The Highlanders

Episode One

And so we settle down for the last historical for 15 years. It's a very sad moment. It's quite funny that the Doctor is happy just to leave again, saying he doesn't care if Polly and Ben think he's afraid. And he's right to be, as they get captured very quickly by somebody called Jamie, and Alexander. The Doctor quickly gets in his, "I would like a hat like this," catchphrase before Ben grabs a pistol and threatens their captors. The Doctor makes the Scots give their word they won't molest them and will allow him to help their injured Laird, and tells Ben to put the gun down, which he does, accidentally firing it. The idiot. It's that that draws the Redcoats to their position, and gets Alexander killed. Still, Ben thinks the Redcoats will help. That's very silly of him. He has been in historicals before, he should know how they work.

We get a Doctor Who? joke! Yippee. The Doctor puts on a ridiculous accent and calls himself Doctor von Wer, to which the Redcoat says, "Doctor who?" leading to the obvious reply, "quite". After skilfully talking his way out of things, the Doctor then says he's better at speaking English than the King, which gets him right back in trouble again, the fool. But he does try to save Jamie and the Laird by saying, "you cannot hang a citizen of a foreign power without first informing the ambassador". That doesn't work, but dodgy solicitor Grey arrives and sets them free. Luckily for them, Polly and her new friend Kirsty are still free. Polly is incredibly patronising to the Davis/Lloyd idiot from history and calls her a stupid peasant before running off and falling into a pit.

It's an intriguing and entertaining opening episode, with the Doctor still acting strangely. It promises a decent amount. 7/10

Episode Two

Polly drags the stupid peasant into the pit, and ridiculously says, "didn't the women of your age do anything but cry?" This is the same Polly who will spend all of the next story crying. It's bizarre, particularly as Davis actually wrote this story. He's the one who brought back crying and complaining female companions which had died out originally with Susan. Yet suddenly Polly is all tough. Wouldn't it have been easier to have the rebel woman saying that to Polly? Oh no, this production team don't like historicals, do they? They can't have people from the past acting realistically. Viewers might enjoy it. Anyway, it is quite amusing the way Polly and Kirsty blackmail "ferfinch".

I love the way the Doctor shouts, "down with King George," just because he wants to hear the echo. Then suddenly he pretends to turn traitor and tells a sentry of a plot to kill the King, started by Jamie. It's nice that a wink from the Doctor convinces Ben that it's a ruse, though by the end of the episode they're prisoners on a pirate ship and starting to doubt him. The Doctor gets taken to meet Grey, and the scene where he locks him up and convinces Perkins that he has a headache and must rest is quite funny, as is the Doctor dressing up as an old woman. 6/10

Episode Three

The Sergeant takes Polly and Kirsty to see ffinch in a bar where the Doctor happens to be hiding. Perkins captures them, leading to a great moment of the Doctor, still dressed as a woman, pointing a pistol at him and threatening him. He gets Polly and Kirsty free, and then decides he would rather have a nap than help Ben. Eventually he does decide to help after all and they steal a bunch of weapons for a raid on the pirate ship. Grey is a slave trader, and wants to make Ben and Jamie slaves in the Caribbean. 6/10

Episode Four

It's quite impressive the way Ben escapes using a Houdini trick (flex your muscles as they're tying you up, then relax. Does that really work?) and gets to the shore, and quite funny that the "Redcoat" who sees him is actually the Doctor in yet another disguise. With a moustache. Apparently the Doctor would like a hat like Ben's sailor hat! There's a big fight sequence on the ship, which hopefully was rubbish, otherwise it would be quite dull, because it goes on for a while. Jamie saves Ben from pirate Trask, and decides to help the Doctor, Ben and Polly find their way back. The bit where the Doctor admits to having ripped up Grey's contracts is brilliant, Troughton at his best. Polly asks the Doctor if they can take Jamie with them, as if he's a stray dog! 5/10

Conclusion

This is a story where we have the Doctor put on a silly accent, dress up as an old woman and a redcoat. It is a story that is relatively new to me, though, and I have little to say about it (partly due to having already watched the Faceless Ones by the time I've bothered to write this!) other than it's a very enjoyable little story and valuable, as one of only two post-Hartnell historicals. Troughton is already in top, if strange, form as the Doctor, and Ben and Polly continue to impress in this marathon. They've been superb and I've loved them. I wonder what I'll make of Jamie.

Average rating: 6

Old Rating: 6

New Rating: 6