The influence of Malcolm Hulke

Will Sanger

7 minutes ago13 min read

Although many right-wing commentators and anti-woke YouTubers insist otherwise, leftist politics have always been a part of Doctor Who. This becomes clear when you realise that one of the show’s most prolific and important writers was a man with very hard left socialist beliefs which he tried to inject into his stories with a clear moral message across his work. The work and talent of Malcolm Hulke was essential to the main direction of the Jon Pertwee era and the moral direction of the series and of the Doctor. I’d like to explore the impact of Malcolm Hulke and the morals and politics of his stories, and how that influenced the vast landscape of Doctor Who.

Malcolm Hulke was born in 1924 and was a lifelong socialist rallying against capitalism and with a mistrust of authority. He was a member of the Communist Party of Britain from 1945 and underwent a lot of conflicts with the hierarchy. Hulke even had a file open on him from MI5 due to his Communist views, who kept a close eye on him. He met writer Eric Paice through the Left-Wing Unity Theatre, and through Paice he eventually started writing for television.

The left-wing views of Malcolm Hulke are exactly what make his stories so interesting and gripping. There is an adventure and intrigue to his stories but also a grounded realism, cynicism and sense of conspiracy. It makes the stories feel rooted and human with a sense of weight. Malcolm Hulke has a point to make and something valuable to say on the world, which gives a level of importance to his storytelling. He isn’t preachy, though; he unveils a story around a message in a clever manner which makes it feel focused and gripping. Hulke's values and beliefs are evident in his work, but he skilfully blends them with escapist adventure storytelling. He wrote a number of episodes of the Avengers with later Doctor Who script editor Terrance Dicks, which would pave the way for his Doctor Who contributions.

Malcolm Hulke’s Doctor Who stories all involve some kind of conspiracy. They avoid good vs evil stories with more complexity and shades of grey given to conflict. This reflects reality more closely which was an approach that was fundamentally different for Doctor Who and pioneered a fresh direction for the show, which would be followed through on in a lot of the Jon Pertwee run. They play with the tropes and expectations of a Doctor Who story rather cleverly, as nothing is as it seems. The expectations of monsters and aliens are dealt with in a manner to explore real issues relating to race with considered nuance and reality. His stories usually follow the format of a political thriller, with military or government figures often presented as the antagonists, highlighting the corrupt underbelly of human institutions. His ability to subvert and reinvent the formula of Doctor Who shows his thought and talent as a writer and was a very needed direction for Doctor Who at this point, after the monster formula of the Patrick Troughton era. His writing is inspired and refreshing and his voice shines brightly.

The Faceless Ones is the first script Malcolm Hulke wrote for Doctor Who alongside David Ellis in 1967. As with many of Hulke's stories, there's a sympathetic villain and a plot that challenges expectations. The story, however, lacks the conflict which would bring out the humanity and complex politics from later Malcolm Hulke works. There are aspects of value, but it would take later efforts for Hulke to have a transformative impact on Doctor Who.

Malcolm Hulke’s role as a continuous guest writer on Doctor Who began in 1969. Terrance Dicks was the script editor at the time and was tasked with a ten-part conclusion to Patrick Troughton’s tenure in a very short space of time, so he brought in his friend Malcolm Hulke to help him. The War Games is one of the best crafted Doctor Who stories out there and a fantastic and very emotional and tragic conclusion to the Second Doctor era. The War Games is focused on delivering tragedy for the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, and it succeeds in it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an undercurrent of political messaging and subtext running through the story. There is anti-war messaging woven into it. It makes a point about the purposelessness and violence of war fought for an engineered political agenda in nationalistic efforts and the story shines a light on the values of pacifism.

It wasn’t until the Silurians, though, with Malcolm Hulke writing solo where his politics and viewpoints would properly emerge. Hulke had a massive influence on the Pertwee era and its direction. The exiled to earth format of the Third Doctor era had a lot of supposed limitations which the production team and writers creatively worked around. Writing the second story of the Third Doctor, I think Hulke created a lot of the realism and grounded tone of the Jon Pertwee run. The Silurians, being the previous inhabitants of the earth with a claim to the planet, creates a relatable conflict and also is an inspired way of adding variety to the exiled to earth format. The conflict of the story has nuance in a way that was forward thinking and out of the box for the show at the time, it would very much pave the way for the future of the series.

