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The Smugglers
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| 028 – The Smugglers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |||
.jpg) Polly, the Doctor and Ben change in an inn owned by the smuggler Jacob Kewper | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | Julia Smith | ||
| Written by | Brian Hayles | ||
| Script editor | Gerry Davis | ||
| Produced by | Innes Lloyd | ||
| Music by | none[1] | ||
| Production code | CC | ||
| Series | Season 4 | ||
| Running time | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||
| Episode(s) missing | All 4 episodes | ||
| First broadcast | 10 September 1966 | ||
| Last broadcast | 1 October 1966 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
The Smugglers is the completely missing first serial of the fourth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 10 September to 1 October 1966.
In this serial, the Doctor (William Hartnell) and his new travelling companions Ben and Polly (Michael Craze and Anneke Wills) arrive on the coast of seventeenth-century Cornwall – much to the astonishment of Polly and Ben. Pirates led by Captain Samuel Pike (Michael Godfrey) and his henchman Cherub (George A. Cooper) are searching for a hidden treasure, while a smuggling ring masterminded by the local squire Edwards (Paul Whitsun-Jones) is trying to off-load contraband. Although audio recordings, still photographs, and clips of the story exist, no episodes of this serial are known to have survived.
Plot
[edit] | This episodes's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (June 2017) |
The First Doctor's new companions Ben and Polly arrive with him in the TARDIS on the coast of seventeenth century Cornwall. They meet a worried churchwarden named Joseph Longfoot, who lives in fear of "Avery's boys" and, in thanks for the Doctor's kindness in relocating a dislocated finger, imparts a cryptic message he calls "Deadman's secret key": "Smallbeer, Ringwood, Gurney".[notes 2] While the time travellers head off to the local inn, Longfoot has another visitor. This is Cherub, Longfoot's former shipmate under pirate Captain Avery on the Black Albatross. Cherub and his master, Samuel Pike, who captains the Albatross since Avery died, want to recover Avery's accursed gold. Pike is convinced that Longfoot has the treasure or knows where it is hidden. When the churchwarden does not co-operate, Cherub kills him – but not before revealing he saw the three travellers who visited Longfoot earlier.
The discovery of the churchwarden's body leads the locals to suspect the three strangers at the inn. The local Squire is called to intervene and adjudicate, and charges Ben and Polly with the murder. Employing trickery to obtain their freedom, they split up. Ben hides at the church until Josiah Blake, a revenue man tracking the local smugglers, disturbs him.
Cherub and some pirates kidnap the Doctor and take him to the Albatross. The Doctor attempts to bargain with Pike, and is kept aboard ship while the captain goes ashore. Pike tries to make an alliance with the Squire as well, to protect himself while he searches for Avery's treasure. The greedy Squire is the organiser of the local smuggling ring and offers to cut Pike and his pirates in. They are interrupted by Polly, who has come to implore the Squire to help her find the Doctor and is shocked to see him in the company of Cherub.
Pike, Cherub and the Squire bind and gag Polly and take her to the church, meeting and capturing Ben on the way. They attempt to convince Blake that Ben and Polly are the true smugglers. Knowing the truth but lacking the manpower to arrest the pirates, Blake pretends to arrest Ben and Polly. The Doctor escapes and meets up with his friends in the churchyard. Blake works out a smuggling drop is due soon and heads off for more revenue men to break the smuggling ring.
The smuggling alliance has by now fallen apart: the Squire has realised he is dealing with a ruthless pirate who will not honour any bargains while Cherub has decided to locate Avery's gold for himself. The Squire sets off to find the gold, as do the time travellers since the Doctor is convinced the rhyme of the churchwarden is the key. He works out the names Ringwood, Smallbeer, and Gurney pertain to graves in the crypt but before he can find the treasure, the other seekers arrive. Cherub wounds the Squire, and forces the Doctor to confess the rhyme. Cherub concludes that Deadman too is a name of one of Avery's former pirates, but is slain by a vengeful Pike, who now threatens to pillage the entire village in his search for Avery's treasure. The Doctor bargains with Pike for the lives of the villagers if he shows him the treasure and, with this agreed, they find the gold at the intersection of the four graves.
No sooner does Pike have the treasure than Blake and an armed patrol of revenue men arrive. Aided by the injured Squire – who repents of his sins – Blake kills Pike, and the pirate force is routed. As the battle dies down, the Doctor and his companions slip away to the TARDIS, and the Doctor says superstition is a strange thing but it sometimes tells the truth.
