As with The Smugglers, I think this story is more humour over content. I actually prefer reading the novel than listening to it as it comes across better but it is still entertaining even though the story is not strong.

Jamie's debut is a good one but I feel he is overshadowed by stronger characters. The Doctor spends most of his time in disguise, outwitting Grey and more amusingly, Perkins at every turn. Polly's rapport with Kirsty and her dealings with Ffinch are quite funny. Grey and Trask provide the serious side of the story but are also strong characters.

It's easy to see why the historicals were dropped at this point. Both of the stories Lloyd produced were under par and clearly not in the direction he wanted the show to go. This story was atypical of the Troughton Era and I'm glad the historicals were dropped. I have always liked the sci-fi stories more and there's no way the historicals would have been in keeping with the rest of the Troughton Era, especially Season 5.

This is an awfully boring story, and the only reason anyone remembers it is because it's Jamie's debut. It's very weak.

I love the Highlanders, such a fun romp with Troughton exploring how far he can push the boundaries of his new role. They tried a similar romp approach with The Smugglers but this pulls it off better. This is also a great story for Ben and particularly Polly who gets a lot to do. Oddly the least memorable part of this story is Jamie who doesn't stand out that much and his joining the team at the end comes out of nowhere. Such a shame this is the last historical, dropping them was a big mistake.

I think they didn't decide till the last minute whether Jamie was going to become a companion. They may have even gone so far as to shoot two different versions of the final scene, one where he goes and one where he stays.

I have to say that your rather succinct assessment sums this one up for me. It was pretty clear that the new regime on Doctor Who had no passion for historicals. And Pat Troughton veers crazilly through one disguise after another trying to find his feet as the Doctor,

Rather a whimper for the historials to end on unfortunately.

I think because of that Jamie's debut was possibly one of the weakest ever for a companion. But considering they didn't set out for him to be one from the start, it's understandable.

Also don't think this story was dull at all. It wasn't exactly classic but it has it's funny moments and that's what stops it from being awful. I agree it isn't a patch on previous historicals like The Crusade and The Aztecs but I still prefer it to The Myth Makers and The Massacre.......

this is the problem when you only have audio soundtracks and telesnaps to go buy you can never truly judge how good or bad some thing is y- Iwill agree that just judging by the tele snaps The Highlanders, does look a dull story yet at the same time this would be one of those stories that I would be very happy if one of it's missing episodes turned up. I say that because I just have a feeling that like The Underwater Mennace if we could see an episode of The Highlanders we would be re valuating it,

I made the effort to listen to this story this morning and agree with your comments Daveyboy. Jamie feels hardly in the story if anything Kirsty would seem more probable as a companion. Was Hannah Gordon asked I wonder ?

I always liked the film ' Kidnapped' set a bit earlier so I rather enjoyed the depiction of the time and the opposing characters such as Solicitor Grey, Perkins and Lt. Algernon Ffinch who were quite entertaining and funny at times. Polly gets a lot to do and I like her idea to dress as an orange seller and Ben's service experience stands him in good stead in the military environment. I like their modern positivity contrasting against the constraints of the historical young characters like Kirsty and Jamie.

If I have some criticisms the story takes a rather leisurely stroll in Episodes 1 & 2 and I am surprised that the death of Alexander wasn't dwelt on/ made more of considering the patriotism of the family. But it is what it is I guess..


Agree Tom not the strongest historical to end on but it was okay. The sci-fi stories were definitely stronger. I can believe that they waited 15 years to do another one.

I also am finding the 2nd Doctor's liking for disguises ( dresses, hats strange voices etc. )slightly off putting . It does feel a bit of an indulgence and distracts from the story. I seem to remember vaguely seeing on the Lost In Time DVD that he dons another disguise in The Underwater Menace or maybe I'm wrong.

It's not the actor's fault though that Pat Troughton's obvious physicality cant always be fully appreciated with only audio or tele snaps.


I agree that this story is another one that being action based with outside battles and a water dunking / drowning needs really to be seen to be evaluated properly. Look at the positive reaction to Enemy of the World once we had the actual episodes in 2013. Came pretty low in the DWM survey around 2009 I seem to recall at the time.