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"THE GUNFIGHTERS: A WILD WESTERN ROMP WITH A BRITISH TWIST"

Donald Cotton’s The Gunfighters stands out in Doctor Who’s third season as a light-hearted spoof on classic Westerns, contrasting starkly with the darker, more serious stories surrounding it. Much like The Romans before it, this serial leans into comedy, but rather than political farce, it takes aim at the clichés of the Western genre, resulting in an experience that is more chuckle-worthy than thrilling.

COTTON’S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Cotton’s sharpest writing shines through in the witty dialogue and exaggerated characterisations, making the script highly quotable and endlessly entertaining. The mistaken identity plot—where the Doctor is falsely believed to be the infamous Doc Holliday—provides a solid comedic foundation, as the TARDIS crew’s attempts to clear their names only dig them into deeper trouble. However, where Cotton struggles is in crafting a palpable sense of tension. The story is mostly a lighthearted romp until the final episode’s shootout, and the cliffhangers lack the usual dramatic peril, feeling more like the end of acts in a stage play.

THE BALLAD OF THE LAST CHANCE SALOON – LOVE IT OR HATE IT

One of the serial’s most divisive elements is The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, a recurring song that weaves through the narrative to frame the story. While some find its frequent appearances grating, it undeniably gives The Gunfighters a unique identity, adding a musical storytelling device rarely seen in Doctor Who. Personally, I find it charming and lovely, and I'm ready to defend it until my dying breath.

HARTNELL’S COMEDIC CHOPS AND THE TARDIS TEAM

William Hartnell thrives in comedic settings, and his grumpy yet endearing Doctor is a delight, particularly in his constant attempts to stay out of trouble while being unwittingly dragged into it. His frustration over an aching tooth, leading to an unwelcome visit to Doc Holliday’s dentist chair, is peak 60s Who absurdity. Peter Purves as Steven delivers strong comedic moments, despite looking a little uncomfortable at times, while Jackie Lane’s Dodo is sidelined and mostly relegated to an annoying presence—a trend that sadly continues throughout her tenure.

TERRIBLE AMERICAN ACCENTS AND PRODUCTION QUIRKS

One of the biggest hurdles for modern audiences is the truly dreadful American accents. Even as a non-native English speaker, it’s hard not to cringe at the forced delivery. The decision to have Steven and Dodo attempt American accents themselves—particularly Steven’s Morton Dill-esque drawl—only adds to the unintentional comedy. The sets and costumes capture the Western aesthetic reasonably well, though some moments, such as the awkwardly staged shootouts and exaggerated death scenes, veer into unintentional hilarity.

A SHIFT IN TONE FOR THE CLIMAX

Despite its overall lighthearted nature, the final episode takes a more serious approach as the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral unfolds. This tonal shift is well-executed, providing an intense and surprisingly brutal climax, with characters dropping left and right in a way rarely seen in Doctor Who. The Doctor, caught between the warring factions, takes a more active role in manipulating events, ensuring history plays out as it should.

VERDICT: A WESTERN SPOOF IN A DARK SEASON

A divisive but undeniably unique Doctor Who story, The Gunfighters thrives on its comedic energy, clever dialogue, and Hartnell’s fantastic performance. However, weak pacing, lack of tension, and some questionable production choices prevent it from being a true classic. Approach it with the right mindset—as a parody rather than a serious historical—and you’ll likely find yourself entertained.

📝7.5/10

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• It's fun to see a take on historical people, from the typically gruff Wyatt Earp, to the vile and scheming Doc Holliday and the inept Clanton brothers and cool boy Johnny Ringo. One of the Clantons even has a stutter to make him stand out a bit more.
• Frequent Dalek voice actor David Graham makes his first of two physical appearances on Doctor Who as the ill-fated barman, Charlie (his next appearance is as the loveable Professor Kerensky in City of Death). His death scene in Part 3 is one of the clumsiest death scenes I’ve ever seen, and I love it. 
• This is the last serial with individual episode titles. Starting from the next serial, The Savages, every serial in Classic Who titles its episodes as “Part X.”
• By the way, why is the Doctor so annoyed about his companion playing dress-up when he likes to do so himself occasionally, and since when does he have a favourite collection of revolvers?
• The singing part at the end of Part 1 is one of the funnier ways to end an episode. Steven looks so uncomfortable when singing under gunpoint while Jackie Lane is clearly not playing the piano for real.

Doctor Who does the wild west! You can tell its on a budget - but there is a contagous sense of fun to the whole thing.

The Doctor having his tooth removed by the inexperienced dentist has to be one of my highlight scenes "you'll be our first customer!" Its always nice to see a character you know really well put in an awkward situation and seeing how they deal with it. The first cliffhanger of Steven singing at gunpoint, very funny! I love it!

