I think The Dæmons gets better every time I watch it.  It’s Doctor Who going full folk horror with a remote English village where the Master has set himself up as the vicar and is using the uncovering of a burial mound as a route to calling forth the Dæmon Azal.  Barry Letts and Robert Sloman have written a story pulling between magic and science a la Clarke’s Law, with nearly everything on screen being explained with a “scientific” explanation despite having a character claim to be a white witch (Damaris Hayman as Miss Hawthorne is such a delight and the first important older woman stock character).  Even with the explanations much of the serial is written with pagan tradition in mind, making it have this completely unique feeling for all of what Doctor Who would do.

The format being five episodes also gives it almost an archaic structure, adding quite a bit to the general folk horror feeling because everything intentionally feels off.  It’s also the third season in a row that really attempted a big finale, though shorter than The War Games and Inferno, The Dæmons ends with the Master captured.  Roger Delgado gets some of his best material, Barry Letts being one of the serial’s cowriters obviously helps, but the vicar material is just so captivating.  Stephen Thorne gets to be his first big shouty villain for the series, though not his best.  Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are always a delight.  Christopher Barry directs and makes liberal use of the location shoot, an incredibly ambitious shoot that really pays off.  Plus the script is incredibly punchy and quotable.