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The Highlanders (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
The Highlanders is a serial in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 17 December 1966 to 7 January 1967.
This serial is the first appearance of Frazer Hines
as companion
-to-be Jamie McCrimmon
.
the British army is triumphant over the rebel forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie. When the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor, Ben and Polly encounter fleeing Scots rebels and are taken prisoner by them. They all hide in a deserted cottage with the Laird Colin McLaren, who has been badly wounded, his daughter Kirsty, his piper Jamie McCrimmon
and his son Alexander, who dies defending them from a patrol of English soldiers mopping up survivors. The patrol leader, Lt. Algernon Ffinch, is an ineffectual fop but his Sergeant is more forceful and takes the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird to be hanged; while Polly and Kirsty manage to slip away.
The two women end up hiding in a cave and then an animal pit to avoid Lt. Ffinch, who believes the Prince to be one of them following the rumour that he fled the battlefield as a woman. Eventually Ffinch finds them and they use their feminine wiles to entrap him and steal his money. Later in Inverness
, the nearest major town to Culloden, they run into him again and use his previous foolishness to blackmail him.
Elsewhere on the battlefield the Royal Commissioner of Prisons, a shady character called Grey, has embarked on a scheme to enslave any highlanders still alive and ship them to the colonies. It is an illegal scam, but one he hopes will make him rich. He makes contact with an unscrupulous sea captain called Trask who agrees to put his ship, “The Annabelle”, to use in this end. Amongst the prisoners he identifies for sale are the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird. They are taken to the prison in Inverness and incarcerated with many other prisoners, but the Doctor cons his way out of the drenched cell and then overpowers Grey and his secretary Perkins in order to make his escape. Grey is freed by Trask; and the captain reports that the transportation plan has begun and arranges that a number of prisoners, including Jamie, Ben and the Laird, are transferred to the ship. It is not long before the prisoners work out they could be being sold as slaves but most accept this fate, believing seven years indentured labour (a lie) is better than the gallows. Only Ben, Jamie, the Laird and one of his friends, Willie McKay, refuse to sign. When Ben attacks Grey, Trask has him thrown to the sea at the end of a rope.
The Doctor meanwhile has adopted the guise of a kitchen maid as well as a German and uses these identities to move freely around. He is reunited with Polly and Kirsty and, shortly afterward, Ben who has swum to safety. The Doctor boldly returns to Grey, having concocted a story about Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ring and him knowing the fugitive Prince’s whereabouts. Indeed, he names the prince as the piper Jamie. This is all a ruse to distract Grey and Trask while the girls free the prisoners from the hold and supply them with arms for an uprising. When Grey and Trask go examine Jamie in the hold they are captured by the armed highlanders and a revolt begins. Trask flees and ends up wounded and in the sea. Willie McKay takes control of the Annabelle and determines to sail her to freedom in France, happy to accept Perkins as a willing volunteer for this journey. Kirsty and her father are also passengers on the ship as it makes its bid for freedom.
The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the town, using Grey as a hostage to ensure their safe passage around the area, and are joined by Jamie, who has decided to stay and help them find the TARDIS and therefore misses the boat to France with his fellows. The party lose Grey but find Ffinch, whom they force to help them return to Culloden. But Grey has been clever: he reaches the cottage where he first met the Doctor, and brings with him a patrol of soldiers. Ffinch performs one last service – this one more purposefully without blackmail – when he arrests Grey for the transportation scheme. The solicitor has lost the paperwork (thanks to the Doctor) and is unable to prove any legality about his plans. Thanked by a kiss from Polly, Lt. Ffinch departs. The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the TARDIS and invite their new friend, Jamie McCrimmon, on board. He nervously accepts.
, was published by Target Books
in August 1984.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 17 December 1966 to 7 January 1967.
This serial is the first appearance of Frazer Hines
Frazer Hines
Frazer Hines is an English actor best known for his roles as Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale. Hines was born in Horsforth, a civil parish of Leeds.-Acting career:...
as companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
-to-be Jamie McCrimmon
Jamie McCrimmon
James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A piper of the Clan McLaren who lived in 18th century Scotland, he was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1966...
.
Plot
Following the Battle of CullodenBattle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
the British army is triumphant over the rebel forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie. When the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor, Ben and Polly encounter fleeing Scots rebels and are taken prisoner by them. They all hide in a deserted cottage with the Laird Colin McLaren, who has been badly wounded, his daughter Kirsty, his piper Jamie McCrimmon
Jamie McCrimmon
James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon is a fictional character played by Frazer Hines in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A piper of the Clan McLaren who lived in 18th century Scotland, he was a companion of the Second Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1966...
and his son Alexander, who dies defending them from a patrol of English soldiers mopping up survivors. The patrol leader, Lt. Algernon Ffinch, is an ineffectual fop but his Sergeant is more forceful and takes the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird to be hanged; while Polly and Kirsty manage to slip away.
The two women end up hiding in a cave and then an animal pit to avoid Lt. Ffinch, who believes the Prince to be one of them following the rumour that he fled the battlefield as a woman. Eventually Ffinch finds them and they use their feminine wiles to entrap him and steal his money. Later in Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, the nearest major town to Culloden, they run into him again and use his previous foolishness to blackmail him.
