Pyramids of Mars - Episode 3

As I start the second half of the story I am reminded of the stories that Michael Sheard has been in during Doctor Who. His first appearance came during ‘The Ark’ back in 1966 and then in ‘The Mind of Evil’. Whilst the characters were different the performances seemed the same as he spoke in that rather soft style and never seemed to get cross and he gives the best performance in this episode. It seems bad that the Doctor shouts at Laurence Scarman and I think that it seems bad because Laurence seems so nice and was doing what he did for the right reason. It almost seems wrong to be anything other than nice to Michael Sheard.

Sarah asks a question about whether Sutekh is powerful. Did she forget that little journey that the Doctor took her on in the previous episode? The scene where the Doctor and Sarah are searching for the gelignite and it’s a great scene which shows why Baker and Sladen are so good together.  

There is a lovely scene between Marcus and Laurence. It’s a well-acted scene between Bernard Achard and Michael Sheard. Laurence’s death happens off screen and I think that it’s a shame that they have killed off another likeable character. Oh well, at least it wont be too long before we see Sheard back in Doctor Who. I think that at least we still have Bernard Achard who gives a great performance as a possessed Marcus. We don’t see Sutekh until the very end so it remains for Marcus to be the villain of the peace during the episode.

The story moves towards meeting Sutekh and I thought that the stuff that happened in the final episode happens in this episode but obviously not so its going to be great to see how the action works in 25 minutes but it’s a shame that we will only have one episode with Sutekh properly in the story.

The Doctor does his first bit of dressing up since the Pertwee era when he dresses up as a mummy. Sadly the problem with this is that it means that we don’t get to see Tom Baker as it could easily have been someone else in the costume. That minor quibble aside, the one thing that stand out is just how good this episode is. There are some great performances and at no stage during the episode did I find myself bored by things which considering that not a great deal happens it shows how good the writing and directing is that good and I look forward to the final episode.