‘THE DÆMONS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Azal, Bok and the Master with the Third Doctor, Jo and U.N.I.T.

For Damaris Hayman

And now we come to the season finale of Season 8 of classic ‘Doctor Who’! This is the story where the Brigadier’s immortal line to Private Jenkins is said, which is, “Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid.” Who played Private Jenkins though? I can’t find the actor’s name that played Jenkins.

‘The Dæmons’ (pronounced ‘dee-mons’ or ‘day-mons’ however you may say it – Either way, it’s very difficult to type the dratted title onto Word. I have to copy and paste from another source to put it into my review) is a highly regarded classic ‘Doctor Who’ story starring Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor. 😐

It’s a favourite among the regular ‘Doctor Who’ cast during the Jon Pertwee era and it’s a favourite among the fans. It’s regarded a quintessential ‘Doctor Who’ adventure from the early 1970s. (sighs) I’m going to go out on a limb and say something I shouldn’t say – I feel ‘The Dæmons’ is overrated. 😐

(Audience gasps shocked)

With that said, I don’t dislike ‘The Dæmons’. It’s a clearly well-put together five-part adventure by Guy Leopold (a pseudonym for producer Barry Letts and writer Robert Sloman, who would later work with Mr. Letts on tales like ‘The Time Monster’, ‘The Green Death’ and ‘Planet of the Spiders’).

It’s well-directed by Christopher Barry, who previously directed ‘Doctor Who’ stories in the 1960s with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, including four episodes of the first ‘Daleks’ story, ‘The Rescue’, ‘The Romans’, ‘The Savages’ and ‘The Powers of the Daleks’. There’s talent and effort here.

It’s also evident that the story is well-written for the main characters featured throughout, since Barry Letts knew the characters inside-and-out from working with the actors. The reason why this story doesn’t appeal to me (as it does for the majority of fans) is that it contains a lot of black magic.

There are also devilish proportions throughout and lots of supernatural themes weaved into the adventure, mixed in with the debate of science over magic. I’m not really a fan of these types of stories due to my Christian upbringing and the nature of the story was quite uncomfortable for me.

It was quite fun to watch the story however and it was interesting to see how Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, Jo and U.N.I.T. dealt with the dark forces that had been conjured up by the Master. The story’s rushed climax doesn’t help matters in my opinion, but we’ll get to that when we come to the ending.

I’m lucky to have had my DVD cover of ‘The Dæmons’ signed by the lovely Katy Manning, Richard Franklin and Damaris Hayman, who I all saw at the same convention – the ‘Time Warp’ convention in Weston-super-Mare, July 2014. I’ve also had a photo of Miss Hawthorne signed by Damaris Hayman.

This story predates the likes of ‘The Impossible Planet’/’The Satan Pit’ from the new series. I do prefer ‘The Dæmons’ over ‘The Impossible Planet’/’The Satan Pit’. I like the story taking place in a sleepy English village where most of the action occurs. It has that rural countryside atmosphere to it.

The village is called Devil’s End. Unfortunate name for a village, I’ll grant you. I like the quaintness of the story set in a sleepy English village. It provides the familiarity and comforts of a rural English setting which is being tampered with and threatened by the presence of somebody pretty Devil-like.

Aldbourne village in Wiltshire is the main star, playing Devil’s End in the story. I love the village setting in this story. It does put me in mind of Stockbridge village which the Fifth Doctor visits in the ‘Doctor Who’ comics and the Big Finish audios. He also visited it in my story ‘The Stockbridge Terror’.

I like the church featured in Devil’s End as well as the pub and the May Day dances that are performed by the Morris dancers. It’s clear from watching the DVD/Blu-ray special features that the villagers of Aldbourne are so proud to have been part of the making of this quaint ‘Doctor Who’ tale.

In the story itself, dark forces are stirring in Devil’s End. An archaeological dig takes place as a professor is about to open a burial mound at night during the feast of Beltane. Hey Beltane! I wonder if the Moon Stallion and Sarah Sutton’s Diana become involved during the events of this story. 😀

The opening of the burial mound is to be broadcast to viewers on BBC Three. Wait a minute! BBC Three existed on TV in the 1970s already?! Or was it the 1980s? I thought it started in 2003. 😀 However, an evil omen occurs, as the Doctor and Jo attempt to stop the burial mound from opening.

