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

It’s almost twenty minutes before we see anybody else in The Wheel in Space – before that it’s just the Doctor, Jamie and a robot in artificial gravity (no artificial gravy though). It’s a great example of that slow buildup you could only get from 20th century Doctor Who – and there’s not a peep out of the Cybermen until the end of the second episode.

“… my nose. It’s like a barometer. It never lets me down. I smell trouble!”

Tanya Lernov The Wheel in Space: Episode 2

Indeed, with the ‘wheel’ setting and the drifting rocket ship, it almost feels like we’re going to get a hard SF story. Once the Cybermen arrive, it settles into your standard base-under-seige story, albeit one that’s floating in space (ladies and gentlemen), but for me, this is much more enjoyable than, say, The Tenth Planet or The Moonbase.

Leo and Tanya flirt something chronic (they are seen holding hands at the end, so they’ve clearly become “an item”); that poor leadership theme resurfaces (it is a Kit Pedlar story, after all), but David Whitaker’s script at least weaves Jarvis’s unsuitability for command into the plot this time.

“Logic … merely enables one to be wrong with authority.”

The Doctor The Wheel in Space: Episode 3

I also quite like the historical context in which he sets the wheel’s existence, that it’s potentially a group of space Luddites – Earth for Earth – responsible for the sabotage. There’s another valiant attempt at a multicultural crew with the occasional dodgy accent (Chang, I’m looking at you!).

It’s almost a shame the Cybermen have to turn up. Ironically, in plot terms it’s where things start to pick up, in Episode 5, that the story starts to drag a little for me, ostensibly because our protagonists have to start dealing with the threat of the Cybermen.

For a story I remember very little about, The Wheel in Space is actually very good. Once again, I’m surprised at its being another of these memory blind spots. To be fair, much the same was true for Fury From the Deep (although I hadn’t forgotten Mr Oak and Mr Quill – but then again how could you!).

Compared to Fury though, where ultimately nobody dies, Wheel is a bloodbath, with Duggan and especially Gemma’s deaths cutting particularly keen.

“Simple common sense works wonders sometimes, Zoe.”

The Doctor The Wheel in Space: Episode 3

Where the story really succeeds is in the introduction of Zoe Heriot. She’s a tremendous character and is properly developed through the story. ‘All brain and no heart’ might be Leo’s harsh but accurate appraisal of her early on, but Zoe realises the limitations of her experience, so much so that she tries to stow away on the TARDIS at the end. Before they leave the Doctor decides to give Zoe a preview of what she’s in for by showing her a repeat of The Evil of the Daleks – the first time since An Unearthly Child that Doctor Who had been repeated (and neatly woven into the narrative to boot).

I’m not going to revisit Evil here, but this was a significant moment. Repeats would become more common in the 70’s, if still somewhat rare, and of course nowadays with multiple channels, iPlayer and all manner of means of recording and re-watching, a repeat is not such a big deal, but in 1968, it would’ve been.

Anyhoo, judging from The Wheel in Space, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe look to have hit it off immediately. There’s a definite rapport that bodes well for the next season of adventures.

Still, I’m not sure what Zoe expects to learn from Jamie putting her across his knee and larruping her, but she seems to think it’ll be fun!