The Highlanders (TV story)

The Highlanders was the fourth story of Season 4 of Doctor Who. The story was the last of the 'pure historical' genre of Doctor Who television stories which had been a regular feature of the show since its inception. It also marked the first appearance of Frazer Hines as companion Jamie McCrimmon.

Synopsis
Following the Battle of Culloden 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 ending 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 missing the boat to France with the 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.

Plot
The time travellers arrive in Scotland just after battle of Culloden. The Doctor gains the trust of a small band of fleeing Highlanders by offering to tend their wounded Laird, Colin McLaren; but while Polly and the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, are away fetching water, he and the others are all captured by Redcoat troops under the command of Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch.

Grey, a crooked solicitor who sells prisoners for transportation to slavery in the West Indies, then secures the group into his custody. Polly and Kirsty blackmail Ffinch into helping, and the Doctor eventually wins the day by smuggling arms to the Highlanders, who are being held on board a stolen ship, the Annabelle.

Grey and the ship's unscrupulous captain, Trask, are overpowered and the vessel returned to its rightful owner, MacKay, who agrees to take the Scots to safety in France.

The Doctor, Polly and Ben return to the TARDIS, where they are joined on their travels by the young piper Jamie McCrimmon.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
 * Polly - Anneke Wills
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Alexander McLaren - William Dysart
 * The Laird - Donald Bisset
 * Kirsty McLaren - Hannah Gordon
 * Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch - Michael Elwyn
 * Sergeant - Peter Welch
 * Grey - David Garth
 * Perkins - Sydney Arnold
 * Sentry - Tom Bowman
 * Trask - Dallas Cavell
 * Mollie - Barbara Bruce
 * Willie Mackay - Andrew Downie
 * Sailor - Peter Diamond
 * Colonel Attwood - Guy Middleton

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Nicholas John
 * Costumes - Sandra Reid
 * Designer - Geoffrey Kirkland
 * Fight Arranger - Peter Diamond
 * Make-Up - Gillian James
 * Producer - Innes Lloyd
 * Production Assistant - Fiona Cumming
 * Script Editor - Gerry Davis
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - George Summers, Ken McGregor
 * Studio Sound - Larry Goodson
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer

Story Notes

 * This story had the working title of Culloden.
 * The next "pure historical" serial, Black Orchid, would not be broadcast until 1982. Though Black Orchid is sometimes referred to as an historical serial, but while it takes place in the 1920s, actual historical events do not play into the plot of the latter story.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 6.7 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 6.8 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 7.4 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 7.3 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Frensham Ponds, Frensham, Surrey
 * Ealing Television Film Studios
 * Riverside Studio 1, Hammersmith, London

Production errors
to be added

Continuity
to be added

Timeline

 * This story occurs after: ST: The Feast
 * This story occurs before DW: The Underwater Menace

Audio release

 * Released by the BBC Radio Collection in August 2000, narrated by Frazer Hines.
 * Re-released as part of the the Adventures in History box set released in August 2003 (with same content).

Novelisation

 * Main article: The Highlanders (novelisation)