Doctor Who (TV Series) The Deadly Assassin: Part Three (1976) User Reviews

Strange & sometimes surreal but enjoyable third episode.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 15 March 2008]

Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin: Part Three starts as the Doctor (Tom Baker) remains trapped inside the virtual reality of the Matrix computer, Castellan Spandrell (George Pravda) & Co-Ordinator Engin (Erik Chitty) look on helplessly back on Gallifrey. Inside the Matrix the Doctor has to fight for his life as a mysterious man with black netting across his face (how does he see anything?) tries to kill him at every turn, the Doctor must use all his cunning to outwit his hunter...

Episode 11 from season 14 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during November 1976, directed by David Maloney The Deadly Assassin has been a cracking story so far & this is a very unique Doctor Who episode. The script by Robert Holmes has taken an almost totally different direction in Part Three compared to the previous two & in fact apart from a few scenes set back on Gallifrey this episode could have belonged to a completely different Doctor Who story, instead of the Doctor running around Gallifrey sniffing out assassins & cover ups he is trapped inside the imaginary reality of the Matrix pursed by his enemy dressed in hunter's gear & carrying a rifle. The Matrix here is used more more effectively than when it was extensively used again in The Trial of Time Lord (1986) with Colin Baker during season twenty three. Part Three feels like a The Most Dangerous Game (1932) type film where someone indulges into a little hunting, only the prey is of the human variety who end up turning the tables on the hunters. This sudden shift in tone, themes, location & ideas doesn't hurt The Deadly Assassin at all & it feels perfectly natural & correct at this point in the story as opposed to unnecessary & padded. The has moved along at a great pace, it has been varied, well written & even has a bit of political intrigue & mystery.

Gone are the plastic crocodiles & imaginary trains to be replaced with a hunter & hunted scenario through what looks like a jungle, in actuality Betchworth Quarry in Surrey & the gardens of the Royal Alexandra and Albert School in Reigate again in Surrey were used. The location work is very impressive & features some lush looking locations, a horse wearing a gas mask, a plastic crocodile, a World War II bi-plane & a Japanese Samurai warrior. Ratings for The Deadly Assassin were excellent with each episode having 10 million plus viewing figures & Part Three was the most watched with an impressive 13 million. Unusually the Doctor doesn't wear his trademark coat & scarf that much during The Deadly Assassin. Mary Whitehouse was an old biddy who had an agenda against any sort of sex & violence on telly, it seemed quite a lot of people supported her campaign as well. Whitehouse really laid into The Deadly Assassin: Part Three with it's running blood, depictions of injuries, it's violent hunter & hunted type story & in particular the cliffhanger ending where the Doctors head his held under water. The BBC issued an apology & actually cut the offending few seconds out of the master videotape, luckily it had already been sold overseas in it's uncut form so the footage still exists. Over the next few years Doctor Who would considerably be toned down of it's horror content & go for a more light hearted approach & sometimes veer into straight comedy.

The Deadly Assassin: Part Three is a fine episode in a fine story, there are aspects of The Deadly Assassin that I don't like but there are aspects of it that I do & for me the good outweighs the bad. A must for fans of the series.

Battle to the Death (almost)...

[Xstal · 8/10 · 3 July 2022]

The Master has the Doctor in the matrix, where he fights an adversary and his cheap tricks, duelling Time Lords on the stage, like they're trapped within a cage, Gallifrey's future in the swamp and in the mix.

The best cliffhanger of all time.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 27 January 2019]

Part three continues the story, albeit in completely different fashion, the first two were very much espionage thrillers, Part three is an escape of reality, a deadly game of cat and mouse in a world of terror and monsters.

Watching this I firmly believe The Doctor is lost in the Matrix, as bonkers and surreal as it is, it's produced so well, that the unbelievable feels believable, Tom and Bernard Horsfall play it to perfection, the acting is incredible. It looks and sounds terrific, a very tight production.

Best bit of all though, that cliffhanger, arguably the best of all time. I can see Mary Whitehouse's face now.

Masterful. 10/10

Master-ful and Magnificent!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 6 December 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

Many fans rate this as one of the best and they are correct to recognise the huge quality of this story as well as its importance in building (and changing) the folklore of the Time Lords and The Doctor. It has everything, Tom Baker on top form, a classic villain, sparkling dialogue, humour, action, material which is important in the history of the series as well as some fresh and unnerving ideas. All this is done with brilliance in direction, acting and writing.

The Doctor has been called back home to Gallifrey. On his way there he has a pre-cognitive dream in which he appears to assassinate the Time Lord President. When he arrives he has to go on the run as he is presumed to be a criminal. He then tries to prevent the President's assassination but instead is made to look like the assassin himself. Behind all this, it turns out, is his old arch- enemy The Master. Now at an end to his cycle of regenerations (we are told Time Lords have a maximum of 12) his body is extremely emaciated but his evil and cunning are as strong as ever.

The Master, played now by Peter Pratt, looks and sounds great and his dialogue and Pratt's acting are excellent. There is also a host of superb and perfectly acted guest characters. The wonderful Borusa, Spandrell, Goth, Runcible and Engin are all fabulous. This adventure is also somewhat unique in that there is no companion for The Doctor.

The section of the story where The Doctor enters 'the matrix', a technically created world which seems real and has real dangers (sound like a forerunner of the film The Matrix to anyone?) is surreal and extremely innovative and clever in its different and interesting creativity.

A real all time classic story. 10/10

Doctor Who in Excelsis

[philip2017 · 10/10 · 2 July 2014]

A candidate for the best Doctor Who episode ever; yes, it is partly famous because Mary Whitehouse complained about its cliffhanger throttling simulation, but it has so much more in the 20+ minute dream-sequence (literally, the Doctor's mind has slipped away to a wilderness of cliffs and inescapable foot-trapping steam trains) that the episode mainly is.

Having elsewhere written that Tom Baker not needing to act to play his Doctor Who, I must say that here he pulls out every stop (he sweats, indeed!),and anyone who might tut tut as he indolently gambols through later seasons should always remember that he made The Deadly Assassin.

The plot is almost irrelevant (similar to many editions a decade prior of The Prisoner, and here Doctor Who - often too tongue in cheek for real drama - competes on level terms), but the usual human tragedies of ambition and weakness are here, and the sanguine perfection of the Time Lords continues to be robustly unpicked.

Great stunts, very physical, great settings, great camera work, visually breathtaking... the entire production team should be well proud. To an extent Mary Whitehouse spoiled the party; she may have been well-meaning but the publicity she gained has meant that The Deadly Assassin is too often known for the wrong things. This is a very finely made, seriously wonderful 24 min piece of TV, and it fully deserves its place in broadcasting legend.