"Doctor Who" Checkmate (1965) Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Part 4 Checkmate - A brilliant conclusion, an episode beyond its years 27 August 2015 *** This review may contain spoilers *** Stephen and Vicki have discovered the Monk's secret, he has a TARDIS, and from the same world as the Doctor. The Doctor discovers the monk's plan, to lure the vikings in with fires, and destroy them. Whilst in the Monk's TARDIS, Stephen and Vicki learn the monk has been meddling with time, discussing powered flight with DaVinci and swindling banks. The villagers must stop the Vikings, and the Doctor must stop the Monk. The Doctor makes an enemy of the Monk. I love the Monk's TARDIS chockablock with ornaments and antiques, that's exactly how mine would be! The Monk is irresponsible, but is he a totally bad guy? only time will tell. Alethea Charlton is worth a mention for her performance as Edith, it's what I can only describe as charming. Such an authentic face. Great chemistry between her and Hartnell.

This has been a totally brilliant story, and Part 4 is even better. I love the concept of the Monk as a renegade Timelord, the original idea back in 1965, long before the Master, Rani, War Lord etc. Gloriously written, this episode defies its years, and feels like a basis or vision for the show's future direction. Absolutely love it. 10/10 How cool are those closing credits too. Was the above review useful to you? 1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: The Time Meddler: Part 4 - Brilliant, entertaining adventure that fascinatingly introduces a villain from The Doctor's home planet. Review for all 4 parts: The Time Meddler is a 4 part story beginning with The Watcher. This story is excellent entertainment, well written, well acted and good fun but most importantly it introduces 'The Meddling Monk', wonderfully played by Peter Butterworth, who gives us fascinating new information about The Doctor's background. Writer Dennis Spooner is at his absolute best here with the humour blending beautifully with drama, unlike in some of his stories such as his earlier Season 2 effort The Romans where this is done badly.

It is ironic that when Spooner was script editor standards were generally lower but he is the writer of this first story after Donald Tosh took over from him as script editor and it is brilliant. Tosh and director Douglas Camfield deserve a lot of credit for this I am sure. The humour is executed much better than it is in the stories when Spooner edited/oversaw the scripts himself. It all begins very mysteriously with 1066 England having items such as electric appliances being shown. The viewer is left wondering what is going on and it makes the build-up really interesting. At the same time the new companion Steven begins to be established. The character proves to be superb and Peter Purves starts as he means to go on with a fine performance matching Hartnell's delightful Doctor. Butterworth also excels as the amusing and interesting Monk. The character of the Monk finally gives a little development to the mysterious background of the Doctor as he is eventually revealed to be of the same race and planet of origin as the Doctor and also has a TARDIS time machine. This provides fascinating aspects to the story. It lets us know the Doctor is just one of a race capable of time travel.

They are not yet named on screen as Time Lords from Gallifrey, though, that only happens in Second Doctor story The War Games. The Monk uses his TARDIS to travel to Earth past and interfere in proceedings at the time of the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. He is not portrayed as thoroughly evil, more as mischievous and dangerously meddling in past events for his own gain. The whole story is excellent in my view with script, story and acting of a very high standard. It is one of the great all-time gems. My Ratings: All 4 episodes 10/10. Overall, Season 2 started and finished really well but dropped in quality noticeably in between for the stories where Spooner was script editor (except for The Crusade which was more serious in tone than the others and really top quality). That makes this one of the weakest of the classic series in my view up until the disappointing Colin Baker and early Sylvester McCoy years when the show reached its low point. Average Season 2 Rating: 7.77/10 Was the above review useful to you?

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: "I Do Know The Medium" 22 June 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** That's one of the funnier lines from this episode, when The Monk mentions television. It's that casual, self-referencing sort of humor that has become a hallmark of modern DOCTOR WHO, and it can be traced in no small part, to this episode, which turned the usual course of the stories upside down. By the end of the following years, the straight historicals, like "Genghis Khan" and "The Reign of Terror", would be gone. There would always be some science fictional issue, either series monsters or, as in this case, the Monk, who turns out to be from the Doctor's home planet -- unnamed so far, but gradually filled in. And this episode, written by Dennis Spooner, started it It's well written, with good jokes that render this a brilliant episode -- although the audience at the time was rather confused by things like gramophones turning up in pre-Norman England. But the staff loved it -- they even had the Monk return several times, prefiguring, in some ways, the popularity of the Master.

