"Doctor Who"
Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode 2 (1970)

Director:

Timothy Combe

Writer:

Malcolm Hulke (writer)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

7 February 1970 (Season 7, Episode 6)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

1970s | England | Military Officer | Dandy | Second Part

Cast

Jon Pertwee	...	Doctor Who
Caroline John	...	Dr. Liz Shaw
Nicholas Courtney	...	Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart
Fulton Mackay	...	Dr. Quinn
Norman Jones	...	Major Baker
Peter Miles	...	Dr. Lawrence
Thomasine Heiner	...	Miss Dawson
Paul Darrow	...	Captain Hawkins
Nancie Jackson	...	Doris Squire
Gordon Richardson	...	Squire
Pat Gorman	...	Silurian
Peter Halliday	...	Silurian Voice (voice)

Runtime:

UK:23 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Hankley Common, Elstead, Surrey, England, UK

"She was found in the barn, paralysed with fear. She may have seen something." Getting better.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Doctor Who and the Silurians: Episode 2 starts as the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) manages to escape the dinosaur in the caves & report back to Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), a search party goes into the caves & UNIT member Major Baker (Norman Jone) fires on something & wounds it. The Doctor is now convinced that there are two creatures in the cave, a huge vicious dinosaur & a smaller more intelligent creature who controls it. Lethbridge Stewart has a hard time believing it but when a report of a farmer being killed by an unidentified creature comes in he may have to rethink his opinion...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 6 from season 7 that aired here in the UK during early 1970, directed Timothy Combe after a sluggish first episode this is much more like it. The script by Malcolm Hulke plays a lot like a monster on the loose film with the injured Silurian finding shelter in a farmers barn, a little more of the story is revealed as a traitor is unmasked but you feel there's still enough loose ends here to tie up over the next five episodes to retain ones interest. The cliffhanger ending involving Liz is much better than the one from episode 1 which had a pretty weak conclusion at the start of this episode. Anyway, this moves along at a much tighter pace & is far more fun than episode 1.

Being a BBC programme the budget was probably low to say the least but the location shooting using proper film looks good & much better than on the set footage where they used video to shoot it. The point-of-view shots from the injured Silurian as it makes it's way to the barn is actually very effective, like something out of a horror film & quite creepy at times as you don't see the whole creature just it's clawed reptilian hand.

Doctor Who and the Silurians is coming along nicely after a slightly slow start, I'm not sure it's going to hold my interest over another five episodes but you never know & I'm more than prepared to give it every opportunity.