The Doctor has faced a lot of alien threats across 60 years with the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Toymaker and his archenemy, the Master. However, some of the greatest Doctor Who threats also come from earth; ordinary people wielding enormous oppression and power, and from that we’ve had some excellent performances and characters. It has turned out that all the villains on this list come from the original series, mostly because those serials had more time to make room for threatening human dangers. Without any further delay, let’s get started!!!
10.) Helen A played by Sheila Hancock
The Happiness Patrol was ridiculed for years but has a complex darkness under the surface and Helen A, played by Sheila Hancock, is at the centre of the story. I think what defines Helen A is her shortsighted and narrow minded mindset of happiness, meaning and joy in life. In her view, anyone who shows any misery, dissatisfaction or emotional distress is simply causing problems. They're not taking the opportunities she has offered them and must be swiftly dealt with, which makes her a rather cruel and callous character in personification. It flips the expectations of a Doctor Who story about freeing the oppressed and those in need by dealing with a happy society. However, it’s only artificially happy. Under the surface there is nothing worthy of joy, which Helen A just cannot see. What I love about Sheila Hancock’s performance is the way her joy and pleasure start to crumble. You can see frustration and anger getting to her, but the character is trying to hold it back being shamed by the society which she has created and enforced. Her performance very much mirrors the harshness, dominance and uncompromising unreasonableness of Thatcher and her Conservative Government of the time in a meaningful critique. The final confrontation with the Doctor and the way she collapses in sadness at the death of her pet Fifi is very cathartic and sells the ultimate point of the story.
9.) Bragen played by Bernard Archard
The Power of the Daleks is an excellent story in a number of ways, but I think most of its brilliance leads back to the statement the story has on fascism. From David Whitaker’s writing, you can feel the lessons of the war and from the Nazi threat lingering. He understands the importance of keeping a watchful eye on the early warning signs of a fascist threat and the cost of tolerating it. Every character represents that theme in a very important way, which is very poignant, and the Daleks represent the ultimate cost of that. However, the story just wouldn’t work in the same way without the character of Bragen, the central human villain played by Bernard Archard. His manipulation and cold maliciousness are at the centre of the action and events of the story as the Daleks are very much in the background until the climax. What makes Bragen as a villain special is that he desires power at all costs and sees people as simply tools to get that power, which makes him cruel and dangerous. It’s cool seeing the engineering he does throughout the story and the way he uses Hensell, Janley, Quinn, the rebels, and the Daleks all to get the power he wants. He does it in a rather neat way and uses people to his advantage and control. The way he puts martial law in place right at the start of his run as governor tells us a lot about his beliefs and values as a villain. It displays him as a cold man who rejects human rights, sees others as a threat to his power, and sees people as a means for exploitation and control.
8.) Solon played by Philip Madoc
It took me years to realise that Phillip Madoc played both the War Lord in the War Games and Solon in the Brain of Morbius because they are such different performances, and both memorable and brilliant in their own way. What makes Solon such a great villain though, is the way the story presents a twisted take on the character of Victor Frankenstein. The story itself is a science fiction and Doctor Who version of Frankenstein, so it makes sense to have its mirrors and parallels. The unhinged and intolerant performance from Phillip Madoc goes a long way in telling us a lot about and fleshing out the character. Solon is a follower of the ancient oppressor and conqueror Morbius and his unorthodox techniques have found him rejected and shunned, which has twisted and changed him. This is well personified in the characters' actions and attitudes. It shows how the isolation, rejection and the judgement of a person can twist and warp them into a place of inhumanity. I enjoy the cruel abnormality and twisted values of Solon and how he relates to Morbius through shared moral values. There is something morally questionable and evil about the science of Solon in the way he plays with the dead that feels gross and disrespectful of people’s lives. It makes him a gripping and captivating character. The relationship between him and Condo creates a dark but fun, comedic double act that adds a lot to the story. Beyond that, there is an interesting conflict and rivalry between Solon and Tom Baker’s Doctor.
