The Tiger Who Came To Tea: Carnival of Monsters

Season 10, Story 2/5, Serial PPP, 4 x 25 min episodes, 27th January to 17th February 1973, Writer: Robert Holmes , Director: Barry Letts, Script Editor: Terrance Dicks, Producer: Barry Letts.

It's only a model! Some baldy grey men are mooching around a structure in the desert.

Some other grey things are conveyor belting some christmas presents.

50dw50@50dw50 they are not the best masks to be honest

It's like lost luggage; some more colourful aliens turn up and pick up some red cushions.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Er... toaster... fondue set... cuddly toy..."

One of the workers has a bit of a wobbler so one of the toffs shoots him with a tuning fork.

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris parts of Carnival are like a play - stripped back scenery that requires imagination to make it work... Yet strangely it does!

For his 1st trip in the TARDIS since the TimeLords lifted his exile, the Doctor's landed on... Earth.

Well, on a ship anyway. "Smells a bit... farmy," says Jo.

Vorg and Shirna get into costume, ready to provide the "Carnival" of the title!

50dw50@50dw50 they are obviously from the planet of the colour blind.

Think this is the 1st time the Doctor's mentioned Metebelis 3. I'd steer clear if I were you, mate.

Love the Doctor trying to talk to the Chickens. It's Jo doing the talking, though! ;-P

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek And people complained when Tennant talked to a rabbit!

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker now see where 10 talking to the rabbit in DOTD came from!

Great minds chaps... :-D

The Doctor's still not giving up on the possibility that all is not as it seems but Jo seems to have found rather conclusive evidence.

That ship's a great location. Pertwee always looks great on film.

"There's nothing like a good curry!"

"20 times around the deck is a mile!"

It's looking more and more like he's wrong, but the Doctor's still not having it.

Jo's still sure they're on Earth because of the chickens, but why is there a Skarasen attacking the SS Bernice? Okay, so there weren't any Plesiosaurs in the Indian Ocean in 1926, I'll give him that.

Topping day, what!

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek The ship used was the RFA Robert Dundas which had been decommissioned and was scrapped immediately after filming. Was filmed on River Medway in Kent at a low angle so the banks of the estuary would not be visible.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H but where's the compass, you thieving lag...?

[Pertwee cockernee] You're the nark! It was you wot grassed on us! [/Pertwee cockernee]

Major Daly gets the Doctor's back up by hinting he's a "poor traveller"! Jo calls him uncle...

It's Harry Sullivan! Oh, it's not. A relative?

As usual, the Doctor & Jo are mistaken for stowaways, and locked up! But the Doctor's seen something Andrews hasn't...

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker Harry Sullivan is an...... Oh hang on.....

They're on the SS Bernice, headed for New Adventures?

It's 1926 on the ship, but the clock's not entirely sure what time it is...

The Sonic Screwdriver won't work on wood. Good job Jo's brought her skeleton keys, then!

The grey Daily Mail reading aliens are not keen on "entertainers" or deadly Dudley's little flourish.

"Our purpose is to amuse, simply to amuse! Nothing serious, nothing political!"

Vorg tries to namedrop the president, Michael Wisher Daily Mail Alien's brother. But his Zarb is a Wallurian Wrestler...

The people on the SS Bernice are stuck in a loop! So here comes the monster again!

"Historically speaking this ship is a bit of a jumble, I must admit..." Ah, the Pertwee neck-rub. Hello, old friend.

Stop! Monster time!

Vorg thinks there's something jamming his machine...

...and a giant hand reaches into the SS Bernice and grabs the TARDIS!

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek I wonder what else Vorg has stuck into his machine #innocentface

Blimey, with the Drashigs in there? Adventurous...!

What a twist! The ship is in Vorg's machine! *That's* what the 2 stories have to do with one another. Clever stuff here.

Claire's feeling a bit unsophisticated. Watch out, Harry's grandad!

Vorg shows off some of the livestock, including an Ogron...

The Plesiosaur pops up again and the crew do their goldfish impressions.

The Major's having a bit of memory loss. Probably all those sundowners.

Vorg hikes up the Aggrometer, so Harry & the Doctor start bare-fist boxing.

50dw50@50dw50 pertwee does not make the most convincing boxer

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker sod Queensbury rules, I know Venusian Aikido!

I assure you he's quite spry for his age...

Ah, a bit of exercise, I mean, padding, I mean, a perfectly valid story development. Ahem.

"How many times round the deck is a mile?" TWENTY!

Cornered, the Doctor and Jo find another one of those silver panels that the crew don't see. Harry Sr. has them at gunpoint...

"I can't leave it too long or the specimens start damaging each other."

...and the crew simply walk away as if nothing happened!

Shirna has a nagging concern and lets Vorg in on it out of earshot of the Daily Mail - she's sure the Doctor and Jo weren't there before...