As the Doctor and Jo drive to Devil’s End in Bessie, the new local vicar at the church of Devil’s End – the Reverend Mr. Magister; turns out to be the evil Master. He’s planning on using the dark powers unleashed in Devil’s End for his own ends. Why he would consider doing such a thing, I have no idea.

Conducting ceremonies involving black magic, the Master summons Azal, the last of the Dæmons to grant him power and control of everything on the planet Earth and beyond. Will the Doctor, Jo and U.N.I.T. be able to stop the Master’s diabolical plans as the dark forces of Devil’s End are unleashed?

It was interesting to hear from the Doctor how he tries to explain the origins of the Dæmons to everyone. He says that they came to Earth to influence the progression of humanity from the dark ages to the present day. I of course don’t believe this for one moment, as God guided us on our way!

Mind you, it was fun and interesting how the Doctor described it in the story. It did put me in mind of the ‘Star Trek’ original series episode called ‘Who Mourns For Adonais?’ where a similar approach was used. There’s even mention of the ancient kingdom called Atlantis in connection to this concept.

A reference to ‘The Underwater Menace’ or a foreshadowing of ‘The Time Monster’, I’m not sure. As I said before, ‘The Dæmons’ is a well-written story for the main characters. Everyone in the U.N.I.T. family, including the Doctor, Jo, the Brig, Mike Yates and Sgt. Benton, are all given a chance to shine.

Many of the characters are given defining moments to prove their essential role in the story. It shows how much love there was in the ‘Doctor Who’ family around the Jon Pertwee era. A pity that doesn’t get reflected so much in later eras of ‘Doctor Who’, both in the classic and new series eras. 😦

Jon Pertwee is excellent as the Third Doctor in this five-part adventure. Jon’s Doctor gets to enjoy being the action-hero in this story, which includes him driving his favourite car Bessie as well as driving a motorbike. I liked it when he controlled Bessie by remote control, which does surprise Jo. 🙂

Jo thinks it’s all magic whilst the Doctor is trying to prove to her that things work by science, not magic. The Doctor gets put to the test in this adventure when he’s denying the existence of magic with science. He does get impatient when dealing with Jo’s questions about the possibility of magic.

He also gets impatient with Alec Linstead as Sgt. Osgood when trying to explain to him how to create a machine that will break down the heat barrier in order for the Brigadier and U.N.I.T. to get through into Devil’s End. Wait a minute! Sgt. Osgood?! As in, the possible father of Ingrid Oliver’s Osgood?! 😐

Or maybe ‘uncle’?! I know it’s a bit of a coincidence that an Osgood appears in ‘The Dæmons’ whilst we currently have an Osgood in the new TV series and Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. I don’t know if Steven Moffat intended that as a deliberate in-joke, but it sounds pretty surreal nowadays. 🙂

The Doctor also gets to tell Osgood to ‘reverse the polarity’ in the adventure. Famous Third Doctor line of dialogue! 😀 It was tense when the Doctor confronted Azal towards the story’s conclusion. He tried to persuade Azal to leave whilst the giant Dæmon wished to give the Doctor his power instead.

Katy Manning is great as Jo in this adventure. She’s ditsy as ever, but still lovely when she joins the Doctor in Bessie to stop the dig at Devil’s Hump close to Devil’s End. It was interesting to see how Jo was easily susceptible to believing in magic. Even after all the weird things they have encountered. 😐

I wouldn’t consider Autons, a mind parasite, Axons and natives on Uxarieus to be the stuff of magic. Jo does get herself into trouble when after being knocked on the head and going into the church to find out what’s going on with the Master and his cult. Mike Yates accompanies her in the endeavour.

