I have the house to myself tonight for the first time in months and so I am cracking open a bottle of red and watching The Dæmons - which I honestly don't recall ever having watched before.

Its five episodes long (apparently the last ever five-episode story) and of course contains the very famous line, "Jenkins. Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid."

Matthew Corbett of Sooty and Sweep fame appears in this story

Blimey! I'll keep an eye out.

Hope you enjoy Mulett - I'm very fond of The Dæmons myself. And yes, "Jenkins, chap with the wings, 5 rounds rapid" is indeed a very famous quote.

Probably a bit dated compared with all the computer-wizardry these days, but still a nice story at the heart of it.

I have to be honest, I'm not particularly fond of the Pertwee era (pre-Sarah Jane, at least) but every now and again I find a story like Inferno which is just superb. So I have high hopes for this one.

After 20 episodes on the trot with a certain mischief maker appearing; lord knows how DS would've reacted to the reveal here if it had existed in 1971! (rolls eyes;what a surprise, yawn, change the record, Letts must go, etc)

As someone who caught up with the Pertwee era in a pretty random order in the 80s, I didn't care though. Delgado is fantastic and I love it to bits! Probably in my Pertwee top 5.

Eta. please tell me you knew who was in it and I haven't spoilered something from 1971! (sure I haven't really.)

This and The Sea Devils are some of the best of Delgado's Master (and consequently some of the best Master stories overall).

The "chap with the five wings" line is one of my favourites and only Nicholas Courtney could have delivered it with such majesty.

Pertwee's Doctor, Delgado's Master, Jo Grant, the Brigadier and Benton all together make for a very enjoyable cast of characters.

No, its fine. I know he's in it.

And from what you have said, I had a similar level of shock at this one

I didn't see that coming back in the day, tbh. The Master at his most over complicated and barking. Then again, I was clearly slow on the uptakeas a kid as I didn't see the cliffhanger with the French bloke with a suspiciously Welsh accent turning into The Master in The King's Demons coming, either!

At the risk of building it up too much, I was hooked from the "it was a dark and stormy night" beginning. (wonder if a certain TV channel has moved online in the Who Universe yet?)

I remember someone writing to Doctor Who Monthly afterwards asking why the Master had disguised himself as Kalid as it made no sense at all. I think we're still waiting for an answer to that one . . . .

The Daemons is fab!
I watched it again fairly recently and it's basically everything fun from the Pertwee era rolled into one story.
Dodgy effects notwithstanding (even for 1971 the Azal CSO is pretty poor) this one gallops along at a cracking pace (suggesting perhaps that a good number of the 1970s six parters would have been a lot more exciting if they'd been trimmed down to five).
The team clearly had a terrific time on location and this somehow made everyone up their game.
Loads of good stuff to watch out for - Yates and Benton looking groovy in their 1971 Man At C&A civvies, Miss Hawthorne clearly taking a fancy to Benton, Delgado just perfect as a vicar, helicopters, heat barriers, satanic stuff in a cavern, Pertwee on a motorbike and loads more...
And a bottle of red I should think is the perfect accompaniment. Have a great evening!

Thanks everyone. I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it went!

My favourite pertwee serial. Wish the bbc would release the 6 part version.

Oh, this was great fun. I really enjoyed the third Doctor in this one and he's not normally an incarnation I'm particularly taken with. And the first appearance of BBC3 as well!

In some ways the plot rattled along very quickly, but then there were also a few scenes which seemed like filler. But even those scenes were written with great humour. And we got to see pretty much the whole UNIT team (including the Doctor) morris dancing at the end. Just bonkers, but good bonkers!

One thing that really surprised me was the incidental music. There were whole sections which sound just like the music from much later stories, in particular Earthshock and Arc of Infinity.

We'll be waiting just as long for confirmation as to whether the Sgt Osgood from The Daemons is the father of the new Osgood

One of my absolute favourites. The first one I can remember watching-in b/w- back in 1971.
When it was repeated on bbc2 in 1991 I recorded it on vhs, and watched it again after 20 years. Loved it and remembered lots of it

Lol Miss Hawthorne was great

She's still alive as well - living near Cirencester!

It's funny looking at her Wikipedia page because she's a very familiar actress and she did seem to appear in most things in the 70s, as a guest star.

Me too. The first doctor who I can remember watching as a child. Taped the newly colourised episodes on vhs then bought the dvd when it came out. Later returned my copy one of several that had the fault in episode one for replacement.

Love Miss Hawthorne! It was such a treat to meet Damaris Hayman at Memorabilia a few months back.

Miss Hayman often crops up in 70s telly playing a librarian, maiden aunt, or similar. My favourite (non DW) appearance is an episode of One Foot In The Grave, where Victor Meldrew comes to buy her late husband's shoes after seeing the shoes advertised on a card in the post office. Such a great laugh-out-loud sequence.

One of the greatest aspects of The Daemons, for me, is the power the Master has over the villagers: blackmailing them with their own little petty nimminypimminy murky secrets. He says something about one of the village wives having left her husband, "... or did she?". No need for hypnosis or world-domination, just a bit of emotional blackmail will suffice.

"I'd rather have a pint"

The bit about the man's wife was really dark. He's blackmailing everyone else with threats of revealing financial wrong-doing, etc. But then he pinpoints one man and talks about whether the man's wife actually did leave him, and whether or not she would ever be seen again. It was clear the man had murdered his wife (I think). But the Master just saw it as being information he could use to get his own way. I real throw-away line which (I assume) had repercussions for the man in question once the whole Dæmons affair was over.

Yep. "The Devil is in the detail". And the Master is the Devil incarnate.
(in a church as well!)

A piece of trivia. In the star trek next generation episode the battle, the ferengi daimon boks name was inspired by the daemons.

In Barry Letts' excellent novelisation I seem to remember that it's more implied that the wife won't come back as the villager is carrying on with a younger woman. I could be wrong as it's years since I've read this.

But yes, it's a cracking scene, and wonderful example of how well the Master can manipulate people.