The Tour fell for the trap yet again.
Without the impelling force of even a prospective series of new Doctor Who to keep the Tour Honchos noses to a collective grindstone, the notion of posting for the Tour kinds, sorta fell by the wayside (although savvy visitors know where to look to see which parts of the Tour back-end have been getting attention). This of course is an excuse.
What ‘we’ will not apologize for however is our meandering through the vast catalog of vintage British television which, although interesting in its own right, gives the Tour a better than even chance of tripping over a (hopefully completely unexpected) Doctor Who connection which never fails to delight us.
In the frame this time around is a first season episode of ‘Public Eye’ from April 1965 titled ‘The Morning Wasn’t So Hot’ with the very first Doctor Who alum Carole Ann Ford in a prominent role. More importantly, her character here is a far, far cry from Susan Foreman. Public Eye belongs to that class of 1960’s production in style and affect with the first three series of ‘The Avengers’ as the places were dingy, dirty, and claustrophobic, all of which leant a great air of immediacy to the proceedings of a down and out ‘Inquiry Agent’ played by Alfred Burke.
To modern eyes these nearly 60-year old productions can be a difficult watch in terms of pacing and/or the attitudes of the characters. But is your insatiable Doctor Who curiosity leads you here, or someplace relatively close to here, you might then want to sample other delights of the era.
In this case the journey really is the reward. As for Ford, by our reckoning this was the first thing she did after leaving Doctor Who in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. That’s pretty freakin’ cool.
