The Enemy of the World

Directed by

UK Viewers

6.8 million

Appreciation Index

50

Synopsis

After the Doctor is attacked by a group of mysterious gunmen, he discovers he is the physical double of the famous scientist Salamander.

Episode 2

First aired

Saturday, December 30, 1967

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.6 million

Appreciation Index

49

Synopsis

Jamie and Victoria agree to accompany Astrid to Hungary to observe Salamander's activities.

Episode 3

First aired

Saturday, January 6, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.1 million

Appreciation Index

48

Synopsis

Jamie and Victoria join Astrid into attempting to rescue Denes but Salamander becomes suspicious of them.

Episode 4

First aired

Saturday, January 13, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

7.8 million

Appreciation Index

49

Synopsis

Fariah brings the Doctor and Kent evidence of Salamander's activities but then they come under attack from Benik.

Episode 5

First aired

Saturday, January 20, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

6.9 million

Appreciation Index

49

Synopsis

The Doctor persuades Bruce to help him infiltrate Salamander's research centre while Salamander takes drastic action to prevent Swann finding out the truth.

Episode 6

First aired

Saturday, January 27, 1968

Runtime

25 minutes

Written by

Directed by

UK Viewers

8.3 million

Appreciation Index

52

Synopsis

The Doctor discovers the true link between Salamander and Kent while Astrid tries to convince the shelter inhabitants they have been lied to.

Characters

Second Doctor

Patrick Troughton

Jamie McCrimmon

Frazer Hines

How to watch The Enemy of the World:

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DVD

The Enemy of the World

DVD

Lost in Time

VHS

The Troughton Years (VHS)

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10 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

We now come to a story that at one point would never have been considered as one of Troughton’s best. After a long period of five out of six episodes being missing and the majority of the fanbase having a negative overview as it seemed from the audio that The Enemy of the World was very boring, miraculously all missing episodes were discovered with the footage intact in 2013. When this story finally got a DVD release you have never seen such a change in opinion quite like this story as the fans seemed to look upon this story in a more positive light now that the footage had been restored. What was once presumed to be a very dull and overlong six-parter turned out to be one of the most well directed and well performed stories of the Second Doctor era.

Troughton brings what is arguably his best performance in Doctor Who as not just the Doctor. The story sees the Doctor in the midst of a plot to bring down a man who’s determined to be dictator of the world, interestingly enough though the man in question, Salamander, looks exactly like the Doctor, which gives his enemies the perfect opportunity to have an impersonator to expose Salamander for the villain he is.

Troughton may not be my favourite Doctor, but he is quite possibly the most talented actor to ever play the Doctor; in this story he delivers a tour de force performance as the Doctor, the villain, the Doctor impersonating the villain and the villain impersonating the Doctor. Sometimes most of which in the same scene! What really sells this premise is the fact that Troughton slips so seamlessly into his other role as Salamander to the point where it doesn’t just feel like a cheap doppelganger story, you really buy into this other character he plays, especially in scenes where the Doctor impersonates Salamander with such confidence but with a slight hint of secrecy in his mannerisms. William Hartnell really was right about Troughton being “the one man in England who can take over”, he’s just incredible in this story.

The Enemy of the World has often been described as Doctor Who being a 007 film and that’s honestly an accurate statement as this features plenty of espionage, characters with their own duplicitous motives, more focus on action and less sci-fi and a literal supervillain with a frankly ridiculous method of trying to rule the world. The story does admittedly go a little out there in it’s second half with the reveal of how Salamander is planning to take over the world but it is in the same spirit as a James Bond film so I can’t fault it for that. There’s also the accidental hilarity of this story taking place in pre-2018, which makes for a fun game to play on all the things that we of course had pre-2018 but missed the headlines on, like rockets used as public transport! I guess they just didn’t think the show would make it that far.

The Enemy of the World is very different from any other Doctor Who story, it’s neither sci-fi focused or a pure historical, but rather a political action thriller which may throw fans off a bit but with some great directing and performances, not just from Troughton but from an excellent side cast as well, this makes for a fun viewing and I’m happy it got reappraised for the better on its fully restored release. I can’t speak for what this was like with only the audio and tele-snaps as I missed out on that and of course having the footage missing doesn’t ruin other stories from the 60s that suffered a similar fate, and just because the footage is found and restored doesn’t mean the overall opinion will change drastically, but The Enemy of the World proved to be the acceptation to that.

DanDunn

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Review last edited on 16-01-25

I’d always wanted to watch this one and now I have I’m glad I did a really great story all things considered

great spy thriller and a lot of fun

Olivadababa

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Review last edited on 15-12-24

This review contains spoilers!

“Me ? I’m the nicest possible person.”

Un chef d'œuvre.

Whitaker se saisit de chaque ligne de dialogue et de chaque performance, pour raconter un monde de plus en plus complexe et étouffant.

Son Salamander est en effet captivant. Mais même avec les combi’ moulantes et les coupes bizarres, il est surtout surprenant d’actualité.

Son monde est celui où un tyran prospère en effrayant les classes moyennes, et où la nature tue des millions de gens.

Son monde est celui des Trump, des Le Pen, des Macron, et des Bolsonaro.

Dieu ait pitié de nous.

Dogtor

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Review last edited on 17-11-24

While the story is competently written throughout, it lacks for me a classic Doctor Who hook, which makes it interesting beyond being family drama from the 60s. In fact, very little about the story feels like Doctor Who at all beyond the characters being in it.
So, while it is enjoyable and competently made, I can't love it, only like it.

7/10

RoseBomb

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Review last edited on 29-09-24

Well written and moves at a decent pace. Interesting ideas that are well realised. The acting is top-notch, with Patrick Troughton giving a master class. The costumes are great in the episode, with some neat variety and ideas.

ItsR0b0tNinja

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Review last edited on 7-09-24