‘The Sea Devils’ is a classic Doctor Who story from the Jon Pertwee era. Here’s why you should watch it…
1) The Master
The Master is the Moriarty to the Doctor’s Holmes, the Darth Vader to his Luke Skywalker… He is a rival Time Lord, ingenious and witty – and yet he uses his knowledge for evil. In ‘The Sea Devils,’ he is a prisoner in contemporary England, but he’s not going to let a little thing like prison get in the way of his plans for world domination.
The original Master was played by Roger Delgado, presenting us with a quintessential gentleman villain who conducts himself with callous kindness and good humour – and sword fighting, in the case of ‘The Sea Devils.’ This particular story is perhaps one of his best-remembered appearances, as it contains the scene where he watches an episode of the classic children’s TV show The Clangers, describing the creatures as “a rather interest extra-terrestrial lifeform.” This moment would later be referenced in the modern version of the show, with John Simm’s Master sitting down to watchTeletubbies.
In short, ‘The Sea Devils’ is worth watching for Roger Delgado alone. He always turns in a great performance, but he is at the height of his powers in this particular adventure.
2) It breaks the mould
In this particular era of Doctor Who, the Time Lord has been exiled to Earth, meaning that he doesn’t have the use of his TARDIS. This created a number of challenges for the production team; writer Malcolm Hulke famously told the script editor Terrance Dicks that he would only be able to tell two types of story – ‘mad scientist’ or ‘alien invasion.’ Dicks made it his mission to prove Hulke wrong.
‘The Sea Devils’ is one such example (written by Hulke and commissioned by Dicks.) In this adventure, the eponymous villains don’t invade; they’re already here. They have been lying dormant under the sea for centuries, sheltering from a planet-wide catastrophe that never came. They occupied the Earth before the human race, and in ‘The Sea Devils’ they want it back.
This is how the Master fits into the story. He’s helping the Sea Devils, and believes that he will be able to control them and rule over the planet himself. Again, this plot point was later reflected in New Who when the Master enlisted the help of the Toclafane to subdue the Earth.
3) It’s one of the good six-parters
Doctor Who often relied on the six-part format during the classic era of the show, mostly for budgetary reasons. In truth, its stories didn’t always lend themselves to being told across six episodes, and many suffered as a result.
There are exceptions to this, of course, and ‘The Sea Devils’ is one of them. As six-part Doctor Who adventures go, ‘The Sea Devils’ is a good one. But even if the modern viewer should find themselves yawning as the eponymous monsters rise up out of the water with their flamethrowers, they can always take a break; after all, the viewer of 1972 would have consumed ‘The Sea Devils’ over the course of six weeks.
But if you’re short on time (or easily bored) you can make use of the re-cut version of ‘The Sea Devils’ on BBC iPlayer, which transforms the story into a 90 minute movie along with a new score from The War Between the Land and the Sea. It’s like the original ‘Sea Devils’ but… there’s less of it.
4) It’s a key part of Who lore
‘The Sea Devils’ is a more important Doctor Who story than you might think. In fact, it’s a sequel to an earlier adventure titled ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians,’ in which the Time Lord encounters some of the Sea Devils’ distant relatives. But these ones are living in caves.
So, if you’re planning an epic Doctor Who marathon which spans the decades, you can start with the aforementioned ‘Silurians,’ and then watch ‘The Sea Devils.’ Then, you can fast-forward to 1984 for the epic ‘Warriors of the Deep’ starring Peter Davison, where the Silurians come together with the Sea Devils and the fearsome Myrka monster which (spoilers) absolutely cannot be defeated with karate.
Then, spool forward to the Matt Smith era for ‘The Hungry Earth’ and ‘Cold Blood,’ where a new brand of ‘homo-reptilia’ are awakened, followed by 2023’s ‘Legend of the Sea Devils,’ followed by the spin-off seriesThe War Between the Land and the Sea.
Phew. And if you want more Silurian goodness, there is Madame Vastra – a Silurian-turned-detective who teams up with a human maid and a Silurian to form the infamous Paternoster Gang, defending Victorian London against dinosaurs, clockwork androids, and a whole host of alien threats. The 2014 episode ‘Deep Breath‘ is one their best adventures.
5) It’s relevant
Good, evil, xenophobia, tolerance, the environment… If you like issues in your Doctor Who stories, then ‘The Sea Devils’ has them. This isn’t sledgehammer messaging, though – it’s more of a thought-provoking piece, which doesn’t lecture its viewers. In the adventure, the Sea Devils are deeply distrustful of mankind and want to wipe them from the face of the Earth. Similarly, the humans want to blow up the Sea Devils and maintain their dominion. The Doctor is caught in the middle, desperately trying to broker peace and encourage the two factions to share. But will he succeed? (You probably know the answer…)
Interestingly, despite being 53 years old, ‘The Sea Devils’ remains as relevant as ever. The issues raised in the story are as true for us today as they were in 1972, and in this sense the story hasn’t aged. Some people will argue that the adventure is too long and turgid and that modern audiences won’t be able to concentrate for two and a half hours, but in truth ‘The Sea Devils’ is a very good story, well told – and people will always watch good stories.
If you’ve never seen ‘The Sea Devils’ before, now would be a great time to add it to your watch pile.
So tell us, reader – what is your favourite thing about this classic Doctor Who adventure? Let us know in the comments below.
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