The Doctor is mistaken for Doc Holiday, the fastest shooter in the west, a dozen people now want to kill him and Steven is going to be hung if he doesn't show himself - another great cliffhanger!

It would be fair to say however, that there is not a lot of room for subtlety in this story. The saloon is literally called "The Last Chance Saloon". There are good guys, bad guys and every western trope - which presumably would have been higher in public consciousness in 1966. "This is utterly absurd! Nothing would reduce me to raising a gun in anger", the doctor makes a great sheriff, its just a shame that it never goes anywhere. There is no depth - a lot of episode three onwards is to needlessly fulfill tropes.

The specially written musical interludes are perculiar - they don't ruin the feel of the story by any means, but it certainly contributes to the feel of this being a "novalty" story.

Once again Dodo is made to look useless. With the exception of Barbara, at this point Doctor Who has been very poor in properly representing their female regular characters! Dodo holds up Doc Holiday in an impressive and interesting way, then it is imediatly undercut to show how 'useless women are in reality' - for laughs!

The shoot out at the end is great though - a fantastic ending to a mixed story.

It isn't the most engrossing story but a fun enough take on the historical. Sure, that music can get a little repetitive, but it is part of the charm of The Gunfighters. This isn't really a story that demands it be taken seriously so I think the repeated refrains around the Last Chance Saloon are within the scope of the tone these episodes take. I find our TARDIS crew is pretty well used, while a number of guest actors like Anthony Jacobs and Sheena Marshe help elevate the material for me a bit.

I do like how invested in historical eras our First Doctor era characters get and the somewhat dorky tone that feels very of its time and the sort of content being produced in the 60s. Not bad but certainly not something I'm keen on revisiting any time soon, either.

I tried.  I really tried.  I really really tried.  I actually went back and rewatched the first two episodes when I realised I hadn’t really been paying proper attention to them.  I paid proper attention.

Nope.  Don’t like it.

Dull, slow, poorly acted, boringly directed and that interminable song!

Let’s get that song out of the way first.  It starts off okay.  It works quite nicely in the first episode, setting the scene and emphasising the tone.  But it just goes from bad to worse.  When the song starts narrating events happening on screen, particularly the numerous deaths in the final two episodes, it is ridiculous and the slow, tragic arrangement of the tune sounds awful.  Why on earth they didn’t simply transfer to an instrumental version of the story as the tone of the episodes darkened is beyond me.  Ugh.
The deaths the song tortuously narrates are also appalingly acted.  Not a single death convinces as actor after actor takes a gunshot and then falls into their pre-arranged position.  Warren Earp and Charlie the Bartender are bad enough, but most disappointing is the death of supposed ace gunslinger and notorious outlaw, Johnny Ringo who is pushed over (or something) by Dodo, and then shot unconvincingly by Doc Holliday.

I’ve said this story is poorly acted, although I should qualify that statement.  The cast is of variable quality.  At the good end are Peter Purves being the standout of the TARDIS crew, Sheena Marshe’s Kate, Anthony Jacobs’ Doc Holliday and John Alderson and Richard Beale as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson respectively.  At the terrible end are all the Clanton brothers, especially David Cole’s Billy, David Graham’s Charlie the Bartender, Victor Carin’s Virgil Earp and, I’m sorry to say, Laurence Payne’s Johnny Ringo and…..William Hartnell.

A principal problem in the story is the American accents.  They come and go from scene to scene, and the final gunfight at the OK Corral sees Laurence Payne and David Cole barely even bothering to affect an accent (I assume this, as it is on film, was filmed prior to the studio scenes, but that’s hardly an excuse).  But the delivery of lines is sorely lacking.  Laurence Payne, in particular, seems bored and makes no impact in any scene he appears in.  Bearing in mind, he is supposed to be this notorious outlaw, he singularly fails to convince.

But Hartnell….  I’ve read other reviews praising his performance in this story, commenting on how he clearly enjoying the comedy.  Now, aside from the fact I don’t think this is a particularly funny story anyway, I just don’t see it.  The first episode sees him wandering around moaning about his toothache and being hoodwinked by the locals.  Maybe its this scripting I have a problem with more than Hartnell’s performance; I just don’t believe the Doctor would be a stupid as this story portrays him.  The Doctor would know Holliday and Kate were manipulating him; the Doctor would be much more on his toes when confronted by the Clantons in the saloon.  The Doctor would be far more concerned about Steven going off with Ringo and Dodo being kidnapped by Holliday than he is.  But Hartnell also seems bored.  His performance is so lacklustre.  The gag of him calling Wyatt Earp, Mr Wearp isn’t funny and nor is the ‘I do wish people would stop giving me guns’ bit.  When he is deputised by Earp, he goes to stop the Clantons but arrives after they’ve left and then has no part in the final gunfight.  He doesn’t prevent it, he doesn’t get involved, he doesn’t mourn the outcome.  Now, I realise this is part of the point, established in his reticence to hold a gun, but it just means that, yet again for a Hartnell historical, he hardly has any impact or influence on events, merely letting them wash over him until he can get back to the TARDIS.

