Inferno - Episode 4

The fourth episode of this story starts off in the other world. After spending two episodes being stuck in the normal universe, it was good that we get a nice amount of time in the other world. The alternate Liz seems to be the first one to think that the Doctor isn’t a saboteur. The beauty of being in this universe is that we know what could happen in the original world before they do. By the end of the episode, the drill-head has reached penetration

It’s nearly 15 minutes before we return to the normal world. Even though it only goes on for three minutes its long enough for us to know what’s happening and that is Sir Keith Gold is about to go to London to meet the minister in charge to have the facility shut down.  That’s all we get from the nice Brigadier and Liz, we spend so much time away from them that when they do appear it feels strange and also it makes them look slightly less interesting. I cant believe I’ve written that but its true. When I watch evil Liz and evil Brigade Leader, I find myself being slightly less interested when we see a blonde Liz and an non-eye patch Brigadier.

Jon Pertwee is really good in this episode as he in pretty much every shot of the episode. The story would have fallen apart without him really but one of the reasons why this story works is because of how hard Jon Pertwee is working. It’s hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the first season of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and he has adapted to the role quicker than Patrick Troughton did. Caroline John is brilliant in this episode, she’s better when she’s evil Liz and as a result she gets loads to do and is the best she’s been so far this season.

Something else that works well in this alternative universe is the involvement of Greg and Perta. Whilst Stahlman looks sleeker than normal Stahlman, its Petra and Greg that work better because they seem to be the voice of reason. Sutton is more annoyed about being used as a civil servant and when warned that accidents could happen she seems to let slip that she fancies him and hides it by saying it would be a waste. I feel like I am warming to the pair of them. I think that Sheila Dunn is not given enough praise during this story and she does well with what is a rather average character, I even found Greg to be quite good and Derek Newark does an equally good job in putting some life into the story.

As this story moves along, I find myself thinking that seven episodes is quite a good length for this story. They resisted the temptation of flitting between the two universes and instead give us a nice portion of time in the other universe. I think that this is another cracking episode that is paced well, well directed and there are some fine performances from everyone.