Chap with wings…

By John Freeman on October 14, 2007 • ( 2 )

Good news for fans of early Doctor Who: BBC 4 is to screen a classic Third Doctor story later this month.

Fan favourite The Daemons screens from Sunday 21 October at 7.00pm, with the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and trusty assistant Jo Grant up against evils unearthed by an archaeological dig at Devil’s End — and the Master. (Of course it’s strange that this isn’t being shown on BBC3, since the first episode predicted predicted the existence of that channel 30 years early!)

Quite apart from quotes like the Doctor’s “Everything that happens in life has a scientific explanation — if you look for it…” and UNIT Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart’s “Chap with the wings there — five rounds rapid!”, this episode is perhaps one of the best featuring the UNIT ‘family’ up against the deliciously nasty Master played to perfection by Roger Delgado.

The story was shot in Aldbourne, Wiltshire in 1971. Its Blue Boar pub became the Cloven Hoof for the story and the destruction of its church proved such an effective visuyal effect for the time that some believed the village chuch had genuinely been destroyed during filming.

The Daemons has been the subject of a Reeltime documentary and the Daemons have appeared in many other Doctor Who spin-offs such as the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.