On the flipside, Peter Purves is great.  He plays Steven’s comedy well and  the scenes in the saloon where he is forced to sing at gunpoint feature some great expressions from him.  Unfortunately, Steven also becomes more and more pointless as the story progresses to the point where he disappears for the whole final gunfight (along with the Doctor).  He is pushed from pillar to post by the Clantons and even his brief alliance with Ringo goes nowhere and provides nothing in the way of interesting scenes (partly due to Laurence Payne’s aforementioned lacklustreness).  It’s a shame Steven is wasted in this way.  Purves does a good ‘Steven trying to do an American accent’ bit though and his costume is gloriously silly.

This is one of Dodo's better stories.  Her scenes with Holliday and Kate are quite nice although she seems to suffer from a case of rapid Stockholm Syndrome and doesn’t seem terribly perturbed by her predicament.  That said, her trusting nature is something which was evident in the previous story, The Celestial Toymaker (where she was ridiculously trusting of the treacherous Cyril) so it doesn’t seem out of character that she would take the word of Holliday (and to be fair to him, he does keep his word and return her to the Doctor unharmed).  Dodo is also actually involved, briefly, in the final gunfight, which at least means the regulars have a presence, however brief, in the actual climax of the story.   Jackie Lane continues her trek around the UK with her variable accent, adding in a few brief American twangs, although she doesn’t seem to have the conviction to stick with it as much as Purves does.  She’s a demon on the piano though!

The cliffhangers in the story are also terrible.  The first cliffhanger is Steven singing whilst the Doctor walks veerryyyy slowwwllllyy along the street.  The third cliffhanger is a shot of Warren Earp, a minor character only introduced into the story about 15 minutes earlier, lying apparently dead on the floor of the Sheriff’s office.  What tiny ounce of tension there is, is immediately dispelled by the dulcet tones of Lynda Baron wafting over each final scene.

A couple of positives: the sets are quite good and there is a large cast of extras drafted in for the lynching scene, meaning it does at least seem convincing.  Also, the direction is quite interesting with director, Rex Tucker, using different angles to shoot from.  This does serve to make some scenes rather more dynamic than the acting or script allow by themselves and was one way the story managed to hold my attentions.  A more flat direction, and I think I would have lost any interest I was clinging to.

Historically, it seems that The Gunfighters is closer to Hollywood legend than historical fact.  Bat Masterson, Warren Earp, Phineas Clanton, and most significantly, Johnny Ringo, were not in Tombstone in 1881.  Warren Earp, whose death here is partly responsible for initiating the gunfight between the Clantons and Earps did not die in real life until 1900!  Ike Clanton is shown to perish in the gunfight, but in reality he survived and Pa Clanton had died in the August of 1800 making it rather difficult for him to feature in these episodes.  The actual gunfight involved four other men: Morgan Earp, Billy Claiborne and Tom and Frank McLaury.  Apparently, Doc Holliday was only 30 in 1881, whereas Anthony Jacobs is clearly portraying a man of older years (he was 48 in real life).  In real life, there were numerous events leading up to, and provoking, the gunfight.

However, the characters of Doc Holliday, Wyatt, Virgil and Warren Earp, Bat Masterson, Ike, Phineas, Billy and Pa Clanton and Johnny Ringo are all real people.  Intriguingly, so is Kate, Holliday’s girlfriend, and one-time squeeze of Johnny Ringo.  In real life she was Mary Katherine Horony Cummings, known as Big Nose Kate.  She was Hungarian born and, unsurprisingly from the implicit nature of her character, a prostitute.  What is quite striking about Kate and Holliday is the way their obviously sexual relationship is presented on screen with a couple of quite saucy scenes.

Ultimately, The Gunfighters is my least favourite style of Doctor Who story.  No, not just a western…but also a story where the Doctor is incidental to events.  Events in the story would occur just as they do regardless of the Doctor, Steven and Dodo’s presence.  Now, this in itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing but when the entire climax of the story excludes the Doctor it makes everything seem rather inconsequential.  I don’t find the comedy funny, the tragedy is completely undermined by the interminable song and the actings and accents are so variable it makes a lot of scenes almost unwatchable.  The few glimmers of good stuff; Peter Purves, Anthony Jacobs and Sheena Marshe, Rex Tucker’s direction and the sets and costumes are nowhere near enough to rescue this story from languishing at possibly the very bottom of my personal poll.  At least The Time Monster is entertainingly bad.  This is just boring and painful in equal measure.