Production
[edit]All four episodes of this serial are considered missing. Due to the story's unusual amount of violence for the time, it was heavily censored; pieces of Australian censor footage survive, mainly depicting the piratical villains.
Filming
[edit]
This was the last story filmed in the third season's production block, although it was held over until the beginning of the fourth season. During filming, the production team realized that William Hartnell's health had deteriorated beyond the point where he could continue to work. Many months' discussion about replacing Hartnell finally came to a head, and Innes Lloyd decided not to renew Hartnell's contract. It is unclear whether Hartnell was contractually obliged to appear in The Tenth Planet or whether he agreed to do so after being informed of Lloyd's decision.[citation needed]
This was the first Doctor Who story to feature major location shooting. In all previous serials, location shots had been conducted at locations around London, but substantial portions of this story were filmed in Cornwall. Locations included Trethewey Farm, Nanjizal Bay, St Grada's Church, Grade and Church Cove.[2][3][4]
Broadcast and reception
[edit]| Episode | Title | Run time | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) [6] | Archive [5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1"† | 24:36 | 10 September 1966 | 4.3 | Only audio, stills and/or fragments exist |
| 2 | "Episode 2"† | 24:27 | 17 September 1966 | 4.9 | Only audio, stills and/or fragments exist |
| 3 | "Episode 3"† | 23:55 | 24 September 1966 | 4.2 | Only audio, stills and/or fragments exist |
| 4 | "Episode 4"† | 23:37 | 1 October 1966 | 4.5 | Only audio, stills and/or fragments exist |
On initial airing, this story posted the lowest audience figures since the show began, at an average of 4.48 million viewers per episode. It would remain the least-watched Doctor Who serial for twenty years, until The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet aired in 1986.[citation needed][7]
In 2002, Interzone's Paul Beardsley reviewed the CD release as "an amiable but unremarkable purely historical yarn set in 17th century Cornwall" but remarked "[Anneke Wills]'s very good, and I hope she'll return to do The Underwater Menace."[8]
In a review for the Radio Times, Patrick Mulkern praised the "excellent cast", though noting that the character of Jamaica was "a dodgy caricature that would be inconceivable in modern drama." Mulkern was also impressed by the authentic Cornwall locations, "a terrific bonus that allows the production to breathe."[9]
Commercial releases
[edit]In print
[edit]A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in June 1988.[citation needed]
Key Information
Home media
[edit]The soundtrack for the story exists due to fan-made off-air audio recordings from the original 1966 broadcast. These have been released on CD together with linking narration provided by cast member Anneke Wills.[10] Several brief clips cut by Australian censors for violence were recovered in 1996 and were released on the Lost in Time DVD box set in 2004. Also included in the set is amateur on-location colour film footage made during production at Trethewey Farm, Trethewey, Cornwall.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Character name listed on credits as "Churchwarden".
- ^ Terence De Marney, the actor who plays Joseph Longfoot, actually flubs his line and gives the code as "Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney". When The Doctor repeats the words later, he correctly says "Smallbeer".
References
[edit]- ^ Wright, Mark, ed. (2016). "The Savages, The War Machines, The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet". Doctor Who: The Complete History. 8 (27). London: Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks: 98. ISSN 2057-6048.
- ^ "Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide – The Smugglers". BBC. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009.
- ^ Campbell 2012, p. 31.
- ^ "The Smugglers". doctorwholocations.net. Doctor Who Locations Guide. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ Shaun Lyon; et al. (31 March 2007). "The Smugglers". Outpost Gallifrey. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
- ^ "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ "Doctor Who Guide: Ratings".
- ^ Beardsley, Paul (August 2002). "Audio Reviews". Interzone. David Pringle.
- ^ "The Smugglers ★★★★". Radio Times.
- ^ "The Fourth Dimension". BBC Programme Catalogue. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022.
