(From the TV Club thread of March 2025)

Like the vast majority of pure historicals from 60s Who, the Smugglers is profoundly boring and you usually find yourself largely at a loss as to what is actually going on. In true classic Who fashion, Ben and Polly immediately forget that they're supposed to be real human beings and acclimatise to time travel in the span of about forty seconds.

However.

It is also contains the crux of what I think is easily the most rewarding thing about watching 60s Doctor Who in sequence - the evolution and development of the Doctor's character. Check this passage out:

BEN: ...but you don't know where it leads to. Smack down to where the Tardis is. So, all we've got to do is get back to the old church, go down the passage, and we're away, mate.
POLLY: Oh, thank goodness for that.
DOCTOR: Yes.
BEN: What's the trouble, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm afraid, my boy, we can't leave at the moment.
POLLY: What? But why not?
DOCTOR: Yes, well I know it's really difficult for both you to understand, but I'm under moral obligation.
BEN: Well, about what? We've got no ties here.
DOCTOR: No, but it's this village. I feel that I might be responsible for it's destruction, and therefore I must at least try and avoid this danger...

I reckon this is the quiet, humble birth of the character proper, more than anything to do with Ian and Barbara, or the attempted murder of cavemen, or other such fan consensuses.

The Doctor is no longer simply stumbling into traps and itching to get away as soon as possible. He is *choosing* to remain behind to save people, without the pressure (and in fact, against the will) of his companions.

And this only grows as the series goes on; a few stories into Troughton you get "There are some corners of the universe that have bred the most terrible things ... They must be fought" — as one friend put it to me, it's as if "he's properly decided that that's his job now".

Up to this point, the Doctor has largely saved the day by near-happenstance. But by the Smugglers, something has changed. The Doctor no longer arrives, and saves the day. He arrives *to* save the day. 🌌