Forgotten Villains: Doctor Who’s The Fendahl

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright of BBC

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

“The Fendahl is death. How do you kill death itself?”

A chilling description for one of the most unique and terrifying monsters ever in the history of Doctor Who. In this 1977 season 15 story the opening moments firmly set the horror tone of this story which is maintained all the way through.

Scientists have discovered a human skull which will change everything they know about evolution. The skull is 12 million years old and Doctor Maximillian Stael is using a time scanner to test the skull. Itreacts to it and affects fellow scientist Thea Ransom (Wanda Ventham and mother of one Benedict Cumberbatch). In the dark woods of fetch Priory, a lone hiker suffers a horrible death as something consumes him literally sucking the very life force from his body causing it begin decomposing within hours, The Tardis is pulled through a hole on time caused by the scanner. Stael has no idea the power he is tapping into and how it is impacting reality. Tracing the source to Fetch Priory, the Doctor and Leela face a threat so ancient that this could be the Doctor’s final battle.

Fetch Priory has long had a haunted reputation pf ghosts and demons and the woods are to be avoided. The name Fetch itself has satanic links. The Doctor and Leela meet Mrs Martha Tyler and her son Jack. Mrs Tyler has psychic abilities and is well versed in the old ways eg using salt against evil. She is almost killed by the Fendahleen, describing it as a hunger that wanted her. She is a great character, an elderly lady with guts and prepared to fight the Fendahl with everything she has. She also provides some much needed humour when she admits there will come a day when she is too old for adventure. Leela recognises her abilities and wisdom of the old ways, forming a great bond with her.

They discover the skull is somehow merging with Thea to bring about the rise of the Fendahl again. it is revealed Stael’s real family name is Fendleman, literally a child of the Fendahl, influenced over the centuries to bring about the Fendahl again. He has created a cult using locals from the village to help him and gives the helpless Thea to be consumed by the Fendahl. She will become the Fendahl Core controlling her tapeworm like giant Fendahleen. The Fendahleen are brilliantly onceived and their sheer size in the corridors of the Priory make this a very claustrophobic story. The Doctor is almost absorbed by the skull when it compells him to place his hand on it. The Fendahl is so powerful not even a Time Lord can resist it. The Fendahleen freeze people in place as it sucks the life energy from them to feed the Thea Fendahl. The cliffhanger for episode 3 sees the Doctor, Leela, Mrs Tyler and Jack trapped by a Fendahleen in the corridor of the Priory. Frozen to the spot, a sick slurping sound is heard as a Fendahleen bears down on them. As a kid, I freaked out.

The climax of the story sees a fully powered Thea freeze the members of the cult and turn them into Fendahleen. Medusa like in appearance, the Fendahl/Thea version needs 13 people to become Fendahleen in order to unleash her full power. The Doctor realises that even in its inanimate state as the skull, the Fendahl influenced human development to bring it to the point where the Fendahl could return. The Doctor ponders if this accounts for man’s darker side. Personally, I think not as man is just flawed like every other species subject to good and evil.

Before Stael/Fendleman turns into one of the monsters, he kills himself. This means that the Fendahl are weak. The Doctor turns the time scanner to overload. The resulting blast will destroy the Priory and everything in it. Stealing the skull, the Fendahl are trapped as they are consumed by the implosion. To ensure the skull does not wreak havoc again, the Doctor and Leela drop it into a supernova. The universe os safe from the threat of the Fendahl once again.

Part of the reason this story works so well is the fact the Fendahl are so well realised. The Fendahleen have a cobra like outline but those nasty tendrils hanging from their gaping mouths are something out of a nightmare just like the Ood in the new era. Anything hanging from a creature’s mouth is repulsive. They may be the reason behind witchcraft and devil worship as scans show a hexagon embedded in the skull. The night time shooting of the scenes involving the death of the hiker and almost death of the Doctor are well shot. The slurping sound effect of the invisible monster bearing down on the Doctor is terrifying. The director ensures the camera POV is slightly above indicating the height of the Fendahleen monsters. It adds so much atmosphere to the story. It feels at times the Doctor and Leela may die here against such a powerful foe. The design of the Thea/Fendahl is unique and memorable. Actress Wanda Ventham eyes are closed but wide alien eyes are painted on over them giving her a great look with the almost snake like hair.

Image of the Fendahl is very much a horror story that uses familiar elements to evoke the old Hammer Horror movies. The gestalt Fendahl terrified me as a kid and it remains a firm favourite of mine. It is doubtful they will return to the show but to celebrate the 60th anniversary I will dig out the DVD and turn into that 10 year old kid once more.