Patrick Troughton's on double-time in this under-rated (and little-preserved) Doctor Who outing...

Good old James Bond. When you think about it, 007 has a lot in common with The Doctor. Both men change their face with unnerving regularity. Both men are placed in perilous situations in order to save the world. And both men are not averse to having a leggy sidekick around to get the dads in a cross-eyed drool.

Seems that Bond’s about to take a break though, if you believe the reports - thereby ensuring that he mimics the Wilderness Years of Doctor Who in the 1990s. God knows if the powers that be will invite back Daniel Craig - a man who looks like a cross between Peter Cushing and Jeremy Kyle - whatever story they come up with though, they could do far worse than look to The Enemy Of The World for inspiration.

In a series populated by monsters, monsters and more monsters, The Enemy Of The World is only concerned with the evil that men do - in particular, one man called Salamander, who - get this - is a dead ringer for the Second Doctor. And purely by chance, The Doctor, Victoria and Jamie touch down on a sandy Australian beach, only to have their holiday hijacked - just because The Doctor resembles Salamander. What are the odds?

"Apparently, it’s possible to keep a man prisoner in a corridor"

And so begins a rather neat homage to James Bond with nasty villains, double-dealing turncoats, glamourous women and helicopter chases. The story’s been singled out as the runt of season five’s litter, which is quite a shame. Admittedly, the only surviving episode doesn’t help matters, because it’s a rather slow-moving, static affair with rather clumsy editing. Apparently, it’s possible to keep a man prisoner in a corridor - any jails should take note that this is a foolproof way of keeping prisoners protected. Oh what’s that? They didn’t have enough budget for a cell set? That would account for it, then…

The Enemy Of The World, on the whole, though, is far better than its reputation suggests. David Whitaker is back behind the typewriter, and his gift for producing three-dimensional characters is truly in evidence. Salamander is the key player here, and Patrick Troughton rises to the challenge excellently. OK, so he’s reduced to stomping around in a tacky Matador outfit and more Ronseal than David Dickinson and the Vents Dummy from The One Show put together - but the very real contrast between the amiable Second Doctor and the evil tyrant is marvellously conveyed by Troughton. Salamander is your archetypal power-mad fanatic, but he’s both deviously clever and superficially charming (in order to get what he wants). The power of his persuasion has convinced a group of unquestioning followers to remain in an underground bunker and cause a series of natural disasters which will apparently win them the war with an unseen enemy. Salamander has managed to end starvation for the population with his ability to manage solar energy - hence, he’s regarded by most as a hero, when in fact he’s been the puppet master for the whole situation.

And Salamander isn’t averse to pulling strings in order to maintain his power. Anyone that stands in his way is mercilessly disposed of: Swann, the leader of the underground dwellers discovers the truth and is bashed on the head. Denes is the target for assassination. And poor old Fedorin is killed by the same poison that he failed to put in Denes’ food.

"Presumably, Salamander’s methods of recruiting staff amounted to an ad in the local paper and a quick 5-minute talk on the phone"

Ah, Fedorin. One example of Salamander’s poor choice of staff. Presumably, Salamander’s methods of recruiting staff amounted to an ad in the local paper and a quick 5-minute talk on the phone. Fedorin is a spineless boiled egg of a man and looks like Dr Ferreiro from Pan’s Labyrinth (you know, the guy that inexplicably takes the time to clean his glasses after he’s been brutally shot). Fedorin is a born worrier, and worse still, unlike Salamander, has a conscience - a trait that proves to be his own downfall.

Still, if it’s cold-blooded sadism that you want, then Benik’s no better. Supposedly a brutal thug, Benik in fact turns out to be camper than a Danny La Rue theatre tour. Benik’s scare tactics normally involve rather effete “threats” (which actually turn out to be as threatening as Ben from EastEnders) and then getting some other lunkhead to do the dirty work. Just look at how he skips into Kent’s caravan and then gets his lackey to smash the crockery who proceeds to do so with the efficiency of a one-eyed Generation Game contestant. Actually doing any work is beyond Benik - quite how he manages to escape the Salamander method of firing people is anybody’s guess.

Of course it turns out that Kent’s been in cahoots with Salamander all along. Bill Kerr does a good job as Kent - despite his initial ’goodie’ status, you always suspect that he’s not quite as squeaky clean as he proclaims to be. In the end, though, Kent is just as much a pawn in Salamander’s game as all the others.

Even though Salamander’s sidekicks are about as effective as a feather duster in a lion taming ring, the characters themselves are still well defined by Whitaker. The coward. The do-nothing lackey. The turncoat. Even the lesser characters are actually fleshed out through convincing dialogue. Denes, for example, is shown to be a decent man, fully aware of his fate, but still cracks jokes about cutting up steak with a spoon. Griffin the Chef is another short-lived character, but through his many pessimistic lines, gives Victor Meldrew a run for his money in the Grumpy Old Sod stakes. I guess that Griffin would give as good as he gets if Gordon Ramsay stomped into his kitchen and started drowning the place in outraged phlegm at the ropey conditions.

"The lack of archive material means that it’s hard to judge The Enemy Of The World from a production point of view. Even if the third episode doesn’t set the world alight, the telesnaps suggest quite a big-scale production"

The regulars also get much to do. It’s nice to see Victoria be a bit more assertive for once, probably the only time that she’d behave in a vaguely adult manner rather than the usual screaming girl child. Jamie also gets to use his brain a lot more than usual, reacting to Salamander’s plans with shrewd intelligence. The Doctor, too, despite being in the background a lot more, also plays an important part in the story. His Salamander disguise is excellent, as is his reaction to the broken crockery. “People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them.”

The lack of archive material means that it’s hard to judge The Enemy Of The World from a production point of view. Even if the third episode doesn’t set the world alight, the telesnaps suggest quite a big-scale production. The great Barry Letts makes his debut behind the camera, and altogether, does a fine job. The big escape at the beginning is well executed, as is the final climatic showdown between The Doctor and Salamander - in particular, the split-screen techniques look rather more convincing than you might think.

An intelligent, well scripted diversion, The Enemy Of The World may have no monsters strutting up and down and going “Grrrrr” but it’s still a brave, interesting experiment that again showcases the considerable talents of Patrick Troughton.

Ian Fleming would be proud.

John Bensalhia limbered up for this mammoth task with a full four-series review of Blake's 7, and writes professionally and recreationally all over the web. Check out his portfolio of work at Wordprofectors.

Check out John's previous Doctor Who review, The Ice Warriors