‘HORROR OF FANG ROCK’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Rutan at a Lighthouse with the Fourth Doctor and Leela

For Terrance Dicks

Here we are on Tom Baker’s fourth season and the first of the Graham Williams era of ‘Doctor Who’.

At this point, I’ve updated my reviews on Season 9 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series with Jon Pertwee. I know I should be checking out Season 20 next, since it was the next Blu-ray box set to be released after Season 9. But I have been checking out the latest ‘Collection’ box sets in 2024, not 2023.

One of the drawbacks of doing the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary celebrations on my blog in 2023, including the 60th Anniversary Marathon, ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, is it holds you from updating any reviews, including ones based on ‘Collection’ box sets once they’re out.

I decided not to update any reviews on the TV stories featured in Seasons 2, 9 and 20 based on their Blu-ray box set releases until 2024. It took me a while to get around to doing it, but I eventually got there in the end. But as a result, a few more ‘Collection’ box sets were announced during that year.

This included Season 15 with Tom Baker, which was announced in January 2024, and Season 25 with Sylvester McCoy, which was announced in July of that year. As I was going through the latest ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray releases in chronological order, I decided to do Season 15 first and Season 20 afterwards.

It makes sense in terms of keeping with the continuity of everything when updating the latest ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray releases that have come out in 2023 and 2024. And it gives me something to look forward to when I revisit Season 20 in its Blu-ray form with Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, my favourite companion. 🙂

Speaking of which, it was a thrill to see the Season 15 Blu-ray trailer on the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel, featuring the mini-episode ‘The Final Battle’, starring Louise Jameson as Leela during the Time War on Gallifrey. And it was great to see a preview of the exclusive extras to the Blu-ray box set.

This included the brand-new making-of documentary on ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ as well as the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items for Season 15, which features Colin Baker (not Peter Davison), Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as one of three sets of contributors. Good to know the Blu-ray box sets are worth waiting for.

There’s also Katy Manning and Matthew Waterhouse contributing to the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items as well as Louise Jameson, fan and critic Toby Hadoke and Betsan Roberts, the wife of the late director Pennant Roberts. I was looking forward to seeing the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items on Season 15 very much.

The Blu-ray box set of Season 15 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series contains six stories. There’s ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, ‘The Invisible Enemy’, ‘Image of the Fendahl’, ‘The Sun Makers’, ‘Underworld’ and ‘The Invasion of Time’. Each of the six stories vary in terms of quality and how they’re received. 🙂

Incidentally, I do like to take my time when it comes to checking out these ‘Collection’ Blu-ray box sets of ‘Doctor Who’. At present, I tend to check out each story per week and give them an in-depth analysis and evaluation when it comes to revisiting a season. I don’t want to rush things in doing these reviews.

I try my best to be on time when putting together a set of updated reviews on a ‘Doctor Who’ season. If I’m rushing to get a set of updated reviews out there; it means I’m not giving the best of my ability to share updated thoughts on a story whether it’s TV or film, and I don’t want to shortchange anyone.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about Season 15’s production history a bit. Season 15 is arguably a transitional season. By this stage in 1977, Tom Baker had played the role of the Fourth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ for three years. He’d become popular with audiences and with the fans.

However, there were setbacks in terms of how his era of ‘Doctor Who’ was turning out. In Season 14, complaints had been made against the levels of scary imagery and violence, particularly by Mary Whitehouse, who complained about the cliffhanger ending to ‘Part Three’ of ‘The Deadly Assassin’. 😐

Once these complaints had been taken into consideration by the BBC, it was decided to end Philip Hinchcliffe’s era of ‘Doctor Who’, who by then had been the producer of the classic TV series for three years. Measures were put into effect with toning down the violence levels and making it light-hearted.

The gothic horror aspects of the Tom Baker era of ‘Doctor Who’ were about to come to an end. But not immediately, as we’ll discover when we delve into the first half of Season 15 itself. With Philip Hinchliffe on his way out of being the producer, it was decided a new person was to take over the role.

