Following my blog on Classic Doctor Who stories for Halloween I was asked on Twitter why I didn't include Image of the Fendahl. Well, it was partly because I didn't want the list to be entirely made up of Tom Baker era stories and partly because it wasn't a list of Doctor Who stories that genuinely terrified me as a child. If that had been the list then it would ALL be Tom Baker and it would absolutely have Image of the Fendahl on it.
Doctor Who scared me a lot as a child. I didn't hide behind the sofa. O, no I had a far more complicated way of dealing with my fear. I would pretend I needed to go to the loo. Then I would watch the story through the crack in the door, which I think I felt put sufficient distance/difficulty between me and the thing that was terrifying me. Once the scary bit was out of the way I'd come swanning back in. This tactic was completely obvious to my parents and became the subject of some mockery. If I stayed in my seat and got really scared my Mum would say to me, "Don't be scared. It's only a television programme." Whilst that might be true it never really felt just like a television programme.
When I watch stories that terrified me as a child now it seems ridiculous that it had that effect on me. One sequence in particular, which I'll talk about below, was such a disappointment when I re-watched it as an adult, even though it had stayed with me forever.
So, let's talk about Doctor Who stories that scared me as a child. These are all going to be Tom Baker stories. I was 4 when I watched the first story mentioned on this list. I was 9 (but almost 10) when we reached the last. After that I don't remember Doctor Who scaring me in the same way. It still worried me at times, but that was more the worry of thriller than horror.
Let us begin.
1. Terror of the Zygons: This whole story creeped me out but my most vivid memory, the one that scared me the most was the moment Sister Lamont turned into a Zygon. I remember it differently to how it actually happens in the story. My brain edits out Harry altogether and everything happens around Sarah Jane. Then theme tune. I never used to sympathise much with Mary Whitehouse about Doctor Who. I think being scared isn't a bad thing in and of itself but I do think she might have been right about how cliffhangers stay with a child. This story was broadcast 46 years ago but that cliffhanger is still in my head.
2. Planet of Evil: There's no specific sequence in Planet of Evil that scared me but the whole story seemed filled with menace to my 4 year-old self. Throughout the story you felt something awful was going to happen and it often did. And then the Doctor falls down a ruddy great hole. It doesn't sound scary but I was 4. It was bloody terrifying.
3. The Seeds of Doom: I have no memories of watching The Brain of Morbius, the story before this one. Morbius you'd think would have produced some terror of its own and it might well have done. But not enough to stay with me. The Seeds of Doom did though. There's moments throughout that have stuck with me. Perhaps it was because it was set on Earth and in the present day. Perhaps it was because it was realistically violent in a way a lot of Doctor Who isn't. It sometimes feels like a Doctor Who crossover with The Sweeney. Or an episode from a missing Euston Films TV series. But the most likely is that Elisabeth Sladen is so good at being scared and you get scared with her and for her.
4. The Robots of Death: This comes down to the how terrifying the beautifully designed, quietly spoken robots are when they kill people. They're implacable, but beautiful. The uncanny valley has never felt more uncanny. It's remorseless, the body count is huge and people you like die. The Robots of Death was gently terrifying.
5. The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Now is not the time to discuss the flaws of the Talons of Weng-Chiang. We here purely to talk about fear and this story terrified me. There is one sequence in particular which terrified me and which retrospectively seems ridiculous. But I was 6 at the time, which is my excuse. That sequence? When Leela is attacked by the Giant Rat in the sewer. Even now when I watch it and can see how ridiculous the Giant Rat costume is I get a little sting of fear. And, like The Seeds of Doom, I think this is because Louise Jameson sells Leela's fear so well. You are scared because Leela is scared. Leela screams, which she never did. I'm sure there is an argument that perhaps she shouldn't have screamed that it doesn't fit the character but even the strongest and bravest of us when pushed into a life or death situation might crack.
The next two are probably the two that scared me the most.
6. The Horror of Fang Rock: It's on my Halloween list. It's one of the great Tom Baker stories. Louise Jameson is wonderful in it but it absolutely terrified me at the time. The idea of being trapped with a monster that you couldn't tell was a monster because it could shapeshift made for some sleepless nights afterwards. This one is all about the atmosphere. It is, as I said in my Halloween blog, a tea-time slasher film. It didn't actually give me nightmares though unlike...
7. Image of the Fendhal: This is probably the story that scared me more than any other so much so that I had nightmares following this story where I couldn't move. Whatever was chasing me had me frozen to the spot. I remember Fendhaleen haunting my dreams. I was 6. This was like watching an actual horror film. Again it is the quality of the performances that sell it, which is a key to Classic Doctor Who. It works a lot of the time because the actors are good at their jobs. Even those in small parts. It doesn't matter if the thing menacing you out of the dark is a foam rubber creation of the BBC if the actors facing to it act like it is the most horrifying thing they've ever seen.
8. The Stones of Blood: Again, looking back on this it seems ridiculous but this story freaked me out. The sequence with the campers in particular. It's interesting that I have no memories of the watching the second half of the story with its trial and sparkly judges. I do remember the first two episodes though and how scared I was on stones that walked and that moment where Romana is menaced by The Doctor on the cliff edge that doesn't quite make sense now. I never looked at a stone circle in quite the same light afterwards.
9. State of Decay: This is the last one. I was 9 when this was broadcast and by this point I was more aware of what Doctor Who was. But this story did its job. Perhaps it was the bats. Perhaps it was the obvious horror tropes. It was certainly the baroque Vampires who were the Three Who Rule and the Giant Vampire. The heart beat. Again it was the performances that sold you. Like a lot of these stories it seems weird looking back on it from my 50s. This though would also be the gateway to Hammer films.
There you are. The nine Doctor Who stories that scared me the most. What were yours?
And here's an obligatory plug for my Kickstarter campaign to raise money for my Unofficial Doctor Who Companion, Across Space and Time.
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