028 - The Smugglers

Broadcast:

10^th Septembers - 1^st October 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ben, Polly

Adversary:

Pirates and Smugglers

Written by:

Brian Hayles

Director:

Julia Smith

Music:

None

Script Editor:

Gerry Davis

Producer:

Innes Lloyd

Average Viewers:

4.48m (4.3, 4.9, 4.2, 4.5)

Summary: Two travellers from the swinging sixties find themselves in Cornwall but can't believe its the 17th century. When they get caught up with smugglers and missing treasures they start to believe.

The start of Doctor Who's fourth series was not a happy one. Modern practice is for a series opener to be strong and worthy of big promotion to draw attention and herald the return of the show, but in the 1960s it was common for serials to be held over from the end of the previous recording block. In production terms, The Smugglers was the last serial made for series 3 before everyone took a break. Michael Craze and Anneke Wills were still fresh as this was only their second story as Ben and Polly (and their first as full-on companions) but for the regular production staff it was the end of a long and turbulent year that had seen a change of Script Editor and two changes of Producer with the difficult ramifications of such hand-overs. William Hartnell in particular was unhappy and unwell and is largely written out of this story as the Doctor seems to get side-lined while Ben and Polly take much of the lead. Consequently, viewing figures were at an all-time low

The biggest news during the show's break which still resonates today was the English victory against West Germany in the FIFA World Cup Final, going to 4-2 in extra time with Geoff Hurst scoring a last minute goal leading to the famous commentary from Kenneth Wolstenholme "Some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over... it is now!". Another incident that had lasting effects was the slaughter of three plain-clothes policeman near Wormwood Scrubs prison which lead to the creation of the Firearms Wing (which has changed name several times since) and the Police Dependants' Trust. Political unrest saw race riots continuing in America, execution and military coup in Nigeria and Mao Zedong began his 'Cultural Revolution' to purge and reorganise China's Communist Pasty.

An Earthquake in Turkey killed over 2000 people, closer to home 98 British tourists died in a plane cash in Yugoslavia, while a crash in Nabraska killed a further 42 plane passengers. Groundbreaking began for the World Trade Center, though two years of actual construction wouldn't begin for another two years. Caesar's Palace opened in Vegas "Star Trek" began broadcasting in America and the world's first computer console was inventd by Ralph Baer while waiting for a bus - his first working prototype would be completed within two years but wouldn't see public release until 1972 as the "Magnavox Odyssey".

The Beatles released their "Revolver" LP, completed their US tour with their last ever scheduled concert at Candlestick Park, and John Lennon apologised for his "more popular than Jesus" remark made earlier in the year and had recently been repeated out of context. Their double-A single "Yellow Submarine"/"Eleanor Rigby" dominated the charts and stayed at the top for 4 weeks. That was followed during the broadcast of The Smugglers by the Small Faces's "All Or Nothing" and the years biggest seller "Distant Drums" by Jim Reeves. Films during the break had included Carry on Screaming! but most importantly for Doctor Who Fans Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. saw the second Dalek adventure hit the big screen with Peter Cushing as the Doctor. During the serial's broadcast, films included Fahrenheit 451 and The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!. TV series "It's A Knock Out" began, Buster Edwards (of the Great Train Robbery back in the months leading up to Doctor Who's debut) was finally arrested after turning himself in when his £150,000 share of the takings ran out, The Bechuanaland Protectorate in Africa achieves independence from the United Kingdom as Botswana, and the only two men on trial at Nuremberg to denounce Hitler (Balder von Schirach and Albert Speer) were released at the end of their 20 year jail sentences for their roles in the Nazi regime.

With all that excitement going on, it is hardly surprising that The Smugglers received the lowest ever viewing figures. It's not a bad concept, and the story isn't exactly bad, but it struggled to keep my attention. The opening episode actually makes sense as a series opener because it introduces Ben and Polly to the TARDIS, the Doctor explains dematerialisation and that "I have no control over where I land". But it all feels a bit heavy handed and their reluctance to believe they have arrived in the seventeenth century takes too long to subside - Polly is more accepting but Ben is being presented as a sceptic and the episode is nearly half way through before he starts to change his mind. With Polly's short hair, in the seventeenth century setting she is mistaken for a young lad, she plays along but says it make her feel odd. Almost formulaically, the Doctor is separated from his companions and they are captured and imprisoned separately by the end of the first episode... Although Ben and Polly manage to escape during the second episode (using the pretence of witchcraft to trick their way out) they are recaptured again by the end, rendering the whole episode almost pointless (it's a writers' trick that Terrance Dicks would use multiple times to fill out The War Games three years later), the Doctor's thread doesn't do much and the only real point of development is a slight expansion of the scenario. The third episode sees the Doctor escape with similar trickery ('fortune telling' in this case) which just adds to the sense of lazy writing. Further padding comes from very long and frankly dull scenes without the regular characters. There's heavy drama hidden away among the uninteresting scenes but it feels too 'grown up' despite being quite a child friendly plot. There are some really dramatic murder scenes which partly survive due to foreign censor clips of knives being thrown then the third episode suddenly comes to life as Ben and Polly start trying to solve a riddle and find the hidden treasure (neither of which had really been mentioned before)

All in all The Smugglers really does feel like an end of season serial that's been thrown together with little time or money. There is no music at all, not even stock pieces or stings from older episodes - the only time this ever happened in the shows entire history. It hardly seems fair to mention the few line fluffs on this occasion but with the Doctor barely featuring, they are kept to a minimum - Early in the first episode, Hartnell clearly makes mistakes but fluidly covers it up but one very excited moment towards the end of episode three sees him stumbling quite badly. My only real problem with the plot (ignoring the loop) is the smugglers' stash of loot hidden inside a tomb... a tomb which apparently has a mechanical stone catch, which just didn't sound authentic to me. There are 'clever' lines within the writing, Ben calls Polly "Dutchess" for the first time and sends her ahead to the TARDIS while he hoes back to check on the Doctor saying "Polly... put the kettle on", there are references to "a gentleman with two lads" and the Doctor being nicknamed "Sore Bones" (or is it "Saw Bones"??) but there are also rather lazy names for the guest characters such as Jamaica and Spaniard. Unfortunately for the reconstruction, there is quite a long sword fight towards the very end that is barely discernible from the audio.

Finally, there is further repetition as Ben continues to witter on about reporting for duty (presumably to remind viewers that he is a sailor) and as they depart, the Doctor again states that he can't control the TARDIS... The serial ends with a teaser for the next story as the Doctor looks at the scanner and declares that they have arrived at the coldest place in the world...

The Smugglers has the honour of being the first serial directed by a woman but it is unfortunate (or perhaps chauvinistically deliberate) that she had a poor script to work with. Quite ironically, 2011's The Curse Of The Black Spot was a kind of prequel to The Smugglers and it too suffered in the quality stakes. One final detail that is worth pointing out is how the Doctor reacts to his new travelling companions. Although he essentially accepts them, he doesn't do it with any real emotion - neither warmth nor displeasure. He does express the fact that he expected to be alone again (following Dodo's departure) and he seems disappointed that he's not but it's a general sense of ambivelance more than anything... much like the serial itself. I scored The Smugglers 40% and felt I was generous with some of the component score, sets and costumes are hard to judge fairly on a reconstruction as are props. If the four missing episodes ever emerge intact then the score could go up, but it could just as easily go down. Until just an unlikely day, it remains on a level with The Space Museum (which somehow feels generous) with only the orphaned Mission To The Unknown scoring lower.

Next up... William Hartnell's final adventure...