Latest / A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast / Talks to Daniel Knight about his choice of The Time Meddler (3/4)
Transcript
- 0:23None. A hamster with a blunt penknife
- 0:35for doing. Quicker, quicker.
- 0:40Quicker Welcome back to A Hamster with a Blunt Penknife,
- 0:43the Doctor Who commentary podcast.
- 0:46You join us for Episode 3 of The Time Meddler, which is called a
- 0:51battle of wits and. I think we've had some some very
- 0:57witty questions and some and some very witty dialogue as well
- 1:00and Hooray the doctors back in this one.
- 1:02So we've had a a week off with Hart hartness, had a nice
- 1:06holiday fishing down on wherever he was fishing or and he's, he
- 1:11comes back. Do you think he comes back a
- 1:13little bit revitalized or absolutely.
- 1:16And his sequences with Butterworth in three and four, I
- 1:20think in some of his best material.
- 1:22You know, all this sort of. And how does one enter this
- 1:25contraption, Hammer and chisel, You know, all this stuff.
- 1:29Oh, it's great. And he.
- 1:31I love the bit where he says I have a Winchester 73, Sir.
- 1:34Right in the middle of your spinal cord.
- 1:37Remember, I'm just here. OK, Yeah, no, I feel the same
- 1:43thing happened in Keys of Mariners when he jumped ahead 2
- 1:45episodes and went straight. He goes city of millennia.
- 1:49So where? It is Millennius.
- 1:50Yes, he comes back and he's on top form because he's out of
- 1:53rest. Yeah.
- 1:56So yeah, there's some nice dialogue between nice sort of
- 2:01bit of banter between the two Time Lords or the two.
- 2:06Not Time Lords as they are now, as they were then.
- 2:09Yes, because we don't really get many great villains this year, I
- 2:16don't think, because it's the Daleks in the Daleks invasion of
- 2:20Earth 2, uncharismatic fillers in Planet of Giants.
- 2:26The rescue is Bennett, but they only have one confrontation
- 2:29scene at the end, so they don't really have time to really
- 2:32develop a rapport. The Romans it's nearer and
- 2:36that's brilliant. Like there's together a crackle,
- 2:40the crusade. I don't even know if he meets
- 2:44Salatin, does he? He doesn't know.
- 2:47I mean, the Doctor gets some very good dialogue, very good
- 2:50scenes with Richard the Lionheart, who's played by
- 2:54Julian Glover. Maybe he's piece what he's what
- 2:58he was going to do to his sister.
- 3:00Well. He's it's certainly morally
- 3:03ambiguous. And Saladin is Yeah, you don't
- 3:08really get much because Saladin I think it's only in the 1st and
- 3:113rd episode, and the main villain of the piece is, is Ella
- 3:14Kir, who? Barbara comes up against most of
- 3:17the time I do it. It's so bloody women again in
- 3:20that, aren't they? She says some.
- 3:22How would you have me go to Safford in bathed in oriental
- 3:26perfumes, I suppose. Supple and tender and
- 3:28affectionate? Yeah, This has a weird thread
- 3:32running through this year. I think, yeah, it's again, it's
- 3:36sort of stuff that is of its time and we probably wouldn't
- 3:40want to get, we wouldn't. That horrible phrase you
- 3:44wouldn't get away with it now which yeah you probably
- 3:47shouldn't do but I mean it's it's in that in that case it's
- 3:50in historical context and it does they they did sort of play
- 3:56down the sort of the the supposed incense you in
- 3:59incestuous relationship between Richard and his his sister at
- 4:04Harland has. Which, yeah, but I think when
- 4:08you're, you know, going out at 5:30. 5:45 on a Saturday tea
- 4:12time. Don't think you should be
- 4:15showing things like that at all. Anyway.
- 4:17Oh my God, what am I talking about, Daniel?
- 4:19No charismatic villains? Do you not remember Lobos, King
- 4:22of the Planet Xeros? Richard Shaw's memorable
- 4:27performance. Yeah, he's he's even as as
- 4:32memorable as he is in frontier in space as the as the guy who's
- 4:37in the the, the moon, the moon base prison, the Lunar, the
- 4:39Lunar Penal Colony. And he's also in Underworld,
- 4:43isn't he? Have what is he?
