Day 194: The Web of Fear Episode 3

One of the best aspects of this story is the constant climate of fear that surrounds it. Each character is not to be trusted, as we continue to suspect that people may have been taken over by the Great Intelligence. This is in stark contrast to The Abominable Snowmen, where the identity of the Great Intelligence was pretty much known from the start, and everything pretty much proceeded from there. But by having the villain be not only a faceless entity, but also an unknown character within the story, then this allows for the piece to take on a more claustrophobic mood, and improve the tone of the story.

But this is ruined because of one key thing, one of the characters whom we are meant to expect as the Great Intelligence clearly isn't. It's Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, soon to become the Brigadier, an ally of the Doctor for decades to come. Because we already know the character, it removes the sense of mistrust that makes the story so tense, because we know that he's one of the good guys. It's a depressing fact of the story that it's been ruined by an unavoidable spoiler. But that's OK, because it's still quite good