#Doctor who key to time tv#
This flourish proves he could still do it, but the workload of scoring up to 26 episodes of Doctor Who every year, as well as 13 episodes of Blake's 7 and the numerous other TV shows he wrote for (everything from The Tomorrow People to The Legend of King Arthur) means he was a gifted man spreading his talent far too thinly. When new producer John Nathan-Turner stopped using Simpson in 1980, it was a wise decision because the man, while a genius, was virtually running on empty. It's refreshingly distinctive, following far too many stories where Simpson just churns out a variation on a theme after having scored Doctor Who on and off since 1964. I love Dudley Simpson's music score for this story, employing a harpsichord sound to evoke that medieval, Olde England atmosphere that suits the lush visuals so well.
Having hurt her ankle in some pathetically predictable way, Romana is scooped up by Grendel and taken on horseback to his castle, which is Leeds Castle with a couple of minarets painted on top via an unconvincing glass shot. Romana is rescued by the dashing, charming Count Grendel of Gracht, played with reliable panache by the great Peter Jeffrey, who was magnificent at playing smarmy bad guys throughout the 1960s and 70s. The universe feels like a safer place with Mary Tamm in charge! And lo and behold, Romana manages to locate the segment less than eight minutes into the episode, proving that perhaps she should become the star of the show and let the Doctor get on with being a fool in the background. Mary Tamm designed the striking purple and green outfit herself, and there's no denying that she looks positively regal as she strides confidently through the verdant foliage of Tara, searching for the fourth segment. It all looks gorgeous though, and you can tell that director Michael Hayes seems to be in love with the lush Leeds Castle location, as well as his achingly beautiful leading actress.
While it's no bad thing that the companion gets more screen time and leverage on the plot, it's a sign of things to come, of a time when our hero seems more interested in cracking jokes and prat-falling than being an actual children's hero that adults adore. Apart from being terribly irresponsible (the balance of the universe is at stake, and all he wants to do is catch fish!), it weakens the agency of the main character, backgrounding him and his fripperies while the companion gets stuck in. Here, we have the Doctor insisting on taking a break from searching for the Key to Time so that he can go fishing instead. Where's she been? What's over there to the left of the TARDIS doors, an area we've probably not seen since the early 1960s? Romana lands the TARDIS herself (although I notice that she, like the Doctor, leaves the brakes on, proving that River Song is still the better driver), taking charge in the ongoing quest for the six segments of the Key to Time. Suddenly, out of the blue, dressed in her flowing ivory gown from The Ribos Operation, Romana appears, entering stage left, seemingly out of the TARDIS wall. The Doctor really could do with getting a table and chair to sit on though, because lying spread-eagled across the TARDIS floor is somewhat ungainly (although perfectly in keeping with the unpredictability of his reclining choices at the start of his tenure). It feels like chess is a running theme between the Fourth Doctor and his robot dog, but in actual fact The Androids of Tara is only the second (and last) time the two have locked horns over the game. This new adventure - Doctor Who's 101st story - opens with the Doctor slouching on the floor of the TARDIS playing chess with K-9. The one where Romana gets mistaken for an android.
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