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

For some reason, I had read the novelisation of Timelash long before seeing the episodes themselves.

I’m not sure if reading the book prepared me to be disappointed or more forgiving of the story’s faults. Regardless, it must’ve been fairly early in my own days of being a fan as I wasn’t aware that it was a sequel to an unseen adventure.

At that point many Third Doctor tales were unfamiliar to me, so for all I knew, it had been seen by viewers in the early 70’s. It’s actually one of the things I like about Timelash, doubtless obscure as it must’ve seemed in 1985 with hardly any access to old Doctor Who stories — Target novelisations notwithstanding. Did casual viewers frantically search their memories for the Third Doctor and Jo’s trip to Karfel? (Probably not.)

All of which is a long-winded way of saying I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Timelash.

“It lacks sparkle. There’s no reflection. It’s all so matt and lifeless. Even the goblets don’t shine.”

Peri, Timelash: Part One

It’s not, however, a strong story for Peri, who gets captured and has to scream a lot. It’s also never made clear how she knows the Daleks had time corridor technology or recognises Jo Grant, but we’ll let those pass.

The underwriting of the female companion is perhaps not the only way in which the story seems like a throwback to the 60’s, what with the Doctor turning up to help a bunch of weak rebels and one of the villains dialling his Larry Olivier impersonation up to 11.

Indeed, given the general drabness of the sets, I was tempted to turn down the colour and watch it in black-and-white. For one, the DVD photo gallery suggests that it all might look a bit better in monochrome.

“Avaunt thee, foul fanged fiend!”

Herbert, Timelash: Part One

But the notion of the Doctor unwittingly giving H. G. Wells his ideas is a neat conceit and I like how some of them are incorporated into the plot — invisibility, warring worlds, genetic experimentation and of course a time machine — even if in this case Herbert does comes across as Doctor Who‘s literary equivalent of Adric. It’s also quite nice that the Doctor doesn’t immediately turn to Wells and say ‘I’m your biggest fan!’

Elsewhere, Paul Darrow enjoyably chews the scenery which, by the looks of it, must’ve tasted pretty bland and tinselly and Robert Ashby’s make-up and performance as the Borad have been rightly praised over the years. (But let’s not mention the Bandril sock puppets.)

“Bad? Bad? Doh. Bad?”

The Doctor, Timelash: Part One

Structurally though, Timelash is a bit of mess. Leaving aside the grotesque five minutes of padding in the middle of Part Two, (which together with obvious changes of hairstyle for the Doctor and Peri, grinds the story to a complete halt from which it never really recovers) it’s tempting to speculate how much better might Timelash have been as a single 45 minute episode or if stopping the Bandril invasion had been better woven into the main plot. It would at least mean the Doctor would have only had to kill the Borad once!

Timelash will never be considered one of the great Doctor Who stories, and indeed may well rank amongst its lesser lights. Faint praise this might seem, but the Doctor’s struggle with Karfel tunnel syndrome is certainly not the worst adventure he’s ever had; it’s not even my least favourite Sixth Doctor story.

And if nothing else Timelash did one thing right: my son was genuinely and pleasantly surprised when Herbert was revealed to be H. G. Wells!