Things I've learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 58 - The Crimson Horror

 58. The Crimson Horror

There is Nothing like a Dame

The problem with doing a list like this is that it's ever changing. There are stories I'd rate higher than this one, but this one has the redeeming feature of the appearance of one of our most celebrated actresses.

When it was announced Diana Rigg was to appear in Doctor Who it was like Christmas. One of my favourite actresses since I saw her as Emma Peel in the Avengers (thanks to those repeats in the 1980s on Channel 4!) One of the best Bond girls in one of the best Bond films and the Nell Gwunne to Eric Morecambe's King Charles. One of the most successful and respected actresses of stage and screen, often starring in heavy dramas such as Medea. But her comic timing was exceptional. 

Fortunately Mark Gatiss is also a fan and wrote the part of Mrs Gillyflower especially for her. Now I have to admit he's not my favourite writer for the series, as despite being a fan, what makes truly great Doctor Who often alludes him. Most of his scripts are good but not great, lacking in originality sometimes. I don't think he ever bettered The Unquiet Dead, although this comes close. 

By this time, both he and Moffat were heavily involved with both Who and Sherlock (this is Mark's second story for the season) and as a result, both probably suffered. The Crimson Horror is probably the most successful story of Series 7B but the rumblings among fandom were that, by this point, the series had gone off the boil a little. Frankly, it goes off the rails in the next episode, in my opinion, but that's another story. 

The Crimson Horror leans heavily into Gatiss' love of the Victorian Grand Guignol, which we've already seen in the Unquiet Dead but with the additional sexualisation of the series that Moffat seemed to delight in. (the joke with the Sonic was a bit crude for Who in my opinion but not as inappropriate as the Doctor snogging Jenny and her slapping him!) 

So why is it in my top 60? Well, as it's a Doctor lite episode, we get a full bloodied guest turn for a change and who better to give it to, than Dame Diana Rigg. She delights in being a deliciously evil diabolical mastermind, from slurping her soup to callously disregarding her daughter Ada.

Ada is of course played by Rigg's daughter in real life, Rachel Stirling, and in contrast to her mother's blissful turn, gives a wonderfully subtle and moving performance as a daughter disfigured and discarded by parental neglect. It gives a welcome bit of heart to the macabre plot.

Then there's the Paternoster Gang, a threesome that often divides fan opinion, but I quite like them. It's true that Strax does devalue the Sontarans as comedy foils but as one-off he's fun. Neve Macintosh plays Vastra as quietly confident with Jenny as her eager wife and sidekick. Catrin Stewart gets a bit more of the limelight here, even getting an Emma Peel costume of her own. 

Once the Doctor and Clara are back on the scene, the Gang get pushed aside to make way for one of Matt Smith's best confrontation with a villain scenes, and he and Rigg spark off each other very well; her cackling "The wrong hands" was a laugh out loud moment. 

Part of me almost hopes Mrs Gillyflower will survive to fight another day but if course it's not to be. The grotesque old bag gets her comeuppance, Ada gets her freedom and Clara gets taken back to the present to look after two obnoxious kids, but as I said that's another story.... 

It's a well contained episode, a full bloodied comedy horror that balances both extremely well. Plus, there really is nothing like a Dame and to have an actress of Diana Rigg's standing in a role especially written for her and giving such a delicious performance, how could I not include this one?