OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 303
STORY NUMBER: 059
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 19 June 1971
WRITER: "Guy Leopold" (pseudonym for Robert Sloman and Barry Letts)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8.3 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Dæmons
EPISODE FORMAT: 16mm b&w film recording recoloured using 525 off air video
"Jenkins! Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid!"
Jo is taken away to be prepared for sacrifice to Azal. Mike escapes from the cavern and tells the Doctor what's going on. Bok prevents the Doctor from entering the church. The Brigadier has the Doctor's machine activated and drives through the heat barrier. Azal and Bok are weakened while the machine is running but it blows up after they come through. The Doctor runs past the weakened Bok into the church before it can recover and menace Yates again. The newly arrived Brigadier has Bok shot at. The Doctor tries to bargain with Azal for Jo's life and demands he leaves. The Master demands Azal's power but Azal elects to pass it to the Doctor who refuses it. Benton sets a Bazooka up and destroys Bok but it reforms. Azal decides to kill the Doctor but Jo offers herself up instead causing Azal to destroy himself. Without Azal's power Bok becomes a statue again and the church is destroyed by a massive explosion from the cavern bellow while the spaceship at the dig self destructs and the barrier clears. The Master is captured by Unit. Jo & The Doctor and Benton & Miss Hawthorne join in the mayday celebrations while the Brigadier & Mike retire to the village inn for a quiet pint.
Having intervened on the Master's sacrifice on behalf of a chicken, Jo now finds herself as it's replacement on the altar in the cavern!
The Doctor meanwhile has the villagers eating out of his hand thinking he's a wizard!
DOCTOR: Now we're facing the greatest danger the world has ever known. Now, look, I've got to tell you the truth.
HAWTHORNE: Doctor, no.
DOCTOR: I've got to risk it.
THORPE: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: I'm not a magician or a wizard or anything of the sort.
BERT: See! I told you!
DOCTOR: But neither is the Master. I've tricked you, yes, but only to save you from him.
BERT: To save your own life, you mean.
DOCTOR: Yes, of course, that too.
BERT: What? Well, there you are! Do you hear, the lot of you? He admits it!
THORPE: Just pipe down for two minutes, Bert.
BERT: But you heard him.
THORPE: Shut up! We want to hear what he's got to say.
HAWTHORNE: But your car? How did you make it move by itself?
DOCTOR: Science, not sorcery, Miss Hawthorne. Look.
Using Bessie's remote control as a demonstration neatly reminds the audience it exists!
He then explains to the villagers how the Master has done what he has:
VILLAGER: That's amazing.A confused Sgt Osgood has spent over an episode building a machine for the Doctor he doesn't understand!
BENTON: I'll be blowed.
DOCTOR: And your Mister Magister uses no more magic than that.
BERT: You're talking rubbish. The Master's a magician I tell you!
DOCTOR: All his feats are based on science. Either ours or the secret science of the Daemons.
BERT: Well, there you are. That proves you're talking nonsense. How could he have called him up in the first place except by sorcery?
DOCTOR: Well, he uses violent emotions. Fear, hatred, greed.
THORPE: How?
DOCTOR: Well, the emotions of a group of ordinary human beings generate a tremendous charge of psychokinetic energy. This the Master channels for his own purpose.
HAWTHORNE: But that is magic. That's precisely what black magic is.
DOCTOR: No, Miss Hawthorne, I'm afraid not.
HAWTHORNE: Are you trying to tell me that the invocations, the rituals, even the sabbat itself are just so much window dressing?
DOCTOR: No, no, no, of course not. No, they are essential to generate and control the psionic forces, and to control the Daemon himself.
BENTON: Look, shouldn't we get over there and sort this Daemon thing out?
DOCTOR: How?
BENTON: Well, I could get the men
DOCTOR: Yes?
BENTON: Well, we could
DOCTOR: Exactly. All we can do is wait.
BENTON: Well, what for?
DOCTOR: The energy exchanger. This machine that the Brigadier is building for me. With that I should be able to drain off our visitor's energy. Then perhaps we can sort him out.
DOCTOR: Walkie talkie. Hello, Brigadier? Are you there?
BRIGADIER: That you, Doctor? Over.
DOCTOR: Look, they've got Jo. That machine must come through now. Now, do you understand?! Now!
BRIGADIER: We're on our way, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good. And put a watch up on that barrow, will you? Just in case the Daemon's ship reactivates.
BRIGADIER: Will do, Doctor. Over and out. You heard him, Sergeant. Now.
OSGOOD: I...
BRIGADIER: That's an order, Sergeant. Now!
DOCTOR: Come on, Brigadier. Get a move on.
OSGOOD: It'll never take it, I tell you.
BRIGADIER: It must. Keep trying.
DOCTOR: What's going on, Brigadier? You must hurry!
BRIGADIER: We're up to the maximum now, Doctor. It's still no good.
DOCTOR: You'll have to use the booster.
OSGOOD: If you do, sir, she'll blow us all sky high!