Jo does get caught by the Master and is taken away to be sacrificed. I found Jo quite pretty in her sacrificial robes. She does express her fierce loyalty and compassion, especially when she calls out to Azal and begs him to kill her instead of the Doctor. It’s a pretty defining moment for Jo’s character. 🙂

Roger Delgado returns as the Master in this finale for Season 8. The Master has been a recurring villain throughout Season 8. It does get silly when the Master is revealed to be the villain in every story of Season 8 of ‘Doctor Who’. Thankfully this was toned down in future ‘Doctor Who’ seasons. 🙂

‘The Dæmons’ is the best story to feature Roger Delgado’s Master. It’s amusing how he becomes the new vicar of Devil’s End as well as a conjuror of black magic. One wonders how he became the vicar so quickly. The Master controls the villagers to his will and summons Azal during wicked ceremonies.

The Master is desperate to have powers granted to him by Azal. He’s determined to get them by any means necessary. The Master does look glorious and harrowing in his scarlet ceremonial clothes. He’s really power-hungry and triumphant when his ceremonies of black magic to summon Azal work.

Nicholas Courtney stars as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the story. I enjoyed it when I saw the Brigadier in his regimental outfit before he went off to a special dinner somewhere. It put me in mind of Lance Corporal Jones from ‘Dad’s Army’ who often wore a red regimental outfit at times. 😀

It was funny when the Brigadier became outraged about Mike Yates and Sgt. Benton taking his helicopter without his permission once they went to Devil’s End to help the Doctor and Jo out. He soon goes off to Devil’s End in a car to find out what’s happening before discovering a heat barrier.

The Brig is commanding and militaristic as ever, but still loveable. Like I said, the famous line he gave to Jenkins to shoot at Bok with ‘five rounds rapid’ is so memorable. It was equally funny to see how the Brigadier became frustrated when he and his U.N.I.T. chaps tried to get through the heat barrier.

Richard Franklin is great as Captain Mike Yates in this adventure. Mike also gets to be the action hero when trying to fight a villager who steals the Brig’s helicopter. He also gets to drive a motorcycle to warn the Doctor and Jo about the villager that’s possessed and is trying to kill them. 🙂

It was very interesting to see Mike and Benton in civilian clothes for a change when they went off to Devil’s End. I’m sure Richard Franklin and John Levene enjoyed the location shoot once being in civilian clothes and not having to wear the traditional U.N.I.T. army outfits they often wore in the series.

It was nice to see Mike Yates and Benton working together as a duo as they made their way to Devil’s End. Mike is clearly fond of Jo and despite calling her ‘an idiot’ when she goes off alone to the church, he does go and rescue her. He has a go firing a gun at Bok when he and Jo are in the church.

John Levene is equally great as Sergeant Benton in this adventure. Like Mike Yates, Benton gets to wear civilian clothes for a change when going off to Devil’s End. He also gets to have some action scenes in the story, especially when he’s fighting a verger who attacks him in the Devil’s End church.

Benton also gets to rescue Miss Hawthorne from being trapped inside a cupboard in the church. Benton has quite a number of scenes with Miss Hawthorne in the story and she takes a shine to him, due to him rescuing her from the cupboard and they do end up dancing together at the story’s close.

It was nice to see Benton getting more involved in the story’s action compared to previous adventures where he isn’t so involved. He helps Miss Hawthorne rescue the Doctor by convincing the villagers to fake some magic spells with a gun. He also asks important questions during the story.

Damaris Hayman guest stars as Miss Olive Hawthorne, the local white witch in Devil’s End. Miss Hawthorne is an interesting woman, who protests and tries to stop the dig at Devil’s Hump from happening when it’s shown on TV. She’s convinced of the black magic and knows of the great evil. 😐

I liked that moment where Miss Hawthorne tries to convince the Doctor that it’s magic they’re dealing with whereas he says it’s science. Watching her, you wouldn’t think Miss Hawthorne is a witch. It’s good that Damaris Hayman played her convincingly and not ‘dithery’ as she was asked to.

Stephen Thorne guest stars as Azal, the last of the Daemons. Stephen voiced Treebeard in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ radio series and he would later play Omega in ‘The Three Doctors’. He does look pretty scary as Azal once the Master has summoned him and he grows to be giant-sized above everybody else.

