The Visitation

 

A well- remembered story from 1982, `The Visitation’s` position in the history of the show is enhanced by following in the footsteps of `The Sea Devils` and `Robot` in having its production examined for the `Making Of Doctor Who` books. As a result we are almost as familiar with behind the scenes stills as those taken front of camera. The so-called pseudo historical was always a popular option for the show making the most of its limited budget in a way that gleaming spaceships and alien worlds would always struggle with.  This was a popular story with viewing figures over nine million for each episode peaking with 10.1 million for part four, very healthy even by early Eighties standards.

 

Amongst fandom it came second in that year’s Doctor Who Appreciation Society poll leading the pack behind the seminal `Earthshock` ahead of the rest of the stories. Impressive for a season that was more varied than most; it perhaps shone because it was the most traditionally mounted. It’s doubtful that it would sit at such lofty heights nowadays as the experimental `Kinda` which surprisingly came sixth in the DWAS poll has enjoyed a resurgence over the decades but when I watched `The Visitation` again recently it was entertaining and never flagged. This was Eric Saward just before `Earthshock` of course and it was the success of the latter that ensured he never wrote anything as straightforward as `The Visitation` again. Had this been two seasons later you can imagine the violence the possessed villagers would have meted out.

Stranded aliens are a good fit for Doctor Who which didn’t have the resources to conjure up more than a handful of monsters at a time. Nowadays of course they can digitally create thousands but the classic series had to be wilier. `The Time Warrior` is probably the best example but `The Visitation` can match it for giving us another race with an interesting backstory. Its surprising how much we learn about the Tereleptil society. How they admire both beauty and warfare which is why for all their despatching of several seventeenth century folk they created a richly coloured android. We hear about their prison planet on Raaga were itinerant Terileptils are sent to work in Tinclavic mines. We see some of their technology which unusually for a story now over forty years old does not look particularly dated.   I liked that they need to sometimes breathe different air to keep going. Even the design can match the potato heads for impact. Based apparently on tropical fish they also resemble the sort of sea monster often reported by sailors in those days admittedly ones who had probably drunk too much rum. Of course, the risk with painting such a vivid canvas means it feels as if there is a more interesting story to be told beyond what we are seeing. Maybe the modern series will one day visit that prison planet?

 While the rubbery costumes of these creatures inevitably look a bit cheap to the modern crisp tv picture they hold up well in the pantheon of monsters from this period and the story they inhabit isn’t too shoddy either. If it’s not a classic that’s because we’ve seen most of these moves before but it is presented by director Peter Grimwade with panache. For once the studio lights are not always glaringly bright which allows for an atmospheric pootle around the excellent sets of the country house under which the aliens are lurking. 

A lengthy prologue adds to the depth of the story. Even though we will not revisit these characters are introduced to a Squire and his family who live in this country manor. Father is dozing, son and daughter engaged in exactly what we might expect- she is sewing, he is cleaning a gun! None other than a pre–Coronation Street John Savident has all of three minutes to play what is an extended cameo in a role which doesn’t even have a proper name but he fills it robustly. I wonder how this tale might have been better had this family been the ones taken over as slaves with the Squire taking the Richard Mace role and accompanying the Tardis crew. The son is an early role for another well-known tv actor Anthony Calf who has gone on to many familiar roles not least in New Tricks. It’s interesting so see them is such small roles though Calf manages to look irritated while sorting out his gun, whether its with his fussy sibling or the size of his role who can tell.

We then return to the TARDIS family and another rant from Tegan. She was a strange character and its no fault of Janet Fielding who was able to draw some light and shade from someone constantly written as mardy or complaining. This story is one of the better attempts to have the four leads interacting like real people and there’s some good work later but this early TARDIS scene is grating. None of the three have really developed much as characters and the script seems to constantly find ways for each of them to irritate the Doctor. The actors do what they can but they must have looked jealously at some of the juicier roles guest actors had. Given this it is satisfying to find Adric is later given a few lines that prefigure a more dramatic argument in `Earthshock`. More of that approach might make this trio a little easier to like as characters.

 Soon we’re outside into some gorgeous woodlands in Black Park which always deliver. The episode builds up the scenario well, avoiding showing us the aliens by leaving the android to do the work and there are enjoyable scenes of the Doctor and co exploring the Squire’s abandoned house. Peter Grimwade was one of the best directors for the show during this period. He was able to give even the most ordinary scene something extra for example there is a lot of walking about from place to place yet he frames each slightly differently. He makes the best use out of the sets as well especially as they seem roomier than usual. The image of the Android in a black cowl carrying a scythe is certainly a strong one.

Michael Robbins is the unlikely guest star. Best known for On the Buses, he had become a regular guest in many dramas since that series had ended a decade before. The script gives him a theatrical flourish – Mace is a touring actor who lives on the road and his wits. It’s a broad role that the actor seems to relish acting almost as a narrator to the adventure. Impressing despite being under a lot of prosthetics is Michael Melia who manages to give the Terileptil leader a personality – his scenes with the Doctor also bring out the best in Peter Davison. It’s odd though how the Doctor knows about the prison planet yet not that life sentences are always given to Terileptils sent there. The scarring on one side of the leader’s face suggests a brutal regime, Michael Melia draws a lot from the dialogue at times sounding like the leader wants some sympathy for his plight however brutal he has been. Using just his voice he seems a three-dimensional character, it’s a shame he doesn’t get one of those alien names like Gralis or something!

We say goodbye for now to the sonic screwdriver in this story which comes form a time when the Doctor didn’t seem to have a stock of them.  It was probably a mistake to get rid of it at all. John Nathan Turner believed it was too easy a solution to get the Doctor out of trouble whereas I prefer the modern interpretation whereby it saves time and endless scenes of people locked up and trying to find ways to escape. What you end up with is something handily left in the cell or the vicinity rather than the sonic which is no more believable. It feels like the moment when the series cut the last of its ties to the previous era though of course greater loss and increased back references are down the line.

If you’re missing devices though we have Nyssa’s sonic booster which occupies her time for much of the story, a better option than in `Kinda` when she just went for a nap. I’m not sure the power of this device is adequately conveyed, perhaps it was just focussed on the android as it did very little other damage to objects in the room.

The climax sees the Doctor (and it is him carelessly entering the bakery with a flambeau) causing the great Fire of London during the fracas with the Terileptils. I found this a slightly awkward piece of television and an easy way to conclude what had up till this point been a well plotted story. The idea of the Doctor being wholly or partially responsible for historic events was relatively rare back then but it’s a gimmicky precedent and the tussle is poorly choreographed.

In that year’s DWAS Yearbook, the reviewer described `The Visitation` as a “fast moving, well produced and directed story” calling the Terileptils the best new aliens the series had shown since the Zygons some seven years earlier. A number of reviews appeared in the DWAS zine `Tardis` which variously described the story as having “the feel and ingredients of a classic”, “virtually flawless”, “well-paced”, “original” and “highly entertaining, magical”. A long review in the popular zine `Shada` described the story as “magnificent”. I don't think its quite that good but as an enjoyable slice of typical Eighties Doctor Who it works extremely well.