BRIGADIER: We're coming through, Doctor. Over and out. Booster on.
OSGOOD: But sir.
BRIGADIER: Damn it, man. Get on with it.
Unfortunately The Brigadier thinks the machine's sole purpose is to get him and his men in....
BRIGADIER: Look, it's working! Right, it's still hot, but passable. Right, start up and keep to the tunnel.Oh dear. Fortunately the Doctor can take advantage of the effect the machine had had on Bok to nip past him and into the cavern so is missing when The Brigadier shows up to deliver one of the most quoted lines in Doctor Who:
DOCTOR: Look, what's going on, Brigadier?
BRIGADIER: We're through, Doctor. Over.
DOCTOR: What, all of you?
BRIGADIER: Yes, but not the machine.
DOCTOR: Well, that should have come through first.
BENTON: Doctor, look.
DOCTOR: The exchanger is working. It's bleeding off the energy.
BRIGADIER: Come on, man, bring it through! Get a move on!
OSGOOD: Sir! Right, Jenkins.
BRIGADIER: You can stop worrying, Doctor. We're through.
DOCTOR: And about time, too. Now get it over here fast!
BRIGADIER: Right.
OSGOOD: Sir! Sir, I can't stop it! It's running away!
BRIGADIER: Osgood, out of it! Get down, all of you! Osgood, get down, man!
DOCTOR: Brigadier? Brigadier, are you all right?
BRIGADIER: The machine's gone west. Blown itself up. Be with you right away. Over and out.
DOCTOR: A fat lot of good that'll do.
BRIGADIER: Where's the Doctor?
YATES: Gone in there, sir.
BRIGADIER: Then what are we waiting for? Let's get after him.
YATES: Wait, sir. Look.
BRIGADIER: What the blazes is that? Some kind of ornament?
YATES: Not exactly, sir. Watch.
BRIGADIER: Yes, I see what you mean. Never mind, we'll soon fix him. Jenkins!
JENKINS: Sir.
BRIGADIER: Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid!
The effect is, of course, absolutely negligible and leads to UNIT blazing away at Bok with everything they've got up to and including a bazooka!
Meanwhile the Doctor is trying to recall who the Master's power mad ravings is reminding him of
MASTER: Well? You waste time. I order you to kill him, Azal!
AZAL: I command. I do not obey.
MASTER: But I called you here and you came?
AZAL: I answered your call because the time was come for my awakening. The time has come for the completion of the experiment or its destruction.
MASTER: Then fulfil your mission by granting the ultimate power to me. Who else is there strong enough to give these humans the leadership they need?
DOCTOR: I seem to remember somebody else speaking like that. What was the bounder's name? Hitler. Yes, that's right, Adolf Hitler. Or was it Genghis Khan?
The episode is all going well until the point where the Doctor refuses Azal's power
AZAL: You refuse my gift?So Jo offers herself up as a sacrifice in exchange for the Doctor's life and Azal clutches his head, starts yelling the Dæmon equivalent of "Does not compute" then collapses and explodes! I'm sorry but what is going on there? Deary me.
DOCTOR: Of course I do! Don't you understand? I want you to leave. I want you to go away and give man a chance to grow up.
AZAL: I cannot. My instructions are precise. I bequeath my power or I destroy all.
MASTER: Then you will give your power to me?
AZAL: I shall. Time is short.
MASTER: What about him?
AZAL: He is not rational. He is disruptive. He must be eliminated.
JO: No! No, he's a good man! Kill me, not him!
AZAL: This action does not relate. There is no data. It does not relate. Go! Leave me, all of you!
Still it gives Christopher Barry and Barry Letts an opportunity to play with the Top of the Pops video effects box as they kill Azal!
I'd never noticed before but the point where Bok becomes a statue again he resumes the pose he had in the cavern!
We then get the famous church exploding scene which prompted letters to the Radio Times from viewers, convinced by the model sequence who were convinced the BBC had blown up the actual village church!
BRIGADIER: What happened in there, Doctor?Jo's sent inside to change, how does she get her clothes back, weren't they left in the cavern when she was forced to wear the sacrificial robe?
DOCTOR: Well, by a ridiculous and foolhardy act of self-sacrifice, Jo here has managed to save us.
JO: I did?
DOCTOR: You did. You see, Azal couldn't face an act as irrational and as illogical as her being prepared to give up her life for me. Look, Jo, why don't you go and get out of that ridiculous garb?
Benton, who's had a cracking few episodes then gets the privilege of metaphorically slipping the cuffs on the Master!
The Master is then driven off accompanied by, so the story goes, boos from the onlooking crowd of villagers!
The closing moments of the story are superb with Benton being dragged off to the maypole by Miss Hawthorne, who had rather taken as shine to him!
HAWTHORNE: The May day miracle has happened again. The Earth is born anew. Sergeant, we must do the fertility dance to celebrate.They are followed rather more willingly by Jo and The Doctor....
BENTON: Oh, no, I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm still rather busy.
