The 8th of March marks International Women’s Day and there have certainly been many female voices which have contributed to Doctor Who history, including Verity Lambert as the first female producer at the BBC. Yet it would shockingly take 20 years before the show had its first female writer with Barbara Clegg penning Enlightenment. The serial is also Doctor Who’s first story to be both written and directed by a woman and has a very prominent female villain leading things with Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack. With all of this in mind, I thought it would be worth delving into.
The story commences with the Doctor receiving a warning from the White Guardian of incoming grave danger. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find themselves in what seems to be an Edwardian sailing yacht but is in fact a spaceship in the middle of a deadly race heading towards the power and reward of Enlightenment. They find themselves faced with the Eternals, a group of immortal godlike characters using human beings for ideas and entertainment. A competitor ship of Eternals led by Captain Wrack proves to be especially dangerous, slowly picking off the other ships in order to win. In the midst of all this, Turlough is grappling with immense moral conflict as he must decide if his loyalties are with the Black Guardian or the Doctor.
There is a heavy and dramatic weight right from the start of the story which Barbara Clegg creates which I think is very meaningful and has a lot of substance behind it. The message the Doctor gets from the White Guardian sets things up for thrilling drama. The presence of the Guardians as eternal beings representing the state of light, darkness and order within the universe lets the audience know that the stakes are high and immediately puts a sense of danger in place. We know when the Doctor last faced the Black Guardian within the Tom Baker era that the order and chaos of the universe was at stake. It's a clever way for Barbara Clegg to give the story and events a sense of importance automatically. It gives the Doctor a purpose and a mission which drives the story and the movement of the plot. The ambiguous clues within the White Guardians message also allow a neat mystery early on.
The setting on board what seems to be an Edwardian sailing yacht in Part One of the story creates an intriguing environment and atmosphere. I really love and adore the cliff-hanger to Part One and the reveal that the yacht is in fact a spaceship. Not only does it open up that glorious and spectacular image of sailing ships floating through space, which is very striking, but it opens up the possibilities of the story.
The race and competition between different ships automatically becomes much more engrossing, especially with the goal and prize of enlightenment and what that means. It encompasses a lot of fascinating themes regarding greed and what the truth of the understanding of enlightenment actually means, which is a gripping mystery to uncover. Barbara Clegg manages to fill the concept of enlightenment and her take on it with a lot of intellectual morality with a focus upon the decision and conflict between good and evil which helpfully works in the Guardians. The story and conflict have a fulfilling moral message at the heart of it which ties into Turlough’s character arc in a meaningful way.
All the immortal characters in the story are mysterious and morally questionable to some degree, so I will discuss them in the context of a villain and concept; even if some don’t neatly fit into that in the way which you would expect, which only makes the story more interesting. The Eternals are the main villains across the story who I love. They are a rather cool take on immortality as creatures who are worn out, tired and bored and crave the creativity and imagination of mortal beings or Ephemerals as they call them for their own pleasure and satisfaction. There is something very disturbing and creepy about that idea. I really like the way they appropriate and use human culture for their own amusement. The different ships represent different parts of humanity’s history with an Edwardian ship, a Pirate ship, a Greek ship and more. There is something hideous about the idea of mortal beings being used as tools that is a great idea. The way the Eternals use the ambition of humanity, can see through their minds and use their emotion and depend upon what drives them is a really disconcerting concept but makes the Eternals feel very sympathetic at the same time. As mortal beings we are very in touch with emotion and imagination and try to use our limited time to great achievement. The idea that the Eternals have lost that and are drained of all passion and drive is something we can’t relate to and is out of touch with our experience. You somewhat pity the Eternals as a result of this. The way they use us and create things using minds and memories feels like an invasion of privacy. It feels intrusive, and yet they see nothing wrong with it, which is a scarily different sense of values.
There is a statement about class in the story which is very clever. The way the Eternals treat the Ephemerals, the way they talk down to them, patronise them and treat them as lesser beings reflects the treatment of the upper-class towards the working class which I like. This is done very bluntly in some regards with the Eternals being upper class officers who treat the crew in an unfavourable manner.
