The Crusade (Doctor Who)

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014 – The Crusade
Richard the Lionheart (Julian Glover) speaks with the First Doctor (William Hartnell), with Ian (William Russell) and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) in the background. Critics praised Glover and Hartnell's performances.[1][2][3]
Cast
Guest
Production
Directed by
Season 2
Running time4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Episode(s) missing2 episodes (2 and 4)
First broadcast27 March 1965 (1965-03-27)
Last broadcast17 April 1965 (1965-04-17)
Chronology
← Preceded by
The Web Planet 		Followed by →
The Space Museum
List of episodes (1963–1989)

The Crusade is the sixth

Saphadin (Roger Avon
).

Whitaker wrote the serial after departing his role as the show's

Shakespearean nature of Whitaker's scripts, and Camfield considered them the best he directed for the show. Viewership fell from the previous serial and dropped throughout the four weeks, but was considered acceptable. The Crusade received positive reviews, with praise directed at the writing, performances, and set design. Two of the four episodes remain missing after the BBC wiped
them from archives. The story received several print adaptations and home media releases, with the missing episodes reconstructed using off-air recordings.

Plot

The

Saphadin (Roger Avon) by El Akir (Walter Randall), who mistakenly believes them to be King Richard and his sister Lady Joanna. When des Preaux reveals their true identities, El Akir is furious; before he can act, Saladin (Bernard Kay
) emerges and is intrigued by Barbara. He invites her to entertain him with her stories at supper.

Ian, anxious to rescue Barbara, asks for the King's help, but the irritated monarch tells Ian that Barbara can remain with Saladin until her death. De Tornebu and the Doctor are able to convince the King to change his mind. Ian is

knighted so that he may serve as an emissary; he is sent to Saladin's court to both request the release of des Preaux and Barbara, and to offer the hand of the real Lady Joanna (Jean Marsh) in marriage to Saphadin in order to create peace. This makes Joanna indignant and she refuses her consent. Ian delivers his message to Saladin, after which Saladin grants Ian leave to search for Barbara. During his search, Ian is attacked by bandits and knocked out. One of the bandits, Ibrahim (Tutte Lemkow), ties him down with stakes in the hot sun and daubs him with honey, aiming to kill him via scaphism. Barbara twice escapes from El Akir's capture, hiding out in the Emir's harem
on the second occasion. El Akir tries to find Barbara, but she is hidden by a sympathetic harem girl named Maimuna (Sandra Hampton).

Ian eventually tricks Ibrahim into untying his feet and overpowers him. Ian convinces the bandit to accompany him to Lydda and aid him in his quest for Barbara. Meanwhile, El Akir bursts in and is about to attack Barbara when Haroun (George Little)—a man who had aided Barbara with shelter—arrives and fatally stabs him. Ian arrives and helps Haroun subdue the guards. Haroun is reunited with Maimuna, his long lost daughter, and Barbara and Ian head for the TARDIS. The Doctor, who has been avoiding involvement in court politics, attempts to make a break for the TARDIS. He is caught by the Earl of Leicester (John Bay), who thinks the Doctor is a spy for Saladin and sentences him to death. Ian arrives and, presenting himself as "Sir Ian of Jaffa", tells the Earl of Leicester that he will carry out the execution himself. The Doctor asks for one last chance to see Jaffa before he dies. The Earl of Leicester agrees, and the Doctor is able to sneak away to the TARDIS with the rest of the crew and leave.

Production

Conception and writing

After departing his role as Doctor Who's story editor in October 1964, David Whitaker moved into freelance work. He was immediately commissioned to write the two-part Doctor Who serial The Rescue to begin the show's second production block. On 1 November 1964, producer Verity Lambert commissioned Whitaker to write a four-part historical serial to balance its science-fiction stories. The scripts were delivered by 15 January 1965, and titled Dr Who and the Crusades;[4] working titles for the serial include Dr Who and the Saracen Hordes and The Lion-heart.[5][a] The Third Crusade is a historical setting that had fascinated Whitaker; he found that some of the historical figures—namely King Richard and his sister Joan, whose affectionate relationship he considered "almost incestuous in its intensity"—were effective material for a character drama.[4] Depictions of the sexual relationship between the siblings were cut from the script, partly as Hartnell found it unsuitable for the family show;[6] Glover was disappointed by their removal.[7]

The serial depicts two historical events: King Richard's attempt at peace by offering his sister in marriage to Saladin's brother Saphadin in October 1191, and the ambush of King Richard near Jaffa in November 1191.