Was the above review useful to you? 0 out of 3 people found the following review useful: S2: The Time Meddler: Interesting ideas and some nice interactions  but I really struggled with Butterworth as The Monk from United Kingdom 21 October 2013 This serial sees the Doctor go back in time to Earth again but in this case we have more of a sci-fi story rather than one very closely based in the specifics of the period. The serial started slowly for me; it had been a few weeks since I had watched the previous serial and seen Ian and Barbara leave the show, so it was an uncomfortable thing to be reminded of that. It was more uncomfortable to see that the guy from the previous episode was roped in to be a new companion  making it him and Vicki for me to not particularly care about (as opposed to just Vicki). The plot actually got going to be good though once it is clear that the Doctor has a nemesis up to his standards and a fellow time traveler. This sets up a few nice interplay scenes and generally a smart interesting story. It mostly works well and I liked it but the problem was the monk himself.

OK, maybe not the monk but rather the actor because, to me, he is nobody but "the guy from Carry On". Butterworth's face and voice are only known to me from those films and here I could not break out of that sense of him being in those films and as such it made me think of them while watching this character. He certainly wasn't a match for Hartnell and he added an odd comedic feel. Hartnell was good here though, even if some of his lines felt odd. O'Brien seemed to benefit from the loss of the others  she has more to do and is more interesting as a result. Purves sort of annoyed me with his introduction but perhaps this is because I liked Ian and Barbara a lot; he grew on me during the serial though, so maybe he will be OK. Butterworth is actually OK, but for me he is just too similar in delivery to his Carry On days  which meant I really didn't get into his character easily. It is still a clever serial and I liked it as the final run of the season, even if it did have weaknesses and problems. Was the above review useful to you?

The Meddling Monk - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on The Meddling Monk Wikis Advertisements Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics (Redirected to Meddling Monk article) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Meddling Monk, or simply the Monk, was a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . He was played by the British comic actor Peter Butterworth . The character appeared in two stories ( The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan , written and co-written respectively by Dennis Spooner ) as an adversary of the First Doctor . Other than the Doctor and Susan , the Monk was the first member of the Doctor's race to appear in the programme, and the second Doctor Who villain (after the Daleks ) to make a return appearance.

The Monk was the possessor of a stolen Mark IV TARDIS – superior to the Doctor's and with a fully functioning chameleon circuit – and said he left the Doctor's then-unnamed home planet some fifty years after the Doctor did -- which could indicate that he was a Time Lord , although it was never stated at the time since the concept of the Doctor's race had not yet been devised. He liked to meddle in history and to change it for his own amusement and for what he considered to be the better — lending mechanical assistance to the builders of Stonehenge ; giving Leonardo da Vinci tips on aircraft design; making money by using time travel to exploit compound interest ; and, when the Doctor first encountered him, attempting to prevent the Norman Conquest as part of a plan to guide England into an early age of technological prosperity. On that occasion he wore the guise of a monk in order to gain the trust of the 11th-century locals of Northumbria , hence the name by which he is most often known.

(His actual name was never revealed in the series.) The Doctor stranded the Monk in the 11th century by stealing his TARDIS's dimensional controller, which reduced the interior dimensions of the time machine to minuscule size. The Monk eventually restored his ship and tracked the Doctor to a volcanic planet, where he attempted to maroon his enemy by destroying the Doctor's TARDIS's lock. However, the Doctor managed to repair it and next materialised in Egypt, with the Monk still following him. While there, the two encountered the Daleks , and the Doctor stole the directional unit from the Monk's TARDIS (later destroying it when he tried to use it in his own ship, as it was incompatible), causing the Monk to lose control over his TARDIS's navigation. The two never met on screen again, the Monk being last seen marooned once more, this time on a desolate icy planet. Unlike the Doctor's other Time Lord adversaries, such as the Master , the Monk was presented as a comic figure: a fairly well-meaning but childish man who was not half as clever as he thought he was, and who never seemed to realise the seriousness of what he was doing.

The fact that his plans always failed to come to fruition, at least on screen, also helped maintain the comic tone, disguising how dangerous a person like the Monk could really be. In " The End of the World " (2005), the Ninth Doctor stated that his homeworld had been destroyed and that he was the last of the Time Lords. Whether the Monk was killed with the others has not been specifically established. Other appearances This section concerns the appearances of the Monk in various spin-offs , which are of unclear canonicity . For some time, there was speculation among fans that the Monk was actually an earlier regeneration of the Master (see also the War Chief ), propagated mainly by the 1980s Doctor Who roleplaying game published by FASA . However, this theory has not been as widespread in recent years, and was contradicted by the statement that the Doctor and the Monk had not met previously, whereas it is known that the Master and the Doctor knew each other before leaving Gallifrey, as well as in the spin-off novels.

