to] press a particular button and he went raving mad"
• it achieved the lowest-ever viewing figures for the series (averaging 4.5 million per instalment) up to The Trial of a Time Lord, and proved the death-knell of the purely historical stories (The Highlanders, just two months away, was the last true visit to the past until Black Orchid in 1982)
• it was filmed almost entirely on location, actually in it's Cornish setting
• Hartnell remained in London for the week-long location shoot - his body double was Gordon Craig
• it features the show's first speaking role for a black actor - Elroy Josephs was Jamaica
• this is the only televised story devoid of any incidental music
• all four episodes are now missing from the BBC archives, although all telesnaps exist (and are still available as a BBC photonovel) - ironically, the only surviving clips are those excised by Australian censors and can be seen on the Lost in Time DVD
• this 2002 CD release has linking narration from Wills (and was reissued in 2011)
• Brian Hayles' second script for the programme replaced his original submission (The Nazis was abandoned) - it had roots in the literary tradition of Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883), Jamaica Inn (Daphne du Maurier, 1936), Moonfleet (J. Meade Falkner, 1989), and the Doctor Syn books (Russell Thorndike, 1915-44)
• the pirates seen here are in pursuit of Captain Avery's fabled loot, and this sub-plot was revisited by the programme forty-five years later when The Curse of the Black Spot (2011) resolved the real-life dis- appearance of Avery (played by Hugh Bonneville) - the later adventure was also filmed in Cornwall
• the serial was placed at 159th in the DWM Mighty 200 Poll (Issue 413, September 2009), and an archive feature for the adventure was printed in DWM 321