The Highlanders

I’m certainly glad I’m on your side!

Jamie McCrimmon

Synopsis

The Doctor, Polly and Ben arrive in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, where the villainous Solicitor Grey is selling the prisoners into slavery in the West Indies.

Review

The Highlanders marks the end of the pure historical story in Doctor Who. Having been a fixture since the show’s inception and a link to Sydney Newman’s original premise for the show. The show had experimented with the tone of these, going from playing them quite straight to making them into comedic, whilst The Massacre and The Highlanders see the show going back to the original premise.

I understand that it is Patrick Troughton who wanted the show to move away from pure historical stories to allow him to carve his own niche and cement his hold on the role of the Doctor. Even without Troughton’s wishes, it does appear that the production team is not really sure what they want to do with this type of the story. The production team needs to be praised for picking what could be considered to a modern audience more obscure areas of history, such as the Aztecs, the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Eve and indeed the events of this story, set in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. Whilst it did struggle to hold my interest at times, there are elements that do work really well and I think one of these is definitely the fact that the story does not attempt to recreate the battle but instead the aftermath, which gives the writers creative freedom to create different events for the Doctor and his friends to enage with. This mostly works well and the story does attempt to balance darkness and comedy as well as it can, but it does devolve into moments of dialogue-heavy moments which really slow the pace down. The more comedic scenes do balance the dark nature of Solicitor Grey’s scheme to sell the prisoners into slavery in the West Indies, but some do grate.

You suffer from headaches?

No, I don’t.

Oh, dear. No headaches?

Well… that…

Oh, dear. You call me a liar?

The Second Doctor and Perkins

Patrick Troughton gets to explore and play around within his characterisation of the Doctor here, even if the German accent whilst he is in disguise as Doctor von Wer (Doctor (of) Who) sometimes seems a little bit overdone. Troughton gets to dress up on several occasions which is quite fun but also gets to be quite crafty and resourceful when it comes to the conclusion of the story, or when incapacitating Solicitor Grey and Perkins in the office. Whilst the character of his Doctor seems to be in limbo, Troughton seems to be having an absolute ball. His Doctor will settle down but there are elements here that survive from this story through to the end of his era.

The Highlanders introduces a major character in the shape of Jamie, a piper for the Clan McLaren, who joins the TARDIS team at the end of this story and would remain with the show until the departure of Patrick Troughton in The War Games. Frazer Hines does not get a lot to do here and it is interesting that the production team decided to bring a similar character to Ben into the TARDIS, but then again, perhaps Michael Craze’s time on the show was numbered. I’m not the biggest fan of Ben, but he does get a lot to do here, which is certainly the role that Hines would continue to fill beyond his departure.

It is interesting that in this era, we have two strong female characters get given time to spend time away from the male characters, and Polly and Kirsty both fit this mould, even if Polly is a bit unpleasant towards Kirsty. They both get an opportunity to shine and show their resourcefulness, especially in their ability to manipulate Lieutenant Ffinch by trapping him in the animal trap and taking his money, a hold that they have over him that lasts until the end of the story.

Verdict: The Highlanders is perhaps more significant for what it ends rather and who it introduces for its actual content. A good, if unexceptional, story. 6/10

Cast: Patrick Troughton (The Doctor), Michael Craze (Ben), Anneke Wills (Polly), Fraser Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), William Dysart (Alexander McLaren), Donald Bissert (The Laird), Hannah Gordon (Kirsty McLaren), Michael Elwyn (Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch), Peter Welch (Sergeant), David Garth (Grey), Sydney Arnold (Perkins), Tom Bowman (Sentry), Dallas Cavell (Trask), Barbara Bruce (Mollie), Andrew Downie (Willie Mackay), Peter Diamond (Sailor) & Guy Middleton (Colonel Attwood).

Writer: Elwyn Jones and Gerry Davis

Director: Hugh David

Producer: Innes Lloyd

Broadcast Dates: 17 December 1966 – 7 January 1967

Behind the Scenes

• The Highlanders would be the last pure historical until Black Orchid, although The Highlanders features real historical events, whilst Black Orchid is entirely fictional. Despite being set in a real historical event, only Solicitor Grey is a real historical figure.
• This story had the working title of Culloden.
• This story was one of the first Doctor Who episodes to be wiped, and were wiped approximately three months after the story was originally transmitted on BBC One.
• Elwyn Jones, whilst commissioned to write the story, did not actually write a script, being busy with Z-Cars and its spin-off Softly-Softly. Script editor Gerry Davis wrote the scripts, and it is the only story that he wrote that does not feature the Cybermen.
• Jamie was not originally intended to be a companion and filmed a scene of him watching the TARDIS demateralise at the end of the story. Producer Innes Lloyd asked Frazer Hines later in production if he wanted to be a companion and production had to return to location to re-film him joining the TARDIS crew.
• Director Hugh David was considered for the role of the First Doctor, but was deemed to be too young to play the part by then-producer Verity Lambert.

Cast Notes

• William Dysart would go on to appear as Reegan in The Ambassadors of Death.
• Hannah Gordon would go on to voice Skagra’s computer in the webcast version of Shada.
• Peter Welch also appeared as Morgan in The Android Invasion.
• David Garth would go on to play the Time Lord Adelphi in Terror of the Autons.
• Dallas Cavell had previously appeared in The Reign of Terror and The Daleks’ Master Plan and would go on to appear in The Ambassadors of Death and Castrovalva.
• Peter Diamond appeared in The Romans and The Space Museum and would go on to appear in The Ice Warriors. Diamond worked on the show as a fight arranger from The Daleks up until The Daemons and also appeared in many uncredited roles.

Best Moment

The ending with Jamie entering the TARDIS with Polly is a really nice moment as beautifully narrated by Hines.

Best Quote

So sad, once a promising legal talent.

The Second Doctor

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