In the Doctor Who Monthly comic strip 4-Dimensional Vistas (DWM #78-#83), the Monk teamed up with the Ice Warriors in a complex plan to build a giant sonic weapon. In this portrayal, the character (who piloted a TARDIS also shaped like a police box ) did not wear a monk's habit, and was referred to as "the Time-Meddler"; however, it was clearly the same character. The Monk was easily defeated by the Fifth Doctor . He later reappeared in Follow That TARDIS! (DWM #147), in which the Sleeze Brothers hijack the Doctor's TARDIS in order to pursue the Monk across time and space after he damages their car. The Monk also turned up in the New Adventures novel No Future by Paul Cornell , in which he was given the name "Mortimus".

The novel was the last of a story arc published to coincide with the series' thirtieth anniversary in 1993, in which the Seventh Doctor encounters various alternate realities that have been created due to the Monk's meddling with time, attempting to distract the Doctor while he helps the Vardans to invade Earth, thus getting their mutual revenge on the Doctor for their losses during their past confrontations with him. Although the Monk seemingly traps the Doctor on the same ice planet he was himself exiled to thanks to the betrayal of the Doctor's companion Ace , it is revealed at the conclusion of the novel that Ace was simply pretending to side with the Monk to defeat him, the novel ending with the Monk being apparently captured by a Chronovore that he had captured to help him alter time. A chapter removed from the novel would have revealed the Monk was a former operative of the Celestial Intervention Agency ; later books have hinted at this. In the Past Doctor Adventures novel Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell , a young Mortimus is portrayed as a friend of the Doctor's, and a member of a cabal of rebellious young Gallifreyans at the Academy known as "the Deca".

The group also included the Doctor, the Master , the Rani , Azmael (from The Twin Dilemma ), the War Chief, and Drax (from The Armageddon Factor ). The Monk of an artificially-created parallel universe made a brief appearance in the PDA The Quantum Archangel , working with the Master, the Rani and Drax to destroy the Earth. External links Peter Butterworth (Comedian) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Peter Butterworth Male Born Feb 4, 1919 Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk' who is noted as being the first recurring Doctor Who villain.

He was married to the actress and impressionist Janet Brown.… Read More related links Carr Is The Driving Force In Vital Win The Star Google News - Aug 30, 2011 'Charlie Metcalfe (48), <mark>Peter Butterworth</mark> (38) and Singh (37) led the way as Fishlake knocked off the runs to move seven points clear of the relegation zone. Last season&#39;s Division Four champions Sykehouse boosted their chances of winning promotion for' Longley Is Askern Hero With 65 And 5 18 The Star Google News - Aug 10, 2011 'Openers <mark>Peter Butterworth</mark> (52no) and Josh Mason (27no) knocked off the runs in just 13 overs as Fishlake coasted to a 10-wicket victory.

All-rounder David Longley was outstanding as Askern beat Division Two rivals Whitley Bridge' Whitehurst Ton Keeps Thurnscoe On Target The Star Google News - Jul 13, 2011 '<mark>Peter Butterworth</mark> (82), Josh Mason (35) and Tom Elliott (34no) guided Fishlake to 220-6 but it wasn&#39;t enough to deny Streethouse who eased to a three-wicket win thanks to Ismail Patel&#39;s unbeaten century. Thurnscoe Institute and Sykehouse are both' Thorne Lose Ground On The Promotion Chasers Thorne Gazette Google News - Jul 07, 2011 'An unbeaten 82 by <mark>Peter Butterworth</mark>, together with Kevin Pearson (38), guided Fishlake to 137-1 and maximum points. n Other results: Division Six: Thorpe Audlin 284-4 Hatfield Town 2nd XI 66; Division Eight: Sykehouse 2nd XI 157 Peglers 85' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Peter Butterworth.

CHILDHOOD 1919 Birth Born on February 4, 1919. TWENTIES 1940 21 Years Old Before his acting career started, Butterworth served as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. While flying in an attack on the Dutch coast off Den Helder in 1940 his Fairey Albacore was shot down by Messerschmitt Bf 109s killing one crew member and wounding the other. … Read More After a forced landing on the island of Texel he was captured becoming a prisoner of war (POW). Read Less 1941 22 Years Old Sent to the Dulag Luft POW transit camp, at Oberursel near Frankfurt, he later escaped in June 1941 through a tunnel, covering 27 miles (43 km) over three days before a member of the Hitler Youth captured him. … Read More Afterwards he joked that he could never work with children again. Two other attempts to escape were made during his time there but he never got beyond the camp grounds.

