The Enemy of the World (TV story)

The Enemy of the World was the fourth story of Season 5 of Doctor Who. It saw Patrick Troughton play both the lead protagonist and antagonist. It was the only story of that season which did not follow the "base under siege" monster format.

Synopsis

On Earth in the near future, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/policitian Salamander. He is hailed as the "shopkeeper of the world" for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamander's schemes before he takes over the world.

Plot

Episode 1

The TARDIS arrives on an Australian beach where the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria's seaside frolicking is observed by three men in a hovercraft. They are incredulous at the Doctor's presence; could it be "him?" They call their boss, Astrid Ferrier, who urges them to wait while she contacts the main base. Nonetheless the trio resolves that they'll have no better opportunity and ready their guns. Astrid contacts her commander, Giles Kent, and reports the men's observation. It can't be him, Kent exclaims, it's impossible.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria watch as the hovercraft approaches, see the armed men and realise they're in danger. A deadly cat and mouse game ensues through the dunes before Astrid arrives in her mini-helicopter. She beckons them inside and pilots them to safety, though she is wounded and the helicopter damaged by gunfire.

At Astrid's private residence, the Doctor tends her wounds. She explains her men have mistaken him for their sworn enemy, Salamander, a man she claims is bent on becoming global dictator. She wants to take advantage of the Doctor's apparently serendipitous arrival and urges them to go with her to meet Giles Kent, who will explain everything. The Doctor, dubious at becoming a pawn in some political machination, declines. The three armed men close in. Astrid tangles with one to allow the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria to escape. The attacker is accidentally shot dead by his fellows. When they attempt to pursue in the damaged helicopter, it explodes in a fireball.

At his office, Giles Kent looks at the Doctor in fascination – his resemblance to Salamander is uncanny. The Doctor explains they've been out of touch with world events lately. Kent plays a video-wire of Salamander's latest address to the United Zone General Assembly meeting. Salamander, despite a Mexican accent and swarthy complexion, is indeed a doppelganger for the Doctor. He announces highly satisfactory results from sun conservation tests in the Australasian Zone with sun-catching orbital satellites, resulting in a restoration of the Ukraine's corn and flour production which had been devastated by natural disasters two years earlier.

Having helped ease global famine in the wake of numerous natural disasters, Salamander is hailed as "Shopkeeper of the World." Yet underneath his guise as a public benefactor, Kent cautions, he has been working ruthlessly to solidify his power base. Several high-ranking political figures have died under mysterious circumstances and replaced by Salamander loyalists. Kent himself was Deputy Security Leader for North Africa and Europe before being discredited and forced into seclusion, his place taken by a man named Donald Bruce who has since risen to World Security Chief. With Bruce in place, Salamander is virtually untouchable. Kent's only remaining high-ranking ally is Alexander Denes, Controller of the Central Europe Zone.

Kent and Astrid urge the Doctor to pose as Salamander and infiltrate his research station at Kanowa to find proof of Salamander's ambitions. The Doctor is dubious, but once Donald Bruce and his men arrive and close in, he has little choice. The Doctor correctly surmises that Kent tipped Bruce off to test the similarity. Bruce enters, a heavy-set, imperious and intimidating bully. His armed men are investigating the dead man in Astrid's house, as well as the wrecked helicopter. "Salamander" emerges from an inner room, demanding that a dumbfounded Kent explain his presence.

Episode 2

Bruce is at a loss at Salamander's presence in Australia. He is supposed to be in a closed-door conference at the Central European Zone, and certainly not with Kent, a man he had denounced. As Security Chief, he ought to have been told. "Salamander" refuses to explain his presence, saying he will deal with Kent his own way. He accepts Kent's explanation that the dead man in Astrid's house was trying to protect her from his treasonous colleagues. Bruce is not satisfied, but leaves.

The Doctor still is not fully convinced that one side or the other is good or evil, but agrees to pose as Salamander at Kanowa. Astrid, Jamie and Victoria, using travel passes provided by Denes, travel to Salamander's headquarters in the Central European Zone via rocket.

Bruce checks in with Benik, Salamander's deputy, to confirm he left for the Central European Zone. As far as Benik knows, he did and left strict orders not to be disturbed. His attempt to contact Salamander there goes unanswered.