That person ended up being a former script editor named Graham Williams. Before he joined ‘Doctor Who’, Graham Williams had been putting together a new police drama TV series called ‘Target’. When Graham William was appointed the new producer of ‘Doctor Who’, he had to leave ‘Target’ behind. 😦

Once he did that, Philip Hinchcliffe stepped in and became the producer of ‘Target’ instead. It’s funny how that happened, isn’t it? One producer on his way out of ‘Doctor Who’ and taking charge of a new crime TV show created by someone else who ended up taking his place and became the new producer.

I don’t think that happens very often in TV history, but it sounds quite poetic. I do wonder what would have happened if Graham Williams produced ‘Target’ instead of Philip Hinchliffe and if he made the show more light-hearted. I’ve not seen ‘Target’ to be sure, but I imagine it’s grisly under Hinchcliffe. 🙂

But yeah, Graham Williams was asked to tone down what had gone on before in the previous three seasons of Tom Baker’s era and make it less gothic horror and more light-hearted. I’m sure it rubbed the fans that preferred the gothic horror era the wrong way when it happened, but that’s how it is. 😐

As I’ve indicated, it didn’t happen immediately. Graham Williams was still getting to grips with how to handle being the new ‘Doctor Who’ producer. It’s fortunate he still had Robert Holmes, who was the script editor at that time. I’m surprised Robert Holmes was still the ‘Doctor Who’ script editor by then.

I would have thought he would have left at the same time that Philip Hinchcliffe left the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, as is often the case when it comes to a new producer being appointed. But no, Robert Holmes stayed on for about half the season as script editor and he later penned one tale of this season.

I say that Season 15 is a ‘transitional’ season because it starts with being like it’s coming off the Philip Hinchcliffe era featuring gothic horror elements to eventually ending up being light-hearted and having more classic literary elements, as encouraged by the series’ next script editor Anthony Read. 🙂

It should also be noted that the Graham Williams era in particular was overseen by the BBC Head of Drama at the time named Graham MacDonald, who checked and gave his approval on every script that came in for each season. Graham MacDonald was very notorious with his checking of every script.

Anything that he considered and deemed inappropriate, including violent moments and violent behaviour, would be vetoed. I imagine Graham Williams and his production team had to be very careful when it came to sending scripts to Graham MacDonald in his office in order to get his approval.

What would follow of course was a period in the late 1970s where Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor would have more whimsical adventures that often involved wit and humour and not necessarily involved violence. It can be argued it was divided among the fans how well Graham Williams’ era transpired. 😐

But what does that say about Season 15? Does the season work well in terms of how the transitional period came about? Was Graham Williams able to put his mark on the TV series as the new producer once Philip Hinchcliffe left? Would the variety of tales in Season 15 be well-realised and well-received?

Let’s find out, shall we? The season begins with the four-part TV adventure ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ by Terrance Dicks. This happens to be a creepy ‘Doctor Who’ story set on a lighthouse. This is a story that would’ve been so well-suited for the Philip Hinchcliffe period rather than the Graham Williams period.

Over the years, ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ has gained its reputation for being the most chilling and terrifying of ‘Doctor Who’ stories ever made among the fanbase. It has its gothic atmosphere resonating throughout, which is quite ironic considering that this was Graham William’s first story as the producer.

Mind you, as Louise Jameson has claimed in interviews and in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item on ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, this ‘Doctor Who’ story was written in an emergency. You see, originally, Terrance Dicks submitted a ‘Doctor Who’ story called ‘The Vampire Mutation’, which, of course, was to have vampires.

That story ended up being abandoned before it became ‘State of Decay’, which was shown in Season 18 of the classic TV series in 1980 and was part of ‘The E-Space Trilogy’. The reason for the story being abandoned in 1977 was because the BBC didn’t want ‘Doctor Who’ to do a vampire story by that stage.

