Day 64: The Lion

A new day brings a new serial, as we leave Vortis and find ourselves in the Holy Land, around the time of the Crusades. It's a story that's been written by David Whitaker, who you may remember was the previous story editor for the series, and so now we get to see him writing under the influence of another writer, Dennis Spooner, acting as story editor. To compare it to the most recent historical adventure, The Romans, one thing immediately comes to mind. The Romans was a comedy, while this is a historical drama. The historical drama approach is enjoyable as we get to experience proper three dimensional characters. Take, for instance, Richard the Lionheart, who, in other stories, would cone across as an incredibly reasonable chap, for he is British, and therefore good. But here, he is able to consider his actions. Why should he just throw away resources to allow some random old man and his travelling companions get their friend back? It's refreshing to see that things don't just occur because they're asked for politely, they have to be mulled over, as we get these characters fleshed out, a concept that was brought in with Whitaker's more character based approach that was so wonderful in the first year of Doctor Who.