- 4:45He says. Have have the arms fallen into
- 4:47Xeron hands? Oh my God, no.
- 4:50So I think we can say with some degree of confidence this is the
- 4:53best villain of the year. Yes, I think so and.
- 4:56Somebody asked if he should have come back to the come back for
- 4:58the Daleks master plan. I think it was Jim Allenby on
- 5:00us. Yes, I think he should have done
- 5:02and it's. Surprising he didn't come back
- 5:04after that in inverted commas because, you know, it's maybe a
- 5:09bit too playful to be a villain. Possibly that is that maybe
- 5:17something that's is an issue retrospectively because now
- 5:21Peter Butterworth. You mentioned to people of our
- 5:23generation, Peter Butterworth you think of the Carry on films.
- 5:27You think of him as the dodgy campsite owner and carry on
- 5:30carry On campaign. You know leaning over the fence
- 5:34with Sid James going how much is it pound and how much how much
- 5:37is it how much is it for members pound and you know the the the
- 5:42wonderful Pepe in in carry On abroad where they he's the the
- 5:49hotel manager. Which does give the the very
- 5:53funny line, the very funny joke about when Kenneth Williams says
- 5:57arrow. Good afternoon, I'm the
- 5:58representative Wonder tours Stuart Farquhar and Peter
- 6:01Butterworth's character. Stupid what?
- 6:03Oh, Daniel, that was that was the best Kenneth Williams I've
- 6:07ever heard, you know? Oh, I've yeah, I've been quite,
- 6:11yeah. Also, my friends, they'll,
- 6:13they'll tell you I'm quite good. Yeah.
- 6:15My Kenneth Williams is. Almost too good, but there we
- 6:18go. Having the Croaky Rd. was
- 6:20happening. Wait, for Doctor Who Kenneth
- 6:22Williams in light of the 70s, you know.
- 6:26The only reference that I can think of that ties Kenneth
- 6:29Williams to Doctor Who is is a comment in his Diaries where he
- 6:32says that Doctor Who is getting sillier and sillier and that
- 6:36episode that he's describing is Part 2 of the Android Invasion.
- 6:40So I don't think they would have got him to do it.
- 6:42I'm just after doing this high art Carry on movie, right?
- 6:47Now, yeah, he turned down the part in The Avengers as well.
- 6:51Kenneth Williams. Yeah, yeah, one of the black and
- 6:54white M Appeal ones. I think it's the the one about
- 6:58the the what's it called? Is it room without a view?
- 7:02Where with the the concentration camp, the the the Yeah POW camp
- 7:09in the in the posh London hotel. Yeah, I don't know which party
- 7:14would have played, but yeah, they he turned it down and said
- 7:18it was a very silly part. And he also said somewhere else
- 7:21that he was watching The Avengers and thought it was
- 7:23puerile. Oh dear.
- 7:25I think maybe he should have looked at his own career though,
- 7:29and what he was making. Yeah, I mean, he started off as
- 7:34a very serious actor. He was, you know, playing the
- 7:37Doe fan in Saint Joan and. Then he did Hancock's half hour
- 7:43and became very well known as the snide character and then he
- 7:45was the cat. Then he did the carry ONS and he
- 7:48did the carry ONS because of his that he was very loyal to the
- 7:51producers because they, you know, sometimes you know he
- 7:55would his his acting career sort of sort of went down downhill.
- 8:00After that he did some sort of quite serious sort of West End
- 8:05dramas, which. People were expecting him to be
- 8:08the character in Hancock's half hour, but he wasn't.
- 8:10And they because of that, people couldn't take him seriously.
- 8:14So he would try and be the serious actor, but then he he
- 8:18would, he would panic and then just go into the the sort of,
- 8:22you know, the shtick that he would do and go, Oh yes.
- 8:26And I think it was an interview with the lady who plays Barbara
- 8:32in in the Doctor the Daleks movie Jenny.
- 8:36Yeah, and she did a play with him and you know, he was, she
- 8:40said he was lovely to work with, but he could be totally
- 8:42unpredictable and wouldn't stick to the script and then go all
- 8:45start, you know, doing it. So now he's still missing about.
- 8:48So I think maybe there was something to those people that
- 8:52said I don't want to be typecast.
- 8:53I'm not going to take on this kind of role because that's an
- 8:56example of that. Well, I think we should go and
- 8:59watch Peter Butterworth in action.
