The Dæmons (TV story)


 * For the Big Finish Productions audio drama, see The Demons.

The Dæmons was the fifth and final story of Season 8. It concluded a series-long succession of stories featuring The Master (though the character would continue to appear on an occasional basis for the next year or so).

Synopsis
The Master, posing as a rural vicar, summons a cloven-hoofed demon in a church basement.

Episode one
During a storm that whips through the village of Devil's End in Wiltshire, a dog gets away from its owner. He pursues it into a graveyard, only to encounter something unseen and die. The local doctor says that it was a heart attack, but Olive Hawthorne, the local witch, insists that the man died of fright. She casts her runes to find that there is evil afoot.

Near the village, an archaeological dig is excavating the infamous Devil's Hump, a Bronze Age burial mound. The dig is being covered by BBC Three. The interviewer, Alistair Fergus, speaks to the cantankerous Professor Horner, who claims that the Hump holds the treasure and tomb of a warrior chieftain, and that he plans to open the tomb at the stroke of midnight on April 30, the pagan festival of Beltane.

The television coverage is being watched by the Third Doctor and Jo at UNIT. While the Doctor scoffs at Jo's notions of the coming of the Age of Aquarius and the supernatural, he feels that something is wrong with the dig. On the television, they see Olive go to the dig to protest, warning of great evil and the coming of the horned one, but she is dismissed as a crank. The Doctor tells Jo that Olive Hawthorne is right — the dig must be stopped, and they start off to Devil's End. Olive returns to the village, and a strong wind whips up out of nowhere. She raises her hands to dismiss it, not knowing that the local constable, PC Groom, has gone into a trance behind her and is about to strike her with a stone. The wind dies down as she chants, and PC Groom regains his senses before he lands the blow. Olive then goes to see the vicar, but he has been mysteriously replaced with a new one, Mr Magister. Magister — actually the Master — tries to assure her that her fears are unfounded, but his hypnosis fails to overcome Olive's will, and she says she will find someone who will believe her.

The Doctor and Jo, driving to Devil's End, get lost when a wind spins a signpost and points them in the wrong direction. Over at the Hump, tempers start to flare for no reason. When the Doctor and Jo stop by the village pub to get directions, one of the villagers goes and informs the Master of the Doctor's presence. The Master tells him to get dressed for the ceremony.

On the way to the Hump, the Doctor's car, Bessie, is blocked by a fallen tree. Unable to budge it, the Doctor and Jo rush to the mound on foot. The Master, dressed in ceremonial robes and with a coven of thirteen acolytes, starts a summoning ritual in the church catacombs. As his chanting grows more frenzied, the Doctor and Jo reach the mound and the Doctor rushes inside to stop Horner, but it is too late. The tomb door opens and icy gusts of wind rush out and the ground begins to shake, toppling the camera crew and even the coven in the catacombs. The Master laughs triumphantly and calls the entity's name — Azal, and the eyes of a gargoyle, Bok, flare with a reddish glow. Jo enters the mound to find Horner and the Doctor motionless, covered with frost...

Episode two
Horner is dead, and the Doctor seems dead as well. The Master uses a knife to indicate a stone covered in ritual markings as the "appointed place", dismissing the coven. Back at UNIT, Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton were watching the end of the broadcast as it went dead. They try to find out what's going on while attempting to contact the Brigadier, who had earlier gone for a night at the opera. Meanwhile, the village doctor discovers that the Doctor may not be entirely dead after all, but is puzzled when he hears the beating of two hearts. Jo telephones Yates, who tells her he will be there by helicopter in the morning, just as the line is cut off from the outside. The Master prays in the church as Jo watches over the still unconscious Doctor in the pub. At the dig, the ground shakes and the constable on duty sees something gigantic with heavy footsteps, and falls. In the morning, Yates and Benton fly by helicopter to Devil's End, and see burn marks on the fields before the village that resemble enormous footprints. Once in Devil's End, Benton decides to look around the village while Yates finally manages to contact the Brigadier, who is not pleased that Yates has commandeered his helicopter, and calls for a car. Benton, looking around in the church, finds Olive trapped in a cupboard, where the Master's verger, Garvin, had locked her. Down in the cellar to hide from Garvin, she tells Benton about Magister. Garvin comes down with a rifle, and Benton tries to disarm him. In the ensuing fight, Benton falls on the marked stone and seizes up. Garvin holds both of them at gunpoint and moves them outside, just as the ground starts to shake. Garvin fires up at something gigantic, but is engulfed in a fireball. The heat wave extends even into the village, knocking Jo and Yates down, just as the Doctor awakens with a start. Olive and Benton make their way back to the pub, and the Doctor discusses the incident with Olive, who says that she saw the devil, 30 feet high and with horns. The Doctor is told of the new vicar, and realises who is behind this, as "Magister" is Latin for "Master".

