Horror Who Part II: The Hinchcliffe & Holmes Influence
Guest contributor Connor Farley on how more Hinchcliffe era influences could elevate the modern era.
We are fast approaching the tenth anniversary of the first episode of ‘NuWho,’ Rose, airing on 26th March 2005. Over NuWho’s ten-year run, there haven’t been many things to gripe about for fans. The production values of the show have been better than the Classics, the special effects and also in some instances the monsters from week to week. However, the chief grievance from most Whovians is the quality of writing we have had, expressly in the current Moffat era.
Subjectively, if I were to ostracise the Moffat era of 2010-current, I would concur with the complaints of the fans. I recognised Matt Smith’s tenure as the Eleventh Doctor to be a tremendous let-down, as his Doctor’s characteristics and some of the plots in his episodes did not appeal to me as a fan. That said, Moffat did reinstate himself with three unbelievable scripts in Capaldi’s first series as the Twelfth Doctor (Deep Breath, Listen and Dark Water). While I felt, Moffat’s fourth script of the last series Death in Heaven was lacking real plot. I found Dark Water to be especially compelling for the full 45 minutes and it made me want to hope that Doctor Who would uniformly be as evocative and eerie as that episode was.
In stark disparity to Moffat’s recent endeavours, I want readers to cast their minds back to the thirteenth season of Classic Doctor Who. The second with the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and the first with Philip Hinchcliffe as producer and Robert Holmes as script editor. Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks, another famous pairing had departed the show after Genesis of the Daleks, one of the most celebrated Who stories of all time. They both left on what they deemed was an unbeatable high. However, in my mind what came subsequently was far more exciting for Doctor Who. The assignment of 29-year-old Philip Hinchcliffe into the position of producer and then established Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes and Dicks’ replacement. Hinchcliffe was the youngest producer of Doctor Who at the time to be appointed. He was a young fellow with brilliant ideas, and ideas that would for two whole seasons of Doctor Who prove to be Einstein ideas.
Having worked already on the Doctor Who team the previous season from Robot to Genesis of the Daleks adjacent to then producer Barry Letts. Hinchcliffe’s aspiration for the already popular science fiction show was to make it more adult and more disturbing for the viewers at home.
Alongside his most esteemed writer Robert Holmes, Hinchcliffe took influences from his favourite genre of movie Hammer Horror and successful horror novels such as Frankenstein, The Tempest and comprising Victorian gothic horror in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He made the show itself notably viewable for the preponderance of viewers, but he relished playing with the extremes, such as with violence, so most children were not encouraged to view. Each story from Terror of the Zygons to The Talons of Weng-Chiang was intense, atmospheric and immersed in iniquity and mystery.
Hinchcliffe’s style of storytelling with Who may not have appealed to the children viewers of the show. But the victory of it overall was self-evident in the viewing numbers each week, invariably peaking at 10 million viewers, with the peak being Part One of The Robots of Death in 1977. Hinchcliffe’s influence embedded into Holmes’ pure narrative was a match made in horror and television heaven.
So, based on the success (in my eyes) of Dark Water as an episode in Series 8. I am going to take a look at how I think bringing back influences from horror like in 1975-77 under Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes would intensify Capaldi’s twelfth incarnation of the Doctor.
Initially, the re-emergence of horror influences back into Doctor Who would enhance Capaldi’s Doctor’s characteristics. Even Steven Moffat himself said ‘Capaldi magnifies anything that is dark’ in his most current interview in Doctor Who Magazine. This would cater to Peter because the horror influences would mostly overrun any other aspect of the prose and so allow Capaldi to feel confident with playing the gloomy Scotsman he portrays as his incarnation. In turn, Capaldi’s magnification of the darker aspects of the episodes would further put attention on the importance of whatever is at stake in the adventure that particular week. With the way in which Capaldi’s Doctor is acting it would intensify the situation and make it much more compelling and shocking to the viewer. Especially if something left field such as a central or supporting character dying unexpectedly happens in the story. In short, it would play more to the great depths of Capaldi as an actor and the manner of his Doctor.
The embodiment of horror influences would also improve the quality of the monstrosities that the Doctor is facing on a more consistent basis. While, in NuWho, the monsters have tended to feel very modern and fun, in addition to scary, there have been some notable flops in the pile over the years. Need I mention the Abzorbaloff of the Series 2 episode Love & Monsters and the Slitheen from Series 1. Both of which look remarkably comparable in form. Recently, monsters have been appearing that would pass as scary monsters or monsters that could be included in the most frightening adventures of Who from the 70’s and still hold up well in some respects. These include the Weeping Angels, the Clockwork Droids of Series 8 and the Teller from Series 8. If Moffat was to start taking influence from gothic horror and other forms of horror. We might see fewer shoddy monsters and more scary and relatable monsters, examples including mutations of human life and wild animalistic alien forms of life.
In conclusion, if Moffat was to consider an air of darkness for future series with Peter Capaldi like he attempted half-heartedly in Series 8. And if he aspired to get more scares out of the fans for more compelling viewing. He only needs to look at what Philip Hinchcliffe did for the show. He may also find his writing begins to get more intense and exciting, which was necessary for an extended period of time.
I heartily believe that by doing this. He would be operating more to the strengths of Capaldi and the Twelfth Doctor themselves and it would make him a possible fan favourite with Tom Baker, which is what Moffat has been trying to push since 2013. Here’s to a second reign of Horror Who in the future.
