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 that year which didn't follow the "base under siege" monster format.
Synopsis
On Earth in the near future, the Doctor and his companions are emmeshed 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' due to his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? And how is he able to 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 Doctor, Jamie and Victoria’s seaside frolicking is observed by three men in a hovercraft. On seeing the Doctor, they are incredulous – could it be “him?” They call their boss, Astrid Ferrier, who urges them to wait until she contacts the main base before taking action. 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 realize 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 in the process the helicopter’s fuel line is damaged and she is slightly injured.
At her private residence, the Doctor tends Astrid’s wounds. She explains that her men have mistaken him for their sworn enemy, Salamander, a man 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, and when they attempt to pursue in the helicopter, it explodes in a fireball.
At his office, Giles Kent observes the Doctor with fascination – his resemblance to Salamander is uncanny. The Doctor explains that they’ve been out of touch with world events lately (“On ice, shall we say?”) Kent plays a video-wire of Salamander’s latest address at the United Zone General Assembly meeting. Salamander, despite a Mexican accent and swarthy complexion, is indeed a doppelganger for the Doctor. Salamander announces highly satisfactory results from sun conservation tests in the Australasian Zone through the use of 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 to alleviate global famine in the wake of numerous natural disasters, Salamander is hailed as “Shopkeeper of the World.” But underneath his guise as a public benefactor, Kent cautions, he has been ruthlessly working to solidify his power base. Several high-ranking political figures have died under mysterious circumstances and been replaced by Salamander loyalists. Kent himself was Deputy Security Leader for North Africa and Europe before being discredited and forced into seclusion, his place being 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 in order to test the similarity. Bruce enters, a heavy-set, imperious and intimidating bully. He and his armed men are investigating the dead man found 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 to comprehend why Salamander is in Australia when he is supposedly in a closed-door conference at the Central European Zone, and with Kent, a man he previously 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, and accepts Kent’s explanation that the dead man in Astrid’s house was trying to protect her from his treasonous colleagues. Bruce is hardly 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 whether he did actually leave for the Central European Zone. As far as Benik knows, he did, and he gave strict orders not to be disturbed. His attempt to contact Salamander there goes unanswered.
The real Salamander is meeting with Denes, attempting to persuade him that his scientific study confirms that a range of dormant Hungarian volcanoes are due to erupt soon, with cataclysmic results. The specificity of his predictions is eerily precise; Denes is dubious since his own scientists have made no such forecasts.
Jamie and Astrid concoct a fake attempt on Salamander’s life in order 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 himself 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, looking forward to facing Salamander in open trial. After being led away, Salamander congratulates Fedorin on his ‘promotion’ to European Controller, taking his dossier of blackmail documents into a safe. He then 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, he and the Doctor watch footage of the European volcanoes. Kent strongly suspects that somehow Salamander may be engineering these disasters, and it was his investigation into how the research station may be involved that led to his being discredited. The Doctor has to hide as Benek arrives at the trailer to taunt Kent and smash some of his possessions.
Astrid, Jamie and Victoria attempt to rescue Denes, with the help of Fariah. However Fedorin intercepts Victoria as she delivers his food. He cannot, however, bring himself to complete the task. He pours his sorrow out to Salamander, who gives him a glass of wine to help him relax. Fedorin slumps over dead; the wine was poisoned.
The rescue, however, is a failure: although Astrid avoids capture, 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 him…
Episode 4
Salamander returns to the research center, and Benik is on the lookout for Astrid. Astrid manages to get back to Australia safely, where she meets Fariah who claims to have information that will expose Salamander – the information he was using to blackmail Fedorin. Kent and the Doctor look over the evidence, but the Doctor claims it’s still insufficient to prove Salamander is evil. However, knowing that Jamie and Victoria are prisoners, impersonating Salamander is their only hope of rescue. 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 resulting 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. A secret panel opens, revealing an elevator. He descends to a vast underground complex where he meets with a team of researchers who have been underground for nearly five years. He has convinced them that 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,” and they cannot return until the radiation levels on the surface fall to safe levels.
