Doctor Who: The Invasion

I'm not quite sure this needed to run for over three hours, even with the recaps, but it's still one of the better and more menacing outings for the "Doctor" (Patrick Troughton) and his companions "Jamie" (Frazer Hines) and "Zoe" (Wendy Padbury) - the latter I had completely forgotten all about! Anyway, they arrive on Earth to rendezvous with the newly promoted Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) just as some prominent scientists start to disappear. The "UNIT" taskforce has been asked to investigate, and so of course the "Doctor" wants to help find out just where they have all gone and what, if anything, has the menacing industrialist "Vaughn" (Kevin Stoner) got to do with it? Swiftly, the team become embroiled in a mystery that can only spell one thing - alien invasion, but by whom and why? When? Where? Things become clearer with about an hour to go, and to be honest much of the preceding two is made up of some softly-paced preamble that could effortlessly have been condensed into half of that time, but once we have the familiar baddies in our sights the programme comes to life. Unafraid to utilise the mighty resources of the BBCs visual and sounds effects departments, the production whizzes, wheezes and clanks it's way through some of the best 1960s sci-fi peril you will ever see on celluloid. Troughton always did deliver with his tongue in his cheek, but rarely better than here and though I did find Padbury a little annoying, there is a general accord amongst the players that presents us with another example of just why this was appointment to view television.