The look of Azal is impressive and menacing. He does look like an evil Faun from ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ with the goat legs and naked hairy torso. But with evil eyes and menacing voice, I was convinced otherwise. It was interesting how he’s not revealed until the end of ‘Episode Four’. 😐

Stanley Mason guest stars as Bok, a stone gargoyle statue who gets summoned to life at the church in Devil’s End. He doesn’t speak and is bulletproof when the Brigadier, Mike Yates, Benton and U.N.I.T. soldiers are trying to gun him down. Even a bazooka fired by Benton can’t stop him in this. 😐

The Master summons Bok to serve Azal. Bok kills people with one shot from his claw. Stanley Mason had to walk around in a thin skin-suit when playing Bok. He plays the Bok statue well as you wouldn’t believe it was a skin-suit he was wearing. Bok could’ve had more gargoyle statues to help him though.

The cast also includes Robin Wentworth as Professor Horner, David Simeon as Alastair Fergus of BBC Three, Rollo Gamble as Squire Winstanley, Don McKillop as Bert the Landlord, John Joyce as Garvin, Jon Croft as Tom Girton, Matthew Corbett (Yes! That Matthew Corbett from ‘Sooty’) as Jones and James Snell as Harry of BBC Three. 🙂

There’s also Christopher Wray as PC Groom, Eric Hillyard as Dr. Reeves, John Owens as Thorpe and Gerald Taylor as Baker’s Man. The Headington Quarry Men play the Morris dancers in the story. A lot of these characters are often hypnotised to serve the Master which causes chaos in Devil’s End here.

Like the script editor Terrance Dicks, I was dissatisfied with how the story concluded. Everything seemed to be rushed with Azal being defeated. Jo’s plea for self-sacrifice half works for me. It’s a lovely moment, but Azal’s demise when he doesn’t understand self-sacrifice was weakly-handled. 😐

Azal’s disintegration as he rages away was too quick. Surely he could’ve put up more of a fight in an attempt to overcome Jo’s plea for self-sacrifice. It needed more time to be developed and more explaining. Perhaps ‘The Dæmons’ should have been a six-part adventure instead of a five-parter. 😐

In the end, Azal is defeated and everyone flees before the church gets blown up in the village. The church getting blown is very impressive effects work for its time by director Christopher Barry. It caused an outrage when people were convinced that the production team had blown the church up.

The Master attempts to get away but he’s caught once the Doctor uses his remote control to bring him back in Bessie. The Master is under arrest and taken away to prison by the Brigadier and U.N.I.T. I’m sure that’s the last of the Master and we’ll never see him again in future ‘Doctor Who’ stories. 😀

Everyone is happy that the nightmare in Devil’s End is over and that the village is safe. The May Day dance celebrations continue. Miss Hawthorne and Benton join in with the dancing and so do the Doctor and Jo. I like how the story closes with a view shot of the village and May Day celebrations. 🙂

I also found it funny when Mike Yates asked the Brigadier for a dance. The Brig says “That’s kind of you, Captain Yates. Think I’d rather have a pint.” Nicholas Courtney described the Brigadier being an alcoholic and Mike Yates being gay according to Katy Manning in ‘The Devil Rides Out’ documentary. 😀

The original DVD special features were as follows. There were audio options including a mono sound audio mix option for the story and a DVD audio commentary with Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, Damaris Hayman and director Christopher Barry. There was also an info-text commentary option to enjoy.

There was ‘The Devil Rides Out’ making-of documentary featuring behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews; the ‘Remembering Barry Letts’ tribute, 8mm location film footage and a colourisation test. There was a ‘Tomorrow’s World’ restoration featurette, a photo gallery of the story and PDF materials including a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story. There was also a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘Nightmare of Eden’, starring Tom Baker and Lalla Ward.

On Disc 6 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 8’ Blu-ray, the mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary, ‘The Devil Rides Out’ making-of documentary, the colourisation test, the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ restoration featurette, and the ‘Radio Times Listing’ PDF can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery for ‘The Dæmons’ have been updated for 2021 on the Blu-ray. The 8mm location film footage as seen on the DVD has also been updated with previously unreleased footage on the Blu-ray.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘The Dæmons’ with Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Stewart Bevan (Clifford Jones) as well as Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) as well as Anjli Mohindra (Queen Skithra from ‘Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror’ and Rani Chandra in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’) and Sacha Dhawan (The Master). There’s ‘The Pertwee Years’ VHS introduction for ‘The Dæmons’, the ‘Christopher Barry: Director’ interview/featurette from ‘The Creature From The Pit’ DVD, BBC trailers and continuity announcements for the story and a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘Day of the Daleks’, starring Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin and John Levene (taken from ‘The Sun Makers’ DVD). There’s also a brand-new 5.1 surround sound audio mix option for the story to enjoy.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story, there are production documents and scripts for the story. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

On Disc 7 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 8’ Blu-ray, the ‘Remembering Barry Letts’ tribute can be found on there.

