The Visitation

"Such pride in something so stupid!"

Writer: Eric Saward 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 15th - 23rd February 1982

Season: 19.04

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis 

England, 1666 - the darkest days of the Great Plague. When the Doctor and his companions step from the TARDIS into a land gripped by fear and mistrust, they soon discover that they are not the only new arrivals. Strange lights have been seen in the sky, the Grim Reaper stalks the local woods and evidence of advanced technology is all around...

Verdict 

The Visitation is a fantastic little story to continue along Season 19 nicely. For what is still an early story in the Fifth Doctor era, Peter Davison gives an assured performance as the brand new Time Lord. I would argue that he had the toughest job of a new Doctor in that he was following the ever so popular Tom Baker who was in the role for 7 years! Of course, Patrick Troughton also had quite the tough act to follow in being the first ever successor of the role. But with Davison being so young and essentially bringing the series into the 1980s, he does a marvellous job. I sometimes criticise him in audio stories but on television I think he's brilliant. I thought the companions were all a little bit useless in this story and maybe that's why I noticed the Doctor standing out so much. Nyssa spent most of her time in the TARDIS building a contraption to eliminate the android. After help from Adric and barely a test, she'd succeeded and excellently got the upper hand of the robot in the final part. She made quite a mess of the TARDIS though! It really was untidy to say the least. Tegan was probably my favourite of the companions in this story and once again she didn't end up on her flight that she's been waiting for since Logopolis! The reference to that story was great. Her reaction to landing at Heathrow, just about 300 years too early was fantastic! "Call yourself a Time Lord?" How dare she criticise the Doctor after all he's shown her! I joke, I really enjoyed it. I loved how she told Adric straight when they were breaking out of their cell that she should be the one removing the panels because she was the most determined of the pair. There's no denying that was true! The continuation from Kinda was good even though I'm not a huge fan of that story but I do enjoy it when stories directly continue on from one another. Her being captured by the Terileptils was interesting and I thought Janet Fielding played the role terrifically well. So that now brings me to Adric. Ha, what a boring character. He's easily the worst companion and this story just highlights it a treat. He barely does anything other than moan. He just wines and winges and deserves a good punching. To be fair, he did pilot the TARDIS to the Doctor, who didn't exactly seem pleased to see him which I liked. Tegan and Adric seemed to get on well for the first time though. The historical    setting was very good and I love how this is Doctor Who's take on the Great Fire of London. Although, if that's the direction they were going I'd have preferred a more prominent Pudding Lane setting than just the final part. It was fine the way it was but I think more time could have been spent there. Richard Mace was a marvellous character and he certainly saw quite a lot in one day for a 17th century Englishman! The Plague was no match for the Terileptils. The design of the creatures was wonderful and the figurine of them is one of my favourites. Their ship crashing was good and I liked how they were damaged and on their last legs. The three remaining were soon dealt with though rather easily which highlighted how weak they were. I loved the ending's simplicity and the Doctor just let the fire have its place in History. He was the one responsible, who else?

Rating: 8/10