Doctor Who - The Smugglers

STORY PLACEMENT

THIS STORY TAKES

PLACE IMMEDIATELY

AFTER THE TV STORY

"THE WAR MACHINES"

AND PRIOR TO THE

NOVEL "TEN LITTLE

ALIENS."

PRODUCTION CODE

WRITTEN BY

BRIAN HAYLES

DIRECTED BY

JULIA SMITH

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'THE SMUGGLERS'

AUDIO CD (ISBN 0-563-

53504-0) RELEASED IN

MAY 2002.

BLURB

When the TARDIS

lands on a wild and

remote stretch of the

Cornish coast, its

occupants little

realise that they

have arrived in the

17TH century. The

Doctor, Ben and Polly

soon discover to

their cost that these

are far from

hospitable times. The

local squire is at the

head of a plot to

offload contraband,

whilst a long-

rumoured hoard of

stolen treasure has

drawn attention to

the village church.

Inadvertanly

stumbling upon this

web of deception and

double-crossing, the

time travellers are

rapidly propelled

into danger.

BBC ARCHIVE

ALL FOUR EPISODES ARE

MISSING.

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The Smugglers

10TH SEPTEMBER 1966 - 1ST OCTOBER 1966

(4 EPISODES)

Primarily, “The Smugglers” is a vehicle for establishing the Doctor’s newest companions, Ben and Polly. Following on directly from the end of “The War Machines”, the first episode starts with a lot of energy as the new additions to the TARDIS crew – Ben in particular – have trouble adjusting to the fact that they have just travelled in a time machine. Initially this is handled quite well by Hayles, but sadly Polly is convinced unbelievably soon and even Ben comes round to the idea far quicker than I feel is in keeping with his character.

The plot of this season-opening four-parter also leaves a lot to be desired. For the most part it revolves around several antagonistic factions of smugglers / pirates. Often this translates onto the screen as pure, unadulterated cheese – for example we have Captain Pike who, surprise, surprise, has a hook instead of a hand; and a Church warden who, surprise, surprise, used to be first mate on a pirate ship before he found God.

Moreover, Doctor Who’s production team may have changed considerably since “The Crusade” but they are still making the same mistakes – how on earth they expect us to believe that Polly, a undeniably beautiful woman, could be mistaken for “a lad” I have no idea! I am willing to suspend my disbelief so far that I can believe that an alien from an ancient society travels through time and space in a Police Box, but there is no way I am having it that Anneke Wills looks like a “lad”!

The serial has not dated that badly though, compared to some of its contemporaries – the pirate ship sets are realistic enough and scenes near the Church and on the beach (from the telesnaps, at least) look pretty convincing. That said, though I do question the wisdom of calling a horrendously stereotyped black pirate “Jamaica”.

Believe it or not though, having now ‘watched’ “The Smugglers” twice (by playing the BBC Radio Collection’s release of the soundtrack in synch with John Cura’s telesnaps) I have actually become quite fond of it. It is a harmless, light-hearted piece of melodrama that

allows William Hartnell’s Doctor to have a little bit of fun! He gets to hunt treasure, Ben and Polly get to pretend to be wizards… Hardly earth shatteringly good drama, I will grant you, but certainly entertaining enough if you are in the right sort of mood.

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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