The new special features on Blu-ray include ‘The Dæmons’ repeat omnibus edition, which has a mono sound audio mix option and a 5.1 surround sound audio mix option. There’s ‘Devil’s Weekend’ where Katy Manning and John Levene return to Aldbourne village in Wiltshire, ‘The Direct Route’ which has directors Michael E. Briant, Graeme Harper and Timothy Combe return to the filming locations of Season 8, and a bonus scene for ‘The Direct Route’. There’s the ‘Living with Levene’ documentary with John Levene and Toby Hadoke (taken from ‘The Claws of Axos’ 2-disc Special Edition DVD), a visual effects interview with Peter Day, a 50th anniversary archive interview with Anneke Wills and Richard Franklin, and ‘Chronicle: The Silbury Dig’, an archive programme from 1968 which inspired ‘The Dæmons’.

On Disc 8 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 8’ Blu-ray, there’s the ‘Katy Manning: In Conversation’ interview conducted by Matthew Sweet, a Terrance Dicks tribute called ‘Terrance & Me’ where Frank Skinner (who was in ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’) meets the family and friends of Terrance Dicks, and ‘The Panopticon Archive’ convention panel with Jon Pertwee from 1991. There’s the ‘Return of the Autons’ Season 8 Blu-ray trailer, a ‘Blue Peter’ item featuring ‘lots of doors’ ( 😀 ), and an audio archive section which includes the ‘Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons’ Target audiobook read by Geoffrey Beevers and Season 8 BBC audiobooks promo for the Target audiobooks of ‘Terror of the Autons’, ‘The Claws of Axos’, ‘The Doomsday Weapon’ (‘Colony In Space’) and ‘The Dæmons’ as well as the TV soundtrack for ‘The Mind of Evil’. There’s also the studio clocks compilation for Season 8.

On the PDF front, there’s the Season 8 Enterprises sales sheet, the Season 8 BBC Television play synopses and the 1971 ‘Doctor Who Annual’. There’s the 1971 ‘Kellogg’s Sugar Smacks’ promotional material (which was originally on the ‘Terror of the Autons’ and ‘The Mind of Evil’ DVDs) and the ‘Doctor Who Fights Masterplan Q’ Nestlé chocolate wrappers (which was originally on the ‘Terror of the Autons’ DVD).

‘The Dæmons’ is a fascinating and enjoyable ‘Doctor Who’ story to watch from the early 1970s with Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, Jo and U.N.I.T. fighting against the Master and Azal. It’s a decent tale filled with love for the Third Doctor era as it’s quaint and quintessential being set in a rural English village.

It’s not exactly one of my top favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories, but I appreciate why people like it so much. I fancy going to an English village for a holiday! I hope nothing bad will happen when I get there and I hope to enjoy the sleepiness of a village without any presence of evil dark forces waiting.

Season 8 is certainly a landmark season of ‘Doctor Who’ during Jon Pertwee’s era as the Doctor. It’s a compelling season featuring the debut of Roger Delgado’s Master, Katy Manning’s Jo Grant and Richard Franklin’s Mike Yates. It’s also a season where Jon Pertwee’s era was on track in the 1970s. 🙂

Whilst it took time for producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks to get the Doctor off the planet Earth and away from U.N.I.T., they at least set the new tone of the Jon Pertwee era in terms of variety. They would do more outer space tales in Jon Pertwee’s era compared to one in Season 8.

I am pleased to have revisited Season 8 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray lately. It certainly cheered me up during the tough times occurring in 2021. I have enjoyed revisiting adventures like ‘Terror of the Autons’, ‘The Mind of Evil’, ‘The Claws of Axos’, ‘Colony In Space’ and ‘The Dæmons’ on Blu-ray itself.

