Indeed, and ironically Day of the Daleks is due out later in the year. But after Daemons and Day, you hit a long run of DVDs:

The Curse of Peladon (in a set with Monster of Peladon from 2 seasons later)
The Sea Devils (which you got with Silurians)
The Mutants (out yesterday!)
The Time Monster (in the box set Myths and Legends with two Tom Baker stories Underworld and Horns of Nimon)
The Three Doctors
Carnival of Monsters
Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks (in a box set called Dalek War)
The Green Death
The Time Warrior

which will get you into Pertwee's final season.

I didn't realise it was the same Tardis. Clearly the filing cabinets threw me.
Yes I noticed that. We get the sound and then 'pop' it's gone. That annoyed me a little, I much prefer fading. So much more gentlemanly.
Yes that was good. I kept thinking of your comments about the clay and wondering if they had to go and have it all chipped off later.
Hehe, I love him for it though.
Hope to start on the books later this year. I have so much other stuff to read at the moment, but I really want to get some more target novels.
I'm looking forward to the next one. I've been in the best/worst Pertwee thread and see some have this as a favourite. I know I mustn't form opinions before seeing as my tastes can be and are different to others. I mean look at this one. But yes, high hopes for The Daemons.

Started the Daemons today.

Got off to a good start and I'm enjoying it. Lovely to see Bessie back and remote controlled now. The Brig also looking very dashing.

Great spooky episode and the scenes really set for some creepy goings on.

I never fail to be surprised when the Master turns up, and again I wasn't expecting him here. I'm not sure I wanted him to turn up, as everything was going great anyway.

Mrs Hawthorne is an interesting character and clearly not influenced by the Master, so I'm interesting to see how she fairs in this story.

Oh and I loved the Doctor being accused of wearing a wig.

Just in from a late stint at work so will comment more later. What did you think of BBC Three 30 years early?

Cliffhanger is a rare moment when the Doctor appears on national TV, eg waving outside Downing St in Aliens of London.

Glad you were surprised by the Master (again!) Soon the surprise will be when he doesn't emerge and you'll wonder all story if he's going to.

Wow, that was a late stint. Do you know I didn't even twig about BBC Three, of course it wasn't around then.

I think the Doctor is quite funny in this, I don't think he's meant to be, but there is something quite slapstick about him.

Yes I am pretty sure there will come a point where I will simply be waiting for the Master to appear.

Quick question for you Brig, does RDelgado appear with Four as well, or is he just a Three Master? Or is that spoiling things? I'm just curious.

Unfortunately not - quite a sad spoiler for you, I'm afraid...



It would have been lovely to see him opposite some of the other Doctors, I've always thought he'd be fantastic against Troughton.

Oh no! That is awful. Oh how terribly sad and what a terrible waste.

Delgado's death was obviously a real blow to the series, although they were discussing phasing him out at the time. the documentary, on Frontier In Space, is very sad. There's a crack in Barry Letts's voice as he talks about Roger's death, and it really brought a lump to my throadt when i watched it again, recently.

Colony in Space. Filing cabinets. Ugh.

I haven't seen The Daemons for yeeeeeeeeears! I have it "taped off telly" when i was repeated in approx 1992, but can't find my tape of it. I was scouring through boxes of videoes in the attic a couple of weeks ago, but no joy.

I while ago, I wrote to Damaris Hayman (Miss Hawthorne), and said that her performance reminded me of Margaret Rutherford. I had a lovely letter in response, saying that Margaret Rutherford was a very close friend, and mentored Miss Hayman's acting acreer. Miss Hawthorne's cloak is actually one of Margaret Rutherford's cloaks!

There's a recent biography of Rutherford that talks about that.

I have it! A fascinating book! Margaret Rutherford has always been a favourite of mine!

It's soon to be adapted for radio, as the same biographer's Hattie Jacques book was adapted for TV.

George Harrison's as well!

There was an old Ready Steady Go from 1964 with The Beatles in and somebody was interviewing George between songs. She asked him, 'Who are your favourite film stars? ...girls.' George replied, 'Ermmmmm... Margaret Rutherford ...' (In the distance you could hear Lennon say 'She's a mod!')

I shall make sure I watch that when I get to that episode.
What a lovely story. I see what you mean regarding the Margaret Rutherford conneciton.