The Brigadier finds himself unable to enter the village, as there is a barrier surrounding it that causes anything trying to enter to heat up and burst into flame. He contacts Yates and is briefed on the situation while the Doctor and Jo return to the dig, an act the Master seems to be able to sense. They find the constable dead and a small spaceship in the mound the same shape as the Hump. Jo tries to lift it but cannot, as the Doctor explains that it weighs 750 tons. Suddenly, Bok leaps into the tent covering the entrance to the tomb, about to attack...

Episode three
The Doctor wards him off with some words in a strange language and an iron trowel. The Doctor explains to Jo that it was actually the words of a Venusian lullaby — it was the gargoyle's own superstition that drove it back. The Master, in the meantime, hypnotises the squire, Winstanley, as Olive and the Doctor debate about whether it is magic or science that is at work here. The Brigadier discovers that the heat shield is dome shaped, centred on the church, with a radius of ten miles out and one mile high. The Doctor shows the others pictures of various horned gods and demons from Olive's occult and history book collection, and explains that the creature Olive saw was an extraterrestrial, one of the Dæmons from the planet Dæmos, 60,000 light years away, who came to Earth one hundred thousand years before. The small spaceship's actual size is 200 feet long and 30 feet across, and the heat and cold waves they have been experiencing are the result of the energy displaced when the ship shrinks or grows. The Doctor further explains that the Dæmons have influenced Earth throughout its history, becoming part of human myth, and see the planet as a giant experiment. The Master has called the Dæmon up once, and right now, it is so small as to be invisible. The third summoning, however, could signal the end of the experiment, and the world. The Brigadier contacts Yates and says he is about to try attacking the heat shield from the air. The Doctor warns him not to, saying that it would only strengthen it, and suggests they use a diathermic energy exchanger. When UNIT technician Osgood fails to understand what the Doctor is getting at, he says he will come out and explain. When he does so, Tom Girton, one the villagers working with Master, hijacks the UNIT helicopter and uses it to attack the Doctor. The Doctor manages to swerve Bessie out of the way and the helicopter explodes against the heat shield. As the Doctor relates his instructions to Osgood, who protests that it goes against the laws of physics, the Master summons Azal again. A heat wave and an earth tremor once again sweeps through the village as Azal curses the Master for daring to summon him again.

Episode four
The Master tries to dismiss Azal with an iron candlestick holder, but it does not seem to work. He demands that Azal give him the power that is his right, but Azal warns him that he is not the Master's servant. Azal also senses the presence of another like the Master, and wants to speak to the Doctor to see if he is worthy to take over the world. Azal says on his third appearance, he will decide if Earth deserves to continue existing. If so, he will give it to the Master. Azal then vanishes in another heat wave.

After explaining the process of creating the exchanger to Osgood, the Doctor returns to the village. However, the Master's agents are at work, and he is soon captured by a mob of villagers and tied up to a maypole, about to be burned alive. Olive goes to the mob and tells them that the Doctor is a mighty wizard, and with some help from Benton's silenced Pistol and a remote controlled Bessie, convinces the mob that the Doctor does indeed have magical powers. Jo and Mike, meanwhile, have returned to the church cellar and watch, hidden, as the Master gathers his coven to summon Azal one last time. Jo tries to interrupt the ritual, but it is too late.

Episode five
With another rush of heat, Azal manifests himself and Jo and Yates are taken prisoner. Outside, the Doctor explains that to the now calmer villagers that his "magic" was due to science, and so is the Master's trickery. The rituals are merely used to focus the psychokinetic energy of humans that the Master needs to summon the Dæmons. As Jo is prepared as a sacrifice to Azal, the exchanger finally works and UNIT forces go through the gap created in the heat shield, but the gap only lasts a few minutes and the exchanger soon overloads. Mike manages to escape and tell the Doctor about Jo, but Bok is guarding the entrance to the catacombs. The use of the exchanger momentarily weakens Bok and Azal, and the Doctor manages to rush by the gargoyle. He makes it down to the cellar, where the Master is expecting him. Outside, UNIT troops start firing at Bok, who can disintegrate objects and people with a wave of his hand, but he is also bulletproof. Even a bazooka does not work, as the pieces of the gargoyle reform almost instantly. Inside the church, the Master makes his case to the Dæmon that he will rule the Earth experiment's people for their own good. The Doctor argues that Man should be given a chance to grow up. Azal finally decides to give his power to the Master, and fires electricity at the Doctor to kill him. However, Jo, steps in front of the Doctor, asking Azal to kill her instead. This act of self-sacrifice does not make sense to Azal, and the confusion sends him into an agony. He shouts for all of them to leave as he is dying. Bok reverts to his stone form, and as everyone runs out of the church, it blows up. The Master tries to escape in Bessie, but the Doctor's remote control brings the car back, and the Master is taken into custody, to be put in maximum security.