The real Salamander is meeting with Denes, trying to persuade him his scientific study confirms that a range of dormant Hungarian volcanoes will erupt soon with cataclysmic results. Denes is dubious at Salamander's suspiciously precise predictions; his own scientists have made no such forecasts.

Jamie and Astrid concoct a fake attempt on Salamander's life to win his trust. Jamie is hired on the spot as a member of his personal guard and convinces him to hire his "girlfriend" Victoria as assistant to Salamander's personal chef.

Salamander meets with Denes' weak-willed deputy, Fedorin, whom he easily blackmails into a plot to assassinate Denes. The ground shakes as the volcanoes erupt in the distance, just as Salamander predicted; Hungary will be devastated. Denes bursts in, horrified at the destruction. Salamander accuses him of ignoring his warnings and letting thousands die. Denes is certain that somehow Salamander engineered this disaster. Salamander coolly denounces Denes as a traitor and has him arrested, stating that Fedorin will be chief witness against him. Fedorin cannot bring himself to look at Denes.

Episode 3

Denes is unperturbed at his arrest. He looks forward to facing Salamander in open trial. After Denes is led away, Salamander congratulates Fedorin on his 'promotion' to European Controller and puts his dossier of blackmail documents into a safe. He gives Fedorin a vial of poison to deal with Denes.

Bruce is surprised to encounter Jamie, now in Salamander's personal guard. Jamie refuses to divulge any details of what Salamander was doing in Australia with his supposed enemy Kent.

Victoria meanwhile fails to impress Griffin, Salamander's chief cook, with her culinary skills. Fariah, Salamander's assistant and food taster, urges her to escape at the earliest opportunity.

In Kent's caravan near the Kenowa research station, the Doctor and he watch footage of the European volcanoes. Kent strongly suspects that Salamander is somehow engineering these disasters and it was his investigation into how the research station was involved which led to his downfall. The Doctor hides when Benek arrives at the trailer to taunt Kent and smash his possessions.

Astrid, Jamie and Victoria try to rescue Denes with Fariah's help. Fedorin intercepts Victoria as she delivers his food. He cannot, however, bring himself to poison the food. He confesses his failure to Salamander, who offers comforting words and a glass of wine to help him relax. Fedorin drinks and slumps over dead; Salamander had poured the poison into the wine.

The rescue attempt is a failure: although Astrid escapes, Denes is shot down, and Jamie and Victoria captured.

The light dawns on Bruce when Salamander denies being in Australia with Kent earlier. Someone is impersonating Salamander...

Episode 4

Salamander returns to the Research Centre. Benik is on the lookout for Astrid. Astrid returns to Australia safely, where she meets Fariah, who claims to have information to expose Salamander – the information he was using to blackmail Fedorin. Kent and the Doctor look over the evidence, but the Doctor claims it's not enough to prove Salamander is evil. However, knowing Jamie and Victoria are prisoners, impersonating Salamander is their only hope. Fariah's presence, they hope, will help convince people of his identity. The Doctor, however, resolutely refuses Kent's demand that he kill Salamander.

Benik and his men close in on Kent's office. In the chaos, Kent, Astrid and the Doctor escape but Fariah is shot down and the files she took are recovered. Meanwhile, Bruce is growing increasingly disturbed at Salamander's methods.

Salamander locks himself into the Records Room. Once he's sure he's alone, he opens a secret panel in the wall, revealing a small elevator. He descends to a vast underground complex where he meets with a team of researchers who have been living there for nearly five years. He has convinced them a nuclear war has devastated the surface, and their efforts to create natural disasters are helping them turn the tide against, in Salamander's words, "the enemies of truth and freedom". They cannot return until the radiation levels on the surface fall to safe levels. They hail Salamander as their hero, risking life and limb to bring them food.

Back at the caravan, Kent and Astrid prepare the Doctor to infiltrate the station while awaiting the return of Fariah. The door opens: it's Bruce, with an armed security guard.