He was subsequently sent to Stalag Luft III, near Sagan, the scene later of The Great Escape.<br /><br /> Whilst at Stalag Luft III he met Talbot Rothwell, who later went on to write many of the Carry On films in which Butterworth was to star. Rothwell and Butterworth formed a duet and sang in the camp shows, where booing and catcalls covered the sounds of an escape tunnel being dug by other prisoners. Butterworth was one of the vaulters covering for the escapers during the escape portrayed by the book and film The Wooden Horse. Butterworth later auditioned for the film in 1949 but "didn't look convincingly heroic or athletic enough" according to the makers of the film. Read Less 1946 27 Years Old He married the actress and impressionist Janet Brown in 1946 at St. Mary's Church, Bryanston Square, Marylebone, after being introduced by Rothwell. … Read More Brown later became known for her television impersonations of Margaret Thatcher during the 1970s and 1980s.

Their son Tyler Butterworth is an actor and is married to the actress Janet Dibley. The couple also had a daughter, Emma (1962â1996), who died aged 34.<br /><br /> In 1979, whilst The First Great Train Robbery was on general release, Butterworth was starring as Widow Twankey in the pantomime Aladdin at the Coventry Theatre. When the show had finished, he went back to his hotel following the evening's performance. His failure to return for the following day's matinee show caused alarm, and he was found dead in his room from a heart attack. The remainder of the pantomime's run was cancelled as a mark of respect. Butterworth was buried in Danehill Cemetery, in East Sussex. Following his death, the producer of the Carry On Films, Peter Rogers, said that Butterworth was "a thoroughly nice bloke and a dear friend".

Read Less FORTIES 1965 46 Years Old … Also within the same camp as Butterworth and Rothwell were the future actors Rupert Davies and Stratford Johns and John Casson, who was the son of Lewis Casson and Sybil Thorndyke. All five remained very close friends after the war ended and they all appeared on This Is Your Life when Butterworth was featured in 1975. <br /><br />Butterworth came to notice after appearing in pantomime around the UK. His first film appearance was in the Val Guest film William Comes to Town (1948). Guest and Butterworth became close friends and the two worked on a further seven films together during their careers. His first major success was on television in the Terry-Thomas sketch show How do you view? in which he played the chauffeur "Lockitt". Butterworth also presented successful programmes aimed at children in the 1950s including Whirligig and Butterworth Time. He continued to take minor parts in films and went on to appear alongside actors including Sean Connery, David Niven and Douglas Fairbanks Jr during his career.

Read Less Around the time his work in the Carry On films began, he guest appeared in two First Doctor Doctor Who stories, starring William Hartnell, in 1965/66, (The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan), playing the Meddling Monk. … Read More Butterworth's association with the Carry On series began with Carry On Cowboy (1965) playing the part of "Doc". He was put in touch with the creator of the series, Peter Rogers, by his friend Talbot Rothwell, the writer of Carry On Cowboy and who had written the previous four films. Read Less FIFTIES Show Less Out of the actors who were considered to be the Carry On team, he was the sixth most prolific performer in the series, making sixteen film appearances, two Christmas specials, the television series in 1975 and the west end theatre productions which also toured the country, alongside Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Connor. … Read More His Carry On appearances portrayed his characters as typically quiet and subtly eccentric. He was often cast as a stooge for another character. In Carry on Screaming! he played Detective Constable Slowbotham, the assistant for Detective Sergeant Bung (Harry H.

Corbett), or as Citizen Bidet in "Carry On Don't Lose Your Head" where he was the assistant to Citizen Camembert (Kenneth Williams). In Carry On Camping, where he played Joshua Fiddler, the laid back and eccentric camp site manager, who persuades Sid James character to part with most of his money when booking into the camp site. Such was his loyalty to Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas, that Butterworth agreed to play three small roles, in Carry On Again Doctor, Carry On Loving and Carry On Henry. It was agreed that, due to other working and stage commitments, he was unable to take larger parts, and so he was specially written into the films in roles given to him. Read Less In 1975 he was the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life whereby Eamonn Andrews surprised him while he was shopping in Selfridges, London. … Read More Friends who took part in the show included Terry Scott, Talbot Rothwell, Jimmy Jewell, John Casson and Rupert Davies. Butterworth's wife and their two children, Tyler and Emma were also at the recording.

Read Less 1978 59 Years Old When the Carry on films finished in 1978, Butterworth began to concentrate on straight roles, taking a small part in the feature film The First Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery, and the Alan Bennett play "Afternoon Off" (both 1979). … Read More These two productions were shown posthumously. Read Less LATE ADULTHOOD BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - The Time Meddler - Details The Meddling Monk - 10/07/1965 17:40 A Battle of Wits - 17/07/1965 17:40 Checkmate - 24/07/1965 17:40 Plot The TARDIS arrives on an English coastline in the year 1066. Exploring, the Doctor discovers that one of his own people, the Monk, is conspiring to wipe out the Viking fleet and thus allow King Harold to face the forces of William of Normandy with a fresh army at the Battle of Hastings. The Doctor succeeds in thwarting the Monk's plans and leaves him trapped in England.