Shakespearean nature of Whitaker's scripts.[5] Douglas Camfield was assigned to direct The Crusade, having worked as a production assistant on earlier serials An Unearthly Child (1963) and Marco Polo (1964) and proven himself a capable director of the third episode of Planet of Giants (1964).[6] Hill enjoyed working with Camfield again, and O'Brien (who was newer to the series) found him dynamic; Hartnell was pleased to work with a director he liked.[9] Camfield praised Whitaker's writing and research, declaring the serial "the best Doctor Who script I've ever worked on".[6]

Barry Newbery worked on the serial's set design. He used the 1962 volume Behind the Veil of Arabia by Jørgen Bitsch for inspiration. The images of the original architecture from the Crusades were particularly useful for Newbery. The props adorning the sets were hired from Old Times Props House.[6] Camfield engaged Dudley Simpson, who had previously scored Planet of Giants, to compose the incidental music of The Crusade. Nine minutes of music was recorded on 1 March 1965, performed by five musicians on a range of instruments. The Crusade was the last collaboration between Camfield and Simpson; a falling out between the two shortly after the serial's airing led to Camfield's refusal to hire Simpson. When he became aware that he had misjudged Simpson many years later, Camfield intended to hire him again, but died before doing so.[10] The serial used sound effects extensively.[11]

Casting and characters

Richard the Lionheart and his sister Lady Joanna
, respectively.

Camfield was impressed with Glover's performance in An Age of Kings in 1960, which led to his casting in the serial. Glover expressed excitement to work with Camfield, and to work with Russell again; he found Hill welcoming, but felt that Hartnell was not fond of him. When it appeared that Glover may not be available, Camfield interviewed Nicholas Courtney for the role, having known him at school in Egypt, but felt that he was not suitable.[7] Marsh was cast as Joanna; she had previously worked with Hartnell in Will Any Gentleman...? (1953), during which she met her husband, Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee. Adrienne Hill was also considered for the role, and read for Camfield and Lambert; they decided that she was not tall enough. Marsh recalled that she and Glover decided to act "slightly too loving for a brother and sister", which Lambert noticed and noted.[12] The European actors in foreign roles were "blacked up" for the serial by the make-up department.[7] Walter Randall was cast as El Akir, having been good friends with Camfield since working together on Gerry Halliday in 1951; Randall previously appeared in the series as Tonila in The Aztecs (1964).[13] Several other actors had also appeared in previous serials, namely Marco Polo.[11][12][14]

Filming

Early

doubled for Russell instead. Hill was released from rehearsals for "Invasion" on 18 February to film for the serial.[9]

Rehearsals for the first episode began on 1 March 1965.

tetanus shot. Camfield arranged for a cow carcass to be present during recording in order to achieve particular shots through the rotting rib cage; the carcass attracted flies and emitted an odour beneath the studio lights.[14]

Reception

Broadcast and ratings

EpisodeTitleRun timeOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)		Appreciation Index
1"The Lion"24:5627 March 1965 (1965-03-27)10.551
2"The Knight of Jaffa"†23:283 April 1965 (1965-04-03)8.550
3"The Wheel of Fortune"24:5110 April 1965 (1965-04-10)9.049
4"The Warlords"†23:4017 April 1965 (1965-04-17)9.548

^† Episode is missing

The serial was broadcast on

BBC1 in four weekly parts from 27 March to 17 April 1965. Viewership fell from the previous serial; the first episode dropped to 10.5 million views. The second episode fell to 8.5 million views, and dropped out of the top 20 for the week, as did the following two. The third and fourth episodes received 9 and 9.5 million viewers respectively, which were still considered acceptable. The Appreciation Index recovered briefly from the previous serial, moving from 51 to 48 across the four weeks.[1]

The original tapes for the second episode were

Bruce Grenville in New Zealand in January 1999, and returned to the BBC;[1][18] it was sourced from the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation,[18] who had acquired the serial in the 1960s but never screened it.[1] The second and fourth episodes remain missing, existing only through tele-snaps and off-air recordings.[19]