At the time, the BBC were going to do a TV adaptation of ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker, starring Louis Jourdan. The BBC assumed that ‘Doctor Who’ were going to make fun of the fact that a TV adaptation of ‘Dracula’ would be made if their vampire story was made at the same time, which is rather peculiar.

I mean, ‘The Vampire Mutation’, as it was originally called, would have been shown in September 1977 whilst the TV film adaptation of ‘Dracula’ was to have been shown in December of that year. So, I don’t quite see how ‘Doctor Who’ would have made fun of the BBC’s version of ‘Dracula’ at about that time.

I’ve never seen any version of ‘Dracula’ to know how good it is as a story, including the 1977 TV adaptation by the BBC. But it must be better than the 2020 BBC TV adaptation by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. I mean, earlier adaptations of a story are closer to the source material than later versions, right? 😀

So, instead of doing the vampire story, Terrance had to come up with something else. Script editor Robert Holmes suggested that Terrance do a ‘Doctor Who’ story about a lighthouse. Terrance was reluctant to do a lighthouse story, claiming that he didn’t know a thing about lighthouses beforehand.

Robert Holmes suggested he’d go and buy a boys’ book about lighthouse to help him write the story. That echoes when Terrance Dicks persuaded Robert Holmes to write a ‘Doctor Who’ story set in the medieval past featuring castles and such. It’s rather fitting how that’s come full circle in that regard. 🙂

But of course, there are more elements and echoes of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ being a follow-up to ‘The Time Warrior’ than many of us would realise. 😀 What I like, especially from watching interviews with Terrance, is how he managed to deliver the goods, especially with him being a ‘Doctor Who’ legend. 🙂

After all, he was the script editor of ‘Doctor Who’ from the end of Patrick Troughton’s era to the whole of Jon Pertwee’s era. And he wrote a couple of ‘Doctor Who’ stories in Tom Baker’s era before ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, including ‘Robot’ and ‘The Brain of Morbius’ (though the latter is credited as ‘by Robin Bland’).

The fact that Terrance was able to conjure this horror mystery set on a lighthouse in an emergency goes to show how professional he is as a writer, both ‘Doctor Who’ and non-‘Doctor Who’. Terrance’s writing and script-editing have certainly been inspirations for me in terms of how I write my stories. 🙂

Mind you, not everyone on the story’s production was happy with how Terrance’s scripts were put together in a rush, particularly the main star Tom Baker and the director Paddy Russell, which didn’t help to ease tensions on set. This is something that we’ll delve into more through this updated review.

Incidentally, I’ve had my DVD cover of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ signed by the lovely Louise Jameson at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’ at the Olympia in July 2017. When I saw her in London, I shared with Louise how I found this story and she agreed it’s a story most talked about among the ‘Doctor Who’ fans.

At this point, I hope I’ll one day check out the Target novelization/audiobook of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ by Terrance Dicks, read by Louise Jameson someday. As well as enjoying Terrance’s ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories, it’s always fantastic to check out how those stories are interpreted by Terrance in prose form. 🙂

Incidentally, Louise has read two audio productions of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. There’s the TV soundtrack audiobook with Louise providing the linking narration and there’s the unabridged audiobook for the Target novelization by Terrance Dicks. I’m positive Louise is excellent reading those.

So, ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ takes place on the titular island of Fang Rock, which is off the south coast of England in the early years of the 20th century. 1902, I believe. I don’t think it’s stated clearly in the actual TV story, but it might be mentioned in the Target novelization. I need to check it out and be sure.

Anyway, a strange light falls from the sky and ends up in the sea. Very soon, with the Doctor and Leela visiting, after failing to land in Brighton, the Fang Rock lighthouse becomes under siege, with the lighthouse crew and members of a shipwreck fighting for survival and getting killed off one-by-one. 😮

The thing that’s attacking them happens to be a green blobby jellyfish. The jellyfish of course is an alien and happens to have dangerous tentacles that shoot out electricity when killing people. The jellyfish also can change shape and assume the shape of a person. Will the Doctor and Leela defeat it?

