Doctor Who Rewind - The Time Meddler

The final serial of the second series see's us back in an historical setting. It's 1066 and the Vikings are poised to invade...

With Barbara and Ian tucked up back in 60's London the TARDIS seems a pretty big place with only William Hartnell and Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) rattling around. But not for long, as the TARDIS has a stowaway, in the dishevelled shape of Peter Purves's character Steven Taylor, who managed to escape planet Mechanus in the previous story.

I really enjoyed Purves's debut in The Chase and here again I have to say he continues to put in a solid very watchable performance as the enthusiastic space fairing Taylor who seems prone to act first and think later.

So, by the end of the first episode of this four parter, you know things ain't what they appear to be. The time meddler of the title is housed in the monastery, walks around in a cloak and is generally very nice to the villagers, however we viewers know that he is prone to creeping around all suspicious like.

When the TARDIS lands he waits for the crew to depart before giving it a thorough examination, and the sheepish grin on his face tells us he knows just what is housed inside.

Meanwhile, Steven and Vicki notice that one of the villagers is in possession of a wristwatch from the twentieth century, that they acquired from the monk. Vicki and Steven go off to find the Doctor whom they haven't seen since leaving the TARDIS.

Then, when the Doctor notices that the monks chants emanating from the monastery seems to slow down like a faulty recording, he wastes no time in hot footing it over there and discovering that his hunch is correct. That the sound is being made by a gramophone player. Unfortunately, the monk is one step ahead and captures him, ending the first episode.

The next time we actually see the Doctor is episode three, as yes, you've guessed it, he's jetted off to Spain on his holidays and left Vicki and Steven right up to their necks in it. In fact when they finally reach his place of imprisonment, and surprisingly he isn't there (as he's conveniently escaped via a secret passage way) I felt like saying, he's sunning himself on the Costa Del Sol!!

The monk meanwhile is trying to persuade the villagers to light beacons on the coast, to signal a ship carrying some materials he is expecting. The real reason being to tell the Vikings exactly where to land.

A small party of rather well spoken Vikings lands on the shore and makes there way through the village threatening and ransacking as they go. This being the preliminary landing before the main fleet.

Vicki and Steven make it into the monastery, and discover a type 4 TARDIS hidden under the guise of a sarcophagus in the crypt. Inside this TARDIS, which obviously has a fully functioning chameleon circuit , they find evidence that the cloaked meddler has been hoping about through time for his own ends. He's visited Leonardo da Vinci to discuss powered flight, provided anti-gravitational discs to help the ancient Celts build Stonehenge, and used time travel to collect a fortune in compound interest from a bank.

The Doctor confronts him of these matters, but the monk denies the allegations and claims his plan with the Vikings is intended to stabilise England and benefit Western civilisation!

At this the Doctor intends to teach the interfering monk, (who we gather is a fellow gallifreyan who left fifty years after the Doctor) a big lesson. The Doctor disables the spacial dimension control on the monks TARDIS, therefore shrinking it and rendering it useless to the time meddler.

I really enjoyed this story for a number of reasons, firstly I like the fact that during the early years of Who, there wasn't the need to have a monster lurking in every story. These historically set stories actually served to educate the kids watching while engaging them in a really good romp. Also, I love the twist of having another time traveller to rival the Doctor. And the scene where the two TARDIS owners compare models is a joy. It's also the first hint at a back story of the Doctors home world since An Unearthly Child, and while Galifrey or Time Lords aren't mentioned yet, it gives a tantalising glimpse at a world inhabited by a race of time travellers.

Lastly, Peter Perves new assistant breathes a fresh perspective on things, instead of the mature reasoning of Ian, we now have the off the cuff impatience of Steven.

Next time on Doctor Who Rewind - we meet the Drahvins and the Chumbley's of Galaxy Four.