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“STATE OF DECAY: GOTHIC HORROR MEETS SCI-FI IN A VAMPIRE EPIC”

Following the stark sci-fi approach of Full Circle, State of Decay takes a completely different turn, embracing medieval fantasy and Gothic horror. Originally written by Terrance Dicks for the Graham Williams era, the script was later reworked for Season 18, creating a tonal clash between Dicks and director Peter Moffatt—who wanted to retain its Gothic horror roots—and script editor Christopher H. Bidmead, who was steering the show toward a hard sci-fi approach. The result is a fascinating blend of classic Doctor Who horror elements with the more serious and cerebral tone of the season.

A TIME LORD LEGEND REVEALED

One of the story’s standout aspects is its expansion of Time Lord mythology with the introduction of the Great Vampires—ancient enemies of the Time Lords from the Dark Times. Their history adds weight to the narrative, making the Doctor’s struggle against the Three Who Rule feel like part of a much larger conflict. The slow-burn horror of discovering the castle’s secret and the chilling reveal of the Great King Vampire buried beneath it are effectively eerie, particularly the tomb exploration sequence and the Part 2 cliffhanger. The structure of the story also shares some DNA with The Time Warrior and The Time Meddler, as the Doctor and Romana uncover traces of future human technology in what initially appears to be a purely medieval society.

STRONG CHARACTER DYNAMICS, WEAK PLOT MOVEMENT

Tom Baker feels far more engaged here than in some earlier stories this season, delivering a performance that balances wit and gravitas. His chemistry with Lalla Ward’s Romana remains delightful, with the pair bouncing off each other brilliantly as they piece together the mystery. Unfortunately, the plot stagnates in the middle, with much of Parts 2 and 3 consisting of the Doctor and Romana working things out while the supporting cast meanders.

Adric, in his debut-filmed story, is sidelined for most of the runtime, used mainly to provide some worldbuilding before being captured. The Doctor even forgets about him at one point, with Romana having to remind him that Adric needs rescuing. His role in Part 4 feels especially underwhelming.

One of the more engaging supporting characters is Kalmar, played by Arthur Hewlett. As the leader of the rebels, Kalmar provides a grounded and sympathetic counterpoint to the aristocratic villains, though the rebellion itself lacks momentum for much of the story.

MEMORABLE VILLAINS AND ATMOSPHERE

The Three Who Rule—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon—are a highlight. Their eerie, aristocratic presence is wonderfully theatrical, with Emrys James stealing scenes as Aukon, even as his performance veers into pantomime. Their descent into desperation as they attempt to turn the Doctor into one of them adds to their menace. The climactic sequence, in which their bodies wither away after the Great King Vampire’s destruction, is particularly effective.

Visually, the story makes the most of its gloomy sets and muted colour palette, successfully evoking a foreboding, decayed kingdom. The model work for the castle is impressive, though the electronic score—while well-composed—feels at odds with the setting.

VERDICT: A RETURN TO GOTHIC DOCTOR WHO

Despite some pacing issues and underutilised supporting characters, State of Decay is a strong entry in the E-Space trilogy. The mix of Gothic horror, medieval aesthetics, and Time Lord mythology creates a compelling adventure, with a fantastic villain trio and a suitably eerie atmosphere. The story’s DNA can be traced back to classic Doctor Who adventures, and while the tension between Dicks’ original vision and Bidmead’s sci-fi focus is evident, the end result is an enjoyable throwback to an earlier era of the show.

📝7/10

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• Following the 2020 multimedia event Time Lord Victorious, the story became a part of the event, used as an origin story to explain the Great Vampires, who pop up in The Monstrous Beauty DWM comic strip.
• Kalmar shares his name with a town in Sweden.
• Baker and Ward weren't on speaking terms during production, due to Baker dismissing Ward's attempt at rekindling their relationship. They both found Waterhouse disrespectful towards cast and crew members and shared a dislike of him, so they buried the hatchet to announce their engagement shortly after production.

DOCTOR WHO: SEASON 18: STORY 4 (The E-Space Trilogy: Part 2)

State of Decay is, like the King Vampire, a strange beast. Beloved by most fans, when watching this story, I felt like I had to enjoy it. And I did. Well, kind of.

Although this serial has many great moments, it has faults. And some of these faults overshadow the highlights of the story.

Speaking of the story, our villains here are the Three Who Rule, who, tying into the E-Space arc, came from our universe but fell into E-Space, and somehow ended up becoming vampires, who want to free the King Vampire. I think. To be honest, I really can’t remember much of the plot of this story, only the set peices.

