The Suffering

Still new to the TARDIS, Steven is continuing to get used to the notion of time travel. The crew arrive in 1912 and after coming into contact with some fossilized remains Vicki begins to hear voices. The Doctor is suspicious of the remains and while he and Steven investigate Vicki falls further under its thrall and falls in with the Suffragette movement, bringing the influence of the skull to a young woman named Constance. The struggle for women to get the vote has started, but with an alien intelligence with a grudge against men now in the mix, the tide of events begins to take a more deadly turn.

The Suffering does what Doctor Who does very well: drops the crew into history and very shortly introduces another intruder element to the events and brings their influence to bear on the potential outcome. Unlike the machinations of the likes of the Monk, though, the disembodied entity is not aware of its surroundings outside of the unrest and frustration of the women's rights struggle; on its own planet it was cast out by men and carries a fury within and when it sees women being oppressed once again it begins to lash out at men as it comes across them. One could argue that it is not motivated by evil, just out of pain.

This tale was originally presented as a two disc adventure, the first Companion Chronicle to do so before it became a regular feature (for at least two more adventures before the range was suspended and then scaled back from a monthly release). The storytelling is split between two companions - Steven and Vicki as played by Peter Purves and Maureen O'Brien - and unlike other Companion Chronicles is not told long after the companions have left the TARDIS but actually in continuity with the other adventures. It is still told in hindsight, but has Vicki and Steven recording their notions of their most recent adventure on a tape recorder in case anyone ever finds it after they have left. This would have been the first time these two actors were performing together again since the 1960s and they do not miss a beat, finding their characters again with ease. The news that they will be performing together in some further episodes in future under the banner of The Early Adventures is something to look forward to for sure.

Here's my only complaint, because I have to have one I guess: the next episode, Galaxy Four, has a lot of similar themes to it which I will be reviewing next, and like some of the earlier tales where the TARDIS crew meet a new British King each time it feels like a bit of repetition, even if the theme is not as pronounced in one as the other. If the end had been left open for other episodes to be dropped in and create a bit of a buffer it would be great, but it is not done this way; Vicki is determined to cut Steven's hair, leading to the opening scene of the next story...

NEXT EPISODE: GALAXY FOUR