- 9:01Yes, I think we should. And and see what Larks he's
- 9:05going to get up with too. With William Hartnell in episode
- 9:083 of The Time Meddler. Well, shall I count as in?
- 9:12OK. And then you smack me around the
- 9:14face with another fabulous question.
- 9:16OK. So, so sorry, I'm counting on
- 9:19it, 54321, off we go. So, Andy Parkinson.
- 9:31Says this is this is my favorite Hartnell story.
- 9:35Would other villains fare better if they'd all had drop down evil
- 9:39plan checklists for certain? Andy, Yes.
- 9:44Your drinks there. It's the Jew, is there?
- 9:48Sorry. Yes, so I Daniel's I I believe
- 9:53Daniel's child is is making an appearance.
- 9:55In his No, no, it's my it's my wife.
- 9:57I've made her a drink. Sorry, I thought she was about
- 10:00to hand you your evil To Do List.
- 10:03No, I haven't got an evil To Do List.
- 10:06Maybe I should get one he. I think the joke is very funny
- 10:10so I would have. I mean the Master pretty much
- 10:13obviously did have A to do list, but caster malvo, he goes.
- 10:16I had a trap behind that trap but would have been a joy to
- 10:19spring. So I think he's got like plan AB
- 10:23all the way down to then, just in case.
- 10:26Yeah. Yes.
- 10:29He also asks after Peter Butterworth and Joan Sims, what
- 10:33other carry on stars would you have liked to have seen in
- 10:35Doctor Who? We've just mentioned one.
- 10:38Yes, he does. Well, I mean, we also have
- 10:40Bernard Breslau as the Ice Warrior.
- 10:45Angela Douglas, she was Mrs. Yeah, Doris Brigadier, the
- 10:51Brigadier. Let's British Stuarts second
- 10:54wife would find a role for Barbara Windsor.
- 10:56You know what it would be, but I'll find a role for her, yeah.
- 11:02And oh, actually fact, Jim Dale was in the running for to play
- 11:05to replace John Perry at one point.
- 11:07I see. If you remember, there was an
- 11:08interview with with Elizabeth Slayton and she said that she
- 11:11saw different sort of a list of names and that Jim Dale, so Jim
- 11:17Dale possibly is the 4th Doctor, I don't think.
- 11:19I mean, they were all good actors, weren't they?
- 11:22Yeah. I mean, Jim Dale, when he, when
- 11:25he finished with the Carry ONS, he went on to be a huge star on
- 11:27Broadway. He's actually in a film called
- 11:31Digby, the biggest dog in the world, and he plays a scientist
- 11:34in that. And that's sort of almost like a
- 11:36prototype doctor. So yeah, I mean, I feel I've
- 11:40spoken a little bit disparagingly about the carry
- 11:43ONS there, but actually I adored them as a kid.
- 11:48Carry on Cleo, carry on screaming.
- 11:51If that the. Earlier one Holiday Monday, I
- 11:54was just in my element watching that.
- 11:56Yeah, Peter Gilmore, who was in Frontios.
- 11:59He was not a big star in the Carry ONS, but he'd be sort of
- 12:03in a supporting role. Bit like similar to Peter
- 12:05Butterworth, really. Bernard Breslaw.
- 12:08Yeah, yeah, Little. And I think Joe Sims is great in
- 12:14The Mysterious Planet. I don't care what anyone else
- 12:16says, I think she she pitches it.
- 12:18Brilliantly, Daniel. I have seen it in the flames
- 12:22many times. We go forward.
- 12:27Am I to be surrounded by fools? Yeah, she's having.
- 12:32I don't care what she says in her autobiography.
- 12:35She's having a whale of a time in that totally.
- 12:40Oh, this is all great. I love this.
- 12:42The two of them playing games with each other around the
- 12:44monastery. Yes, Doctors.
- 12:46Effectively playing hide and seek now, just waiting to jump
- 12:50out at him. Unfortunately, Paul, Vicki and
- 12:52Stephen are just going back through the same passage they
- 12:56came through in the last. They're going there and then
- 12:57they're going to have to come back all the way.
- 12:59Yeah, all the way back again. I do quite like the fact that
- 13:02they've managed to get a form of sort of ventilation shaft into
- 13:06this story somehow. Yes, it's the same.
