Target: The King's Demons

Terence Dudley again, taking on another two-parter and expanding it to novel length.

The action takes place in Wallingford.

Ranulf has often told Hugh what a fine man King John is (historical citations provided). So it was a disappointment that when Hugh fell off his horse at the stag hunt (mentioned on screen later) the King and his knights kept on mocking him.

There's a long aside about armour when Hugh's getting kitted out for the joust. 'Although nearly a hundred years were to pass before full-plated armour became fashionable...' - there's a point at which background becomes a mere lecture.

Sir Gilles is revealed as evil - though not as the Master - at this point, when he gloats inwardly about the success of his plan to make John look bad.

Tegan in her short dress is mistaken by the locals for a boy in a tunic. She's annoyed by the Doctor's encyclopaedic historical knowledge, and wishes for the opportunity to catch him out on the history of Queensland. (Did you know Tegan was Australian? Dudley is concerned you might forget.)

When the Doctor tells King John that he isn't a demon, but that he has been called a demon bowler. The King doesn't get it.

After the joust, the King suggests that the 'demons' show off their powers by flying round the castle, causing Tegan to think of the inevitable 'flying Doctor' pun. After that, her ruminations about the superior morality of 13th-century Aborigines (did I mention she was Australian?) come as a relief.

We're asked to believe that the Doctor thinks approvingly of the TARDIS's police box shape as 'a symbol of law and order'. Can this be the same Doctor who so frequently finds the law absent, deficient or corrupt - and who travels in a stolen TARDIS?

The initial bedchamber scene has a discussion of what the locals do to keep warm - sleeping, fighting and hunting. These ideas apparently combine to give Tegan 'visions of being chased by chivalrous, steel-clad men on horseback through inclement undergrowth.' The bearskin that she puts on smells unpleasant.

The dungeon is located in the castle courtyard. The iron maiden, by the way, belongs to John's French knights - they brought it with them.

Tegan thinks of King John as a galah twice, and calls herself a galah twice. I was in danger of forgetting she was Australian for a moment there.

'Tegan's feminine superficiality' irritates the Doctor. And there are so many other things about her that he could have chosen...

Sir Gilles thinks Turlough is a French-sounding name, and asks if he has any French connections. Turlough says there might be a cultural influence on his mother's side.

The Doctor tells Ranulf that that John believes in demons because Melusine, Satan's daughter, married into the Plantagenet family, and is thus John's ancestress. (This is a genuine myth about the Plantagenet kings).

The scene before the Doctor becomes the King's Champion, where he explains to Tegan what the Master is up to, is expanded by an exchange about the TCE. Tegan's stroppiness causes the Doctor to think 'hoity-toity. Hoity-jolly-well-toity!' I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe that the Doctor thought that, or ever has or ever will.

We learn during this bit, by the way, that Tegan is 22 years old.

When the Master tells the gaoler not to release Turlough, the latter tries some rubbish reverse psychology on him, about being too comfortable tied up. It doesn't work.

As he buckles on his sword for the duel, the Doctor remembers his adventure with the Crusaders.

When the Doctor wants to be shown to the dungeon, he doesn't remind Sir Geoffrey that the King is holding Isabella hostage - instead he threatens to conjure fiends to torment her. Tegan isn't convinced by this. But as the narrator remarks, she knows he can't carry it out, because she's from an era where primitive behaviour hs been swept under the carpet. 'There were no such carpets in this day and age' he says elegantly. (Though we do see some in the royal apartment later).

Tegan wants to know if there's a back way into the castle. This is her 'practical feminine mind' at work, apparently. The scene where she gets into the TARDIS and dematerialises is enlivened by her using the 'irresistible violence of feminine wiles', i.e. pouting, to get the men-at-arms to release her. The Doctor is overcome with admiration. I must say Terence Dudley's Doctor is a bit of a pushover.

The TARDIS dematerialises with a 'whinnying' sound.

Turlough isn't captured as soon as Sir Geoffrey is shot - a series of events (told in flashback) lead to him waking up in the castle sheep pen.

Sir Geoffrey appears to die at the same point as on screen - but then Isabella realises he's still alive. Phew!

When Kamelion turns into the Doctor, he's got a cricket bat too, and demonstrates a straight drive.

Tegan is twice referred to as a 'succubus', which I enjoyed.

When the crew are all finally back in the TARDIS, the Doctor materialises it again in the Great Hall, to explain everything and give Isabella a phial of healing potion for Sir Geoffrey. He convinces her of his good faith with his enchanting smile, 'the one demonic talent he possessed'.

In the final scene, the Doctor has changed out of his period costume. I looked back for the point at which he put it on, but I can't tell whether the narrator means the chainmail he put on when he became Champion, or another costume which I missed. Chainmail is heavy stuff, you don't keep it on longer than you have to.

There's no chat about the Eye of Orion, the Doctor guesses that Tegan wants to go to 'London Airport' as usual.

And finally, the Pip & Jane Baker Award for the Phrase Most Closely Resembling an Elocution Exercise - 'Oblivious that his mixed metaphors had caused his anxious companion to grimace in perplexity...'