The long seven-part structure gives the Silurians the breathing room to fully develop itself and you get a lot of texture and character development as a result. It makes sense to give the Silurians different personalities; they aren’t a race purely defined by good and evil, they are a race full of a mix of different attitudes and beliefs, which is far more truthful and believable. It gives the story a political backbone and conflict, grounding it in something real. The politics and debate of the Silurians surrounding war and peace skilfully stems from the writing and the story, but it still relates to parts of our world and society and has something valuable to say on topical issues. On one side there’s a lot of inward conflict between the humans in the story, and when you then move over to the Silurians you see it’s the same situation. Its irrational fear and bigoted biases and conspiracy which is taking hold and motivating the main decisions of the characters. It reflects the fact that people are closed minded and won’t look at the grander picture of peace and progression, and will only think of things in simple terms to retain tradition. It ties into themes and issues of immigration and race and invokes feelings of the rise of the National Front and far right racial movement at the time with Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech. The story tackles race in a challenging manner, which gets to the root of people’s fear and racism and shows it from a two sided, nuanced and sympathetic angle. The Doctor’s promotion and determination for peace between the humans and Silurians across the story also cleverly mirrors the Détente period and cooling of tensions between the United States and Soviet Union. The conflict is tied together and feels like a deliberate advocate and promotion for peace and finding a way for two ways of life to tolerate one another to prevent further catastrophe, and it resonates deeply.

Malcolm Hulke is a writer with a lot of stubbornness, but he still portrays ulterior characters with a lot of texture. You get this with the relationship between the Doctor and the Brigadier. The Doctor is naturally a character of anti-authority whereas the Brigadier is an establishment figure, so there is inherently a lot of conflict between them. The Brigadier is a fitting tool for a mockery of the shortcomings and limitations of the military mindset. He is still portrayed with a needed nuance with the Brigadier’s want to protect his men, which makes him a sympathetic character. The Third Doctor was naturally a very rebellious character clashing with establishment figures across his run, which was set off in the Silurians. The attitude towards figures of authority and civil servants reflects the politics of Hulke’s own distrust of authority. This was something present in public consciousness at the time with John Profumo’s affair having happened under a decade earlier. The Silurians is a complex story with a dark ending and there is a point to be made about peace and racial tensions, which stands to this day, and it makes that point admirably.

The Ambassadors of Death was written by David Whitaker but is commonly understood to be mostly rewritten by Malcolm Hulke, and you can feel the flavour of his writing. The Ambassadors of Death is a popular story in some corners, but it's never been one I’ve been able to fully connect with. The story seems very cluttered and confused from where I stand. That being said, you clearly have the political themes of Hulke’s work running through. I appreciate the aliens being these mysterious ambassador figures who have come in peace. The true conflict is created by General Carrington and his irrational fear, which shines a light on military characters of authority with a selfish agenda.

The other important thing to consider is how Malcolm Hulke influenced the writing of the Doctor himself. The Doctor has always been a caring character who helps those who are in need. However, the characterisation is different depending on which version of the Doctor and the show you are watching. There was more of a focus before this point on standing up to evil and stopping the monsters, it was in the Pertwee era where the Doctor became a much more open pacifist. He is someone who cares for and sees value in all forms of life. The Third Doctor has a level-headed and reasonable nature that I love. I think this would have happened anyway, but with the left wing and skilled writing of Malcolm Hulke, the compassion, care and warmth of the Doctor really comes alive mainly triggered in the Silurians. The Third Doctor is open-minded and willing to listen and understand which I love and clearly advocates for peace. You get a lot of wisdom, intelligence, care and passion in Jon Pertwee’s performance who really thrives with the drama he is given by Malcolm Hulke. It helped him to define his Doctor and helped the character to grow and evolve. You can’t imagine the Doctor now without an open sense of compassion for all life and the Pertwee era nailed this down as a defining feature.

Malcolm Hulke had an incredible impact on the Pertwee era as a whole and his work had transformative results in a lot of ways. Without the level-headed nuance, grounded humanity and darkness of his scripts, I don’t think the Third Doctor run would have gone in the same direction. The Silurians made the way for the likes of the Curse of Peladon, the Mutants and the Green Death.

Malcolm Hulke made his mark on Season 7, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t write other valuable stories across the Pertwee era. Colony in Space isn’t a very well-regarded story, but I think it's very underrated and deserves more praise. It has humane issues with the failing of settlers' crops threatening their very survival and the danger of corporate and imperialist oppression. I like how it's designed to look like a monster focused story with monstrous threats terrorising and causing issues for the settlers. This is fantastically unexpectedly flipped and subverted as the conflict of the story is all engineered by humans. IMC have used trickery for their own ends to terrorise and scare the colonists away. It looks like a traditional monster story with the colonists’ lives at threat at the start only for the real danger and enemy to be a human and capitalist, one which is very relatable. There is a wonderful unfolding of political tensions with nuanced and complicated viewpoints and perspectives on the situation. It’s a very passionate advocate for human rights and a story which terrifically exposes the flaws and dangers of the capitalist system and the way it oppresses ordinary people. It's very relevant to the 1970s with the industrial action and ongoing strikes of the time and the pro-capitalist and anti-union aims of Edward Heath’s government. The story is an advocate for ordinary people standing against oppressive forces and standing for their rights and is both very thematically and morally sound in its objectives.

