The Highlanders (Doctor Who)

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031 – The Highlanders
Doctor Who serial

The Second Doctor and Polly encounter some Scottish fighters
Cast
Doctor Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor)
Companions Anneke Wills (Polly)
Michael Craze (Ben Jackson)
Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon)
Production
Writer Elwyn Jones
Gerry Davis
Director Hugh David
Script editor Gerry Davis
Producer Innes Lloyd
Executive producer(s) None
Production code FF
Series Season 4
Length 4 episodes, 25 mins each
Episode(s) missing All episodes
Originally broadcast December 17, 1966–January 7, 1967
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
The Power of the Daleks The Underwater Menace

The Highlanders is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from December 17, 1966 to January 7, 1967. This serial is the first appearance of Frazer Hines as the companion Jamie McCrimmon.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

In Scotland, 1746 the TARDIS drops Doctor, Ben and Polly into the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, where the Jacobites are fighting the British Army. A crooked solicitor and a vicious sea captain plan to use the misfortune of the Highlanders as the basis for an unscrupulous scheme.

[edit] Plot

It is 1746 and following the Battle of Culloden the British army is triumphant over the rebel forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie. When the TARDIS arrives its occupants the Second Doctor, Ben Jackson and Polly they find some fleeing Scots rebels and are taken prisoner by them. They all hide in a deserted cottage with – the Laird Colin McLaren, who has been badly wounded, his daughter Kirsty, his piper Jamie McCrimmon and his son Alexander, who dies defending them from a patrol of English soldiers mopping up survivors. The patrol leader, Lt. Algernon Ffinch, is an ineffectual fop but his Sergeant is more forceful and takes the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird to be hanged; while Polly and Kirsty manage to slip away.

The two women ending up hiding in a cave and then an animal pit to avoid Lt. Ffinch, who believes the Prince to be one of them following the rumour that he fled the battlefield as a woman. Eventually Ffinch finds them and they use their feminine wiles to entrap him and steal his money. Later in Inverness, the nearest major town to Culloden, they run into him again and use his previous foolishness to blackmail him.

Elsewhere on the battlefield the Royal Commissioner of Prisons, a shady character called Grey, has embarked on a scheme to enslave any highlanders still alive and ship them to the colonies. It is an illegal scam, but one he hopes will make him rich. He makes contact with an unscrupulous sea captain called Trask who agrees to put his ship, “The Annabelle”, to use in this end. Amongst the prisoners he identifies for sale are the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird. They are taken to the prison in Inverness and incarcerated with many other prisoners, but the Doctor cons his way out of the drenched cell and then overpowers Grey and his secretary Perkins in order to make his escape. Grey is freed by Trask; and the captain reports that the transportation plan has begun and arranges that a number of prisoners, including Jamie, Ben and the Laird, are transferred to the ship. It is not long before the prisoners work out they could be being sold as slaves but most accept this fate, believing seven years indentured labour (a lie) is better than the gallows. Only Ben, Jamie, the Laird and one of his friends, Willie McKay, refuse to sign. When Ben attacks Grey, Trask has him thrown to the sea at the end of a rope.

The Doctor meanwhile has adopted the guise of a kitchen maid as well as a German and uses these identities to move freely around. He is reunited with Polly and Kirsty and, shortly afterward, Ben who has swum to safety. The Doctor boldly returns to Grey, having concocted a story about Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ring and him knowing the fugitive Prince’s whereabouts. Indeed, he names the prince as the piper Jamie. This is all a ruse to distract Grey and Trask while the girls free the prisoner from the hold and supply them with arms for an uprising. When Grey and Trask go examine Jamie in the hold they are captured by the armed highlanders and a revolt begins. Trask flees and ends up wounded and in the sea. Willie McKay takes control of the Annabelle and determines to sail her to freedom in France, happy to accept Perkins as a willing volunteer for this journey. Kirsty and her father are also passengers on the ship as it makes its bid for freedom.

The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the town, using Grey as a hostage to ensure their safe passage around the area, and are joined by Jamie, who has decided to stay and help them find the TARDIS and therefore missing the boat to France with the his fellows. The party lose Grey but find Ffinch, whom they force to help them return to Culloden. But Grey has been clever: he reaches the cottage where he first met the Doctor, and brings with him a patrol of soldiers. Ffinch performs one last service – this one more purposefully without blackmail – when he arrests Grey for the transportation scheme. The solicitor has lost the paperwork (thanks to the Doctor) and is unable to prove any legality about his plans. Thanked by a kiss from Polly, Lt. Ffinch departs. The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the TARDIS and invite their new friend, Jamie McCrimmon, on board. He nervously accepts.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Continuity

[edit] Production

  • The script was commissioned from Elwyn Jones, who proved ultimately too busy to actually write it. Script editor Gerry Davis stepped in to write the serial. Jones and Davis shared on-screen credit, although Jones did no work on the script.[2]
  • The working title for this story was Culloden.[3] However a few years previously, the BBC had aired a docudrama, Culloden which resulted in the changing of the title.
  • All four episodes were destroyed by the BBC. See Doctor Who missing episodes.
  • Producer Lloyd Innes and script editor Gerry Lloyd were initially uncertain whether the character of Jamie would work as an ongoing character, and, although Hines' contract had an option for three more serials, an ending was filmed with Jamie staying behind when the TARDIS departed. Hines' performance during shooting ultimately convinced them that the character had potential, however, and the ending was re-shot.[4] His popularity with the public ensured Jamie became a long time member of the TARDIS crew[5] appearing in more episodes of the series than anyone other than the first four Doctors.
  • This was the last purely historical story until Black Orchid in 1982.[6] Patrick Troughton encouraged the move away from historical stories, according to his son Michael, out of an interest in exploring "real science in drama", as well as a desire to further distinguish his era from that of the previous Doctor, William Hartnell.[7]

[edit] In print

Doctor Who book
Book cover
The Highlanders
Series Target novelisations
Release number 90
Writer Gerry Davis
Publisher Target Books
Cover artist Nick Spender
ISBN 0 426 19676 7
Release date 15 November 1984
Preceded by Inferno
Followed by Frontios

A novelisation of this serial, written by Gerry Davis, was published by Target Books in August of 1984.

[edit] Broadcast, CD and DVD releases

  • The soundtrack for the story exists due to fan-made off-air recordings. These have been released on CD, in August 2000, together with linking narration by Frazer Hines.
  • Several brief video clips survive and were released on the Lost in Time DVD in 2004.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ The Highlanders, "Episode One". Writers Elwyn Jones, Gerry Davis, Director Hugh David, Producer Innes Lloyd. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1966-12-17. 10:45 minutes in.
  2. ^ Howe, Walker, p. 155
  3. ^ Howe, Walker, p. 155
  4. ^ Howe, Walker, p. 154
  5. ^ Howe, Walker, p. 156-157
  6. ^ Howe, Walker p. 156
  7. ^ Troughton, Michael (2007-07-25). "Michael Troughton's Memories, Part One: Top of the Pops". Doctor Who Magazine (306): p. 6–10. ISSN 0957-9818. ISBN 9-770957-981004. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Target novelisation

[edit] Audio Adaptation

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Doctor Who season 4 serials