Aukon, who seems to be the main vampire out of the three, is played by Emrys James. The way he chose to play the character really irritates me, but apart from that, most of the acting is good.

Visually, this story is a real treat, the sets are beautiful, and the costumes are incredibly well designed.

It also has some wonderful sound design, with a stunning soundtrack.

But, a good atmosphere does not make up for an unintersting plot, which sadly, this story has.

Overall, State of Decay has great direction from Peter Grimwade, great acting from the regulars, but very middling writing from Terrance Dicks.

This is a solid serial with a very tight and well-written plot. The sets and costumes look excellent! The core concept itself is alright, although not the most interesting in my personal opinion. Overall, this is a very good serial.

I love vampires. The story may have been a little slow and simple, but the vibes were immaculate, and that's all I really care about. The costuming is gorgeous, the sets are interesting, and most of the men have fantastic beards.

Adric was definitely under-utilised, especially for his first story as a companion, and spending most of his on-screen time pretending makes it very difficult to figure out what he's like. Not a great start.

Overall, it's a nice serial to have on in the background, but probably not gripping enough to properly watch very often.

This is a really unusual story, in that it feels like a reject from the Philip Hinchcliffe era, even though it was originally commissioned for Season 15. It has all the hallmarks of the Hinchliffe era, with its hammer horror vibe, and yet it suits Season 18's more sombre vibes quite well.

State Of Decay is an excellent Doctor Who take on the classic vampire story. It adapts vampires into the Doctor Who universe arguably better than the new series' attempt with Vampires of Venice, with The Three Who Rule adding some great malice to the story. I liked the medieval vibes this serial was going for too, which gels nicely with the story that Terence Dicks is trying to tell.

My only gripe is that Adric is weirdly underused for a 'new' (at the time) companion. This is only his second story, and yet he's absent for a large chunk of it. He gets hardly any screentime with the Fourth Doctor and Romana, and in the little appearances he does make he comes across somewhat unlikeable. He may save Romana in the end from the vampires, but he still wanted to join them.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Full Circle

This story is very dull, it has some interesting ideas in it that amount to very little. The villains are annoying and nothing about the story stands out. I don't understand what the fascination is with sci-fi technology in a medieval setting. It was good once and ever since it's been really annoying to sit through.

Adric is much more interesting in this story, I like that we get to see a bit more of his worldview. I also like the extra lore we get on the Time Lords. The Type 40 being the only model with manuals on how to defeat vampires comes off as deus ex machina and doesn't make much sense even for Doctor Who.

The soundtrack is alright but, in my opinion, not nearly as good as it has been for the past few stories. Overall this is just a boring story with very little redeeming qualities. I'll take a bad story over an ok-but-boring one anyday

Next Story: The Invasion of E-Space

The first we've had from Terrance Dicks in since the excellent Horror of Fang Rock. It is rare to have a writer who is established on the show these days, so great to know it’s not the end of our time with Dicks.

Mathew Waterhouse is a little stiffer in this story. It feels like he should be getting notes from the director (direction seems all over the place). I love how he is introduced as a stowaway, without The Doctor or the audience realising he is there until well after the story had gotten started.

It’s another futuristic medieval setting, similar in some ways to Meglos, which I always find a little boring and lends itself to pompous, archaic verbiage. I had to watch the cliffhanger for part 1 twice to really get what was going on. It was so low energy and poorly realised that it was not very obvious at all that The Doctor and Romana were supposed to be being attacked by birds. Considering that the last story had one of the best cliffhangers ever (watermelon spider) it’s a bit of a shame to see a shoddy production impact the overall quality here.

I’m surprised this sits side by side with Full Circle in this season given that they both feature a disused spaceship that has sat there for generations and a population who is having their behaviour and access to the truth limited. Bidmead and JNT should have been looking at these similarities from a higher level view and weeding them out. The use of vampires however is something that has until now not been fully explored in Doctor Who (and no, I’m not counting The Chase).

The best parts of this story are when The Doctor and Romana or K-9 are chatting to each other and have interesting character moments that the show often doesn’t have time for. When it gets stuck into the plot there are generic baddies and predictable perils. Dicks makes Adric appear ungrateful and foolish before revealing his apparent attitude to be all part of his plan. This is a good beat for him but in general he doesn’t shine quite as well here as the story before.

The way the story ties up, with the very large monster being pierced with a spaceship that had *just* enough fuel left to blast off before hurtling back down to earth, was very clever. It doesn’t quite make up for the rather unremarkable villains though. There is something about Middle Ages inspired characters who speak in overly formal, arch and hyperbolic ways that bores me to death.