Episode MA28b: Holes in the Plot

Another good episode, again perfectly in keeping with the era.

Well, almost. We have a plotline very reminiscent of Emperor Nero chasing Barbara around his palace - but this time it's King James (the First and Sixth) chasing Vicki. Because he thinks she's Victor. Now, in both 1605 and 1965 sex between males was illegal (in the earlier year it was a capital offence, though I doubt any aspects of the law applied to the King) - and with someone of Vicki's age involved, what James presumably wanted would still be illegal for another three decades after broadcast even with consent. And this is something that would almost certainly not be shown on Doctor Who in 1965; I suppose it's possible that some teatime shows might just about have got away with it because Vicki was actually a girl, but certainly not one with William Hartnell at the helm.

All of which rather distracts from the fact that I am talking about inequality in representations of sexual predation presented as a laugh; it's almost as if I'm cheering that children could be amused by the threat of heterosexual assault, but booing that the same can't be said of the threat of homosexual assault. Which I'm not, exactly, but...well, I am sure that Gareth Roberts is playing with those confusions. He is explicitly modelling the scenes on The Romans, and is, I am sure, making more than one point. He can do this here because this isn't an episode of a teatime family show - it's a novel aimed at older readers. What he couldn't get away with is uncritically, non-ironically presenting something like this, because he hasn't got the excuse of "oh, well, that was the 1960s and things have moved on since then" - because, well, it's the 1990s. And things have moved on.

Fortunately, this is Roberts we're talking about. Since we can see inside Vicki's head in a novel, he can show us how much of a horrible threat this actually is while still showing the action in exactly the same way as Nero and Barbara's farcical shenanigans from Conspiracy. It's carefully handled, and - particularly in conjunction with the Doctor's stunningly casual attitude to the affair - it adds some meat to the episode.

Not that there isn't quite a lot more going on! Political machinations, attempted assassination, plots galore and even a secret passageway! The focus is on Vicki but everyone gets plenty to do except for Ian. Barbara's conversation with Guy Fawkes makes me wonder whether her unexpected rescuer will somehow avoid his historical fate, perhaps with a last-minute substitution. We'll see...

Rating:
8/10.

Next Time:
The Plot Thickens.