The performances from the Eternals are very well portrayed and you have competing variants across different ships. On the Shadow Captain Striker is the main Eternal, played by Keith Barron. The detached coldness of his performance works in the manner of what the Eternals are meant to be. There is a prickly mystique and an upper-class relish and callousness in his performance that feels uncomfortable. Striker has an attitude that is out of kilter with humanity, and it works for the character. You also have Marriner, who is played by Christopher Brown and a brilliant creation. What makes Marriner so wonderful is his ambiguous motives and the way he shines a different light on and shows a different side of the Eternals. His deep interest and the way he lives emotions through Tegan is quite frankly uncomfortable as he becomes somewhat unpleasant simply through his want to understand a human life. I love the way Christopher Brown plays that loyalty and the clingy dependency. He has a kind of sense of care, and you do question if he would have the capability to understand and value the life of a mortal, but his motives truly come from a place of elitism and insidiousness that feels prickly and weird. His feelings seem to reflect that of human love, and you question if there are some resembled feelings between Eternals and Ephemerals, some joint values and similarities. However, the story excellently exposes how the Eternals have truly lost the capacity to see or feel things that way and how their lives, thought processes and emotions exist on a different track. It’s a simply fantastic in depth look at how the Eternals see the universe.
Lynda Baron plays Captain Wrack, the central villain and antagonist on the rival ship, the Buccaneer. Lynda Baron would go onto play a role in Closing Time during Matt Smith’s era and I remember her from watching the children’s series Come Outside growing up and is certainly a well-known face. Barron has such a presence across the story and is very much a contrast to the way Keith Barron plays Striker. Captain Wrack very much takes on the criminal Pirate captain image and feel whereas Striker resembles a captain of official duty and as a result there are different flavours to their characters. Lynda Baron is wild and brings a characterful and lively presence to the role that I just love. Captain Wrack can be very charming and charismatic with a gentleness and warm and trusting personality, but it’s all a ruse. It’s a delight to see her character flip to the unpredictable, vile ruthlessness under the surface. Wrack has a pleasing degree of pleasure and relish in her wickedness that is wonderfully calculated. Lynda Baron dials up her performance to create a degree of fun and campiness that is entertaining to watch but always present in danger and expression. The man-eating seductiveness of Wrack creates a formidable villain that doesn’t feel gratuitous, but an unmatched force who outsmarts and uses those around them to their advantage, which is thrilling to see unfold. Lynda Baron is certainly a refreshing presence of a villain and has her own character and energy. Her first mate Mansell, played by Leee John, is also having a lot of fun and fits well with Lynda Baron’s performance. I was disappointed by how quickly they are both cast aside and disposed of and a lack of a satisfying confrontation with the Doctor and pleasing ending for their characters.
Time to look at the return of the Guardians, the powers of light and darkness. Valentine Dyall returns as the Black Guardian who had a presence in the whole of the Black Guardian trilogy with Turlough’s character. I think there is a lot more opportunity for Valentine Dyall to express the evil of the Black Guardian than he was given in Season 16 with the Armageddon Factor. He is a personification of the powers of darkness and represents the ultimate temptation of greed and evil impulses. There is a spookiness and evil presence that weighs over Turlough, which I like a lot. Cyril Luchham, as the White Guardian, in contrast has much more wisdom and gentlemanly warmth. The faceoff at the end with Turlough’s decision and morality on the line is very rewarding and uses the Guardians in a much more interesting way than they were in the Key to Time arc. The themes of light and darkness is a very Star Wars kind of idea, but it’s personified appropriately and feels relevant to the character driven storyline.
Let’s take a look at Peter Davison and his performance as the Fifth Doctor. What I like about him in this story is the blend between youth and age which he offers. Right from the start there is a harassable and irritable side to him that is somewhat intolerant of others and reflects that of an elderly man. His Doctor sees himself as a figure of senior authority and therefore is less than forgiving of Turlough not following his instructions. Yet there is also a panicked and lively vulnerability to him which is good. There is an innocence to the Fifth Doctor that I really enjoy. There is a prominent worry, weight and age in the Doctor after his conversation with the White Guardian. You get an understanding of the peril which they are in from the Doctor and Peter Davison’s facial acting. I especially like the sensitivity of Peter Davison’s Doctor. There is something somewhat affectionate and understanding about him that feels true to the character.
