Image of the Fendahl

Season15@40. Though in many respects a conventional mid - 1970s story, `Image of the Fendahl` is home to some experimentation. Robert Holmes’ final work as script editor suggests a path the series might take which as it turned out didn’t happen. Instead the story stands in splendid isolation at the end of the so called `gothic` era of the show and it’s production values- in the very capable hands of George Spenton-Foster shine along with Chris Boucher’s intriguing storyful of high concepts. There are enough brain popping ideas in here for several stories and Boucher pulls them together for what was also his final contribution to a show whose appeal he seemed to implicitly understand.

The first thing you notice is that there is barely any incidental music in part one whose scares are accompanied by the power of machines and energy. Just one brief theme as Martha Tyler issues her warning is all the work Dudley Simpson is required to do. This creates a different vibe which really suits the wordy and often technical dialogue. That’s not to say there is no soundtrack; in place of the traditional clanging chords we have the humming power, energy building, an air of foreboding in engines. By part 4 Simpson is still delivering comparatively restrained material some of it majestic (his theme as the Fendahl rises is perfect) but all of it really feeding the story. It is one of his finest scores for this period of the programme. The writer does not stint on introducing some big concepts including the idea that humans are actually aliens who arrived here from another planet millennia ago. He explains haunted places as being the location of time fissures and also suggests that the evolution of the main participants has been guided to reach this moment. Dr Fendelman’s name for example – as well as his actions- wrong foots the viewer into thinking he is the antagonist yet the writer reveals who that will be surprisingly early. 

Despite the apparent measured pace this is a story that has something new to offer each episode, largely avoiding the traditional treading water by unpeeling its layers sooner than expected- Fendelman himself doesn’t even make it to part 4. This extends to having the Doctor soon identify’ the antagonist yet then seeming to have no idea what to do against it, a reversal of the usual form. This does mean the final episode is only 20 minutes long but its such an atmospheric 20 minutes that you don’t mind.

The story is well served by director George Spenton Foster who imbues every scene with the appropriate tone even more impressive when you consider the lack of incidental music. Combined with the overall ideas and moments of dark humour- possibly inserted by Robert Holmes – the results are generally aimed at older viewers. This would be the programme’s last foray into such territory for many a year. The likes of the casual disposal of bodies for convenience sake, Fendelman’s  shock murder (not actually shown but there’s no doubt after what happens) and then Stael’s final act are the most prominent examples while talk of the Fendhal “feeding on death” adds to the macabre tone. Even some of the outdoor scenes play to an older sensibility as we don’t see a monster- the way the hiker is chased and later the Doctor confronts the unknown force is striking and unsettlingly done.  As for the rising of the Fendahl in part 4, it is surely one of the most unusual and striking unveiling of the main enemy scenes the programme ever achieved.

Even the use of something as simple as a light inside the skull works wonders when combined with sound effects, camera work and acting. All the way through there is a great air of foreboding as the repeated noise of machines powering up suggest something more dangerous brewing.  It is one of the best stories for doing that when others can lose the tension as they flick from scene to scene. The relatively constrained location and subject matter here do seem to have inspired the production team.

In some ways it’s a shame when a monster does turn up and inevitably the realisation of the Fendahleen is perhaps not quite as strong as it might be though as mentioned, George Spenton Foster makes it seem better than other directors might. I think it may be that thing blowing around in its mouth that takes away from its more horrific shape and the fabulous slurping noise it makes. Top marks too for plentiful use of green slime! The Fendahl itself is more successful with Boucher again showing something deadly as classically beautiful even though it is deadly, just like his robots of death.

The cast are tremendous each imbuing character into their roles, especially Edward Arthur’s Colby and Dennis Lill’s enthusiastic Fendelman. Tom Baker is in great form making use of his more serious quieter tones on several occasions. Some reviewers have flagged this as out of character whereas I feel it recalls the actor’s earlier work on the show. At this point there is still what I suspect may have been a push and pull between Baker and various writers and directors. Here his wayward tendencies are channelled into an authoratitive performance in keeping with the gravitas of the situation. Meanwhile Louise Jameson homes in on how Leela would sense the Fendahl’s force. 