It’s also been nice to revisit the stories through the ‘Behind the Sofa’ items featuring Katy Manning, Stewart Bevan, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Anjli Mohindra and Sacha Dhawan. With things being restricted in the times of 2021, Blu-ray box sets of ‘Doctor Who’ like Season 8 help to ease anxiety. 🙂

As Jon Pertwee’s second season of ‘Doctor Who’ finished with ‘The Dæmons’ in June 1971, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks looked ahead to the future with the Third Doctor, Jo and U.N.I.T. What new case files and adventures were in store for the U.N.I.T. in the following year itself?

‘The Dæmons’ rating – 7/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO AND THE DÆMONS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Barry Letts Writes and Reads His Show

For Barry Letts

Can the novelization/audiobook be better than the TV story?

I’m sure I’ve asked that question lots of times when it comes to reviewing Target novelizations/audiobooks of ‘Doctor Who‘ stories. But the thing with ‘The Dæmons’, unlike many ‘Doctor Who’ fans who praise the heck out of it, I’m not what you would call a very devoted fan of it.

It’s not that I don’t think the story’s bad or anything. I just think it gets too much praise and it feels rather overrated. This involves the black magic elements featured in the story as well as the devilish proportions and the rushed climax that I feel could have had more drama if the story was a six-parter.

So as you can imagine, when it came to reading and hearing the Target novelization/audiobook of ‘Doctor Who and the Dæmons’ by Barry Letts, I didn’t know the story inside-out as much as everyone else. I knew ‘The Invasion’ and ‘Black Orchid’ inside-out as stories, but not ‘The Dæmons’.

Now that’s not to say there isn’t anything memorable to take from ‘The Dæmons’. But when you have to compare and contrast between the TV story and the Target novelization and identify what’s similar and what’s different, it can be a challenge as I couldn’t find a lot of differences in the book.

I read and heard the Target novelization/audiobook of ‘The Dæmons’ before and after watching the story recently in the Season 8 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ with Jon Pertwee in 2021. It was intriguing to read half the story before revisiting ‘The Dæmons’ on Blu-ray whilst I revisited Season 8 overall. 🙂

‘Doctor Who and the Dæmons’ was originally published in 1974, three years after the transmission of the TV story in 1971. This happens to be Barry Letts’ first and only Target novelization of ‘Doctor Who’, based on the TV scripts by him and Robert Sloman under the pseudonym of ‘Guy Leopold’. 😀

When I purchased the ‘The Dæmons’ from Amazon.co.uk, I received the original 1974 Target Books edition in the post. It’s amazing how well-preserved the book was after all these years. The book has been reprinted a couple of times in the years 1980 and 1993 with various book covers to account for it.

I purchased the audiobook of ‘The Dæmons’ read by Barry Letts as a download via Audible. I enjoyed ‘The Dæmons’ audiobook when I read the Target book along with it. It was fascinating to hear Barry Letts read his own story, especially since he was the writer/producer and not an actor playing in it. 😐

Mind you, Barry Letts was an actor himself at one point before he became a producer of ‘Doctor Who’ and he was a director on a number of TV stories too. Barry Letts’ reading of the story is similar to how Christopher H. Bidmead read his ‘Logopolis’ Target audiobook and he was an actor once too.

‘The Dæmons’ audiobook was released in August 2008. When I had the audiobook as a download via Audible, it was presented in its 5-disc CD presentation. That’s like five audio tracks in download form, covering a total of 5 hours and 57 minutes. Yeah, the five audio tracks are pretty long indeed. 🙂

The story is divided into 13 chapters with a prologue at the beginning and an epilogue at the end. The prologue features the first scene of Old Josh Wilkins, who was originally Jim in the TV story, walking his dog Dan in the terrible thunderstorm before something happens and he dies of fright. 😮

Actually, just to sidetrack in terms of talking about both the TV story and the Target novelization/audiobook, who walks a dog out in a thunderstorm like that?! I would have waited until the rain died down, mate! Then whatever happened to make you die of fright would never have happened!