Incidentally, I watched this story with the CGI effects option switched on and the 5.1. surround sound audio mix option switched on, exclusive to Blu-ray. It was nice to revisit ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ on Blu-ray with the CGI effects and the 5.1. surround sound, making the story even more captivating to watch.

As I said, ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ was directed by Paddy Russell. This is Paddy’s fourth ‘Doctor Who’ story in the classic TV series. From what I’ve seen of her in interviews and from what I’ve heard from other people saying about her, Paddy Russell could be quite a formidable presence in being a director.

She previously directed ‘The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve’ with Wiliam Hartnell, ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’ with Jon Pertwee and ‘Pyramids of Mars’ with Tom Baker. I was quite surprised to learn Paddy found Tom Baker tricky to work with on ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, more than on ‘Pyramids of Mars’.

It’s also intriguing that she considered ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ to be a weak script compared to when she was originally given ‘The Vampire Mutation’. This is astonishing considering ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ is a fan favourite, but I suppose people see things differently when working on the actual TV story itself.

It should be noted that Tom Baker wasn’t always the easiest actor to work with behind-the-scenes when it came to doing these ‘Doctor Who’ stories. It’s not helped by the fact the story was produced at Pebble Mill in Birmingham, not at the regular BBC Television Centre in London as one would expect.

From what I’ve gathered, engineering work prevented the ‘Doctor Who’ production team from making ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ in London, so they had to go to Birmingham instead. I’m surprised not many ‘Doctor Who’s were made in Birmingham as well as London. It could have secured ‘Shada’s production in 1979.

I’ve heard an argument that Tom Baker was in his moods during the making of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ because he couldn’t go to the local pub in London. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, particularly in his relationship with Louise Jameson and in the change of producer once Graham William took over.

Despite that, Tom Baker and Louise Jameson shine throughout as the Doctor and Leela in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. It’s easy to forget that these days, there have been more stories featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela as a team, being set between ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’ and ‘Horror of Fang Rock’.

There are the Big Finish audios of course, which I’ve enjoyed listening to. But back in then in 1977, ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ was Leela’s fourth story and Tom Baker’s Doctor was still teaching Leela how to be less savage and be more civilized. Although that’s debatable concerning Leela’s development in Season 15. 😐

I like how Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela get into the nitty-gritty of this adventure, especially with solving the mystery of who and what the alien menace that’s attacking the lighthouse is. This is especially when it lurks among the rocks as well as around the lighthouse itself. 🙂

The interaction between the Doctor and Leela is pretty good in this ‘Doctor Who’ story when they’re solving a mystery. It’s fun to see the two of them bouncing off each other. It’s also clear that Tom’s Doctor cares for Leela, especially when he’s going back into the lighthouse and fetch her in ‘Part Four’.

It’s quite shocking to know that Tom Baker and Louise Jameson didn’t really get on with each other when they were making this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I was shocked by that when watching Paddy Russell being interviewed for the ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ DVD and on Disc 1 of the Season 15 Blu-ray box set. 🙂

It troubled me when thinking about it, but of course, in recent years, Tom and Louise have got on well with each other, especially when they’re doing the Big Finish audios together. I suppose Tom was still struggling with getting over the departure of Elisabeth Sladen once Louise Jameson took over as Leela.

It’s also been argued Tom was jealous about Louise Jameson’s popularity as Leela in ‘Doctor Who’. I wouldn’t have thought that was the case, considering Tom Baker was just as popular as Louise Jameson as Leela was back then, but it’d make sense with considering their tense working relationship.

Louise Jameson did seem to cope well with Tom Baker’s moods during the making of the stories she was in and I’m sure it added to the Fourth Doctor and Leela’s relationship in both the TV series and the Big Finish audios. Terrance Dicks does seem to write for them in this particular ‘Doctor Who’ story.