However it is Daphne Heard’s Martha Tyler who steals the show with a performance that is half wink to the camera as much as to acknowledge the countryside clichés as it is being chilling when she relays her encounter in the woods. The mention of tea and cake wakes her - how much more traditionally English could this be!  I know how impractical it would turn out but I would have loved to have seen a Tardis crew in which both Martha Tyler and D84 are regulars. I once heard a rumour that Russell T Davies named his first two female companion characters as a tribute to the great Martha Tyler and even if its apocryphal I think I’ve decided in my head its true! The last episode taps into the Doctor’s ingenuity and use of whatever is lying around as salt proves to be the primary weapon of choice when chucked about rather randomly.

What I do feel is missing just to give the episode an additional push is any sort of response from Thea/ Fendahl. For a start the Fendahl does not speak even though it has possessed someone so its motivations remain obscure. Compared to Sutekh who was equally interested in generally killing everything but had plenty to say about it, the Fendahl’s silence leaves something of a gap.  The transformed Thea is left literally standing about when a moment in which she seems to hold the Doctor in her power would make the sequence seem even better. After such a build up and display of simmering danger, it just feels a little too easy to defeat her despite Stael’s sacrifice robbing her of the necessary numbers. All the way through Thea’s gradual take over has not followed the traditional Doctor Who route wherein she would be easing thing along to support the Fendahl’s plan. Instead she seems unaware of what is happening to her and Stael is left as the villian of the piece but his absence for much of part 4 leaves something of a gap. The other slight weakness in the storyline is the slightly unconvincing manner in which Ted Moss acquiesces to the ceremony at the climax. I feel a little more could have been done with him even if it was token `I’m not sure about this` scene. 

By some distance `Image of the Fendahl` is the best story of this season but looking back on it now it feels like the end of an era. It would have fitted easily into any of the preceding three seasons yet seems almost out of place here. Save for `Horror of Fang Rock` its season neighbours are all flashier more futuristic tales where the nature of the threat is more other worldly. `Image` may centre around an alien but is implicitly rooted in our world and the therefore feels more tangible and scarier.

You Wot?

• How does the Doctor escape from the store room in part 2? We see his sonic doesn’t work on the lock then the door springs open. I’d assumed someone let him out but I can’t see why Stael would do so. Also where does he go? He is missing from the action until the end of the episode when he turns up to check out the skull.
• Humans are really aliens from another planet! There are an alarmingly large number of theories some from real scientists that support the idea humans did not evolve on Earth but arrived here from another planet. Some suggest they came from a planet that no longer exists- maybe this is where Chris Boucher got the idea of “the fifth planet”.
• In the story the Doctor suggests the origin of throwing salt over your shoulder derives from ensuring you don’t look at the Fendahl. In real-ish life it comes from the idea that the devil is always behind you. Or it’s a very cavalier way of cooking
• Accurately re-creating the face of a person from a skull known as forensic facial reconstruction is possible now though wasn’t in 1977 when this story was written.
• As well as being a powerful being that feeds on death, Fendahl is a slightly more cheery software company providing next generation solutions to commodity trading organisations. 
• When this story was first announced in the DWAS fanzine `Tardis` the editor had misheard the title over the phone and reported it would be called `Island of Fandor`.

Who’s That? 

Daphne Heard was born in 1904 in Plymouth and after RADA her career began in theatre. She was a member of one of the first acting companies to tour Canada appearing in The Barretts of Wimpole Street in the 1930s.  In 1952-53 she was part of the Old Vic Theatre Season in London amongst a cast including Peter Finch and Clare Bloom.  In 1968 she appeared in the National Theatre production  of Somerset Maughan’s Home and Beauty amongst a cast including Robert Stephens and Geraldine McEwan and in 1969 was in an NT production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters with Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates and Derek Jacobi which Olivier directed. In 1973 she appeared in Glasstown with Robert Powell. During the 1950s and 60s she was also a teacher at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Having made her television acting debut in 1948 during the next three decades she appeared in dozens of tv shows including many well -known long running dramas as well as the likes of  Lorna Doone (1963), The Woman in White (1966), Jude the Obscure (1971), The Jensen Code (1973) Westway (1976) and Horace (1982). She specialised in cantankerous or mischievous roles and always made a strong impression often stealing scenes she was in however small a role. Her two most memorable parts during this period highlighted her flair for comic timing;  as Mrs Field, the cleaner in Don’t Forget To Write (1977-79) which starred George Cole and most famously Mrs Polouvicka (complete with authentic accent) in To The Manor Born;. From 1977 until her death in 1983 she played Maud, the housekeeper in Hinge and Bracket’s radio series.

So what did fans think of `Image of the Fendahl` back in 1977….