The Highlanders - Episode 1

The Highlanders is the first story to feature James Robert McCrimmon. A character that would stay with the show until the final episode in Patrick Troughton’s era. Sadly the Highlanders is a historical adventure and its not a part of history that I’m aware of. The initial scene where Jamie first meets the Doctor, Ben and Polly is quite an interesting one. When you think about the friendship between Jamie and the Doctor and to a lesser extent with Ben and Polly, this scene doesn’t seem quite right but its suitable to this early part of the episode. The story moves along at a good pace and the inevitable happens and the Doctor is confused as a Doctor which is the second time in a row that he’s been taken for someone else.

In his first episode, Frazer Hines has somewhat of a understated debut. Hines’ contract was for three more serials yet the emphasis on the story isn’t on Jamie. In his first scene he is almost unlikeable which shows what a turnaround the character achieves in future stories. I do think that Anneke Wills and Michael Craze start off quite well in this episode but then they seem to fade into the background. Unusually I found the supporting characters to be quite interesting which hasn’t happened often in a historical story. I think that as the history is done in somewhat of an interesting manner, it means that the characters and the story are used well.

I hate to admit it but this four part adventure might not be as bad as I first thought. I still have reservations about historical story bit I think that its this sort of story (in other words a non Dalek story) that will determine whether the show will work and its looking good. The fact that this is yet another full story that doesn’t exist on video is a sad thing to think of. By the end of this story, out of 10 episodes so far to feature Troughton as the Doctor, no episodes exist. Shocking really. Patrick Troughton has bedded down in the character and the comedic side to it has been somewhat watered down.