I found the Doctor on fine form in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It’s funny when he tries on and wears a bowler hat, almost matching what Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy wore in their movies. I liked that enigmatic moment in ‘Part Two’ where he’s telling everyone what the situation is in the lighthouse. 🙂

Doctor: Gentlemen, I’ve got news for you. This lighthouse is under attack, and by morning we might all be dead.

It’s also good when the Doctor becomes serious once deaths occur within the lighthouse. It’s well-balanced by some of the flippant moments he has, particularly when he tells Lord Palmerdale he has ‘no chance’ in the fog when wanting to get to London and telling Reuben the Rutan to be comfortable.

Incidentally, whilst many would rate Tom Baker as their favourite Doctor – and in no way would I want to take that away from anybody – I can’t share that viewpoint since I find Peter Davison, David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker more likeable and enjoyable compared to how Tom Baker plays the character. 😐

I’m sure I would find it easy to work with Peter, David and Jodie if I was in their ‘Doctor Who’ eras compared to working with Tom Baker, knowing the bad tempers he often had when making the series. I feel sorry for Matthew Waterhouse and Sarah Sutton who worked with Tom by the end of his era. 😦

It can’t be the easiest working relationship with Tom when making the TV series. With that said, I still enjoy Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor as much as I enjoy William Shatner as Captain Kirk in the original ‘Star Trek’ TV series. But it’s sad when you hear certain behind-the-scenes stories about who they are.

The actors you initially admire for the roles they played on TV and in films turn out to not be the easiest actors to work with in their heyday. I’m sure they’ve mellowed over the years, but in terms of how high their confidence levels can be, it makes you wonder whether it’s all well worth it giving the praise.

I like that Louise Jameson as Leela gets to wear some clothes in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Not just in the Lalla Ward/‘City of Death’-like outfit she wears, but also the outfit a lighthouse crewmember would wear. I’m surprised Leela didn’t wear a variety of costumes throughout her time in the series.

I mean, I know the savage costume that she wears is what she’s most remembered for, but quite frankly, wouldn’t it be boring and repetitive for Leela to wear those clothes all the time? I know she wears a different savage costume later in the season, but that’s something to discuss another time. 😐

I found it funny when she undressed in front of Vince when wanting a change of clothes out of the period outfit she was wearing for a lady and he had to look away. Leela just shrugs, not understanding his embarrassment. It’s also funny when she’s disappointed about the TARDIS ending up in ‘Brighton’.

Leela: You said I would like Brighton. Well, I do not.

Don’t worry, Leela. Or rather Louise. You’ll get to see Brighton properly when doing the ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ convention in November 2014. Speaking of which, that was a lovely and memorable event with Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, Wendy Padbury, Sophie Aldred and John Leeson on that Sunday.

I like that Leela gets to use her hunting skills in the story, especially when tackling the Rutan. I think she enjoyed herself too much when claiming victory over the death of the Rutan in ‘Part Four’. Mind you, it has to be better than Leela threatening Lord Palmerdale with her knife in ‘Part Two’ of the story.

Leela: You will do as the Doctor instructs or I will cut out your heart.

Harsh! 😀 By the way, there’s this exchange between the Doctor and Leela.

Leela: Do you think the creature will come back?
Doctor: I do. I think he was taking Ben’s body away for examination when you saw it.
Leela: Into the sea?
Doctor: Under the sea.

Sebastian: ♪ Under the sea. Under the sea. ♫

Amazing that I’ve done that joke three times already this past year in 2024 going into 2025 for updated ‘Doctor Who’ reviews. First with ‘The Underwater Menace’, then ‘The Sea Devils’ and now ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. I would have to be lucky if another ‘Under the Sea’ joke came for a fourth updated ‘Doctor Who’ review.

This ‘Doctor Who’ story features a strong guest cast of characters that each have different and fascinating journeys throughout. This is also a story where all the supporting characters die at the end, which is shocking, even if some of these characters happen to be quite unsavoury before their demise.