Episode 5

Bruce demands to know why the Doctor is posing as Salamander. Astrid overpowers and disarms Bruce's guard, but Bruce calmly notes there are more outside. The Doctor refuses to resort to violence, handing the guard's gun back to Bruce as a sign of good faith. Bruce agrees to escort the Doctor into the station, provided Kent and Astrid stay behind.

In the underground complex, Salamander unloads the supplies from the surface. One scientist, Colin, is desperate to get to the surface to see for himself what is happening. Meanwhile Swann, their leader, finds a scrap of newspaper inside a crate bearing the headline HOLIDAY LINER SINKS: MANY FEARED LOST. This appears to indicate that surface life is normal, and Swann angrily demands an explanation. Salamander claims that yes, the war is over, but the survivors are deformed in mind and body and deserve to die. Their efforts to destroy these mutants are necessary for a new start. Swann insists on seeing for himself. Eventually Salamander agrees to take him to the surface. Colin is distraught at the thought of not going.

Jamie and Victoria, drugged for their trip back to Kenowa, wake, much to Benik's delight. He anticipates sadistically interrogating them. However, Salamander enters with Bruce and orders him out. Victoria and Jamie confront Salamander with his crimes, particularly the murder of Fedorin and Denes, which apalls Bruce. Victoria lashes out at Salamander, who reveals he's actually the Doctor, come to rescue them. Bruce is still not convinced to turn against Salamander, but enough doubt is planted that he agrees to investigate.

Astrid and Kent resolve to sneak into the base to take matters into their own hands. They overpower the guard and escape. As Astrid hides in a field near a cave entrance, she finds Swann, brutally assaulted and left for dead by Salamander.

Episode 6

Swann tells Astrid of the people underground. He begs her to help free them before succumbing to his injuries. Astrid reaches the band of scientists and convinces them they've been fooled by Salamander for all these years and that he killed their leader Swann. Colin is the first to believe her and accompanies Mary and Astrid in the small lift for its journey to the surface.

When they reach the Records Room, they meet the Doctor and Kent – the latter is denounced as the person who took them all below ground in the first place. It seems Kent and Salamander were allies all along, and the Doctor reveals he had been slow to support Kent all this time, suspecting - correctly - that he merely wanted Salamander's power for himself. Kent flees into the caves.

Bruce asserts his authority and takes over the Research Centre, arresting Benik. The Doctor contacts Bruce and tells him of the situation, then goes into the tunnels to find Kent and Salamander. The two felons meet and grapple; Kent is mortally wounded, but before he dies he sets off hidden explosives in an attempt to destroy the caves. Astrid successfully rescues the scientists to Colin and Mary's delight, but the Doctor and Salamander's fates are unknown.

Jamie and Victoria, wait nervously near the TARDIS. When the Doctor finally arrives, his behavior is puzzling; he orders Jamie to pilot the TARDIS for him — something which neither he nor Victoria were ever allowed to do. Then the real Doctor enters, mocking Salamander's impersonation of him. Salamander grabs the controls, but dematerialises the ship while the doors are still open. He is sucked out into the space-time vortex while the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria hang on for dear life.

Cast

The Doctor/Salamander - Patrick Troughton
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling
Giles Kent - Bill Kerr
Astrid - Mary Peach
Denes - George Pravda
Donald Bruce - Colin Douglas
Fedorin - David Nettheim
Benik - Milton Johns
Anton - Henry Stamper
Curly - Simon Cain
Rod - Rhys McConnochie
Fariah - Carmen Munroe
Griffin, the Chef - Reg Lye
Swann - Christopher Burgess
Colin - Adam Verney
Mary - Margaret Hickey
Sergeant to Benik - Andrew Staines
Fighting Guard - Bob Anderson
Guard Captains - Gordon Faith, Elliott Cairnes
Guard in Caravan - Dibbs Mather
Guard in Corridor - William McGuirk
Guard on Denes - Bill Lyons

Crew

References

The World Zones Organisation runs the world, divided into large zones, including Central Asian, Arctic, European and Central European.
Jamie refers to Victoria as his girlfriend in Episode 2.

