Classic Doctor Who - Season 14 - The Deadly Assassin (1976) - Review

Starring: Tom Baker, Peter Pratt, Bernard Horsfall & George Pravda

Written By: Robert Holmes

Directed By: David Maloney

 

In my humble opinion, the three strongest eras to date of Doctor Who have been overseen by producers Barry Letts, Russell T Davies and Philip Hinchcliffe's time on the show. While each has its own ups and downs, I regard the Hinchcliffe era so fondly because of how bold and dark it was, and because of the boundaries it was willing to push in terms of what was acceptable family entertainment. It definitely can't be done all the time, but Doctor Who can thrive when it takes semi-regular trips into more adult territory. So here we have The Deadly Assassin, perhaps one of the darkest stories the show ever produced?

 

Summoned by a vision from the Gallifreyan Matrix, the Doctor has returned to his home planet, and without Sarah Jane. He is without any friends or companions, and soon finds himself the biggest criminal on the planet when it appears he has assassinated the President. But nothing is quite what it seems, and plotting in the shadows against the Doctor is one of his oldest enemies – the Master. What lengths is the Master willing to go to in order to prolong his own life?

 

Once you've watched The Deadly Assassin, the thing that may stick in your head the most is its use of raw, visceral and even purely horrific imagery. As I've already said, Philip Hinchcliffe's time as producer on the show is primarily remembered as being the darkest Doctor Who ever got, even developing its own Gothic horror atmosphere. This story, along with The Brain Of Morbius, saw this at its peak and are perhaps the bleakest stories Doctor Who has ever seen. At no point is this better realized than in Parts 2 and 3, when the Doctor is trapped in the Time Lord Matrix. With scenes featuring Samurai warriors, creepy clowns, surgeons, being put in the middle of a battlefield, having to run from being shot at by a plane, and a masked deadly rifleman constantly in pursuit of the Doctor, there is some truly powerful imagery here, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable when this story was first broadcast. Robert Holmes' script is relentless in its attempts to put fear into a young audience, and there are some amazing cliff-hangers to be found that see the Doctor desperately trying to free his trapped foot from a railway track as a train approaches, or being pinned down underwater to drown. I hardly share Mary Whithouse's criticisms of The Deadly Assassin being inappropriate for children, but I certainly see why she singled this story out.

 

As we should come to expect from Robert Holmes, probably the best writer ever to grace Doctor Who, the script is brilliant and the dialogue completely sparkles. Although it was first broadcast in 1976, The Deadly Assassin's themes and looks towards political corruption are still relevant even to today's audience, maybe even more so. Borusa's insistence on having to maintain control, and the lengths he will go to to keep that control, are a cynical yet depressingly accurate reflection of our own politics: “The story is not acceptable. This is a very difficult, delicate position: we must adjust the truth.”. In a time where there's still so much talk about fake news and alternative facts, this feels as relevant as ever. The story even features some serious warnings about greed, seen through Goth's ulterior motives, and how this greed can be exploited by people like the Master.

 

Speaking of the Master, The Deadly Assassin sees his long-awaited return to the show. The time felt about right for the Master to return, having not been seen for the three years since Frontier In Space. However, the Master is anything but the same as we last saw him, and while we may have grown used to the smooth, charismatic and even Mafia Boss-style Master that Roger Delgado portrayed, Peter Pratt's new Master is anything but that. Reduced to a decaying, disfigured and damaged version of his former self, this Master is far more creepy, and the lengths he will go to to prolong his own life, even to go as far as destroying Gallifrey and the Time Lords, is just unsettling. Peter Pratt is fantastic in the role, and while I don't think anyone will ever top Roger Delgado's Master, he is definitely a worthy successor.

 

The Deadly Assassin also benefits from strong direction and production values. This is one of the more rare classic stories where pretty much every aspect of the production works. This isn't a particularly bright or colourful episode, but it doesn't have to be. Throughout its run time, it's quite dimly lit but this fits with the dark and bleak nature of the story. Director David Maloney makes the most of the Gallifreyan sets, and has the chance to get a bit more inventive in the scenes that take place in the Matrix. His direction also manages to make the Doctor and the Master's final showdown feel grand and destructive, despite the studio limitations. The Master himself could have ended up looking quite silly in his decayed state if the make-up and prosthetics let him down, but he actually looks pretty good. The dying face looks really good, and the frayed tattered state of his dark robes give the impression that he's been hiding and scheming in Gallifrey's shadows for quite some time.

 

If you haven't yet gathered, The Deadly Assassin deserves its reputation as a classic, but is there anything wrong with it? Literally my only problem with this story is the mixed feelings I have towards it depiction of the Time Lords. In some ways, I quite like the way the Time Lords were handled, seeing as up until now, they have been depicted as little more than powerful demigods. To see a race that values itself so highly and pompously have its own secrets and flaws was an interesting take on Robert Holmes' part. However, there are times where the Time Lords just don't feel like Time Lords and end up reduced to the level of humans. With Runcible filming news broadcasts on the President's resignation and some older Time Lords complaining about hip pain, they feel just a bit too close to regular humans. I like the idea of the Time Lords being victims of corruption, but small and frankly unnecessary things like this just make them too human.

 

But as a whole, The Deadly Assassin still holds up even to this day. It's a dark and cynical entry to Season 14 that presents a refreshing and unique take on the Time Lords, while also boasting some of the bleakest and unsettling imagery the show has ever seen. There's a great moment at the end of the story where Borusa gives the Doctor a nine out of ten for his work in saving Gallifrey, and I'd say that's about right for The Deadly Assassin too.

 

 

The Deadly Assassin
 

9/10