Elsewhere on the battlefield the Royal Commissioner of Prisons, a shady character called Grey, has embarked on a scheme to enslave any highlanders still alive and ship them to the colonies. It is an illegal scam, but one he hopes will make him rich. He makes contact with an unscrupulous sea captain called Trask who agrees to put his ship, “The Annabelle”, to use in this end. Amongst the prisoners he identifies for sale are the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and the Laird. They are taken to the prison in Inverness and incarcerated with many other prisoners, but the Doctor cons his way out of the drenched cell and then overpowers Grey and his secretary Perkins in order to make his escape. Grey is freed by Trask; and the captain reports that the transportation plan has begun and arranges that a number of prisoners, including Jamie, Ben and the Laird, are transferred to the ship. It is not long before the prisoners work out they could be being sold as slaves but most accept this fate, believing seven years indentured labour (a lie) is better than the gallows. Only Ben, Jamie, the Laird and one of his friends, Willie McKay, refuse to sign. When Ben attacks Grey, Trask has him thrown to the sea at the end of a rope.
The Doctor meanwhile has adopted the guise of a kitchen maid as well as a German and uses these identities to move freely around. He is reunited with Polly and Kirsty and, shortly afterward, Ben who has swum to safety. The Doctor boldly returns to Grey, having concocted a story about Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ring and him knowing the fugitive Prince’s whereabouts. Indeed, he names the prince as the piper Jamie. This is all a ruse to distract Grey and Trask while the girls free the prisoners from the hold and supply them with arms for an uprising. When Grey and Trask go examine Jamie in the hold they are captured by the armed highlanders and a revolt begins. Trask flees and ends up wounded and in the sea. Willie McKay takes control of the Annabelle and determines to sail her to freedom in France, happy to accept Perkins as a willing volunteer for this journey. Kirsty and her father are also passengers on the ship as it makes its bid for freedom.
The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the town, using Grey as a hostage to ensure their safe passage around the area, and are joined by Jamie, who has decided to stay and help them find the TARDIS and therefore misses the boat to France with his fellows. The party lose Grey but find Ffinch, whom they force to help them return to Culloden. But Grey has been clever: he reaches the cottage where he first met the Doctor, and brings with him a patrol of soldiers. Ffinch performs one last service – this one more purposefully without blackmail – when he arrests Grey for the transportation scheme. The solicitor has lost the paperwork (thanks to the Doctor) and is unable to prove any legality about his plans. Thanked by a kiss from Polly, Lt. Ffinch departs. The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the TARDIS and invite their new friend, Jamie McCrimmon, on board. He nervously accepts.
Continuity
- For dating of this serial, see the Chronology.
- In the first episode the Doctor refers to himself as "Doktor von Wer" — a rough GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation of "Doctor Who". See further discussion of the Doctor's name here).
Production
- The working title for this story was Culloden. However a few years previously, the BBC had aired a docudramaDocudramaIn film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
, CullodenCulloden (film)Culloden is a 1964 docudrama written and directed by Peter Watkins for BBC TV. It portrays the 1746 Battle of Culloden that resulted in the British Army's destruction of the Jacobite uprising and, in the words of the narrator, "tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands"...
which resulted in the changing of the title. - The script was commissioned from Elwyn Jones, who proved ultimately too busy to actually write it. Script editor Gerry Davis stepped in to write the serial. Jones and Davis shared on-screen credit, although Jones did no work on the script.
- Producer Innes Lloyd and script editor Gerry Davis were initially uncertain whether the character of Jamie would work as an ongoing character, and, although Hines' contract had an option for three more serials, an ending was filmed with Jamie staying behind when the TARDIS departed. Hines' performance during shooting ultimately convinced them that the character had potential, however, and the ending was re-shot. His popularity with the public ensured Jamie became a long time member of the TARDIS crew.
- This was the last purely historical story until Black OrchidBlack Orchid (Doctor Who)Black Orchid is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two parts on 1 March and 2 March 1982...
in 1982. Patrick Troughton encouraged the move away from historical stories, according to his son Michael, out of an interest in exploring "real science in drama", as well as a desire to further distinguish his era from that of the previous Doctor, William HartnellWilliam HartnellWilliam Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
. - All four episodes have been wiped by the BBC. See Doctor Who missing episodesDoctor Who missing episodesThe Doctor Who missing episodes are the instalments of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who that have no known film or videotape copies. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for economic and space-saving reasons...
. - While still an actor in the early 1960s, this serial's director, Hugh David, had been considered for the role of the First DoctorFirst DoctorThe First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
but, being only 38 years old at the time, was deemed to be too young by the series' original producer Verity LambertVerity LambertVerity Ann Lambert, OBE was an English television and film producer. She is best known as the founding producer of the science-fiction series Doctor Who, a programme which has become a part of British popular culture, and for her association with Thames Television...
.
Cast notes
- William Dysart later appeared in The Ambassadors of DeathThe Ambassadors of DeathThe Ambassadors of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from March 21 to May 2, 1970.-Plot:...
. - Hannah Gordon provided the voice of Skagra's ship in the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
version of ShadaShadaShada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
. - Peter Welch was later seen in The Android InvasionThe Android InvasionThe Android Invasion is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1975. It marks the last appearance of UNIT Character Sergeant Benton...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Gerry DavisGerry Davis (screenwriter)
Gerry Davis was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!....
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in August 1984.
CD and DVD releases
- As with all missing episodes, off-air recordings of the soundtrack exist due to contemporary fan efforts. In August 2000 these were released on CD, accompanied by linking narration from Frazer Hines.
- A few brief video clips survive, and were released on the Lost in Time DVD set in 2004.
External links
- Photonovel of The Highlanders on the BBC website
- Doctor Who Locations - The Highlanders