HAWTHORNE: Oh, nonsense, Sergeant. Come along.
JO: Come on, Doctor!
... leaving Captain Yates and The Brigadier outside the pub!
YATES: Fancy a dance, Brigadier?Then we get a lovely shot at the end, pulling back from the green, that must have been filmed from the church tower which is at that end of the village green.
BRIGADIER: It's kind of you, Captain Yates. I think I'd rather have a pint!
DOCTOR: You're right, Jo, there is magic in the world after all.I can see why The Dæmons was so popular for so long. The regular cast are superb throughout, with Benton & Yates being given loads to do, The Master being superb and only the Brigadier being relegated to the background but even then his brief moments on screen are superb and some of the best performances that Nick Courtney gives. Against that the serial is essentially a lot of mucking around in between the dig and Azal's final appearance, which in turn is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in Doctor Who so far!
The Coven Members in the cavern are mainly made up from those playing villagers elsewhere in the story: Charles Shaw Hesketh, Geoffrey Witherick, Rex Rashley, Michael Moore, Bill Burridge, Laurence Archer, John Tatham, David J. Grahame and Vic Taylor. The presence of John Scott Martin in the coven is interesting: his village character Charlie seemed to be needing some threat to get him to cooperate in episode 3 so is it Charlie in robes the cavern or not? Inevitably the villagers in the coven are supplemented by the presence of Pat Gorman!
But playing Jones, the cultist that interrupts Jo's sacrifice in this episode, is Matthew Corbett, son of Harry Corbett the creator of Sooty. The Dæmons was his television d�but. He went on to form a singing group with Rod Burton and his then wife Jane Tucker (daughter of Doctor Who director Rex Tucker) known as Rod, Jane & Matthew, who appeared in the children's TV series Rainbow becoming a fixture. When Matthew left the group to take over the Sooty role he was replaced by first Roger Walker and then Freddy Marks to eventually become Rod, Jane & Freddy. Three other Who Alumni have Rainbow associations: Daleks voice artists Peter Hawkins and Roy Skelton both provided voices for the puppets Zippy and George while Bungle the Bear was at one time played by K-9 voice artist John Leeson.
Earlier in this story I was left with the question of who plays Mr Granville, the villager deserted by his wife. A similar question arises here in the last episode: who plays Jenkins, much mentioned in the last few episodes and seen on screen here shooting at Bok?
The DWAS Doctor Who production file says the UNIT soldiers in episodes 3-5 are: Jim Davidson, Paul Stone, George Mackie, Andrew Butcher, Terry Denton and possibly Ron Taylor with Frank Bennett, Raymond James and Ray Taylor serving as UNIT drivers. In addition the following are down as Villagers/coven member/UNIT Soldiers for episode 5: Daryl Grove, Terry Relph, Gary Edwards, Robert James, Clive Wentzal, Roger Marcham, Monty Yerger, Dave Martin, S Ford, S Madden, Jerry Melbourne and Robin Ford. So if you know which of them plays Jenkins, then let me know please!
An obituary for Damaris Hayman, who played Miss Hawthorne in this story, appeared in the Guardian last Monday written by Toby Hadoke.
The novelization of this story was carried out by Barry Letts, one of it's co-authors. It's the only Doctor Who TV Series novelization that he wrote and, like the previous story The Colony in Space/The Doomsday Weapon, is still held in very high regard. I am somewhat surprised that in three rounds of Target book reprints by the BBC that neither The Dæmons or the Doomsday Weapon, the novelisation of the previous story Colony in Space, have been re-released!
The Dæmons was repeated on BBC1 on the 28th December 1971 in a 90 minute omnibus edition. In 1992 the story was colourised using the colour signal from 525 line home video recordings and the BBC 16mm black & white film prints. The original colour restoration was infinitely preferable to the previous black & white, but was quite a murky looking colour restoration, easily the worst of the four done for VHS. This may well be down to the original material, episode 4, still existing on it's original 625 line video, always looked a bit murky compared with other existing Pertwee episodes. The colour restored version was shown on BBC2 in 1992 from 20th November to 18th December and again on BBC4 21st - 22nd October 2007.
Somewhat ironically, for a story that mentions it in the first two episodes, The Dæmons was never repeated on BBC3!
This final episode of The Dæmons was the first to be released on video in March 1992, when a black & white copy accompanied Inferno episode 7 and Frontier in Space episode 6 in The Pertwee Years. Following the story's colour restoration for it's 1992 repeat the entire story was released on video in 1993.
A phantom DVD listing for this story existed for many years on Amazon UK which, along with a commentary which was recorded some years in advance, led many to believe that a DVD of this story was coming a lot sooner than it did!
The story was eventually released on DVD on 26 March 2012 complete with a new improved colour restoration and a tribute to it's co-author Barry Letts who died in 2009.
Doctor Who Season 8, containing this story, was released on Blu Ray on March 8th.
Fifty Years of Doctor Who returns with episode 304 Day of the Daleks Episode 1, the start of Season 9, on 1st January 2022!
