N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

Even in a show as literate as Doctor Who has been over the decades, Ghost Light stands out as one of its most richly allusive (and, thanks to its complexity, illusive) stories: Darwin, Conan-Doyle, Mary Shelley, George Bernard Shaw, Douglas Adams, even The Beatles are all referred to at some point.

“Oh, things are getting out of control. Even I can’t play this many games at once.”

The Doctor, Ghost Light: Part Three

With a multi-layered script that turns a simple haunted house tale into a musing on the inevitability of change and evolution, Ghost Light is an adventure that rewards multiple viewing. Thanks to the extended workprint edition available on the Season Twenty-Six Blu-ray, it can now be seen something approaching its original intention.

Not that it isn’t every bit as rewarding in its broadcast form. For once, the studio-bound nature of the production actually aids in creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There’s wit — the Doctor’s remark that Nimrod had ‘gone to see a man about a God’, plenty of horror — Light’s ‘dismantled’ the servant to see ‘how it works’ and the demise of Rev. Matthews stand out. There’s also the killer combination of the comic and the gruesome for the unfortunate Inspector Mackenzie — the cream of Scotland Yard ends up in the soup.

And the Carry on fan in me couldn’t help but snigger when the Rev. Matthews gazed down at Ace’s attire and makes a comment to the Doctor about her ‘shameless wantons’.

To all that you can throw in the ever-marvellous Michael Cochrane as Redvers Fenn-Cooper. (As an aside, I’ve recently listened to his reading of the Black Orchid novelisation and rather spiffing it is too.)

“It’s very, very old. Perhaps even older.”

The Doctor, Ghost Light: Part Two

Whole books could be and indeed have been written about Ghost Light. And that’s no surprise, for Ghost Light bears well under repeated viewing, is eminently quotable and has oodles of atmosphere.

It also ticks the box of being a proto-New Adventures thanks to its having as a villain ‘an evil older than time itself’ and the Doctor is at his most manipulative, tricking Ace into confront her past fears. (What later affectionately became known as ‘Ace angst’!)

Indeed, much of what is great about Ghost Light is encapsulated in an exchange between the Doctor and Ace in Part One

I could quote vast tracts of the script here and still not do justice to how good Ghost Light is, so perhaps it’s best left to describe it with what is literally the Doctor’s last word.

‘Wicked!’