Into the... er, Miniscope!

Jo & the Doctor have got off the ship & into the machinery. Obviously a studio with plasticky bits when you stop 2 think but the performances convince and you lose yourself in it :-)

The Daily Mail aliens get all shirty when they realise there's livestock in the Scope... IMMIGRANTS!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Coming over here, inhabiting our zoos..."

They try to microwave the Scope but the Doctor & Jo only get a bit hot under the collar.

The Daily Mail loses face though; the machines okay and the Doctor & Jo have survived.

Bek Hobbes@Greebobek Pertwee says the miniscopes were banned and then says this one must have escaped the ban. Why can't this be before the ban?

Yes, doesn't make sense. Doesn't say they were erased from time, just banned.

Vorg's getting some interference on the Cybermen channel so tries to stab at the specimens running around the circuitry.

The TARDIS grows back to its normal size, to the horror of the Daily Mail aliens who fear it's an invasion.

The Doctor and Jo have made it into another area of the scope, where it's eerily quiet...

Vorg is proud of the Drashigs. "They're great favourites with the children." Except no one liked those fat multi-coloured ones.

The Drashigs are following the scent of Pertwee's blue rinse.

Attack of the Drashigs! End of part 2!

Nick Mellish @nickmellish · Has anyone made obligatory comments about nice puppetry yet? Nice puppetry. (Box? Ticked. You can thank me later.)

Phwoar, look at the puppetry on that! Get a load of the Overlay on that Colour Separation...

Jo's stuck in the bog, so the Doctor ignites some gas with the sonic screwdriver.

Grey Daily Mail Davros tells Vorg to shove his hand in, so he gives the Drashigs a tickle while Jo & the Doctor leg it.

Pertwee remembers that the TARDIS must have materialised in its compression field... eventually.

"Roll up, roll up, roll up, hear Jon Pertwee's hilarious showman voice!"

The Drashigs don't give up that easily though!

The Grey Daily Mail aliens must be flexible...

Grey Davros is up to no good, he wants to embarrass his brother so as to make a power grab!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "Such power would set me up above the gods... and through the Drashigs I shall have that power!"

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris This attempt to introduce "palace intrigue” doesn’t really come off - but I can forgive this script virtually anything :)

The Doctor isn't usually slow to accept Jo calling him brilliant.

"I'm not putting my hand in there again tonight dear."

They head back to the SS Bernice, where Jo is soon captured...

...and faces yet another frustrating attempt to teach Claire how many beans make five o'clock.

The Drashigs have followed the trail to the Bernice.

Grey Davros' wet mate disables the disintegrator gun; the plan is to allow the Drashigs to run amok and make the Prez look useless.

Now Harry's throwing sticks of dynamite at it, and he's blown a hole in the ship. All together now... HARRY SULLIVAN IS AN IMBECILE! EVEN WHEN HE'S LIEUTENANT ANDREWS!

Claire tries to put a finger on that funny feeling that Jo is on to something; the Major tries another finger.

Urgh! A diddy Pertwee's escaped from the machine!

Grey Packer wants to eradicate JP.

JP has other ideas, of course.

"Kindly stop referring to me as the creature!"

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "With this dialogue, Mr Holmes, you are spoiling us...!"

"The tribunal is not deliberating, the tribunal is arguing!"

Pertwee bosses the Daily Mail aliens. "I'm prepared to overlook the matter..."

Shirna fancies a bit of Pertwee. "He's certainly got the style."

The TARDIS translation circuits seem to be struggling with Polari...

MAW Holmes@MAW_H 'Ear, Mister 'Orne... what's ee implyin'?

Livestock? Did Vorg just call Jo a cow? The cheeky blighter! Give him some Venusian Aikido, Doctor!

Grey Daily Mail Davros plots to let the Drashigs out.

He's making it up! "The scope's er... Omega circuit." Pertwee's after Vorg's missing discs now. Wonder if he's got the Feast of Steven?

Jo's playing Pertwee era perennial, "escape and capture" aboard the SS Bernice.

"The functionaries are getting above themselves. We live in troubled times."

The incredible shrinking Pertwee's gone back into the scope.

"Hold me closer / Tiny Pertwee..."

The Doctor and Jo are reunited, but Grey Davros is tinkering with Vorg's machine...

Looks like Bob Holmes has popped in to see how things are going, as smoke envelopes the Doctor & Jo.

The Drashigs, escape, grow and go on the rampage.

Vorg fixes the disintegrator and saves the day...

... but Grey Davros is Drashig Chow.

The great entertainer brings Doctor Who back after his forced absence...

And all the "livestock" are returned home, including the SS Bernice. Er, doesn't that change history?

So the Time-Lords restored his freedom, and on HIS VERY FIRST TIME OUT he's knackered history.

Claire nearly remembers... but at least they're finally on their way (and little Harry's future is assured!).