Sources
[edit]- Campbell, Mark (23 March 2012). Doctor Who. Pocket Essentials. ISBN 978-1-84243-660-8. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
External links
[edit]
- The Smugglers at BBC Online
- The Smugglers photonovel at BBC Online
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| Season 4 | |
| First Doctor |
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| Second Doctor |
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* Story is missing all episodes. † Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using animation. ‡ Missing content has been or is due to be reconstructed for commercial release using available visual material. | |||||||||
The Smugglers
View on GrokipediaStoryline and characters
Episode 1
The TARDIS materialises on a stormy beach in 17th-century Cornwall, where the First Doctor, Ben, and Polly step out into the foggy night.[7] They soon encounter Joseph Longfoot, the local churchwarden, who is being pursued by former pirate shipmates seeking the location of Henry Avery's buried treasure, which he had stolen from them years earlier.[2] Longfoot, fearing for his life, confides a cryptic clue to the Doctor—"Deadman's secret key: Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney"—revealing that it points to parson names in the church that mark the treasure's location, and warning of danger from "the black freighter".[8] Moments later, Longfoot is murdered by Cherub, a henchman of the pirate Captain Samuel Pike, who leads a band of cutthroats from the ship Black Albatross.[2] The Doctor is abducted by Cherub and taken aboard the pirate vessel, while Ben and Polly flee to the nearby village inn, where they are accused of the murder by Squire Thomas Edwards, the local landowner and secret leader of a smuggling ring.[9]Episode 2
Ben and Polly arrive at the Fisherman's Arms inn, run by the smuggler Jacob Kewper and his wife, seeking shelter and information about the Doctor's whereabouts.[2] They encounter Josiah Blake, a revenue officer investigating smuggling activities in the area, and attempt to convince him of their innocence regarding Longfoot's death.[9] Meanwhile, aboard the Black Albatross, the Doctor is interrogated by Captain Pike and Cherub, who demand the location of Avery's gold based on the clue he received from Longfoot; the Doctor feigns ignorance while subtly probing their intentions.[10] The smugglers, including Kewper and his associates, capture Ben and Polly at the inn, mistaking Polly for a boy in disguise, and hold them as leverage against the revenue men.[2] The Doctor, left ashore by the pirates to investigate the village under Cherub's watch, sneaks into the church and discovers a hidden compartment, but is soon recaptured after overhearing the smugglers' plans to rendezvous with the pirates for a share of the treasure.[9]Episode 3
Polly is taken hostage by the smugglers at the inn to ensure Ben's compliance, while Ben attempts an escape with the aid of Blake, who reveals the Squire's central role in orchestrating the smuggling operations from his estate.[2] The Doctor, imprisoned with Cherub on the Black Albatross, confronts the pirate henchman and deciphers the clue, realizing it refers to the names of four parsons—Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney, and Deadman—carved on a beam in the church, which mark the location of the treasure in the crypt below. Cherub, driven by greed, murders a mutinous crew member and forces the Doctor to lead him to the church, where they clash with the smugglers over retrieving the location details.[9] Ben manages a partial escape but is recaptured, alerting Blake to the escalating conflict between the pirates and smugglers, both factions converging on the church to claim the treasure hidden within its crypt.[2]Episode 4
A climactic battle erupts at the church between the smugglers, led by the treacherous Squire Edwards, and the revenue men under Blake's command, with Pike's pirates intervening to seize the opportunity amid the chaos.[2] The Doctor, using his ingenuity, deciphers the clue by connecting the parson names, realizing that "Deadman" points to the crypt beneath the church, where the treasure is buried at the intersection of lines drawn between the graves, and uses it as bait to turn the pirates against the smugglers. Ben and Polly reunite with the Doctor during the fray, helping to subdue Cherub in a hand-to-hand struggle, while Blake exposes the Squire's involvement and arrests the smuggling ring.[9] With the treasure recovered and the villains defeated, the vicar is exonerated of any wrongdoing, and the TARDIS crew bids farewell to Blake before departing, reflecting on the perils of greed that fueled the conflict between pirates and smugglers.[2]Cast
The principal cast of The Smugglers featured William Hartnell as the First Doctor, portraying a wise and authoritative figure who unravels the central mystery through keen observation and moral resolve.[1] Michael Craze played Ben Jackson, the brash young sailor whose streetwise instincts and physical prowess prove vital in navigating dangerous escapes and confrontations.[1] Anneke Wills portrayed Polly Wright, the resourceful and quick-thinking companion who confronts perilous situations with ingenuity and determination.[1] Among the guest cast, Terence de Marney appeared as Churchwarden Joseph Longfoot, serving as the enigmatic initial guide harboring a critical secret that draws the travelers into the intrigue.[1] Paul Whitsun-Jones played Squire Thomas Edwards, the imposing local authority figure whose commanding presence underscores the tensions of rural power dynamics.