7.) Salamander played by Patrick Troughton
The Enemy of the World is a large-scale spy thriller with no monsters, making it unlike any other story in the Patrick Troughton era. Its uniqueness and refreshing nature contribute to its appeal. Patrick Troughton, as an actor, is also given a rather wonderful chance of being able to play the villain and the hero in the same story. It’s a rather refreshing chance for him to stretch his wings as an actor and do something totally different. Patrick Troughton shows immediately the great skill of his craft and what he is capable of, he shows his talent as a character actor in being able to differentiate his performance as Salamander and make him a character that is unrecognisable to the Doctor. His confident and cool body language and self-assurance make him feel like a very villainous character. Salamander is a very gripping and dangerous person and someone who seems like a public benefactor and a force for good, but it’s all in the framing of his public image in the way he has manipulated things to his advantage. His sense of power and his skill at blackmail, murder and control is a joy to see unfold. The way Salamander blackmails Fedorin and the way he imprisons and lies to a group of characters in a shelter to his own ends shows him as a scheming and controlling genius. Patrick Troughton’s performance can be on the surface quite appeasing and reasonable, but Salamander is very sly, self-serving, and ruthless in the most enjoyable of ways. A very skilled dictator
6.) Magnus Greel played by Michael Spice
The Talons of Weng Chiang has often been critiqued rightly for the dated racism of the story. However, I still think it is one of the best Doctor Who stories out there and Magnus Greel is a terrific villain. The masked menace of both his sympathy and villainy is very much based upon the Phantom of the Opera and a lot of grisly and grotesque imagery. I really love the way the Talons of Weng Chiang merges Victorian genre elements with science fiction in an interesting way. Magnus Greel's backstory as the Minister of Justice and a war criminal adds an intriguing element to their character, with a hint of a detailed past that adds mystery. Michael Spice brings a lot to the character as they are reliant upon their body language and their voice to sell themselves as a villain and character to be feared. However, Michael Spice has great vocal variety and a real dominance and unpredictability to them. You get the feeling that being shunned and his experience with the Time Cabinet and their resulting ruined state and struggle have only hardened them. I like the untamed anger of Magnus Greel put against the comedy, quips, and wit of Tom Baker’s performance, which results in a very pleasing hero and villain relationship. They have a fragile nature and sense of survival, which makes them feel desperate and more dangerous as a result. The darkness and disturbing imagery and tragic feel of Magnus Greel creates a great impact.
5.) Tobias Vaughn played by Kevin Stoney
There is a lot to love about Vaughn as the director of International Electromatics, but the success of the villain is shown by how remembered he is. Vaughn’s role, I think, is partially cherished because of how well he fits into 1960s ideas and interests that were very relevant at the time, which resonates. Playing with ideas of electronics, computers and developing technology fits with the Cybermen, but it’s handled in a relatable way in tying into our world and the fears of developing technology. Tobias Vaughn feels like a statement on power hungry commercialism and capitalist interests and electronics is used in a very dubious Doctor Who way. I like how accommodating, kind and friendly Stoney plays Vaughn in situations where he should be threatened. It makes him feel very sinister. He has a cool and cunning personality and an overconfidence and arrogance that it is satisfying to see gradually brought down. He has a fuming anger and rage bubbling beneath the surface of the exterior of what he presents, which is cathartic to see in the moments where it’s unleashed. I love the comedy double act between Tobias Vaughn and Packer, given how panicked and deflated Packer often is compared with the confidence of Vaughn. It’s satisfying to see everything turn against Vaughn in the end and to see him team up with the Doctor and UNIT. Furthermore, his motivations for control and motivations in helping the Doctor add a lot of depth to his character.
4.) Tlotoxl played by John Ringham
The Aztecs is one of my favourite ever Doctor Who stories and it’s defined by the evil and villainous nature of Tlotoxl and the excellent performance by John Ringham. However, the fact that you have a white actor playing a Mexican character and the racist practice that feeds into is worth acknowledging the harm of. John Ringham brings a very Shakespearean quality to his performance. Tlotoxl is made to feel like a vicious, obscene, and unsettling person, and that is very well personified. His foul morals and cruel and brutal methods creates a very fearful character. Tlotoxl is also a very complex and layered character, though as from a certain viewpoint he is in the right. He does a lot of devious things to expose Barbara, but he is right in that she is a false god and from his viewpoint he is doing the moral thing for the good of his people. You have a society with a totally different set of moral values and beliefs which is exposed excellently through Tlotoxl. The way he contrasts Autloc with the opposing two sides of Aztec society creates a terrific dynamic for the story and an overall message that resonates.