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, but Astrid overpowers Bruce’s guard. Bruce calmly notes that there are more outside. The Doctor refuses to resort to violence, and hands the guard’s gun to Bruce as a sign of trust. Bruce agrees to escort the Doctor into the station, provided Kent and Astrid stay behind.
In the underground complex, Salamander prepares to deliver food from the surface. One scientist, Colin, is desperate to get to the surface to see for himself what is happening. Meanwhile Swann, their leader, is enraged when he finds a newspaper scrap in the food boxes that appears to indicate that surface life is normal. He demands an explanation, and Salamander claims that yes, the war is over, but the survivors are deformed in mind and body and deserve to die, and their efforts to destroy these mutants are necessary for a new start. Swann is adamant to see for himself, and eventually Salamander agrees to take him to the surface. Colin is distraught at the thought of not going.
Jamie and Victoria, having been drugged for their trip back to Kenowa, are returning to consciousness, much to the delight of Benik who sadistically looks forward to 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, much to the appalled Bruce. Victoria lashes out at Salamander, who then reveals that he’s actually the Doctor, and has come to rescue them. Bruce is still not wholly 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 encounters Swann, brutally assaulted and left for dead by Salamander.
Episode 6
Swann tells Astrid of the people living underground and begs her to help free them, and then succumbs to his injuries. Astrid reaches the band of scientists and manages to convince them how 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 encounter the Doctor and Kent – and the latter is denounced as the person who took them all below ground in the first place. It seems that Kent and Salamander were allies all along, and the Doctor reveals he had been slow to support Kent because of his fear that he merely wanted Salamander’s power for himself. Kent flees into the cave system.
Bruce meanwhile asserts his authority and takes over the Research Centre, arresting Benik in the process. The Doctor contacts Bruce and tells him of the situation, then heads into the tunnels to seek out Kent and Salamander. The two felons meet, with Salamander fatally wounding his one-time ally. The dying Kent seeks revenge by blowing up the cave system. Astrid coordinates the relief effort to get the other scientists to safety.
Jamie and Victoria, waiting nervously near the TARDIS, are pleased when the Doctor arrives. They are puzzled, however, when he asks Jamie to pilot the TARDIS for him, pleading exhaustion. Then the *real* Doctor enters, mocking Salamander’s impersonation. Salamander attempts to pilot the TARDIS himself, but dematerializes while the TARDIS doors are still open. He is ejected 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
- Assistant Floor Manager - Edwina Verner
- Costumes - Martin Baugh
- Designer - Christopher Pemsel
- Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton
- Film Editor - Philip Barnikel
- Make-Up - Sylvia James
- Producer - Innes Lloyd
- Production Assistant - Martin Lisemore
- Script Editor - Peter Bryant
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - Howard King
- Studio Sound - Tony Millier
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
References
- The World Zones Organisation runs the world, divided as it is 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 2 to 6. He also appears as Salamander in a 35mm film sequence in Episode 1, but is credited only as Dr. Who. Radio Times credits 'Patrick Troughton as Dr. Who and Salamander' for Episodes 2 to 6, while the actual cast lists – which credit the characters in order of appearance – bill Patrick Troughton only as Dr. Who for Episodes 1 and 6, and as both Dr. Who and Salamander (separate billings) for Episodes 2 to 5.
- This marks the second time that a doppleganger 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 5 and 6
- Neither Deborah Watling nor Frazer Hines appear in Episode 4, as they were on holiday during the week when it was recorded.
- This is the final story overseen by producer Innes Lloyd.
- Episode 3 marked the first use of 625-line videotape in Doctor Who, as opposed to the old 405-line standard.
- Episode 6 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 as said creatures begin chasing him. As Episode 6 is one of those that are no longer in the BBC Archives, this unique trailer is also considered lost although it survives on audio.
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 for Patrick Troughton being cast as The 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
- 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 in NA: Christmas on a Rational Planet.
Timeline
- This story occurs after ST: Saint Nicholas's Bones
- This story occurs before DW: The Web of Fear
Home video and audio releases
- Only Episode 3 of the story exists in the BBC Archives, and 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 surviving episodes DVD release completed by 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
Novelisation and its audiobook
- Main article: Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World
- Novelised as Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World by Ian Marter in 1981.