The prologue also features Miss Hawthorne telling Dr. Reeves that Old Josh died of fright whereas he believes he died of a heart attack. The epilogue meanwhile features the closing moments of everyone celebrating the end of the Master’s plight with Azal as many people dance in Devil’s End. 🙂

I know I’m jumping ahead here, but I felt the Master’s capture and arrest in the Target novelization was too quickly handled. Surely we could have had more tension and drama with the Master trying to get away in Bessie before the Doctor had him returned. Most of the Master’s dialogue is omitted in that closure.

At least, let us have him be arrested and taken away rather than simply cutting to the dancing celebrations in the epilogue. I know that’s like a minor nitpick, but like with ‘The Dæmons’ climax itself, both on TV and in book, things just quickly got wrapped up without much milking of those scenes.

And yeah talking about the book’s climax, it still seems so easy for Jo’s plea of self-sacrifice to thwart Azal before he’s about to kill the Doctor. I still would have had Azal put up a fight against Jo’s plea of self-sacrifice before he gets disintegrated. Even in book form, Barry Letts doesn’t make a meal of it.

Now I want to be clear here in that Barry Letts as the writer of this book isn’t bad. I feel he has written the story well in book form and I enjoyed reading and hearing it for the most part. I just think Terrance Dicks could have done a better job with the ending if he was given the chance to novelize Barry’s TV story.

Talking about Barry Letts as a narrator for the audiobook, I think he does a decent job reading the tale. I wouldn’t say he provides a variety of voices for certain characters like Katy Manning would do and like Jon Culshaw would do. He more or less provides a straight-forward reading of the tale here.

And that’s not to take away any enthusiasm he had in reading the story. I feel that’s clearly evident since he wrote the novelization. I just would have liked it if he provided different tones for voicing characters like the Doctor, the Master and the Brigadier. He does provide lighter tones for Jo though.

In terms of what’s different in the book/audio compared to the TV story…well, like I said, there’s not really that much difference. However there are a couple of additions I noticed from reading/hearing the story from both before and after I watched ‘The Dæmons’ which was very fascinating to discover.

One of these additions is the inclusion of young Stan Wilkins, one of the convent members of the Master’s group that summons Azal. Now he does appear in the TV story, although he was called Jones, played by Matthew Corbett. Wait a minute?! That Matthew Corbett?!!! ‘Sooty’s Matthew? 😐

(gobsmacked) That’s just so surreal! Who would have thought the man who would present ‘The Sooty Show’ with Sooty, Sweep and Soo previously had a small role in ‘The Dæmons’ where he protested about Jo being sacrificed by the Master?! I wouldn’t have thought it! It’s very bizarre to think about!

Isn’t that right, Cuddles?

Cuddles: “It is! Very bizarre!” (Pause) “What’s very bizarre again, Master?”

(sighs) Never mind.

Where was I? Oh yes! So apparently the small cameo of Matthew Corbett as Jones in the TV story is extended in the book and the character’s renamed Stan Wilkins. Why he was renamed in the book as Stan Wilkins, I’ve no idea. Then again, Jones wasn’t referred to by name in the story. He’s only named in the end credits.

It was intriguing to read/hear Stan Wilkins’ story as he gets to witness what’s going on with the Master and how he’s able to summon Azal before he protests about Jo’s sacrifice in the final fifth of the tale. I wish this had been included in the TV tale rather than just be a fleeting cameo of one cult member.

I’m glad that young Stan Wilkins survives the tale since he appears in the epilogue. He could have easily been killed off by the Master or by Azal at some point. It’s also good that the book features a member of the Master’s cult that we can sympathise with and we can see that not all of the cult is evil.

Early on in the story (the first chapter in fact) the Doctor gets referred to in the text by the name ‘Doctor Who’. Now I don’t mind this much since it only occurs once. The Doctor isn’t called ‘Doctor Who’ all at the time. It’s simply the way things were done when addressing the Doctor in the 1970s.

As well as Jim getting renamed Josh Wilkins in the story, Tom Girton, the man who managed to steal the Brigadier’s helicopter and not get punched so easily by Mike Yates, is renamed Tom Wilkins. So, that means Josh Wilkins, Tom Wilkins and Stan Wilkins are all related to each other in the novelization?