Episode Endings The Doctor explores the ruined monastery he has seen and finds that the sound of monks chanting is coming from a record player hidden in an alcove. As he stops the player, metal bars descend from the ceiling to trap him in the alcove. The Monk appears outside, laughing at the Doctor's plight. Vicki and Steven explore the monastery looking for the Doctor and also discover the record player. Eventually they find the cell in which the Doctor has been placed, but when they enter, he is not there: beneath his cloak there is just a pile of furs. Stephen and Vicki return to the monastery, still in search of the Doctor. Vicki finds a cable leading to an ancient altar and then a door leading into the altar. They pass through and find themselves standing inside a TARDIS. The Doctor's TARDIS dematerialises and leaves England. Roots A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Dialogue Triumphs Steven Taylor : "I've seen some spaceships in my time, admittedly nothing like this, but... what does this do?" The Doctor : "That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold.

Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it... Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!" The Doctor : [The Doctor finds a Viking helmet, but Steven still doesn't believe that they have time travelled ] "What do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?" Continuity It is hinted that the TARDIS' landings are almost entirely random: Vicki says that if the Doctor were to move the TARDIS to escape the rising tide 'he couldn't get back'. (The TARDIS is unharmed by the water.) When Vicki explains the TARDIS to Steven, the 'D' is said to stand for dimensions. The Doctor attributes his inability to tell where they have landed to 'a slight technical hitch at the moment'. The 'stuck' exterior is also something that the Doctor will get around to repairing 'one day'. He refuses to tell the Monk what type of TARDIS his is ('Mind your own business'). The Doctor and the Monk are said to come from the same place, although the Doctor says that he is '50 years earlier' [the Doctor left Gallifrey 50 years before the Monk did].

They have never met before [so he isn't the Master]. The Monk loses a simple analogue watch, and also has a toaster, a pair of binoculars and a gramophone and record of monks chanting. He enjoys a pinch of snuff, and has a 'private collection' of art treasures from 'every period and every place' The Monk's cunning plan is laid out on a roll of parchment, complete with little boxes to tick. According to his diary, he met Leonardo Da Vinci and discussed with him the principles of powered flight. He also put 200 pounds in a London bank account in 1968, and then collected a fortune in compound interest 200 years later. [The Daleks are occupying Earth but presumably the electronic banking system remained intact.] He also helped the ancient Britons build Stonehenge using an anti-gravity lift. The Monk - unlike the Doctor - has control of both the landings of his TARDIS and its exterior. His TARDIS [or perhaps its dematerialisation circuit, cf.

'Terror of the Autons] is a Mark IV (Vicki suggests that this is a later model than the Doctor's, but he doesn't confirm this), but it has been modified (for example, an automatic drift control has been added, allowing the machine to be 'suspended in space [in] absolute safety'). [This 'hover control' seems to have been added to the Doctor's TARDIS later.] The Monk's plan is to save Harold's army from having to attack the Vikings by destroying them with an unspecified weapon, ensuring that William is defeated at Hastings and thus bringing a period of peace to Europe. With the Monk's help, he hopes that the British will have jet propelled airliners by 1320 and that Hamlet will premiere on television ('I do know the medium,' says the Doctor). Vicki and Steven postulate that if Harold defeated William at Hastings all the history books and even their memories would change instantaneously (see Carnival of Monsters ). The Doctor takes the Monk's dimensional control unit out of his TARDIS, thus shrinking its interior and leaving the meddler marooned [another name for the Time Vector Generator: see The Wheel in Space .

However, the effect here isn't quite so drastic: perhaps the Monk has a failsafe.] The Doctor's handwriting is very different from that seen in The Sensorites [although this might not have been his]. Location Northumbria, late Summer, 1066. Links Vicki notes that she would quite like to take a proper look at New York ( The Chase ). Trivia When asked what 'TARDIS' stands for, Vicki says that it is 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space'. This is the first instance of the acronym being explained since the series' debut episode, and the first of the 'D' being said to stand for 'Dimensions' (as would then become the norm) rather than 'Dimension'. The interior of the Monk's TARDIS utilises the same set as the Doctor's except that the central control console is stood on a dais. The closing credits of the final episode are played over images of Steven, Vicki and the Doctor superimposed against a starscape and, for the first time in the series' history, there is no 'Next Episode...' caption giving the title of the following instalment.