- 13:09Same sort of thing, isn't it? Yeah, it's a it's a tunnel, but
- 13:14it's nicely done as well with the, with the, with the trees
- 13:16and the roots. Yeah, because they it's
- 13:18underground. Yeah, it looks it's good.
- 13:24Vicky, if I know the Doctor is not going to be as simple as
- 13:26that. She's got the measure of him
- 13:28now. Yeah.
- 13:29Oh no. Hartnell's back, and he's with
- 13:31him again. And he's back with Edith, who's
- 13:34she? Looks like she's suffering from
- 13:36toothache rather than a nasty confrontation with a Viking.
- 13:41Yeah, if this was the new series, you know, and the Doctor
- 13:45learned, you know, he'd be tearing down the universe to get
- 13:48to these Vikings, wouldn't he to?
- 13:50Yes. Oh, it's lovely to have heart or
- 13:55back. See, my heart sings when he
- 13:57comes back on the screen. Yeah, I'm becoming quite a
- 14:02regular visitor, I think. You know, my only business is
- 14:06like, it's almost like she's forgotten about it.
- 14:09Yeah. Oh, Crikey.
- 14:10Now she's in a carry on move she made in light of the fact.
- 14:15Of course Harlow was in the carry ONS.
- 14:17He well, he was in the first one, Carry on Sergeant.
- 14:20And John Purwee, of course, was in Carry On Cleo Screaming and
- 14:28Cowboy I saw Jon Pertwee in one of our Dinosaurs is missing as
- 14:34a. Crazy film, yes.
- 14:36I mean, it was a bit troubling in places that the villains of
- 14:39the piece. Are.
- 14:41Yes. Again, yes.
- 14:43No. It's sort of Disney's homage to
- 14:45the talons of Wang Chiang, isn't it?
- 14:47Really. Really is or of its time.
- 14:50But we turns up as this crazy Admiral.
- 14:53Yes. So I was sort of going past his
- 14:55house and he wants to try and shoot it.
- 14:57He's like a game hunt. Oh, it's so funny.
- 15:00I love that. I love that film.
- 15:01As a kid, just I get a buzz at seeing Doctor Who act as
- 15:04especially Doctor Who's in other roles.
- 15:07Yes, when Trout when I first saw Box of Delights with Trouton.
- 15:13Oh, it was just magic. And also around the same time he
- 15:17did a sitcom with Nicholas Lindhurst.
- 15:20He played Nicholas Lindhurst's granddad.
- 15:23But it was quite funny to see him in that.
- 15:27Not quite so funny to see Trouton in the first episode of
- 15:30Inspector Morse, where he plays a very, very dodgy character.
- 15:35Very seedy, but yes. But yeah, it's always nice to
- 15:37see actors top two actors in other things.
- 15:40My Mark's a massive fan of Brighton, rock, Hartlow's in and
- 15:46like, he sort of expressed that Arnold maybe was like 10 years
- 15:51out from his best, like when he was giving his best
- 15:54performances, when his brain was sharp, he could deliver a
- 15:58Polish. But now I think, I think if they
- 16:00caught him because he's a bit eccentric and forgetful and he
- 16:03can sort of put that in the par. But it does make you wonder if
- 16:09sort of 45, if he'd taken on the role at that point.
- 16:12Then they aged him up a bit because I hear he delivers some
- 16:15sharp acting in some of those. Not not long before Doctor Who,
- 16:20he did another film called This Sporting Life with Richard
- 16:23Harris and I I've never seen it, but I've heard that it's it's
- 16:27it's probably his best performance.
- 16:29He plays this sort of aging, aging dad sort of sportsman.
- 16:32And he Yeah, apparently he's supposed to be on YouTube and he
- 16:37is great in it. It's very homoerotic, that
- 16:40movie. There's a lot of scenes in the
- 16:43changing rooms. Honestly, with all these bums
- 16:45out and everything, I'm like, am I watching?
- 16:48The harder was incredible. Sorry, I.
- 16:51Had to just hope you didn't get to see turtle's bottom.
- 16:53No, no, no. I'm very surprised that she had
- 16:56anything to do with a movie that was quite that on the edge for
- 17:01the time. Oh look, he's got a first aid
- 17:03kit in a monastery and 10. I mean, these are all just fun
- 17:08ideas. Take take this aspirin.