In Season 9, Malcolm Hulke turned in what is probably the most politically tame of all his stories. The Sea Devils' is action focused with a comforting feel, but there is still relevant messaging to be found. The themes of war and peace bring weight with a lot of depth and morality. The story examines the shortcomings of patriotism and shows the evil and horrid things people are willing to do in the name of the Queen’s country. It demonstrates the stupidity of the glorification of Britain’s Empire and the awful things that were done for it. The corrupt selfishness and motivations of characters like Trenchard and Walker adds a sense of layers and conflict to the serial with decisions made out of ignorance and bigotry. It's the weight which makes the story effortlessly compelling and entertaining.

For Season 10 Malcolm Hulke wrote Frontier in Space, which was a complex tense political thriller with scale and variety taking place across the universe with unfolding tensions and conflict. What I love about the political conflict within Frontier in Space is that like most Malcolm Hulke adventures, you have complex and layered characters. This creates an ideal unfolding plot with two empires put against each other. The Draconians are a fascinating race of aliens who aren’t purely good or evil. They are full of honour, morality and wisdom but narrow minded with some backwards viewpoints and a harsh mentality and system. The tactics of the Master and the weaponising of lies and provoking of tensions creates a complex and rewarding narrative plot. You have a political system which is very easy to exploit to devastating and violent consequences. Under the leadership of Malcolm Hulke, you were always going to have a story that delved deep into the consequences of military conquest and imperialism with a spawning earth empire. The story terrifically shows the collapse of a democratic system as, through military conquest and control, things are falling more into military brutality and dictatorship. It has appropriate mirrors to the brutality and injustice of the British Empire and the forceful cruelty against marginalised and innocent groups. The Lunar penal colony the Doctor is imprisoned on brings evocative feelings and parallels to the penal colonies in Australia. The unstable tensions make the story unpredictable and gripping with a lot of moral and political depth.

Malcolm Hulke wrote his last script for Doctor Who in Season 11, Jon Pertwee’s last season as the Doctor with Invasion of the Dinosaurs. The story is often mocked for the dinosaurs, which look terrible even by the standards of the time. However, Invasion of the Dinosaurs is a simply fantastically crafted story with a well thought out moral message and hidden layers of conspiracy which are gripping. The dinosaurs are clearly there to entice and entertain the younger audience, but underneath there is a mature, grounded and thought-provoking adult story with something to say about the world.

Malcolm Hulke creates a layered plot that cleverly avoids superficial surprises and reveals meaningful ones. There turns out to be a lot of figures of authority working against the Doctor, Sarah Jane and UNIT and their investigation into the dinosaurs. The scope of establishment and authority figures with Professor Whitaker, General Finch, Sir Charles Grover and even Captain Yates, all involved in Operation Golden Age, reflects the mistrust of Malcolm Hulke towards those who wield power. You have a group of seemingly progressive idealists who want the best for the world but with a more insidious side to them with hardened and dangerous beliefs if you dig beneath the surface. There is a hardened belief system and authoritarian side to Operation Golden Age, which makes the characters cruel and calculating. The oppressive attitude of Operation Golden Age shows that we shouldn’t trust dangerous figures of authority to solve the world's problems, as they will wield the system to their advantage. Operation Golden Age has a sense of superiority and has inhumane and unforgivable results. It reflects the attitudes of a lot of the Green Movement at the time with Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb book from 1968 and his very drastic suggestions. It feels like Malcolm Hulke is getting a lot off his chest on the real root of the pollution problem being in the capitalist system, which needs to be taken down. He feels like someone with a lot of political conviction and feels like he has something to contribute to the topic with a worthwhile message on how we should tackle the environmental crisis.

Malcolm Hulke’s stories cover a broad range of political topics and deep moral conversations. It's perhaps his distaste for deception that made way for his want to lay out the basics of television, make the industry accessible and unmask the truth with his books: Writing for Television and the Making of Doctor Who which he co-wrote with Terrance Dicks.

Malcolm Hulke’s upfront political statements and nuanced writing certainly influenced the progression of Doctor Who immensely. He would be turning in his grave if he heard fans claiming his stories weren’t political in nature. This goes to show that critiques that something is “too political” have very little merit and the real target should be in the execution of the politics and how well things are meshed into an adventure story. Malcolm Hulke sadly passed away in 1979, but his legacy continues and this statement from him I feel puts things best when it comes to politics in Doctor Who:

“It’s a very political show. Remember what politics refers to, it refers to relationships between groups of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean left or right … so all Doctor Who’s are political, even though the other group of people are reptiles, they’re still a group of people.”

Malcolm Hulke