The Doctor's appearance in The Meddling Monk, the second episode, is limited to the filmed reprise from the end of The Watcher and a prerecorded voice-over as William Hartnell was on holiday during the week when it was recorded. Myth Peter Butterworth was chosen for the part of the Monk on the strength of his appearances in the Carry On films. (He had yet to appear in any of the films at the time The Time Meddler was made in May 1965. Butterworth's first Carry On film was Carry on Cowboy, filming for which started in August of that year.) The Doctor's race are identified in this story as Gallifreyans. (They aren't.) Goofs In episode one Steven, on finding a wrist watch, asks how they could possibly be in the tenth century (the Doctor has already told him they are in the eleventh). Cast & Crew Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire Writer - Dennis Spooner Bottom Line - from The Discontinuity Guide An atmospheric story populated by cheesy Saxons and Vikings called Sven and Ulf.

Despite the limp fight sequences and slow pace the story actually heralds a massive change of emphasis for the programme: the Doctor's TARDIS is no longer unique, and time can be changed by interference, a contrast to previous ('straight') historicals. All the actors - Hartnell and Peter Butterworth in particular - give it their best, and there's another lovely season end, the theme music beginning before the credits, showing an expanse of stars superimposed with the faces of Steven, Vicki and the Doctor. Analysis - from Doctor Who, the Television Companion 'The Time Meddler [contains] a number of "firsts" for Doctor Who,' pointed out Graham Howard in TSV 33 dated April 1993. 'It is the first "pseudo-historical", i.e. a historical that contains science-fiction elements (aside from the Doctor and his companions...). It is the first time that the viewer is introduced to another person who is a member of the Doctor's own race (although...the name of that race is not revealed... ). [It] is also the first full story in which Steven Taylor appears, having secretly entered the TARDIS at the end of The Chase.

Indeed one of the more interesting parts of this story is Steven's bafflement and the Doctor's and Vicki's bemusement as Steven attempts to grapple with the capabilities of the TARDIS and the concept of time travel.' The 'pseudo-historical' aspect of the story was one that drew considerable comment, and most of it very favourable, from viewers whose reactions were recorded in the BBC's Audience Research Report on The Watcher: 'It was apparently the intriguing discovery of a wrist watch, a gramophone and electric light amongst the Saxons of Northumbria in 1066 that made this episode particularly fascinating for many of the sample who looked forward to learning the explanation of this mystery next week; it had certainly given an interesting twist to the "time travel theme" and, they said, promised exciting new developments to come; a housewife's comment, for example, indicates the speculation that went on amongst a sizeable group: "We can hardly wait for the next episode to find out if there are more time travellers around, and if the Monk is one of them, and if the Battle of Stamford Bridge will be seen".

Several remarked that it was rather a relief to get back into history in order to have a change from monsters and Daleks and they also welcomed the addition of Steven, the new passenger in the TARDIS ("a fresh face adds interest to the series").' Steven does indeed show a lot of promise. He is teamed with Vicki for much of The Time Meddler, and their verbal sparring is lively and interesting. Previously, exchanges of this sort tended to be between the Doctor and Ian or Barbara (or sometimes both), but now there is a new dynamic for the writers to play with. The success of this character interplay is fortunate, as it manages to keep the viewer entertained during what is fundamentally quite a dull story. The BBC's Audience Research Report on the second episode, The Meddling Monk, recorded a much more mixed reaction than that on the first: '"I still can't understand this new Doctor Who story. I was completely baffled after last week's episode and am even more so after this, with its mixture of Saxons and Vikings, electric toasters and electric frying pans.

The sooner he gets back to the future the better - these historical stories are a bit of a bore." 'This comment reflects the majority, somewhat dissatisfied reaction to this particular Doctor Who adventure, and it is quite clear that most reporting viewers are finding this excursion into the past a rather uninteresting and uneventful affair so far. Certainly there was much speculation as to how various electrical gadgets and other twentieth century refinements came to be in use in [eleventh] century Britain, but this seemed to irritate rather than intrigue many viewers ("Vikings and electrical toasters! What rubbish." - "Can't understand what a gramophone etc has to do with early Britons. It seems just silly.") who in addition complained that the story lacked incident and excitement and seemed to them "very tame and slow"... 'However, there were plenty like a dental surgeon who considered this "A most intriguing and interesting story, with plenty of action and very mysterious incident to keep you guessing - particularly the puzzle of electrical gadgets turning up in early Britain. All very odd.", while others, no less enthusiastic, remarked that the introduction of science-fiction into this particular historical adventure certainly seemed to supply the element they had felt was missing in previous historical episodes.