[1] John Ringham portrayed Revenue Officer Josiah Blake, the steadfast law enforcer pursuing smugglers with unyielding diligence.[1] George A. Cooper delivered a standout performance as Cherub, the charismatic yet treacherous pirate henchman, enhanced by distinctive makeup to evoke a weathered, seafaring menace in keeping with his history of portraying dark, villainous characters.[1][11] David Blake Kelly acted as Jacob Kewper, the innkeeper providing comic relief through his bumbling yet opportunistic demeanor amid the chaos. Michael Godfrey portrayed Captain Samuel Pike, the authoritative pirate leader whose interactions with the Doctor highlight clashing worldviews.[1] Mike Lucas appeared as Tom, a minor smuggler whose youthful energy aids in tense shipboard sequences.[1] This serial marked one of William Hartnell's strongest and most consistent performances as the Doctor in his final season, captured before health issues more prominently affected his work in the subsequent story, The Tenth Planet.[2] The production's location filming in Cornwall allowed the cast to immerse in authentic 17th-century settings, contributing to grounded, dynamic portrayals unique to the story's swashbuckling atmosphere.[6]Production
Development
The serial The Smugglers was commissioned on 4 April 1966 from writer Brian Hayles, who had previously contributed The Celestial Toymaker to the series earlier that year. Hayles drew inspiration from the rich history of smuggling along the Cornish coast, pirate legends such as the tale of the elusive buccaneer Henry Avery, smuggling tales like Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, and the Disney series Doctor Syn, whose supposed buried treasure became a central plot element in this 17th-century adventure. The script was structured as four 25-minute episodes, emphasizing a swashbuckling tone with themes of contraband trade and hidden riches to provide a lighter historical contrast to the preceding Dalek-focused narratives.[2] Production team assignments followed swiftly, with Innes Lloyd serving as producer and Julia Smith appointed as director—this marked Smith's debut in directing for Doctor Who. Lloyd, aiming to refresh the series with a romantic and adventurous historical tale, oversaw the pre-production planning to integrate authentic 17th-century Cornish elements, including local folklore on smuggling rings and pirate tropes, while ensuring the story highlighted the dynamic between the First Doctor, Ben, and Polly.[6] Development progressed through early 1966, with Hayles delivering the completed scripts around mid-April, allowing time for revisions and alignment with the season's schedule. The planning phase also accounted for William Hartnell's ongoing health challenges, tailoring the Doctor's role to minimize physical demands and focus on his authoritative presence amid the intrigue. A key decision was to prioritize location authenticity in the conceptual design, setting the stage for immersive depictions of Cornwall's rugged coastline and period customs.[2]Filming
The filming of The Smugglers represented Doctor Who's first significant use of exterior location shooting, departing from the series' predominantly studio-bound production to capture authentic 17th-century Cornish coastal settings. Location work took place in Cornwall from 18 to 23 June 1966, with the TARDIS arrival on the beach filmed at Nanjizal Bay near Land's End, providing the dramatic seascape for the opening scenes of episode one. Additional exteriors included Bosistow Cliffs for cliff and horseback scenes, church interiors at St Grada Church in Grade, and the fishing vessel Bonny Mary in Newlyn Harbour.[6][12][2] Studio interiors, encompassing the TARDIS console room, pirate ship, and inn, were recorded on black-and-white videotape at Riverside Studios 1 in Hammersmith, London, across four consecutive Fridays from 8 to 29 July 1966. The pirate ship set was purpose-built for these sessions to simulate the cramped, atmospheric hold and deck of the Black Albatross. Some visual effects, such as composite shots integrating actors with location footage, employed chromakey (CSO) techniques available at the time. The production adhered to the BBC's 405-line broadcast standard, typical for mid-1960s television.[13] The brief location shoot in Cornwall encountered variable weather, contributing to logistical pressures on the small crew, though principal photography wrapped within six days. In the studio, William Hartnell's deteriorating health—stemming from arteriosclerosis—led to multiple line fluffs, particularly in dialogue-heavy scenes, necessitating retakes and editing to maintain continuity. These challenges underscored the physical demands on the aging lead actor during the serial's tight schedule.[14][15]Broadcast and reception
Broadcast
The Smugglers was originally broadcast on BBC1 as the first serial of the fourth season of Doctor Who, airing in four weekly instalments on Saturday evenings at 5:50 pm. The episodes transmitted on 10 September 1966 (Episode 1), 17 September 1966 (Episode 2), 24 September 1966 (Episode 3), and 1 October 1966 (Episode 4).[16] The serial followed the season 3 finale The War Machines after a summer hiatus and served as the penultimate story to feature William Hartnell as the First Doctor, prior to his regeneration in the subsequent serial The Tenth Planet.[2] Audience viewership figures, recorded by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB), were as follows:| Episode | Air Date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 September 1966 | 4.3 |
| 2 | 17 September 1966 | 4.9 |
| 3 | 24 September 1966 | 4.2 |
| 4 | 1 October 1966 | 4.5 |