Olive Hawthorne hears the sound of bird songs and the smell of flowers once again, as the Earth is reborn each May Day. Olive takes Benton to dance around the maypole with the rest of the townsfolk, while Yates and the Brigadier go off to the pub for a drink. The Doctor and Jo join the dance, as the May Day celebrations continue and the Doctor remarks to Jo that perhaps there is magic in the world after all.

Cast

 * Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * The Master - Roger Delgado
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * Sergeant Benton - John Levene
 * Olive Hawthorne - Damaris Hayman
 * Bert the Landlord - Don McKillop
 * Winstanley - Rollo Gamble
 * Professor Horner - Robin Wentworth
 * Alastair Fergus - David Simeon
 * Harry - James Snell
 * Garvin - John Joyce
 * Dr. Reeves - Eric Hillyard
 * Tom Girton - Jon Croft
 * PC Groom - Christopher Wray
 * Baker's Man - Gerald Taylor
 * Bok - Stanley Mason
 * Sgt. Osgood - Alec Linstead
 * Thorpe - John Owens
 * Azal - Stephen Thorne
 * Morris Dancers - The Headington Quarry Men
 * Jones - Matthew Corbett

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Sue Hedden
 * Costumes - Barbara Lane
 * Designer - Roger Ford
 * Fight Arranger - Peter Diamond
 * Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton
 * Film Editor - Chris Wimble
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Jan Harrison
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Production Assistant - Peter Grimwade
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Tony Millier
 * Studio Sound - Ralph Walton
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Peter Day

Broadcasters

 * The dig is broadcast on BBC3. This revelation will be taken differently by different audiences. At the time The Dæmons was broadcast, there was no such thing as BBC3. Consequently, to the contemporaneous audience, this was an indication that the story was not set in the present day, but a few years in the future. The writer and producers perhaps felt that BBC3 was no more than a few years off, therefore allowing them to sneakily set the story in the late 1970s. It made sense, at the time, to include these little nods to the future, as it was the general intent of Sherwin/Letts/Hinchcliffe-era UNIT stories that they be set in the slight future. However, in this case, the trick falls flat on a modern audience. In real life, BBC3 wasn't launched until 2003, which only adds to the broader UNIT dating controversy, since the story is otherwise quite evidently not set in the same time period as, say, Rose. Very young audience members won't be troubled by the remark at all, since, for them, BBC3 has always been around. Likewise, non-Britons will likely not understand the gag at all, regardless of their age.
 * To add to/confuse matters still further, the most recent broadcast of this story on the BBC was on 21 and 22 October 2007 - not on BBC 3, but on BBC FOUR. (The broadcast compiled episodes 1. 2 and 3 into one broadcast on October 21 2007, and episodes 4 and 5 the following evening)

The Doctor's items

 * The Doctor has fitted Bessie with a remote control.

The Master

 * The Master has taken over as vicar in Devil's End.

Species

 * Azal is one of the Dæmons from the planet Dæmos.
 * It is implied that Azal (or his race) destroyed Atlantis (which makes it the second explanation of how Atlantis fell).
 * Bok is a stone automaton animated by Azal and mind-controlled by the Master. It has a fear of iron and is repelled by the Doctor's use of a Venusian lullaby.
 * When coming to grips with the idea that the Dæmons might be alien, Sergeant Benton compares them to other alien species he's met, namely the Axons (DW: The Claws of Axos) and Cybermen (DW: The Invasion) The latter is one of the only references to the Cybermen in the whole of Jon Pertwee's time as the regular lead of the programme.