Be that as it may, they were certainly finding this story very interesting and exciting.' Despite these positive comments from some of those surveyed by the BBC, it has to be acknowledged that nothing very much happens in the story. Steven and Vicki spend practically the whole four episodes running around trying to find the Doctor, while the Doctor, in turn, gets captured, escapes and then gets recaptured. The resolution is absurdly simple: the Doctor just removes the dimensional control from the Monk's TARDIS so that he can't use it. There is no apparent concern as to what havoc the Monk might wreak left stranded in 1066. Peter Butterworth's Monk is, however, an excellent addition to Doctor Who mythology. The actor gives a deft, understated performance and imbues the character with a wicked sense of humour. His scenes with the Doctor are a particular joy to watch (especially the one in which the Doctor uses a stick to convince him that he has a gun poking in his back). 'The meddling Monk himself, wonderfully played by Peter Butterworth with just the right amount of humour, is actually a rather likeable character,' noted Howard.

'...One of the story's appeals is the verbal double act between the Doctor and the Monk which indicates that the Doctor does not view the Monk as a serious threat - more like an irritating child.' The Vikings and Saxons, on the other hand, are sketched in merely as caricatures, and the scripts give them next to nothing to do except fight each other. Even the implied rape of Edith is glossed over, and when the Doctor arrives at her home she serves him a drink as though nothing has happened. Douglas Camfield's direction is very polished and features some nice touches, such as the back-projection shots of the sky with moving clouds which are, for the mid-sixties, very innovative. The use of stock footage also adds to the impression of times past, convincing the viewer that the action really does take place by the sea, that seagulls do fly overhead and that a Viking fleet is approaching the coastline. There are in fact some reviewers who rate this story very highly indeed. 'The Time Meddler is a classic Doctor Who and a brilliant, entertaining piece of television,' asserted John Pettigrew in DWB No. 100, dated April 1992.

This was an opinion shared by Paul Mount, who wrote in Doctor Who - An Adventure in Space and Time in 1982: 'It was another of those drastically under-rated and often-forgotten stories which tends nowadays to be overshadowed by some of the more spectacular and lavish space serials which surrounded it... With a perfect blend of subtle humour and strong, tightly-directed drama, The Time Meddler... served as a very satisfying end to the second season of Doctor Who.' 10 comedians who have appeared in Doctor Who | Den of Geek Search 10 comedians who have appeared in Doctor Who Now that Lee Evans has been confirmed as appearing in the next Doctor Who special, we look at other comedians who have popped up in the show... j With the news that Lee Evans is to joining the cast of Doctor Who in the upcoming special, Planet Of the Dead, our minds here at Den Of Geek turn to other comedians who have left the sweaty comedy clubs to travel in time and space (or simply stay on contemporary Earth). There's certainly been numerous funny guys and gals who have either paired up with The Doctor or faced off against him and, as you may have guessed, this is a list of just those people.

For the purposes of the chart, I'm concentrating on comedians as opposed to comedic actors. I will point out that Rowan Atkinson does not get a mention for his top portrayal of the Time Lord in The Curse Of The Fatal Death (due to reasons of canon-icity) and neither does Brian "Gordon's alive!" Blessed - yes he's arse-achingly funny but he's meant to be a 'serious' actor (though you could have fooled me). 10. Peter Butterworth as The Meddling Monk (1965-66) Ok, not technically a comedian but Butterworth is best known for his comedic roles in the Carry On films - so we'll let the 'rules' slide for this entry. In Who he has popped up twice playing fellow time lord, The Meddling Monk, in an eponymous four-part tale and then alongside those pesky intergalactic pepperpots in The Daleks' Master Plan. Old skool fans have a huge soft spot for the character and yearn for his return... 9. Peter Kay in Love & Monsters (2006) Did someone say Marmite?

Russell T Davies tested Who fans with the introduction of the 'Doctor-lite' episode and all was going well until the Abzorbaloff raised its Slitheen-esque body. I know that Kay has his many, many fans but the Lancashire gagster does not do it for me in the comedy stakes (no matter how many endless Channel Four polls tell me otherwise). As performances go, it didn't match the rest of the excellent cast and would have better suited to the show that originated his costume, Blue Peter. 8. Hale & Pace in Survival (1989) Eighties Doctor Who had its fair share of hideous monsters and atrocities but none were more stomach-churning and brain-scratching than the human 'comedy' duo known as Hale & Pace. Even though their role in the last of the regular 'classic' series was small, it lasted longer in the mind than the other clown(s) in this episode.... 7.