- 17:12It'll make you feel a lot better.
- 17:14Oh, it's a child, my son. Yes, it's a sort of herb.
- 17:26It's a sort of herb. Get out of my light.
- 17:33You know, look after him. It's hard to win the shadows
- 17:39here. Just sort of listening to every
- 17:40Oh no, he's. With Edith, isn't he?
- 17:41No, he's with Edith and he's going to yeah, he's going to
- 17:44knock on the door any minute now.
- 17:45I think what is very nice about episodes two and three is it
- 17:49does establish all of the key elements.
- 17:53So they find the cannons on the on the shoreline.
- 17:56The Vikings are here now, so when we get that To Do List,
- 18:00it's basically just joining all the dots and.
- 18:04He's goes he's I'm on schedule. I'm on schedule.
- 18:08Some of those lost met Leonardo da Vinci and discussed what is
- 18:13it the. Principles.
- 18:14The principles of powered flight.
- 18:15Yes. Yeah, that's so funny.
- 18:20Oh, Christ. I love the fact that he's sort
- 18:23of standing there, sort of thinking out loud and realising
- 18:25that he's saying things that he shouldn't be saying.
- 18:28I do wonder if this would be a tie three though, rather than A4
- 18:32parter. I think so, yeah.
- 18:35And I often think that about classic who, you know dispense
- 18:40of all the running around you know.
- 18:46And some and some purwee stories as well.
- 18:48Some purwee 6 parters, so does. I feel like we go about this the
- 18:51wrong way because obviously it was never meant to be seen as a
- 18:54whole. We watch it as a whole now
- 18:56because that's how it's presented to us.
- 18:58To us it was meant to be, you know, 25 minutes a week and that
- 19:04that was and. That's how you watched it, Yeah.
- 19:06Guessing, yeah, that was the portion.
- 19:09So I think in those terms. In the structure of a story,
- 19:14it's a bit irrelevant. Yes.
- 19:18But we were also in some ways we were kind of conditioned to, as
- 19:22you say, it's how it's presented now, but also a lot of the
- 19:26earlier stories our generation would have seen first on video,
- 19:31which when they came out were initially all edited down into
- 19:36sort of like 90 minutes or you know, two hours and 15 minutes
- 19:40if it was a six parter And then on YouTube, not YouTube UK Gold.
- 19:45You'd get, again, omnibus editions of Doctor Who, so you
- 19:48just watch it all in one go. I still get incredibly confused
- 19:51when Pyramids and Mars episode one cliffhanger kicks in.
- 19:54I'm like, what? This is what I was watching as a
- 19:56child. I'm not So I'm like that with
- 20:00talent of Wang Chiang and and also the Seeds of death you know
- 20:06sort of that that the original video where.
- 20:09Episode one looks like you're watching it through a cause, and
- 20:12then suddenly Episode 2 clicks in and it's really nice and
- 20:15clear. Are we interested in the Vikings
- 20:20and their machinations? Not as interested as Billy as
- 20:23Bonnie Langford is on on between the sofa, behind the sofa, even.
- 20:27Oh. Is she really?
- 20:28Why, she seems to be quite she. Yes, from what I saw of it, she
- 20:32seems to be quite sweet on on Sven.
- 20:34And what's the other one called? Oh, Bonnie's got a type.
- 20:38Is she? I don't know.
- 20:41But those those are quite good. They're quite fun to watch.
- 20:45Just the idea of of Bonnie Langford and and Sophie Aldridge
- 20:48sitting down and watching black and white Doctor Who with
- 20:50William Hartnell, particularly the Web Planet, which I think
- 20:53they they seem to enjoy. Oh, here.
- 20:55We go arrival in Northumbria. Position atomic cannons sight.
- 21:00Vikings Light beacon fires destroy Viking fleet.
- 21:05Norman Landing Battle of Hastings.
- 21:07Making how He's an autograph hunter as well, yeah.
- 21:14Oh man, that's gold. That is gold.
- 21:17Oh, what's that sarcophagus he's got there?
- 21:20It seems to be humming. Or is he humming?
- 21:23Sorry, I've got this. I've got the the subtitles on
- 21:26and it said it said in brackets humming And I think does it?
