Serial P, in 4 parts
Written by: David Whitaker
Produced by: Verity Lambert
Directed by: Douglas Camfield
"This had the best scripts of any Doctor Who I ever worked on. Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and I don't remember having to alter a line." - Douglas Camfield, director, quoted in The Handbook: The First Doctor by Howe, Stammers and Walker (Virgin: 1994)
If Doctor Who hit rock bottom with The Web Planet, it reached its pinnacle in the next serial, The Crusade.
Prior to writing this episode, David Whitaker had only penned a couple of functional, low-key two parters. With The Crusade, he established himself as Doctor Who's best writer. His only attempt at historical drama, The Crusade is dangerously close to being perfect.
Unusually for Doctor Who, the episode starts off with action. The TARDIS lands in the Holy Land while the Saracens are ambushing King Richard and a small party of Christian knights. Thanks to the Doctor's intervention, Richard is saved, but Barbara is carried off by the Muslims.
Poor Barbara catches the eye of El Akir, a cruel Saracen Emir. El Akir desires Barbara for his harem (told you there's lots of sex in Doctor Who!), but she is rescued from his guards by a poor Muslim man, Haroun. Hiding Barbara in his house, Haroun explains that El Akir murdered his wife and kidnapped his eldest daughter. In one of Doctor Who's most grimly realistic scenes, Haroun gives Barbara a dagger, telling her to kill herself and his young daughter Safiya should El Akir's guards break into the house. The alternative, he explains, is a life of shame and degradation in El Akir's harem.
The Doctor, meanwhile, becomes embroiled in intrigue at King Richard's court. Richard is eager to end the war, and to hasten the peace process he decides to offer his sister Joanna in marriage to Saphadin, the Sultan's brother. Joanna finds out about Richard's plan and flies into a rage, condemning him during the most emotionally charged argument I've ever seen on TV. Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, City of Death) is fantastic as the hot-headed Richard, and Jean Marsh (Willow, Battlefield) gives a forceful performance as Joanna.
This episode is so universally well-acted that it's tough to give anybody top honors, though by a hair I think Bernard Kay gives the best performance as the wise, calculating Saladin. The soft-spoken Sultan is contrasted beautifully against the trigger-tempered King Richard. Director Douglas Camfield uses some unusual camerawork and mood lighting to lend Saladin an impressive aura.
Hartnell is in his element here. In my view, he could obviously relate to the historical stories more easily than the science fiction ones. His performance in this serial is superb, his best of the second season.
The Crusade's plot is compelling and fast-paced, as you no doubt can tell from my beautiful summary above. The dialogue is rich and steeped with emotion; it's too damn good for Doctor Who! When I watch this serial, I sometimes wonder if it's a lost play of Shakespeare's that they filmed for Doctor Who on a whim.
I notice that the ratings dropped during The Crusade. What can I say? Some people are just stupid.
It's a real tragedy that the BBC burned this episode years ago. Parts one and three have been located as film prints, but parts two and four exist only as audio soundtracks. I've listened to the soundtracks, and they're great, but it's hard for me to call The Crusade the best Doctor Who story when I can't see half of it.
Despite the missing parts, I feel confident enough to rank The Crusade alongside The Aztecs
and An Unearthly Child as one of the best Hartnell episodes. The only possible flaw I can see in this story is the ending, which seems a bit rushed judging from the soundtrack. However, I'd be only too happy to be proved wrong if and when the BBC digs up part four...
OVERALL RATING: A
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