The Highlanders (TV story)
The Highlanders was the fourth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who. The story was the last of the 'pure historical' genre of Doctor Who television stories which had been a regular feature of the show since its inception. It also marked the first appearance of Frazer Hines as companion Jamie McCrimmon.
Synopsis
The time travellers arrive in Scotland just after battle of Culloden. The Doctor gains the trust of a small band of fleeing Highlanders by offering to tend their wounded Laird, Colin McLaren; but while Polly and the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, are away fetching water, he and the others are all captured by Redcoat troops under the command of Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch.
Grey, a crooked solicitor who sells prisoners for transportation to slavery in the West Indies, then secures the group into his custody. Polly and Kirsty blackmail Ffinch into helping, and the Doctor eventually wins the day by smuggling arms to the Highlanders, who are being held on board a stolen ship, the Annabelle.
Grey and the ship's unscrupulous captain, Trask, are overpowered and the vessel returned to its rightful owner, MacKay, who agrees to take the Scots to safety in France.
The Doctor, Polly and Ben return to the TARDIS, where they are joined on their travels by the young piper Jamie McCrimmon.
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
- Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
- Polly - Anneke Wills
- Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
- Alexander McLaren - William Dysart
- The Laird - Donald Bisset
- Kirsty McLaren - Hannah Gordon
- Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch - Michael Elwyn
- Sergeant - Peter Welch
- Grey - David Garth
- Perkins - Sydney Arnold
- Sentry - Tom Bowman
- Trask - Dallas Cavell
- Mollie - Barbara Bruce
- Willie Mackay - Andrew Downie
- Sailor - Peter Diamond
- Colonel Attwood - Guy Middleton
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Nicholas John
- Costumes - Sandra Reid
- Designer - Geoffrey Kirkland
- Fight Arranger - Peter Diamond
- Make-Up - Gillian James
- Producer - Innes Lloyd
- Production Assistant - Fiona Cumming
- Script Editor - Gerry Davis
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - George Summers, Ken McGregor
- Studio Sound - Larry Goodson
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
References
to be added
Story notes
- This story had the working title of Culloden.
- The next "pure historical" serial, Black Orchid, would not be broadcast until 1982. Though Black Orchid is sometimes referred to as an historical serial, but while it takes place in the 1920s, actual historical events do not play into the plot of the latter story.
Ratings
- Episode 1 - 6.7 million viewers
- Episode 2 - 6.8 million viewers
- Episode 3 - 7.4 million viewers
- Episode 4 - 7.3 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Filming locations
- Frensham Ponds, Frensham, Surrey
- Ealing Television Film Studios
- Riverside Studio 1, Hammersmith, London
Production errors
to be added
Continuity
to be added
Timeline
- This story occurs after: ST: The Feast
- This story occurs before DW: The Underwater Menace
Home video and audio releases
DVD release
No complete episodes from this story survive. Existing "censor" clips from Episode 1 were released on the Lost in Time boxset.
Audio release
- Released by the BBC Radio Collection in August 2000, narrated by Frazer Hines.
- Re-released as part of the the Adventures in History box set released in August 2003 (with same content).
Novelisation and its audiobook
- Main article: The Highlanders (novelisation)
See also
to be added
External links
- The Highlanders at the BBC's official site
- BBC - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Photonovels - The Highlanders
- The Highlanders at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Highlanders at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
- The Highlanders at The Locations Guide
- The Highlanders transcripts