- 21:29Does that mean he's humming? Or is it his sarcophagus
- 21:33humming? Oh, look how he's using that.
- 21:35What's that called? Protractor.
- 21:36No, no compass. Compass.
- 21:39It takes me back all days, you know?
- 21:41Yes. Did you have the Oxford tin as
- 21:45well? Mathematicals.
- 21:46Yeah. Yeah, me too.
- 21:48Me too. Go on.
- 21:50Daniel, Hit us with another question.
- 21:52I know you've got loads. Where are we?
- 21:59Which ones have we got? Oh, if I asked, have we asked
- 22:07David? Mrs. Remington fan.
- 22:10One of the best 60s stories, Such a brilliant and clever
- 22:13script and one of the best cliffhangers in Doctor Who.
- 22:16The monk's got to tell this. And Peter Butterworth is
- 22:18delightful as the Monk. So yes, you're quite right
- 22:21David. It is one of the best 60s
- 22:23stories. Disagree with a word of that?
- 22:26No. So not so much a question but a
- 22:29comment. So thank you David for that.
- 22:32Oh, here we go. The Spooky musics playing
- 22:34Something's a Foot in the it's it's it's some.
- 22:40It's sort of like stock music, isn't it?
- 22:43Because Douglas Canfield never wanted to use Dudley Simpson.
- 22:49Yeah, I hear they had a bit of a fun.
- 22:53They had a bit of a falling out, so I think he used him a couple
- 22:57of times. I think he used him before for
- 23:01the crusade and then after that he would get other people.
- 23:05So he got sort of stock for stock music for this.
- 23:10Although there's a somebody sort of credited for percussion at
- 23:13the end and then other. So Geoffrey Bergen for his two
- 23:18Tom Baker stories. I guess about beautiful music.
- 23:21Simpson I love his music, Simpson, and it is like a comfy
- 23:26blanket around my shoulders. But.
- 23:28That fresh musical voice from Burg in those two stories, can I
- 23:34ask you a question then you can. So I Are we now watching sort of
- 23:39the Monks adventures? Because that whole scene there
- 23:42was from the Monks point of view with that castle villain, the
- 23:46Doctor in the shower coming up. Behind him with a pretend gun.
- 23:51Yes, it's the Doctor. The villain now, because we love
- 23:53the Monk, the Doctor's the serious one.
- 23:59And you kind of want the monk to.
- 24:01You want the doctors to stop the monk, but you don't want the
- 24:04monk to end up being blown up or killed or or so maybe that's why
- 24:10they didn't bring him back, because they they didn't want to
- 24:13kill him off. They couldn't bring the eye,
- 24:15bring the thought of, you know, killing such a fun character
- 24:18off. Because at one point it does
- 24:20look like he's going to be, you know, in the in the Daleks
- 24:22master plan, he's going to get exterminated.
- 24:24But he doesn't. He manages to get away.
- 24:27I mean that's. Questionable, isn't it?
- 24:29Allying himself with the Daleks. In fact, that's what they do in
- 24:33the Lucy Miller final season is they have the Monk ally himself
- 24:37with the Daleks and he's effectively responsible for them
- 24:40finding Earth and turning it into a plague wasteland.
- 24:43And that's when I was like, are they getting the character right
- 24:46here? Because I don't think the Monk
- 24:48should be responsible for that sort of thing.
- 24:50We should be having fun with him rather than saying he's an out
- 24:54and out bad guy. Yeah, but again, casting
- 24:59somebody like Graham Garden, you're not going to, certainly
- 25:02for somebody of our generation. And I'm sorry I'm putting you in
- 25:05the same generation as me, you know, we know Graham Garden from
- 25:11The Goodies and I'm sorry I'm the clue.
- 25:13So we've got that sort of sort of comedy connection with him.
- 25:17So we're not going to take him. We're going to take him
- 25:19seriously, but not too seriously, not in the same way
- 25:22that we would take the master seriously.
- 25:25Yeah, I think. I think that's, and I and I
- 25:27think that's right, that we should take him too seriously.
- 25:31Like I said at the beginning, he should be a pest rather than a
- 25:34villain, yes? And if you get the comedy right
- 25:38and you get the actor right, like.
- 25:41It's not an annoying pest, It's a delightful pest.
