Starring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Keith Barron, Liza Tarbuck & Nicholas Briggs
Written by Mark Morris
Directed by Barnaby Edwards
Stockbridge used to be such a lovely place. The loveliest village in all England, according to the guide books. But hardly anyone visits Stockbridge now: a few tourists, a couple of Trust guides, the odd beady-eyed crow.
But something is coming to Stockbridge. Something which turns village cricketers into ravening zombies - a plague such as the Earth has never seen, falling through history from a time when humanity's greatest enemy was a race known as the Daleks.
The Doctor and Nyssa visit Stockbridge for the final time, to confront the terrible secret buried at it's heart. The storm clouds are gathering...
The final part of the Stockbridge trilogy sees The Doctor and Nyssa propelled into the future, where Stockbridge sits under a enviroment bubble. This story therefore has to end the whole arc, satisfactorily resolve the cliffhanger from The Eternal Summer, trying to do something novel with the Daleks and tell a good story at the same time. In most of these circumstances, Plague Of The Daleks suceeds, however there are massive flaws with the story, particularly with regards to the Daleks treatment and the conclusion of threads in the trilogy.
Certainly, the story has some wonderful ideas at it's heart, particularly the idea that the Daleks have laid in wait for The Doctor for centuries and that Stockbridge has become a trap for The Doctor. The simple idea that the Daleks have infiltrated something that The Doctor cares about so much is an excellent one, and the ramifications of that is one that allows the trilogy to have an especially dark ending. Most oftern, these main range trilogies oftern have light endings, so it's quite rare for one to end in such a dark place. And that doom ridden feeling permiates throughout the play, giving it an atmosphere completely different to the previous two plays. It's good to have that difference in the story, however the storyline needed the continuity of tone throughout the trilogy. Therefore, it's very difficult to connect this story to the rest of the trilogy, because of it's tonal differences. The story itself, however, does seem to centre solely around the idea of zombies and Daleks setting a trap. Nothing really seems to be massively deep, but instead it suffers from trying to be based around a singular idea that has been fused with the Stockbridge trilogy to make it fit in. Certain arcs in this trilogy aren't really payed off, for example, Susan Brown's character only appears for one scene in the story. It's a shame, really, because there were some interesting ideas in the first two which seem to have fallen to the wayside. This story really ends up with a pulp feel, something that a shame, because the first two stories are really, really fresh and different. This has a 'seen it, done it all before' feel, which is a real shame, because there are some good ideas.
The characters in this one are a rather basic lot, sadly. Certainly Issac and Lysette Barclay have some interesting facets, however the Linfoot's are a rather basic couple, with simple ideas behind them. The rest of the characters are sadly very forgettable and the Daleks act with generic ideas. The cast are quite good, however, especially Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Keith Barron and Liza Tarbuck. However, the rest of the cast are a bit average. However, the four mentioned characters above are wonderful, with Keith Barron and Liza Tarbuck really convincing us with a really lovely father/daughter relationship. Peter and Sarah are really given some beautiful material, Nyssa being trapped in Stockbridge with even The Doctor being defeated by the Daleks and The Doctor having to see Stockbridge destroyed in a ball of fire. They really raise the story above what they could have been.
Plague Of The Daleks is a good story that suffers from just being a little too average. It isn't a great story, and it is a little too average for it's own good, but strong ideas and performances make it much better. Let's just say Plague Of The Daleks doesn't ruin the Stockbridge trilogy, but it just taints it a little.
TARDIS Rating - 7/10
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