315 The Sea Devils Episode Four

EPISODE: The Sea Devils: Episode Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 315
STORY NUMBER: 062
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 18 March 1972
WRITER: Malcolm Hulke
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface (The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors of the Deep)
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Now listen, that creature that you saw is one of a race of intelligent reptiles that has a deadly hatred of mankind. Now somehow, they've established themselves in the sea, but now they intend to emerge and conquer the Earth!"

The Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver to detect where the mines are enabling him & Jo to cross the minefield and escape. When the Sea Devil pursues them The Doctor detonates some mines to scare it off. As Captain Hart grows concerned about his missing submarine it's command deck is breached by the Sea Devils. The Sea Devils direct the submarine to take them to a specific location. Returning to the Naval base Hart still won't believe the Doctor's story but the base detects the moving Submarine's radar trace as it surfaces near the castle/prison. More Sea Devils come up out of the sea onto the beach is response to the Master's summoning device. They storm the prison killing Trenchard & his guards then freeing the Master. Hart investigates the prison discovering what had happened as the submarine is detected moving towards the sea fort. The Doctor is taken on a diving vessel to the sea fort. The Doctor descends in a diving bell to the ocean floor. Reaching the bottom the Doctor sights a Sea Devil, but his contact with the surface is lost. Captain Hart has the diving bell brought back up but when it's opened it's found to be empty.....

Most six part Doctor Who stories feel in some way like they're in two halves with a change of location or emphasis occurring at some point. This episode feels a lot like it's a bridge between the two halves of the Sea Devils.

First the prison & Trenchard are removed from proceedings. I almost feel sorry for Trenchard who gradually works out that he's been had:

TRENCHARD: What is it?
MASTER: One of the creatures that have been destroying the ships.

TRENCHARD: You told me it was enemy agents. Why didn't you tell me the truth?
MASTER: If I had, would you have believed me?

The Master tries to string it out for a bit longer:

TRENCHARD: I just can't take it in. It's all too much for me.
MASTER: Trenchard, you really must be more calm. Believe me, it's very simple.
TRENCHARD: Simple? You've misled me all along. You said it was spies, saboteurs. You said we'd catch them.
MASTER: Look, if I had talked to you about sea monsters, would you have believed me?
TRENCHARD: I've risked everything to help you and you've lied to me.
MASTER: I had to lie. Now sit down, Trenchard. Sit down and listen to me.
TRENCHARD: I don't know how you can be so calm.

MASTER: Now listen, that creature that you saw is one of a race of intelligent reptiles that has a deadly hatred of mankind. Now somehow, they've established themselves in the sea, but now they intend to emerge and conquer the Earth.
TRENCHARD: What? We must warn the authorities at once!
MASTER: No, no. Premature action would ruin everything.
TRENCHARD: What else can we do?
MASTER: Wait until this device of mine is perfected, and then tell the authorities.

Even then Trenchard won't let it go:

TRENCHARD: Look, I've been giving some thought to all this. It's going to be an enormous job coping with these creatures. We must give the authorities all the notice we can.... What was that?
MASTER: Just random feedback. It's nothing important.
TRENCHARD: Sounded like some sort of message.

MASTER: Look, Trenchard, I am trying to carry out a very difficult and complex task here, and I can't work if I'm being continually interrupted.
TRENCHARD: I'm terribly sorry, old chap. I'll leave you to it.
MASTER: Thank you.

And, to be fair on Trenchard he does try to do something about the situation contacting those in authority:

TRENCHARD: I tell you I must speak to the Minister. It's most important. Well, when do you expect him back? No, I can't tell you what's wrong. The security of the nation is at risk. Oh, very well, I'll hold on, but please hurry! No, it can't wait till the morning. Oh, you'll have to interrupt his meeting. This is a matter of national urgency. Oh, very well, as soon as he's free then. But if there's any unnecessary delay, believe me, you'll answer for it!

And then when the castle comes under attack he does keep his nerve:

TRENCHARD: What's happening, man?
DREW: They're all over the place, sir! They killed most of the lads!
TRENCHARD: Who? Who's attacking us?
DREW: Lizards, sir. Like that thing we saw on the beach. Come on, sir. They were after me.
TRENCHARD: Pull yourself together, man. Have you sent for help?
DREW: But it's no good, sir!
TRENCHARD: There's a direct line to Whitehall in my office. Use that.
DREW: Why can't you, sir?
TRENCHARD: I shall attend to the security of my prisoner. Go on, man. Move!

And so Trenchard meets his end in battle with the Sea Devils. His death in Malcolm Hulke's novelisation of this story is slightly more ignominious: Trenchard forgets to take the safety catch off the revolver and is struck down pulling the trigger and wondering why nothing is happening. He's only saved from more disgrace in death by the Doctor finding the weapon and releasing the safety catch.

HART: I don't understand why.
DOCTOR: The Master had no further use for him, that's why.
HART: But why did he help the Master in the first place?
DOCTOR: What would you say was Trenchard's strongest characteristic?
HART: Oh, I don't know. Patriotism, I suppose.
DOCTOR: Exactly. And the Master used that patriotism as a weapon.

The episode opens on White Cliff Bay, where the end of episode 3 was filmed, for the minefield sequence!

While filming the sequence where he throws his cloak over barbed wire Jon Pertwee injured his ribs on what the accident report describes as "a six inch metal tube" in his pocket - the sonic screwdriver! Then Captain Hart starts to believe and we're introduced to the diving vessel

DOCTOR: Look, Captain Hart, can you lay on a diving vessel?
HART: Yes, the Reclaim's standing by on the search. But why?
DOCTOR: I want to inspect the sea bed at the base of that fort.

One location in this story is no longer in existence: The diving vessel HMS Reclaim, with the same name in real life as in the story, was broken up for scrap in 1982.

Brian Vaughan plays Lt. Commander Watts, the fictional commander of the Reclaim. He appears in the Out of the Unknown Stranger in the Family as Swain which you can see on the Out of the Unknown DVD Set.

Colin Bell, who is C.P.O. Summers will return as Private Bryson in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

Alec Wallis plays Ldg. Telegraphist Bowman. He's back, albeit briefly, in Sea Devils director Michael Briant's Revenge of the Cybermen as Warner. You can also see him in A Clockwork Orange as Conspirator D.B. Da Silva.

Onto the Sea Devils, seen in force in this episode. Joining Pat Gorman, the solo Sea Devil in the first two episodes, is stuntman Stuart Fell Sea Devil (uncredited), who we've just seen in Curse of Peladon as Aggedor which was filmed after this story. Also playing a Sea Devil is Steve Ismay, last seen in Day of the Daleks as a Guerilla & a stills cameraman. He's in the next story, The Mutants, as Varan's bodyguard. Another Sea Devil is Brian Nolan He'd already been an IE Guard in The Invasion, a Resistance Man in The War Games, and a UNIT Soldier in Spearhead from Space & the Silurians. He later plays a Solos Guard in the Mutants, an Earth Guard in Frontier in Space, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Guard in The Seeds of Doom and the TV Cameraman in The Deadly Assassin. He was also in Doomwatchas a Man in Flood.

In amongst the Naval Base Sailors and Ratings we have Ron Tingley who was in The Dæmons as a BBC3 TV Crewmember and returns in The Mutants as a Skybase Guard. He was in Doomwatch a a Man in Hear No Evil and again in Flood.