- 25:43Yes, scallion. I believe that Colton, if you're
- 25:47from the 1900s. Oh, listen to this.
- 25:52That yes, this might not be a gun, but I can still do you a
- 25:56considerable amount of harm. He's a violent bugger, Harmel.
- 25:59Sometimes he isn't he. Do you not know Daniel?
- 26:03He was trained by the mountain Muller of Montana, I had heard.
- 26:07Yes. And again, that's something we
- 26:12kind of, you know, the sort of the, the dispelling, the myth of
- 26:16Harmel being the doddery old man.
- 26:18He isn't. He's a man of action and.
- 26:20And be he can be, you know, quite, quite violent.
- 26:23When he's fighting himself, he's vicious.
- 26:27He's sort of get whipping his cane around his head, isn't he?
- 26:29Like, yeah. And I think there's isn't there
- 26:33a scene in Marco Polo where you know, he sort of joins the
- 26:37Doctor and Ian and Tagana and you know and and Marco Polo says
- 26:41if you're as quick with the sole as you are with your tongue,
- 26:43Doctor, we shan't fail or something like that.
- 26:46It is that he can be portrayed as being very frail, can't he?
- 26:49It does happen on occasion, but then I think of those things
- 26:53like at the end of War Machines episode 3, where he stands there
- 26:56clutching his rope. Yeah, everyone else backs away,
- 26:59but he's the one who stands firm, yeah.
- 27:01When I say he's the Governor, it's moments like that, you
- 27:03know, Oh, he's the best. See, I could just watch a sitcom
- 27:10with the Doctor and the Monk. You know, going about history,
- 27:13yes, up to scrapes together like The Odd Couple.
- 27:17You know, this almost could be a carry on in parts, couldn't it?
- 27:22Because I love the fact that he sort of, sort of paused there
- 27:25while the doctor while the mug says, oh, it suits you the.
- 27:29Doctor gives him a filthy look, doesn't he?
- 27:34Oh, oh, the Vikings are here now.
- 27:40Does the monk get away? I can't remember.
- 27:43No. He he sticks around.
- 27:47Poor Doctor. He's been locked up again, but I
- 27:51wonder, did he lead them directly?
- 27:54It, you know, deliberately to that cell because he knew that
- 27:56he'd be able to get out. He's a.
- 28:00He's a. Big bloke.
- 28:01You know the Doctor, Daniel. I don't ever get bored of
- 28:06watching out though. I to to my shame, used to sort
- 28:12of avoid watching some of Hartnell stories because I used
- 28:15to find them a bit creaky particularly on VHS when they
- 28:19were all sort of foggy and and a bit you know the the quality,
- 28:24the picture quality wasn't so good.
- 28:25Although this hasn't been was it Vid fired they say Now that
- 28:29could have been in a carry on film.
- 28:30That scene there where he hits him on the head with a piece of
- 28:332 by 4. Well, it's a mirror of the
- 28:36Doctor in the shovel in the Reign of Terror, isn't it?
- 28:38Yeah, they're. As bad as each other, I'll tell
- 28:40you. And I swear that Doctor meddles
- 28:42just as much as the monk does. That was something else somebody
- 28:46said. And I can't.
- 28:47I couldn't find it, They said. Isn't the Doctor a time meddler
- 28:50himself? He absolutely is, but I think he
- 28:54feels as if he's got the moral high ground.
- 28:56Yes, I'm like the monk. He's just doing it for a bit of
- 28:59a laugh. Wait, I mean, he is going to
- 29:02change the course of history if he blows up a, you know, if he
- 29:05blows up a a a Viking fleet. I think what Vicky should say to
- 29:09him is you remember the end of the Romans.
- 29:12A child. You can't blame me for all this.
- 29:15My fault. And he's like, oh, my fault,
- 29:18He's so delighted. So I'm just quite William.
- 29:23Aren't all like this. Now look, fuck me.
- 29:26The doctor's smacking him over the head now.
- 29:29I think it looks like it's the same piece of wood as well.
- 29:32Between the two of them, they've knocked out the Viking fleet,
- 29:36yes. Oh, come on.
- 29:37Don't tell me you wouldn't want a series of movies with this
- 29:40pair. Oh, I Yeah, I yes, definitely.
- 29:43Where Will. The Doctor and the monk go this
- 29:45time, yes, and it would have to be Peter Butterworth as well.