Story notes

Patrick Troughton is credited as 'Dr. Who/Salamander' for episodes two to six. He also appears as Salamander in a 35mm black & white film sequence in episode one, but is credited only as 'Dr. Who'. Radio Times credits 'Patrick Troughton as Dr. Who and Salamander' for episodes two to six, while the actual cast lists – which credit the characters in order of appearance – bill Patrick Troughton only as 'Dr. Who' for episodes one and six, and as both 'Dr. Who' and 'Salamander' (separate billings) for episodes two to five.
This marks the second time that a doppelganger of the Doctor has been featured (giving the lead actor a dual role), following William Hartnell's double performance as the First Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise in The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.
Footage of Jamie and Victoria from episode three appears in the flashback sequence in Resurrection of the Daleks.
Patrick Troughton's son David appears as an extra in episodes five and six.
Neither Deborah Watling nor Frazer Hines appear in episode four, as they were on holiday the week it was recorded.
This is the final story overseen by producer Innes Lloyd.
Episode three marked the first use of 625 line PAL videotape in Doctor Who, as opposed to the old 405-line standard.
A black and white shot of Mary Peach (Astrid) standing next to Astrid's helicopter accompanied the Radio Times programme listing for episode one, along with a synopsis, bearing the title Who's Who, which read as follows: "TONIGHT'S new adventure of Dr. Who finds the crew of the Tardis landing on a beach and coming under fire from a hovercraft — only to be rescued by a helicopter piloted by a girl, Astrid (Mary Peach). She takes them to her leader, who explains that the Doctor is the exact double of a would-be World Dictator. Into the fray goes the Doctor, or is it Salamander, or is it the Doctor pretending to be Salamander...?"
For the week of transmission of episode five, Doctor Who featured — in full colour for the first time — on the front cover of Radio Times (cover dated: 20-26 January 1968): a head-and-shoulders shot of Patrick Troughton as the Doctor examining a control panel, which was taken from the previous story, The Ice Warriors. This was used to introduce a two-page colour behind-the-scenes article in the centre pages entitled The Monstrous World of Doctor Who, written by Gay Search, which opened with the following introductory paragraph: "Daleks, Cybermen, Yetis, Ice Warriors — familiar monsters guaranteed to chill the blood of anyone over the age of ten. But where do they come from? Who dreams them up? How are they made? How do they work? We sent Gay Search to find out..." In addition to the origins of the aforementioned monsters, the article not only looked at the creation of the seaweed monster from the forthcoming story Fury from the Deep but also looked at the roles of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the BBC's Visual Effects Department in bringing the Doctor's enemies to life — as well as featuring a brief interview with the Head of the BBC's Visual Effects Department, Jack Kine.
Episode six of The Enemy of the World ends with a trailer promoting the next story, The Web of Fear. The trailer featured specially shot footage of the Doctor in the London Underground talking to the audience about the impending return of the Yeti in the next story, before fleeing at the sound of distant shooting. As episode six is one of those that are no longer in the BBC Archives, this unique trailer is also considered lost although it survives on audio. The trailer is included on the BBC Audio release of the story.

Ratings

Episode 1 - 6.8 million viewers
Episode 2 - 7.6 million viewers
Episode 3 - 7.1 million viewers
Episode 4 - 7.8 million viewers
Episode 5 - 6.9 million viewers
Episode 6 - 8.3 million viewers

Myths

The reason Patrick Troughton was cast as Salamander was because they could not afford another actor. (Untrue; it was scripted he play both roles.)

Filming locations

Climping Beach in Littlehampton, West Sussex
Villiers House and Walpole Park, Ealing
Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
Lime Grove Studios (Studio D), Lime Grove, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

The sound of the TARDIS landing is very slow compared to other stories.

Continuity

The end of this story leads into the beginning of The Web of Fear.
Salamander survived in the vortex, as revealed in PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet.

Home video and audio releases

Only Episode 3 of the story exists in the BBC Archives. It was released on the Troughton Years video. Episode 3 was also released in digitally re-mastered form on the Lost in Time DVD.
- Editing of the surviving episode's DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Lost in Time Region 2
Lost in Time Region 4
Lost in Time Region 1
Lost in Time Region 1 (Disc 3)
Lost in Time Region 4 Re release
CD Release
The Troughton Years VHS UK

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Contents

Synopsis