🎶 Till there's blood upon the sawdust, 🎶

🎶 In The Last Chance Saloon. 🎶

Tell me, what do you consider your review Achilles’ heel? What’s that guilty pleasure you can’t help but love, no matter what?

And don’t hit me with “Oh I love it when a character is deep” or “I love a story with loads of worldbuilding”. Of course you do! So do I! But what superficial aspect of a show immediately makes it ten times better for you? We all have that somewhere deep inside!

Maybe you like body swap stories. Or stories with pirates in them. Maybe you specifically love stories that have aliens with three eyes! It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s just something that brings a smile on your face as soon as it appears! Enjoyment on a base level.

Mine? Well, as you might have guessed by now. I absolutely love comedic westerns. Stories about cowboys on the prairie, livin’ the tough life day by day, while still taking the time to make you giggle.

So yes, as soon as we hit the first shot of the episode, it was almost a given that I was going to love this.

The party lands in a small western town called Tombstone, where they disguise themselves as a travelling group of musicians. After some early exploration, trouble starts brewing when the Doctor gets mistaken for a local criminal. Steven and Dodo are quickly held hostage. While the people are preparing to shoot the Doctor down.

That might sound pretty dark if you don’t know the context, but don’t get it twisted. This is a comedic historical, like “The Romans” from last season. Yes, Steven and Dodo are hostages, but while they’re being held, they have to sing songs to survive. The Doctor meets with the people that want to shoot him, but he thinks they invited him for a glass of milk. Sure, it isn’t all fun and games. People get shot throughout the story, but that’s’ standard fare for a western. It makes sure to keep its comedic tone front and center.

When I reviewed “The Romans”, I noted how I didn’t like the hard shifts between the funny moments and the serious moments. While the Doctor and Vicki were having the time of their life, Ian and Barbara were fighting for their life. It felt jarring to me. This story sidesteps that issue by having a consistent tone throughout.

One particular element of that tone stands out, and is apparently quite notorious. At times, a song will play called “The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon”. Sometimes this is just to randomly set the mood, sometimes it narrates what happens on screen. Many people seem to hate the song and say that it appears to often. And yes, it does pop up pretty frequently. But you should probably keep in mind that these episodes were never made to be binged. The original release had a week between every 20 minutes. If you remember that context, it really isn’t overbearing.

The show also clearly has fun with the song. Adding special verses for deaths and letting Steven in on the action by having him sing a few verses at gunpoint. And since the show is having fun, I’m having fun.

Character wise, the story is also pretty fun. The one-off cast is well presented and memorable. Special highlights include Doc Holliday, the criminal who the Doctor is mistaken for, And Johnny Ringo, the intimidating criminal sent to hunt Holliday down. Both parts have a lot of fun. Holliday has some fun moments, like when he’s held at gunpoint by Dodo or extracting the Doctor’s tooth. Ringo, on the other hand, only has one strong moment. Luckily, it is really strong. In one conversation with the bartender, he is immediately a well-established, hardened criminal.

Our main cast also get plenty. Dodo and Steven immediately get absorbed in the setting, which leads to fun moments, like the aforementioned singing under gunpoint.

Steven’s role in the episode varies a lot, but it is mostly hostage situations. They are mostly played for comedy. There’s no real deeper moments, but that’s okay every now and again. He’s still clearly himself.

Dodo also gets what I consider to be her first memorable moment. As she very idiotically pulls a gun on Doctor Holliday. He plays it straight however, which is kind of sweet in a weird way. He completely indulges in her “victorious gunslinging” like a dad that just got hit in the imagination of a child. It’s funny, kind of sweet, and fits Dodo’s character as an oblivious young girl.

The Doctor mostly gets tugged along this episode. He has absolutely no idea what is actually going on, but he is enjoying the ride. Whether it’s being “invited for a glass of milk” or getting his tooth pulled, he is just rolling with the punches in a light and comedic way. The façade of a bitter old man completely fading. It’s great to see.

Am I being biased towards this story? Absolutely. I really tried my best, too. I looked at some of the critiques for these episodes, but I just can’t see them. I love the song and never found it grating. I am not English, so the problems with fake accents were mostly unnoticeable to me. I never found it pantomime, superficial or unfunny, either.  I couldn’t identify any real flaws, but just had a great time.

And that’s what the story is for me: a great time. A fun side cast, loads of funny and memorable moments, our main cast in new situations and a setting that is well put together. It does not really add to a larger narrative, but it really doesn’t have to. It’s just… Fun. And sometimes, that’s all you need.