- 29:51Did you see that forest backdrop there, Harry?
- 29:55Newby's doing some great work in this.
- 29:57Yeah. I love the fact he was going to
- 29:58knock on the on the, the cloth door.
- 30:03It's just little bits like that that make it a little bit, you
- 30:06know, just make it just that extra bit special.
- 30:10Oh, he's trying to get them to light, the Beacon fires.
- 30:12He is, yes, And that's where they start to realise that that
- 30:18something isn't quite right. Daniel I have seen some stunning
- 30:24men's chess on display. I just watched Power Crowell the
- 30:27other day and you know, the swan peas were but born off well.
- 30:32He hasn't been working out as he well, I think.
- 30:36I think the the the phrase is it moves.
- 30:39Yes, it definitely is. And worse, hairy moves.
- 30:46Oh dear, Never mind. But like I said, they're still
- 30:49figuring out what they I can't talk.
- 30:51And what they can't know, or maybe actually if I want to.
- 30:56Peter Butterworth tried very hard not to look, I think same
- 31:02with Edith as well. And she's married to him.
- 31:06It's nice that they are betrayed, portrayed as being
- 31:10naive but not stupid. Yes, yeah.
- 31:15And then they suddenly realise they're they're not convinced
- 31:17though, are they? No.
- 31:19Well, because the Doctor's always planted a seat.
- 31:21The doctor's, Yeah. He spoke of a planter.
- 31:23Yeah. Oh, we're going to light a bunch
- 31:26of fires on the on the sea front.
- 31:34Yeah, So while I say you like the the Vikings like that,
- 31:36they're they're not the most sort of memorable character.
- 31:39I do think they're well performed, though.
- 31:41Yeah, they're not. They're, but they're not
- 31:44portrayed as being heroic vicious.
- 31:49I mean, they are vicious, but they're sort of in a, in a sort
- 31:52of bullyish sort of, you know, drunken blokes on a Friday night
- 31:56sort of way, aren't they? Yeah, as you saw when he was
- 31:59sort of, you know, he was swinging back the the Mead out
- 32:02of the bottle and just throwing the bottle away like you know.
- 32:06If we could have just got rid of that one dodgy scene, yes.
- 32:10We we wouldn't take them as seriously as we are now.
- 32:15Might have been better if they'd have just shown, you know,
- 32:19Edith, Edith and Warnor's sort of little house on fire or
- 32:23something and Edith comes home and finds it all wrecked and.
- 32:27Yeah, that, that that would be the.
- 32:30Preferable option, preferable option?
- 32:32Yes. It's very hard.
- 32:33Oh, then. Now what's all this about fires?
- 32:39Oh, there's a power cable coming out of the sarcophagus.
- 32:44What could possibly be going on in there?
- 32:45Let me have a look, we can get inside.
- 32:48Oh please, please say the parting line.
- 32:54It's a TARDIS. A monk's got a TARDIS.
- 33:03Oh, that is gold, isn't it? It is brilliant.
- 33:06You can imagine people would have been going what on earth in
- 33:11in 1965. They would have really been,
- 33:14yeah. And there's a sort of an
- 33:17excitement about, in retrospect, there's an excitement about the
- 33:20gears changing in the show, isn't it?
- 33:22Yeah, when you watch it now, there's like a free sort of
- 33:25like, well, this is what leads us to the Master, the Rani, all
- 33:29those characters. Yeah.
- 33:33So to finish off, Sihar has asked, has the impact of the
- 33:38monks got a TARDIS been lessened now?
- 33:39We're so used to other Time Lords being around.
- 33:42How would you have reacted to this in 1965?
- 33:49As a child, as a kid, I would have gone no way.
- 33:53Hey, Mum, Dad, the monk's got a TARDIS.
- 33:55My mum and dad were going. That's nice, dear.
- 33:57Dinner's ready. Yeah, you're teasing on.
- 34:01No, I don't think it's lost its impact at all.
- 34:03No, no, because it's the first time it's happened.
- 34:06It's like the first master reveal, you know?
- 34:09Or the first. Well, the first Dalek reveal,
- 34:11yeah. Yeah, like like, I think.
- 34:14You know, your first time is always generally the best.
- 34:19Well, quite. You know, I'll cut it there.