I wish that had been made clearly evident in the TV story compared to the Target novelization. And at least let us have a female member of the Wilkins family like Josh/Jim’s wife or Tom’s wife or Stan’s sister in order for us to emphasise with what the characters seem to be going through at Devil’s End.

Bert the landlord also gets given the surname Walker whilst Thorpe the grocery store owner gets given the first name Ron and Squire Winstanley gets given the full name Montmorency Vere de Vere Winstantley. I wish most of these characters were given explanations on why they serve the Master.

I appreciate Bert being a willing member of the Master, especially when he threatens the Doctor during the May Day celebrations, but I think we could have benefited in both TV story and novelization on why he was so willing to be subservient. At least, I couldn’t pick anything up on that in reading the book.

Benton’s scenes with Miss Hawthorne also get expanded upon in the novelization. I like how Miss Hawthorne grows to have a shining interest in Benton whilst he’s sort-of reluctant. Maybe it’s because he’s duty-bound and can’t be too personal, especially when they have a dance at the end.

There is a section in the book straight after Azal’s defeat where Benton and Miss Hawthorne draw a pentagram to try and destroy Bok. I’m amazed this addition was included in the book and not in the TV story. I wish we could have had that as well as the defeat of Azal being expanded upon in the book.

Mind you, I appreciate why the drawing of the pentagram is there in the book. It’s to emphasise Miss Hawthorne’s white witch abilities, which I don’t think were expanded upon greatly in the TV story. It’s hinted at a few times, but not to a great extent in order for us to appreciate her as a witch.

There’s also an indication that the Master may be upset in the Target novelization when he thinks that he killed the Doctor. I think that is there, especially when he reflects on the past times he had with the Doctor before they became enemies. I don’t believe it’s prevalent in the novelization though.

I also like the additional dialogue between the Brigadier, Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton before the Brig’s about to go out for his regimental dinner. I was expecting it to be in the TV story after reading it in the novelization. Sadly the additional dialogue isn’t there, which is a shame in my humble opinion.

The scene featuring the Brigadier in bed when he phones up about where everyone in U.N.I.T. is and learning that his helicopter’s been taken by Mike Yates and Benton is omitted in the novelization. There also isn’t the scene where the Brigadier and his men in his car come across the heat barrier. 😐

Most of the communication between the Brigadier and everyone in Devil’s End is written in italics when they’re talking to each other via walkie talkies. There’s also additional dialogue for the Doctor when he tells off Bessie for ‘gallivanting off’ from her garage. This I found enjoyable to read/hear. 😀

Incidentally, the book contains illustrations of the story by Alan Willow. I like seeing Alan Willow’s illustrations in some of the early ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelizations of the early 1970s. The illustrations for ‘The Dæmons’ are very well done, especially in terms of depicting Azal and his size. 🙂

‘Doctor Who and the Dæmons’ is a pretty decent Target novelization/audiobook by Barry Letts. I’ve enjoyed revisiting ‘The Dæmons’ story lately in 2021, both in its TV form on Blu-ray and in its Target novelization/audiobook. I can’t say the story won me over more in its novelization/audiobook form.

Then again, ‘The Dæmons’ isn’t exactly my cup of tea of a ‘Doctor Who’ story. But I do appreciate Barry Letts going to the trouble of novelizing ‘The Dæmons’ for Target Books. I’ve greatly enjoyed the reading and listening experience to appreciate more of what the story is trying to achieve here. 🙂

‘Doctor Who and the Dæmons’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Third Doctor was ‘The Tip of the Mind’ (ST) For Jo was ‘The Thousand Years of Christmas’ (ST) For the Brigadier was ‘Colony In Space’ (TV) For Mike Yates was ‘The Mega’ (Audio) For Benton was ‘The Mega’ (Audio) For the Master was ‘Colony In Space’ (TV)	The next story For  the Third Doctor is ‘The Doll of Death’ (Audio) For Jo is ‘The Doll of Death’ (Audio) For the Brigadier is ‘The Doll of Death’ (Audio) For Mike Yates is ‘The Doll of Death’ (Audio) For Benton is ‘The Doll of Death’ (Audio) For the Master is ‘The Man in the Ion Mask’ (Comic)
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