Horror of Fang Rock

Horror of Fang Rock was speed-written to replace another story, but this far from obvious in the finished story. The story is a simple one; if you think about it, it comes close to the base-under siege stories that the Troughton era had an embarrassment of. However, Terrence Dicks paces the story admirably well, creating a good deal of tension in what is still a very unnerving story. He peoples the script with a reasonably comprehensive representation of early 20th century society and sets them in motion against a monster in the confined environment of a lighthouse. These characters are more skilfully drawn than this description indicates and Dicks gives them unshowy, yet very effective dialogue and the characterisation is expertly done. We even get to see Reuben’s ‘saucy postcard’ collection, a surprising but very welcome (plot and character-wise, obviously!) development. This story has a particular effect on me, as I read Flannan Isle by Wilfrid Gibson at an early age and was terrified to find out, shortly afterwards, that it was based on a true story.

The design work is outstanding- the dark, fog-shrouded environment is brilliantly evocative and we never lose the impression that we are in a lighthouse. The period detail is as excellent as we have come to expect from BBC costume dramas. Paddy Russell directs with great atmosphere- the story is set entirely in one night and the atmosphere is like one of a primal nightmare. There is a very effective shot when we get a momentary glimpse of part of Ben’s dissected body, which is shocking without being gratuitous. The special effects are simple and all the more effective for it. The Rutan, which is basically realised as a luminous green balloon, is lit and voiced in a way to make us believe in it as an alien horror.

The performances are very well judged. Colin Douglas is fantastic as Reuben, making him solidly trustworthy as a human and chilling as a Rutan- his soulless grin as he is about to kill is terrifying. Annette Woolette is just the right degree of annoying as Adelaide and Lord Palmerdale and Skinsdale are well portrayed by Sean Caffrey and Alan Rowe. However, the best performance in the story is that of Louise Jameson. Leela is never better than in this story, being brave, uninhibited (she actually starts undressing in front of Vince) and eager to learn. The scene where she taunts the dying Rutan is awesome and Louise Jameson gives one of the best performances by a regular the programme has ever seen. Tom Baker is mesmerising throughout, although it is clear Paddy Russell is keeping him on a very long leash!

The story has few flaws, the only one worth mentioning being Tom Baker’s line about ‘…the chameleon factor, sometimes called lycanthropy…’. Not only does Baker mispronounce chameleon, most people know that that is not the definition of lycanthropy. This line illustrates some of the possible hazards of using technobabble- someone might recognise one of the long words that have been misused and what may be an obscure word or phrase now, might not be so in the future. This does not stop this story from being a highly enjoyable 100 minutes.

NEXT: The Invisible Enemy