The Smugglers: Episode 4

Review of all 4 parts:

This 4 part adventure on the coast of 17th Century Cornwall takes Doctor Who into a Jamaica Inn type world with a tale of smuggling and hidden treasure.

It could easily be a reasonable quality 1960s BBC production of that kind of period drama but with the interesting addition of the Doctor and his new companions. These new companions (Ben and Polly) perform well providing exactly what is required from companions creating added drama, action scenes and nice dialogue between them and the Doctor. William Hartnell, in his penultimate story before being retired off and replaced with Patrick Troughton, is still on good form.

All the acting, the direction and the general values on show from Brian Hayles' story and its presentation are of a fair standard but are not great and unlike many historical adventures the TARDIS crew's presence is not interacting with events in an intriguing way they are just caught up in events without any great importance. Basically it is just a fairly entertaining romp with some colourful characters. A solid effort but an unexceptional adventure in which the time travel element is too unimportant.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 6.5/10, Episode 2 - 6/10, Episode 3 - 6.5/10, Episode 4 - 6/10

Overall: 6.25/10

The Doctor attempts to halt a slaughter, his bargaining chip, knowledge of Avery's gold.

It's quite hard not to enjoy this concluding episode, it's full of vivid dialogue, big characters, and action.

I like that Hartnell's penultimate story was a historical one, he started it all after all, I wonder if it was a deliberate decision to give him one last hoorah into the past. Some of the scenes sound great, The Pirate duel for one, best of all though that final snippet leading into The Tenth Planet.

The Doctor shows a real streak of cleverness, I think Hartnell has been terrific throughout this series, a very commanding performance. Saw bones was a great name for him. George A Cooper has also impressed.

It's been a good opening story for Ben and Polly, the pair have been central to events throughout, no wonder they remain fan favourites.

I'd love to see the tomb that hides all the loot, it sounds wonderful, I've not been able to locate any images of it online.

Will we ever see this animated, or will it ever be found, I hope so. 7/10.