Featuring Jon Pertwee’s dashing Doctor and Jo Grant, the adventure hails from somewhere in Season 10; the Doctor once again has the use of his TARDIS but maintains a strong connection to Earth and his friends in the UNIT organisation.
Our hero is introduced in a typically action packed sequence. A prisoner on an alien world, he escapes armed guards and is almost at the TARDIS but finds himself honourably coming back to aid of one of the locals and then takes on the planet’s evil dictator in an one-on-one fight. Gatiss clearly captures the Third Doctor’s wonderful dichotomy as the pacifist who is also an authoritative man of action.
Back home, with things quiet on the alien invasion front, the Brigadier receives a call for assistance from an old friend. Former Spitfire pilot Wing Commander Alec Whistler’s sleepy village of Culverton has been turned upside down by some new inhabitants because the ministry of Defence has sold off the old WWII airstrip. The new owners are a mysterious organisation called Legion International who are making great promises. While some of the locals are initially thrilled, black shirted thugs and lorry convoys soon begin to disrupt their rural idyll.
When the Doctor returns he jumps on the Culverton case and, with Jo in tow, they head off to begin investigations ahead of the Brigadier’s official channels.
A poke around the airfield leads to an encounter with one of the Legion troopers in a wind tunnel who suffers an unpleasant end. We imagine that sequence as promptly cut away from on screen in the 1970s.
In fact, there are some reasonably graphic moments in amongst the derring-do throughout. Whistler’s torture by the Gaderene Leader goes well beyond the bounds of comfortable family viewing and some of the alien moments are wonderfully grotesque.
Back on the base in the light of day, and under the auspices of an inspection, the Time Lord is able to size his opponents up with some clever questioning. UNIT become involved fully and we enjoy appearances from both Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton. Gatiss does manage a level of restraint through and does not deluge the story with fan pleasing returns such as Osgood or Corporal Bell. Nor does he demand any foreknowledge of the UNIT era.
The Gaderene themselves are an interesting foe, present in a few different stages of their evolution and attempting to take our planet in a desperate struggle to survive. There is a monstrous creature in the swamp, as well as those who inhabit and control people. Their leader on earth is a larger than life woman named Bliss who sits at the centre of the operation like a James Bond villain, with her influence stretching into government and far beyond.
One sequence we particularly enjoyed was a highly innovative method of mass alien possession, using a flight simulator ride at the village fete. We will doff our cap to the excruciating chapter title pun too: ‘Fete worse than Death’. Once taken over, the inhabitants of the village smile unnaturally and this paints a wonderfully dreadful image. It is all the more disturbing because by this point we have come to know many of the inhabitants of Culverton and become immersed in village life.
Gatiss lays in some gentle character groundwork for the Doctor and Jo too, preparing the ground for later television adventures. We gain an insight into the Doctor’s struggle with and subsequent acceptance of his exile on Earth. There is a wonderful notion of him wandering the corridors of the ship, reminded by mementoes of his travels all around.
Meanwhile Jo is thinking of moving on too, realising that nothing lasts forever. She is an independent spirit here and calls the Doctor and the Brigadier on their petty squabbling at times. He also offers a suggestion for the fate of one of the Gaderene’s allies, which will have implications for the Doctor in the future.
As the tale draws to a close, there are some wonderful set pieces with a zombie style resurrection from the marsh and an attack on the village fended off by the Doctor’s ingenuity. With a Spitfire seen early on, it came as no surprise that the Doctor flies it right into the heart of the action during the final battle. The Doctor’s Edwardian roadster Bessie fares well too, saving the day through one of her more mundane functions that turns out to have a dazzling effect on the enemy.
This story carries a definite season finale feel and is clearly a love letter to the Pertwee era. It provides a conclusion in prose that was sadly not possible on screen, because when the Doctor and his friends finally thwart the invasion, victory comes at a terrible cost.
Published on Thursday 7 March 2013 by BBC Books.
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