Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 43 - The Androids of Tara

 43: The Androids of Tara 

It's not always about saving the World 

"Summery and charming" is how The Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide described this story and I couldn't put it better myself. Others describe it as a Prisoner of Zenda rip-off and I wonder how many Doctor Who fans have actually read Anthony Hope's novel? (No I haven't either!) Probably as many as those who've seen the Manchurian Candidate and thought the Deadly Assassin is the same plot as that! 

But I digress (frequently as those who've read this blog will have realised!) my first encounter with this story is a brief memory of the repeat of the first episode in the summer of 1979 (see, even the BBC thought it was summery and charming; well charming enough to repeat it during the summer!) and then the Target book brought out as part of the Key to Time sequence as the blurb on the back cover said. The Key to Time sounded marvellously exciting to me as a kid; the Doctor and Romana (but not the one with him in Paris) on a quest to find the six segments of this mythical object. 

I collected all five books, with eagerness, tainted by the frustration that there should have been six! Four of the books were easy to read and exciting, brought to life by Terrance Dicks in his child-friendly crisp prose, while the Ribos Operation was written by Ian Marter, and was a bit more complex, but the remaining four were read avidly in my childhood. 

For some reason, Androids was the one I went to more often, possibly because that memory of the cliffhanger to part one was etched on my brain. As an adult, I knew it was the actor Peter Jeffrey who was one of those sterling reliable actors found in shows like the Avengers, more often than not playing the villain with a dangerous gleam in his eye. Not a huge star but a respected character actor, and the part he plays is his personality. 

Androids sees him playing the villain yet again, and as Count Grendel he's charming as well as dangerous. The Count's discreet relationship with his servant Madam Lamia is surprisingly coy for the time. It's a relationship that is doomed as soon as we know about it and indeed, Lamia is the only character killed on screen and that's accidentally. 

This is the complete opposite to Androzani in tone but they share similar small scale plots. In Androzani, the Doctor's mission is to save Peri, while here he's saving a kingdom as well as Romana. No saving the world or even the universe here! But while Androzani ends in a massacre which the Doctor hardly acknowledges, here he's centre stage in a sword fight that's fun and entertaining - certainly more fun than ending up with a lot of corpses... 

Many fans write off Androids because it's not the life and death struggle, and that it is essentially lightweight. But for me, it's magical and demonstrates the flexibility of the series format. It doesn't always have to be doom and gloom and threats to the universe. Yes Sharaz Jek is a great villain, but so is Count Grendel. And he lives to fight another day which surely makes him the better of the two!? 

David Fisher's dialogue is perfectly light and very quotable (although the exchange about money is apparently one of Tom Baker's additions) Michael Hayes directs efficiently and the location work at Leeds Castle looks beautiful in the sunshine and Dudley Simpson has a nice harpsichord theme running through the story which gives the story a suitably historical feel, even though it's set on an alien planet! The cast are uniformly good headed by Tom Baker and Mary Tamm, who looks even more gorgeous than usual in her purple outfit and she even gets to play two additional characters. (probably for the same fee!) 

So thats why I've included the Androids of Tara in my Top 60 list. Yes, it's lightweight but the tone, plot and humorous dialogue can float you along like a summer breeze and make you feel as though you've been entertained. Even a hamster with a blunt penknife can see that! 

Next Time: Everyone deserves a second chance... even a green farting alien!