The Daemons - Episode 2

The Doctor nearly died, covered in all that dust, which turned out to be snow or ice. Liked the 2 hearts reference again, these little things please me.

I've seen the Brig in his jimjams. He was a bit upset about his helicopter being used without his permission.

The rest of the episode is just plain weird. No idea what the fire barriers are. It's all a little worrying. Why is the master summoning up this Devil? What's in it for him? And who or what is this cigarette smoking devil thingy? Does it have any connection to Abbadan who was let loose in Torchwood's End of Days? It seems very similar.

I've woken up now.

Had to see my dept's night shift and lay down the law so went into work late afternoon and finished at 1.30 so today I had a bit of a lie in.

Ah questions! I should start with the Brig's bedroom scene. The original plan was for a female hand to be seen passing the phone to him, that would have been the Brig's first wife Fiona. Nick Courtney had a back story for the Brig that he had a wife called Fiona and the strain of UNIT and the secrecy led to the marriage break up. He finds love later but I won't mention more at this stage.

The Brig is talking like a dad who's kids have taken the car without permission - "My helicopter?" He also seems to ringing the Doctor at UNIT HQ early in the morning for no good reason. Then he trashes Jo's reputation - "Wake up Miss Grant then" Why, is she likely to sleeping in the HQ with the Doctor?????

Yes, the premise of the plot is the Master waking up the devil but don't worry - the young man in the coven who has the odd line is Matthew Corbett, who spends 25 years living in a house with Sooty, Sweep and Sue.

Of course the Devil isn't quite the Devil but you need to wait for the Doctor's little lecture in episode 3... There is a mention of 'The Daemon''s world in The Satan Pit as the Doctor muses on images of the Devil on other planets so it gets referenced in 2006. The Master will explain his plan by episode 5 which also includes the Brig's most famous line.

It is so sad. He actually recorded all his Who appearances between September 1970 and September 1972 so only two years but he was on screen for three years. You'll have to see when he pops up again.

He was contracted to appear in a film called Bell of Tibet. He took a taxi to get to the set as he was late and it crashed. His widow Kismet was in financial straits afterwards and the Who team helped her out by giving her a voice role in a later story. The tribute on Frontier in Space is excellent. His death is one of the reasons Jon Pertwee started to think about moving on when he did.

They were talking about phasing him out as Delgado wasn't being offered other work whilst on Who and although season 8 doesn't suggest it, he wasn't being used non stop by Who. The original plan was to write him out at the end of season 11 which may have been Pertwee's final story or not. As it was, Pertwee does go that year.

The oft-quoted UNIT family is summed up by The Daemons - the Doctor, Brig, Jo, Benton, Yates and the Master. Amazingly, the family aren't together that long in reality.

Quick further comment on episode 1 - the scene where the Doctor tells Jo they'd get to Devil's End quicker if she had the map the right way up is based on a true story of Jon and Katy driving to rehearsals.

The bloke in episode 2 who's baker's van blows up is Gerald Taylor who operated a War Machine, was the voice of WOTAN and the odd Dalek. He'll be back on screen in a very silly outfit three years later.

Doesn't sound like much fun, but glad to have you back with us.
Funny how I've never really given a thought about the Brig's private life. We have all the family details of the companions in the new series, but it doesn't feel like it's missing in the old series at all.
Hehe, it's so in character though.
Is it? A hero of mine, I must look more closely.
It all sounds very intriguing. Thanks for the titbits of info.

Are you having a week off before Day of the Daleks?

Sorry, I'm trying to rush you onto season 9.

Yeah, I like to have a little break between seasons.

yes, it was very sad, the tribute on the Frontier in Space dvd is lovely though.

It brings a tear to my eye, especially the Barry Letts trubute towards the end.

Roger Delgado seems to have been something of a regular player in the various ITC series in the sixties, so you've got a reasonable chance of catching him on ITV4 during the day, if you're interested. Plus, he was in Quatermass II (minus beard!), of course.

He's in a later Avengers as a character called Kreer who's involved in an evil scheme with fellow Time Lord Kate O'Mara! It's called Stay Tuned.

And if he hadn't passed away it likely would been revealed that the Master and the Doctor were in fact the same person in Pertwee's final story, and the history of Doctor Who would have been quite different.

RIP Roger.

It was a bit more ego and id kind of thing wasn't it? Feels a bit like the ending of The Prisoner to me.

44 year old spoiler