However, I think the Doctor's relationship with Turlough brings out a different side of the Fifth Doctor. You can see an underlying sense of suspiciousness within Peter Davison’s performance; a knowledge and awareness that Turlough is untrustworthy and up to no good but is keeping his cards close to his chest. I love the way the Doctor subtly prods and influences Turlough. He is an optimistic figure and wishes for the best and tries to challenge Turlough’s morality and help him make the right decision. The Doctor’s judgement of Turlough and that moral presence helps influence Turlough to do good and I like the contrast in that relationship between characters of different values. I also really love the Doctors confrontation with Striker. The Doctor's sense of intrigue of the Eternals but vulnerable powerlessness and moral outrage is a brilliant moment within the story and very well played.
Turlough, played by Mark Strickson, is a character who up to this point had felt like a very whiny and angsty schoolboy and the potential in his character hadn’t been delivered. However, Barbara Clegg writes Turlough in a way that demonstrates the most interesting qualities in his character and allows him to truly shine with greatness. Turlough is a contrast to that of the Doctor and his sensitive moral character. Mark Strickson succeeds through the selfishness, greed, and cowardly individualism which he brings to Turlough. It’s a part of the character which is sold continually in a very effective way. Turlough is willing to sacrifice others to save his own skin. He has a sense of self preservation and seems to value his own life more than those around him which is part of what makes him interesting. He is largely motivated by power and greed but is overconfident and arrogant. He is very naïve to the wickedness of the manipulation of Wrack. You have a fleshed out character which the audience can fully grasp the feelings and motivations of.
What I like about Turlough’s journey in this story as opposed to the rest of the Black Guardian trilogy is the way it handles his conflict. Barbara Clegg uses Turlough’s moral conflict and inability to kill the Doctor for his own freedom as part of the redemption of Turlough in his character arc. It shows that Turlough has some moral values and won’t sacrifice everything for power, which is what separates him from the evil of Wrack in the themes of the story. There is a sensitivity and naivety to Turlough and a relationship with the Doctor that resonates. The final conflict for Turlough is a decision between selfishness and selflessness and it’s nice to see his character come full circle and align with the Doctor. There is a sensitivity to the writing of Turlough that feels nicely emotional, and character based and wonderfully lacking in traditional masculine ambitions and stereotypes.
Tegan Jovanka, played by Janet Fielding, was also not always the best handled character and yet I think Enlightenment gives much more of a role for her to play, with a focus upon her character and the emotional impact of the events around her. The stress and turmoil of what she’s going through is effectively felt through the script and Janet Fielding’s performance. Her room being a mix of her past and merge of her room at home and room on the Tardis is a very creepy idea. It creates a tangible fear and uncomfortable disconcertion in the drama of the character, feeling an invasion of privacy and lack of trust. Her feeling of being isolated and paranoid with the menace of the peculiar characters around her means you effectively see the story through her eyes. The way she is continually pursued by Marriner feeling ogled and treated as an object and possession makes the events an uncomfortable experience for Tegan and you feel for her. Marriner’s pursuit of Tegan is somewhat reflective of the sexism women frequently go through and the way it’s written is something I don’t think you would get from a man.
Enlightenment is directed by Fiona Cumming, who had previously directed Castrovalva and Snakedance and would go onto direct Planet of Fire in the following season. Fionna Cumming immediately fills Enlightenment with a dark vibe and sense of urgency. The dark orange lighting of the Tardis on low power in the first scene gives it an atmosphere that feels mysterious and unordinary with brilliant stakes. The scene of Tegan talking to the White Guardian with the threat of Marriner on the monitor behind her is framed perfectly with a sense of tension and scariness. There is an intimacy to the scenes on the ship and an organicness to the conversations that helps to drive things very well. The framing of characters in the scenes and the way they interact is designed in a way to create conflict in a dramatic way which I like. The pan up and reveal of Captain Wrack works especially well as a way to sell her dominating and powerful authority, and the focus in on Turlough’s decision during his conflict at the climax of the story allows the performance to shine.
So, overall, what do I think of Enlightenment? I think it’s an amazing story and quite easily the highlight of Season 20. The story has a lot of imagination and stakes in it. The idea of these Eternals using mortals as a form of entertainment is horrifying and I think Captain Striker and Captain Wrack are great villains in very different ways and Marriner offers an interesting insight into the Eternals. Barbara Clegg was very ahead of her time in the emotionally focused and character driven storytelling she offered and it’s a shame she was never asked back. Her voice is certainly a refreshing one in the era and demonstrates the value of women’s creative voice in Doctor Who and diversifying talent.
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