Simon Pegg in The Long Game (2005) The narrator of Doctor Who Confidential Series One (ah, the days when it was only half an hour - good times) steps in front of the camera and delivers a rather lacklustre performance as The Editor - henchman of the 'baddie' known as Max. Personally, I think he would have been better served playing a more sympathetic role akin to Tim from his series Spaced. Also popping up in the same story was Black Books actress Tamsin Greig, though more laughs were probably gained from the woeful performance of Bruno Langley as Adam - an Adric for the Noughties. 6. Ken Dodd in Delta & The Bannermen (1987) Oh dear. And some Who fans wonder why the show got canned back in '89. If you look at the latter years of the show it's almost as if the Beeb were determined to turn Who into an unwatchable farce by throwing the most ridiculous names at it (and I'm not referring to McCoy - there I said it!); witness Nicholas Parsons!; view agog at Bonnie Langford!!; and then there's Ken Dodd - as misguided as the production values were awful.

Don't take my word for it, though, Delta & The Bannermen is released (more like vomited) on DVD later this year. You have been warned. 5. Mark Gatiss in The Lazarus Experiment (2007) Gatiss is beloved by most Who fans and is one of those clever guys who made the transition from the New Adventures range of novels back in the Nineties to the new series (The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot's Lantern and is currently writing for Series 5). Of course, his excellent Who-based sketches The Kidnappers (with Peter Davison no less!), The Web Of Caves and The Pitch Of Fear are some of the best in the Doctor Who parody oeuvre and his enthusiasm for the show is heartwearming in the extreme. Despite the episode's failings, Gatiss plays the villain with perfect charm and never overplays the moment. 4.

Alexei Sayle in Revelation Of The Daleks (1985) Liverpudlian oddity Alexei has popped up in some weird places over the years (such as Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade) but his appearance in Revelation Of The Daleks is an interesting example of a comedian transferring their skills onto the screen (rather than showing off by doing some 'proper' acting). Having said that, his stint as the Tranquil Repose DJ is as irritating as his 'song', Ullo John! Gotta New Motor? Fellow Young Ones alumni Christopher Ryan also starred in Trial Of A Time Lord (1986) and more recently in last year's Sontaran two-parter. 3. Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson) in Human Nature/Family Of Blood (2007) Beating her Spaced counterpart, Simon Pegg, by some margin, Jessica played the best companion The Doctor never had in the now legendary (hold on, it's not even two years old!) two-parter from the pen of Paul Cornell. Hynes plays the part of Joan Redfern beautifully and us fans of Jessica are struggling to comprehend why her career seems to be stalling (I mean, did you see According to Bex?

*shudders*). She got on so well with Davey T that they paired up again on her terrific drama/comedy (a dramedy?) Learners. 2. John Cleese in City Of Death (1979) Whilst the TARDIS is stuck in a Parisian art gallery, John Cleese plays an art lover who looks on at the Doctor's favoured transport and says, "For me the most curious thing about the piece is its wonderful a-functionalism." After a fellow art-lover responds, he adds, "And since it has no call to be here the art lies in the fact that it is here." Straight out the pages of Python. It may well be a blink-and-you'll-miss-him role. but Cleese's cameo, like many facets of City Of Death, is totally memorable. Script editor Douglas Adams (no stranger to laughs) peppered this story with some of the best comedy the show has seen. Rumour has it that Cleese wanted to play The Master and saw this as an audition of sorts. Ah, what could have been... 1.

Catherine Tate as Donna Noble The UK's greatest comedienne upset the 'fans' (or should I say 'idiots') who dismissed her before she even began. The End of Year Poll in Doctor Who Magazine told a different story where Tate won the Biggest Contribution to Doctor Who award - so she must have been doing something right. Donna Noble retained all of Catherine's comic stylings and groin-grabbingly punctual timing whilst displaying an acute ability for acting and making the temp from Chiswick a real and believable character. So much so that some of us are still mourning her loss...sniff... come back. Donna. I miss you.

Missing out on the Top Ten, but still worth an hounourable mention (and there's a couple of comedic actors in here too), are: Phil Cornwell in The Fires Of Pompeii Joan Sims in The Trial Of A Time Lord (Eps 1-4) Velile Tshabalala in The Next Doctor Faith Brown in Attack Of The Cybermen (what do you mean, who's Faith Brown?) Steve Pemberton in Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead Bernard Bresslaw in The Ice Warriors Russell Tovey in Voyage Of the Damned Martin Clunes in Snakedance Paul O'Grady in The Stolen Earth

Question: ‘The Meddling ‘what’ is a fictional character played by actor Peter Butterworth in the UK television series ‘Doctor Who’?
Answer: Monk