Is McCoy the real Who?
- Publication: The Stage and Television Today
- Date: 1987-09-10
- Author: Angela Thomas
- Page: 17
- Language: English
IN RECENT years the appeal of Dr Who to the generations of fans who grew up on a constant diet of the time traveller's battles with daleks, cybermen and countless other exotic creatures seems to have waned.
The reasons behind this sudden dive in the popularity of one of TV's most enduring characters have of course been blamed on everything from Michael Grade's reported hatred of the flamboyant character, poor scripts, laughable monsters and ineffectual actors.
Regularly those fans among us harked back to the days when the outsize personalities of Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker made watching. the show a compulsive Saturday evening ritual.
Now we have Dr Who number seven, the little known theatre actor Sylvester McCoy who is stepping in where few actors would fear to tread in an attempt to revive the show and woo back the viewers as well as the exceptionally tolerant hard core fans.
The early scenes in his first Tardis outing suggest that McCoy, who has already proved his talent as an actor in the theatre, isn't about to ignore the strength of his predecessors.
There are constant references to the Doctor's disappointment with his new persona and there's even an amusing sequence in which he tries on the trademark outfits of his predecessors for size and finds himself obviously coming up short.
As expected, McCoy plays for laughs, concentrating on the character's newly acquired spoon-playing skills and making him almost dizzily eccentric.
As ever, this new adventure has the Doctor up against an unashamedly evil foe with odd looking sidekicks alongside some equally unusual allies.
Kate O'Mara in particular revels in her central role of the evil Rani, even pulling off a wickedly amusing impersanation of Bonnie Langford's Mel character, complete with skipping walk and squeaky voice.
But Donald Pickering, Wanda Ventham and Mark Greenstreet are left with the uneviable task of taking seriously their roles as a race of non-humans with long manes, greenish faces and suffering a strange afflication which makes them run with their arms straight at their sides. This, combined with their apparent partiality to garish clothing, ensures that they certainly don't pass by unnoticed even though they face strong competition in the weirdness stakes from the Rani's bumbling yeti-like sidekicks.
The plot such as it is involves some diabolical scheme to use the minds of the universe's top geniuses but this really remains of secondary importance to the obvious intention of using McCoy's comedic and, it would seem acrobatic talents to the full.
Whether or not this latest doctor does take off remains to be seen, especially when one notes that it is scheduled in direct opposition to viewer favourite Coronation Street, but these early episodes show that there is still some life left in this entertaining old favourite.
Caption: Who's afraid of the wicked Kate O'Mara? BONNIE LANGFORD and the new Doctor, SYLVESTER McCOY obviously aren't.
The Knights of God
WHATEVER the papers may hint at regarding the ever-growing north/ south divide in this country, it is hopefully highly improbable that in the year 2020 it will plunge Britain into a bitter Civil War, splitting the two completely, and deposing the monarchy.
In this new series, a ruthless military regime, calling itself The Knights of God, has taken over as the country's governing body, and, led by Prior Mordrin (John Woodvine), their brutal tactics ensure that anyone who crosses them will be dealt with severely.
Freedom fighter Owen Edwards (Gareth Thomas) and his son, Gervase (George Winter) are among those who rebel against the tyrannical Knights - determined to try and find the missing King of England and restore him to his rightful place on the Royal throne.
Shelved for two years because of the question of finding an acceptable transmission slot, this glossy and expensive 13-part series has at least been sold to several other countries to compensate for the fact that, even after the wait, it has ended up being shown on Sundays in the late afternoon. If the network had decided to make it that time on a Saturday, it would have been more favourable, for the public is used to action-packed family adventures such as Robin of Sherwood as well as science-fiction long-runners like Doctor Who as standard Saturday viewing, and, to be fair, it does deserve better than its present placing.
One of the problems could be that the programme planners are confused as to whom it is meant to appeal. TVS Director of Programmes, Alan Boyd, describes it as a 'boys' own adventure series' and, although that is not too far from the truth. it cannot be dismissed more sinister clement and the drama is played very much on an adult level. Beneath all this runs a strong mystical thread reminscent of an Arthurian crusade, and which leads us to believe that good will ultimately triumph over evil.
Each of the performances were excellent and Andrew Morgan's direction of the first episode, strongly atmospheric. Richard Cooper is the writer for the series and John Dale produced.
Ann Mann
Caption: PATRICK TROUGHTON: a face of resistance in Knights of God
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Thomas, Angela (1987-09-10). Is McCoy the real Who?. The Stage and Television Today p. 17.
- MLA 7th ed.: Thomas, Angela. "Is McCoy the real Who?." The Stage and Television Today [add city] 1987-09-10, 17. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Thomas, Angela. "Is McCoy the real Who?." The Stage and Television Today, edition, sec., 1987-09-10
- Turabian: Thomas, Angela. "Is McCoy the real Who?." The Stage and Television Today, 1987-09-10, section, 17 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Is McCoy the real Who? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Is_McCoy_the_real_Who%3F | work=The Stage and Television Today | pages=17 | date=1987-09-10 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=10 May 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Is McCoy the real Who? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Is_McCoy_the_real_Who%3F | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=10 May 2025}}</ref>