Story notes

 * The shot of the exploding helicopter is actually a scene taken from James Bond film From Russia With Love.
 * The Master's summoning phrases for Azal is 'Mary had a little lamb' backwards.
 * 'Guy Leopold' (the writer), is a pen name for Robert Sloman and Barry Letts.
 * This story had the working title; The Demons.
 * The area under the church is always referred to as 'the cavern' and never 'the crypt'. This was a BBC requirement to avoid the risk of causing offence to viewers with religious sensibilities. Similarly, much to director Christopher Barry's amazement, no mention of God was permitted to be made in the story's dialogue, in case this was considered to be blasphemeous – although references to the Devil were acceptable.
 * The Doctor calls himself "the Great Wizard Quiquaeqoud". Qui, quae and quod are, respectively, the masculine, feminine and neuter forms of the Latin word for "who".
 * The 625 line PAL Colour Videotapes of Episodes One, Two, Three and Five were either erased for reuse, junked or lost. For some unknown reason only Episode Four was kept. Only 16mm Black & White Film telerecordings made for overseas sale were retained for the other episodes.
 * In the DVD featurette Terrance Dicks: Fact & Fiction (included on the DVD of Horror of Fang Rock), Dicks confesses that he originally cut out the famous "Chap with the wings, five rounds rapid" line, but it was reinstated at Letts' request.
 * It was believed by a number of viewers that the model of the church blown up for the final episode (a replica of an actual church) was in fact real. Calls were received by the BBC deploring the destruction of the church.
 * When the sign pointing to Devil's End is shown in episode 2, another sign can be seen to read "Satanhall".
 * This is the only story to end an episode on a cliffhanger of the Master in peril.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 9.2 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 8.0 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 8.1 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.1 million viewers
 * Episode 5 - 8.3 million viewers

Myths

 * There was a sixth episode planned, where the Master escaped UNIT. (This was an April Fool's joke in the fanzine DWB.)

Influences

 * This story makes a few nods towards Quatermass and the Pit, and not just for the idea that stories of devils and demons may be a race memory of horned aliens who conducted a eugenics experiment on early humans. Devil's End is essentially the same as Hobb's Lane, the fictitious London setting of the earlier story, Hob being an old name for the Devil. The use of iron to hold both Azal and Bok at bay is an old folk superstition that is also referred to in the Quatermass story. (See also DW: Image of the Fendahl.)
 * The large hoof prints left by Azal as he walks around the village of Devil's End and encircles the community with a heat barrier brings to mind a famous and well-documented case. On the morning of 9 February 1855, the inhabitants of several villages and towns in Devon awoke to find what appeared to be the tracks of a hooved, two-legged creature in the snow, traversing a total distance of one hundred miles, going over rooftops, a 14-foot wall, and even apparently leaping across a two mile wide estuary. Many believed that the Devil himself had walked through Devon the previous night.

Filming locations

 * Aldbourne, Wiltshire
 * Ramsbury Airfield, Ramsbury, Wiltshire
 * BBC Television Centre (Studio 4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

 * Various pronunciations of 'Dæmons', 'Dæmos' (and all other permutations) are used throughout the story.
 * A signpost next to the heat barrier says: 'Devil's End 1'. However, in episode two, the barrier has a five mile radius, centred on the church.
 * In episode three, the energy exchanger interferes with radio communication, but by episode five it has lost this side effect.
 * If the "breached" heat barrier is still hot enough to make the Brigadier's swagger stick smoulder so profusely, it ought to have some fairly unpleasant effects on human flesh (but the troops pass through entirely unscathed).

BBC holiday rebroadcast
On 28 December 1971, The Daemons became the very first serial to be rebroadcast by the BBC complete, in omnibus form. The broadcast attracted 10.5 million viewers, the show's highest rating since 1965.

Continuity

 * The Doctor uses a few lines of a Venusian lullaby which is heard in full during The Curse of Peladon.
 * The Master sends his TARDIS to the Devil's End crypt at the close of PDA: The Face of the Enemy.
 * After being featured in every story of Season 8, the Master is captured by UNIT forces at the conclusion of this story and is next seen in prison in DW: The Sea Devils.
 * The Master retrieves his TARDIS from the debris of the church in EDA: The Eight Doctors.
 * A Daemon carcass is used by the Faction Paradox as a spaceship in EDA: Interference - Book Two.
 * The planet Daemos is mentioned in DW: The Satan Pit.
 * Some events of this episode are referred to in DW: Last of the Time Lords.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after ST: The Tip of the Mind
 * This story occurs before ST: Degrees of Truth

VHS releases
The Dæmons was released on VHS in the UK and Australia in 1993. This was a colour restored version of the story completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.