‘Horror of Fang Rock’ has more in common with being a mystery story like ‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie than the previous season’s story ‘The Robots of Death’. At least everybody, except the Doctor and Leela, gets killed off in this tale, compared to those in ‘The Robots of Death’. 😐

Colin Douglas guest stars as Reuben, the main lighthouse keeper in ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. Before this story, Colin guest starred in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Enemy of the World’ with Patrick Troughton. It’s so intriguing to hear from Toby Hadoke that Colin Douglas didn’t enjoy doing that story very much.

At least that’s what Deborah Watling told him when he mentioned it in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item for this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Colin Douglas is well-known for being in the TV drama series ‘A Family at War’, which also featured Patrick Troughton in it as well as Keith Drinkel who later appeared in ‘Time-Flight’.

Colin Douglas has also been in an episode of the original ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series. 🙂 I enjoyed his performance as Reuben in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It’s sad when Reuben has a very sticky end half-way through this eerie tale. Colin Douglas also plays the Rutan that appears in this TV tale. 🙂

Not only as the Rutan taking on the form of Reuben, but also doing the voice for him when the Rutan appears in its jellyfish-like form. The moments where the Rutan as Reuben puts on that evil smile before he’s about to kill someone are very chilling and Colin Douglas plays that evil side really superbly.

The story also features two more lighthouse keepers, including John Abbot as Vince Hawkins and Ralph Watson as Ben. Sadly, Ben gets killed off early in ‘Part One’ of the story. Incidentally, Ralph Watson previously appeared in ‘The Underwater Menace’, ‘The Web of Fear’ and ‘The Monster of Peladon’. 🙂

I liked Vince as a character in ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, since he comes across as a nice chap in his interactions with Leela and the Doctor. It’s such a shame that he got killed off by the evil Rutan posing as Reuben in ‘Part Four’ of the story. Even Vince didn’t deserve to die like that so quickly in the episode.

‘Part One’ features mostly the Doctor, Leela, Reuben, Vince and Ben as characters. By the end of ‘Part One’, a luxury yacht crashes onto Fang Rock with four survivors that come to the lighthouse. These four characters vary in personality. A couple can be quite noble whilst the others are very annoying. 😦

Sean Caffrey guest stars as Lord Palmerdale. In the story, Palmerdale comes across as a rather unsavoury character who gets impatient about getting to London as soon as possible. I’m not exactly sure why he’s impatient and anxious to get to London, but it must be very important business for him.

There’s a moment in ‘Part Three’ where Palmerdale attempts to bribe Vince to send a message to London on his behalf using the telegraph machine. It becomes his undoing, as when he goes to hide once the Doctor visits Vince, he ends up being killed by the Rutan crawling up the lighthouse walls. 😮

Alan Rowe guest stars as Colonel Skinsale, an older man who seems to be threatened by Palmerdale and his plight to London. Alan Rowe has been in ‘Doctor Who’ before, since he appeared in ‘The Time Warrior’. He would go on to guest star in ‘Full Circle’, the first TV story featured in ‘The E-Space Trilogy’.

On the surface, Skinsale seems a reasonable gentleman, who’s quite baffled by the Doctor’s explanations about what’s going on with the lighthouse being attacked. But at least he’s willing to help in ‘Part Four’, even if his weakness for diamonds causes him to get electrocuted to death by the Rutan.

Annette Woollett guest stars as Adelaide, Lord Palmerdale’s secretary in the story. I’ve met Annette briefly at the ‘Pandorica 2015’ convention in Bristol in September 2015 and had an autograph from her. Annette was also a guest at the ‘Regenerations 2023’ convention in Swansea in September 2023. 🙂

As it turns out in the story, Adelaide is rather highly-strung and pretty squeamish when something bad occurs. There were occasions where I felt sorry for Adelaide, even when she tended to be annoying in the tale. She’s often naïve about how the world works, particularly with how she’s brought up in 1902.

There’s an intriguing aspect to Adelaide’s character where she shares to Leela how she follows the signs of astrology, which some consider to be magic. Leela sympathises with her way of thinking, claiming that she used to believe in magic once, but nowadays tends to believe in science, thanks to the Doctor.

