The Myth Makers

This is a four part pure historical story from writer Donald Cotton beginning with Temple of Secrets. The story is set in the Trojan Wars and plays about amusingly with the myths of the time surrounding the 'Trojan Horse' etc.

It is the first story after original producer Verity Lambert, who had served the show so well, officially moved on and was replaced by John Wiles. Wiles teamed up with story editor Donald Tosh hoping to make the series less 'whimsical' and more 'serious and grown-up'. Here the seriousness is clearly present but is mixed with comedy, some of which is quite sophisticated and funny. The Wiles/Tosh partnership succeeded in having very high standards for the stories they oversaw but this only lasted for a few stories before they both resigned after their wish to replace William Hartnell was over-ruled. Ironically Hartnell was then replaced at a slightly later date anyway.

I was very pleasantly surprised how good this adventure is after reading reviews likening it and even unfavourably comparing it to The Romans, a story I found very disappointing. Those reviews are wrong in my opinion as this story is far more successfully executed with a finely balanced mixture of humour and drama which is carried off very well. The cast are on good form and the story has sufficient interest to maintain top quality across all four episodes. The story also marks the departure of companion Vicki and the arrival of new companion Katarina who would end up not being around for very long.

All in all a great success, yet again showing historical adventures can be great and should never have been totally dropped.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 9/10, Episode 2 - 9.5/10, Episode 3 - 9.5/10, Episode 4 - 9/10

Overall: 9.25/10

The Myth Makers finds the Doctor, Vickie, and Stephen landing in the midst of the Trojan War where the Greeks mistake the Doctor for Zeus, and the Trojans take Vickie and the TARDIS captive.

This is a great comedic episode with nearly perfect characters. There's a certain charm to their performances and quite a bit of humor but no one goes over the top or campy as is so often the temtptation when a story is played with a lighter touch. Of course, stark realism does take over in the last fifteen minutes and the humor in Troy means we're strongly impacted by what happens to the defeated Trojans.

The romance that leads to Vickie's departure is sudden but was well-played by Maureen O'Brien. The guest cast is superb and overall this is a very enjoyable classic and it's unfortunate we can only enjoy the audio.