Critical response

Following the broadcasting of the second episode in April 1965, John Holmstrom of The New Statesman wrote that the show was failing, citing "the wooden charmlessness of the adventures".[1] Following the serial's broadcast, Bill Edmund of Television Today directed praise at Glover's performance and Whitaker's writing, declaring "the dialogue and the story ... one of the best we have had in this series".[1] Conversely, Television Mail wrote that "the appallingly flat dialogue of Dr Who could hardly be heard ... above the creaking of the plot", noting that the show should only be viewed "by people who have a profound contempt for children".[20]

Retrospective reviews were positive. In The Discontinuity Guide (1995), writers Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping praised the ambition, imagination, and maturity of the storyline, noting that it "manages to avoid racism" but not misogyny.[21] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker called The Crusade a "magnificent story", praising Hartnell's performance in the third episode as "one of his best and most intense performances as the Doctor"; they also applauded Barry Newbery's set design work and Simpson's incidental music.[3] In A Critical History of Doctor Who (1999), John Kenneth Muir wrote that The Crusade "lacks the suspense of The Aztecs, the humor of The Romans and even the complexity of The Reign of Terror", calling it "the beginning of Doctor Who's loss of interest in the 'purely' historical adventures", though wrote that he enjoyed the performances of Glover and Marsh.[2] In 2008, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times said that The Crusade was "arguably the first story where every aspect of the production works to perfection".[19] He praised the decision to split up the TARDIS crew and allow the viewer to see both sides of the Crusades, and lauded the guest cast, noting that "Walter Randall's El Akir is the most sinister character in the series to date".[19]

Commercial releases

In print

Doctor Who and the Crusaders
ISBN
978-0-426-10137-6

A novelisation of this serial, Dr Who and the Crusaders, was written by Whitaker, who added an extensive prologue and action. It was published by

Titan Books.[23]

Home media

The third episode of The Crusade was included on The Hartnell Years, when it was released on

BBC Audiobooks in August 2010, alongside an additional CD with interviews and copies of the original scripts.[23]

The first and third episodes were included on the DVD set

remastered, with the two missing episodes reconstructed using off-air photographs and the original soundtrack.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ The working titles for the second through fourth episodes were "Damsel in Distress", "Changing Fortunes", and "The Knight of Jaffa".[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Ainsworth 2016, p. 27.
  2. ^ a b Muir 1999, p. 106–107.
  3. ^ a b Howe & Walker 1998, pp. 82–83.
  4. ^ a b Ainsworth 2016, p. 14.
  5. ^ a b c d Ainsworth 2016, p. 15.
  6. ^ a b c d Ainsworth 2016, p. 17.
  7. ^ a b c d Ainsworth 2016, p. 21.
  8. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 14–15.
  9. ^ a b Ainsworth 2016, p. 20.
  10. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 20–21.
  11. ^ a b c Ainsworth 2016, p. 22.
  12. ^ a b Ainsworth 2016, p. 23.
  13. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 21–22.
  14. ^ a b Ainsworth 2016, p. 25.
  15. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 18.
  16. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 23–24.
  17. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 24.
  18. ^ a b c Ainsworth 2019, p. 152.
  19. ^ a b c Mulkern, Patrick (27 December 2008). "The Crusade". Radio Times. BBC Magazines. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  20. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 57.
  21. ^ Cornell, Day & Topping 1995.
  22. ^ a b Ainsworth 2016, p. 28.
  23. ^ a b c d e Ainsworth 2016, p. 29.
  24. DoctorWho.tv. BBC Studios. Archived
    from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  25. ^ Ainsworth 2016, p. 28–29.
  26. ^ Roberts, Steve (10 October 2004). "Lost in Time". Doctor Who Restoration Team. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  27. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (14 March 2019). "These are the Doctor Who missing stories that might never be animated". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  28. ^ a b Jeffery, Morgan (16 August 2022). "Doctor Who's Maureen O'Brien reprises Vicki role after almost 60 years". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  29. ^ "The Collection: Season 2". The TARDIS Library. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.

Bibliography

External links

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