Leela: I too used to believe in magic, but the Doctor has taught me about science. It is better to believe in science.

It’s a fascinating statement for Leela to make by this point in the TV series. Unless you’ve listened to the Big Finish audio stories set between ‘The Talons of Weng-Chaing’ and ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, you might be surprised Leela would come to that way of thinking since she was a member of the Sevateem.

The fourth survivor of the luxury yacht shipwreck happens to be Rio Fanning as Harker, who’s the bosun. Like Vince, Harker seems to be a nice character. Mind you, he takes no nonsense when Palmerdale tries to persuade him to send a telegram message to London and almost strangles him. 😐

Despite that, Harker does his best to help the Doctor and Leela once the lighthouse is under threat, including trying to keep the boiler pressure up. It’s very sad when the Doctor and Leela find him dead close to the boiler, especially after he’d been severely killed by the Rutan which posed itself as Reuben.

Speaking of which, this story marks the first time we’re introduced to a Rutan. The Rutans have been mentioned before, as they’re claimed to be the enemies of the Sontarans. It’s nice Terrance Dicks linked ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ to ‘The Time Warrior’ in that regard where it introduced the Sontarans. 🙂

Before checking out this ‘Doctor Who’ story in 2009 and 2010, I listened to a Big Finish audio story that featured the Rutans called ‘Castle of Fear’, which is the first of ‘The Stockbridge Trilogy’, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. It was great to hear that audio adventure.

I’d also seen clips of the Rutan’s appearance in ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ in the ‘Bred For War’ behind-the-scenes documentary about the Sontarans, featured on both ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ DVD and Disc 3 of the Season 12 Blu-ray box set. To get an idea of what the Rutans were like from those clips is nice.

Mind you, the realization of the Rutan featured in this ‘Doctor Who’ story is a lot to be desired. It looks pathetic in my opinion. At least in the original version when watching it on DVD. Nowadays, when you see the story on Blu-ray and with the CGI effects option on, it looks pretty impressive and intimidating.

Despite those issues, I quite like the idea of an alien species like the Rutans that can shapeshift into any form they want, despite their original form being a green jellyfish. It’s chilling when the Rutan in this story takes on the form of Reuban after killing him in ‘Part Two’. It justifies the threat all the more.

I quite enjoyed the confrontation featured between the Doctor and the Rutan when they finally met in ‘Part Four’. It’s also quite ironic that a species of green blobby jellyfish that can shapeshift happen to be the enemies of the Sontarans, who are rigid and troll-like with potato-like heads in the series. 🙂

I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a ‘Doctor Who’ story in the TV series, both classic and new, where we’ve seen the Sontarans and the Rutans fight each other. In audios, books and comics, yes, but not in the TV series. I hope the Rutans will make a comeback to fight the Sontarans in the new TV show. 🙂

‘Horror of Fang Rock’ concludes with the Doctor and Leela managing to defeat the Rutan whilst everyone else has been killed and the lighthouse blows up. Following the explosion, Leela is temporarily blind for a bit before she regains her sight. The Doctor sees her eyes have changed colour.

In that, they’ve changed from brown to blue. Apparently, Louise Jameson wore eye contacts to make her eyes brown, which frustrated her when she was making the TV series. Thus, a way was found for her to not wear those eye contacts and to just have her eyes be blue. Must have been a huge relief for her.

As the Doctor and Leela make their way back to the TARDIS, the Doctor quotes from the poem ‘Flannan Isle’ by Wilfrid Gibson. I didn’t really get why the Doctor was quoting from a poem to close off the story, but apparently, it echoes the fact the island is now empty, especially once the TARDIS has left the island.

It’s a nice way for Terrance Dicks to close off the story on that note, especially as he’s very into literature. It’s an aspect of Terrance’s writing I greatly appreciate. I hope to come across the ‘Flannan Isle’ poem by Wilfrid Gibson when I check out the Target novelization/audiobook. I’m sure it’s in there.