3.) Harrison Chase played by Tony Beckley
When I think of human Doctor Who villains, Harrison Chase is one of the first that comes to mind. Tony Beckley creates a terrifying presence in a character you know is villainous from the moment he is introduced. His motivations are understandable, recognising the importance of plants which aren’t valued and protected among humanity; and yet it’s become an unhinged obsession for him with a lack of consideration for the lives of others. I love the scale of his property and his environment, purely dedicated to experiments in plants and the way he plays music to them is true to him and tells us a lot about his character. Harrison Chase’s wealth and power has given him a sense of elitist authority over the rest of humanity, which is rather interesting. Everyone around him from Scorby, Keeler, Dunbar and Hargreaves are people he has control over, and views as inferiors and tools to achieve his goal and therefore sees humans as disposable. The lengths his curiosity and lack of moral value for life go in his treatment of Keeler as he cultivates him as he transforms into a Krynoid is truly disturbing. The scenes in the final two episodes as he becomes possessed by the Krynoid is remarkable to see and it’s satisfying to see him get what he deserves and die to his own compost machine becoming one with nature and very thematically fitting.
2.) The Brigade Leader played by Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney has a huge legacy as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, but Inferno gave the actor a chance to play a different version of the character in a parallel world where he is basically the villain of the story. It’s great to see the relationship between the Doctor and the Brigadier get flipped. I like the cunning maliciousness Nicholas Courtney has as the Brigade Leader, and the stubborn harshness and cruelty of the villain. You see the consequences of the Brigadier’s sense of loyalty and how the right circumstances are able to warp someone. With a fascist world with no freedom, no civil rights and no freedom of speech and expression, military terror is used to keep people in line and obedient. It’s a pessimistic and grim world and the Brigade Leader relishes the terror and cruelty he is able to inflict upon people. He’s a despicably evil character and you can tell Nicholas Courtney is having a lot of fun with the variety of the part. There is a bureaucracy to the Brigade Leader and a selfishness as he takes advantage of the power which he has over people’s lives and their fates. He has a fierceness and moral dubiousness as a man in a corrupt system who has to maintain power to have any sense of personal security and is simply a tool in a system. It’s fascinating to see him lose his grip and become a crippling and pathetic person in a world of survival and chaos by the end.
1.) Sharaz Jek played by Christopher Gable
Another Robert Holmes villain based upon the Phantom of the Opera. However, as much as I like Magnus Greel, I think Sharaz Jek is the superior villain. The Caves of Androzani is my favourite Doctor Who story of all time and Sharaz Jek is a key highlight of it. What I love about Sharaz Jek is the history which is set up between him and Morgus. There is an excellent rivalry that is established between the two characters, and a revenge and sense of anger which both fuels Jek and defines his motivations as a character that I just love. Sharaz Jek is incredibly interesting as a scarred and tragic figure who is incredibly isolated. I really like the performance from Christipher Gable, who makes Jek a disturbed figure. His disgust at his appearance and fury largely personifies him. There is a sinister vibe to him, but an untamed anger under the surface that makes him unpredictable and fascinating to watch. You get the sense that his detachment from human nature has largely warped him as a person. He is separated from reality, spending his time tinkering with his own androids and lacks a sense of human perspective. Obsession has taken over the mind of Sharaz Jek, which makes him a creepy, possessive, and very sadistic figure. His lack of social boundaries with the way he gropes and treats Peri as an objectified figure of beauty is incredibly disturbing and predatory. However, strangely this reveals a redeeming feature in his character; in that he has a softness to him and, in the end, helps the Doctor to save Peri. The way he ultimately goes down in his battle with Morgus is the perfect ending for him.
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