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was the ‘Terrance Dicks: Fact & Fiction’ documentary, which, for me, was the highlight on the ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ DVD, as it charted a general overview of Terrance’s time on ‘Doctor Who’, including being the script editor from the end of Patrick Troughton’s era to the whole of Jon Pertwee’s era, and his solo ‘Doctor Who’ stories as a writer. There was also ‘Paddy Russell – A Life in Television’, which was an interview with the director of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. There was ‘The Antique Doctor Who Show’ item, which I found relaxing, an info-text commentary to enjoy, a photo gallery of the story, a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, and an audio commentary with Louise Jameson, John Abbot and writer Terrance Dicks. There was also a studio clock for ‘Part Three’ of the story, which was released as an Easter Egg on the ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ DVD.

On Disc 1 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 15’ Blu-ray, the ‘Terrance Dicks: Fact & Fiction’ documentary, the ‘Paddy Russell – A Life in Television’ interview, the dual mono sound audio mix option and the DVD audio commentary can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery have been updated for 2024 on the Blu-ray. Sadly, ‘The Antique Doctor Who Show’ item and the studio clock for ‘Part Three’ of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ aren’t included on Disc 1 of the Season 15 Blu-ray box set.

The new special features on Blu-ray include a brand-new CGI effects option for the story to enjoy, the brand-new ‘Inside the Lighthouse’ making-of documentary with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, and the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ with Louise Jameson (Leela), fan and critic Toby Hadoke and Betsan Roberts, wife of the late director Pennant Roberts as well as Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Katy Manning (Jo) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric). There’s the ‘Denys Fisher Toys Advert’ (which was originally on ‘The Face of Evil’ DVD and is also included on Disc 8 of the Season 14 Blu-ray box set), plus Louise Jameson’s thoughts on her toy counterpart, which was originally released as an Easter Egg on the ‘Image of the Fendahl’ DVD. There are BBC trailers and continuity announcements for the story and an audio archive item, which is an interview with Tom Baker and Louise Jameson on ‘Pebble Mill at One’. There’s the 5.1. surround sound audio mix option for the story, and a brand-new Blu-ray audio commentary for ‘Parts Two and Four’ of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ with Tom Baker, moderated by Toby Hadoke.

On the PDF front, there are production documents, four camera scripts, a studio floor plan, the 1977 ‘Doctor Who’ Cross & Blackwell promotion, a BBC Enterprises sales brochure, BBC Enterprises sales sheets, BBC Television Play synopses, the Season 15 programme-as-broadcast information, the 1979 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ and a ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF of ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

‘Horror of Fang Rock’ is an atmospheric and creepy ‘Doctor Who’ story with the Fourth Doctor and Leela. It’s certainly good to watch. I wouldn’t rate it as an all-time favourite of mine from the classic TV series, but I greatly enjoyed the introduction of the Rutans in this story. Well, one Rutan anyway. 😀

The story is suspenseful throughout. I enjoyed the Doctor and Leela’s interaction and how they solved the mystery with the Rutan. Tom Baker’s one-liners are very good, and Terrance Dicks does a great job with providing the tension throughout this story with its lighthouse setting in a short space of time.

The original special effects for this story aren’t great, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story. I’m glad I’ve been able to revisit this story on Blu-ray with the new CGI effects option and the 5.1. surround sound audio mix option, as it makes the story more effective, particularly with how the Rutan appears.

At this stage, ‘Doctor Who’ was still in its golden age, even though the Philip Hinchcliffe era was over and the Graham Williams era had just begun. Graham Williams’ mark as the producer would soon be evident as the season went on, especially in the next TV story with the introduction of a new character.

‘Horror of Fang Rock’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘The Catalyst’ (Audio) For Leela was ‘The Catalyst’ (Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor is ‘Empathy Games’ (Audio) For Leela is ‘Empathy Games’ (Audio)
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