The Scores
Here are Sue’s scores for Troughton’s stories in reverse order (and in transmission order if tied):
The Dominators: “Just dreadful” – 1/10
The Space Pirates: “Well that was shit” – 1/10
The Underwater Menace: “That was bonkers. And a little bit shit” – 2/10
The Wheel in Space: “Flabby, drawn-out rubbish” – 2/10
The Tomb of the Cybermen: “Racist” – 4/10
The Highlanders: “I’ve seen a lot worse” – 5/10
The Moonbase: “I could murder a cup of coffee” – 6/10
The Evil of the Daleks: “A game of two halves” – 6/10
The Enemy of the World: “A bit silly” – 6/10
The Krotons: “It was only four episodes and it moved” – 6/10
The Macra Terror: “I’m not convinced it would be better if it existed” – 7/10
The Abominable Snowmen: “I feel a bit sorry for the Yeti” – 7/10
The Ice Warriors: “Enjoyable” – 7/10
The Mind Robber: “The Dog Off The Thing!” – 7/10
The Seeds of Death: “They’ve got this Base Under Siege thing down pat, now” – 7/10
The Power of the Daleks: “Definitely the best Dalek story so far” – 8/10
The Web of Fear: “You’ve got to love the Camfield” – 8/10
Fury from the Deep: “Good script, good performances, scary monsters” – 8/10
The Faceless Ones: “I finally feel like I’m watching Doctor Who” – 9/10
The Invasion: “Probably the most enjoyable story so far” – 9/10
The War Games: “Epic” – 9/10
Ask Sue
A couple of weeks ago, I invited readers of this blog to ask Sue a question about her journey so far. Here are the best entries that made it through our spam filter:
Me: The first question was asked by quite a few readers (Lewis Christian, Bryan Simcott and Rob Ritchie included): if you could magically turn one recon into a moving story, which story would it be?
Sue: The Power of the Daleks. It’s the recon with the highest score. It’s not hard to work out.
Me: Huw Davies (no relation) asks: if you had to re-watch a Troughton story, which one would you choose and why?
Sue: The War Games. Because it’s the best story. Hang on, would I have to watch all ten episodes back to back? I could definitely do one a night.
Me: Joel Davies asks: after steeping your brain in this peculiar mixture for nine straight months, do you find yourself dreaming Doctor Who dreams yet?
Sue: No. I wouldn’t mind some, though.
Me: Lisa Parker is next –
Sue: A woman?
Me: I think so –
Sue: Wow. OK, go on then –
Me: She wants to know which guest actors have given the best and worst performances.
Sue: Milo Clancy. He was dreadful. I don’t want to know the name of the man who played him. And the best was (after she spends several hours chewing it over) Peter Barkworth in The Ice Warriors. He was brilliant.
Me: Another popular question (asked by Thomas Boyer, and another Tom who withheld his surname): which Troughton story would you choose to be remade today with Matt Smith?
Sue: The War Games. Actually, forget that. That would mean he’d die at the end. OK, The Faceless Ones – Shirley Valentine and David Cameron could have cameos. You could set it at Heathrow Terminal 5. Everything goes missing there.
Me: Toby Hadoke asks: if Neil was a Doctor Who story that you’ve seen so far, which one would he be?
Sue: The War Games – long and satisfying.
Me: Ben Goudie asks: in all your travels through time and space, you have never rated a story higher than nine out of ten. What would it take for a story to get a full ten points, and do you think you will ever reach a story that will satisfy you sufficiently?
Sue: It’s a bit like Moonlighting, isn’t it? Once I give a story 10/10 it will all go down hill from there. But seriously, every single story always starts out with 10/10 and then I chip away marks for things I can’t forgive. So it is entirely possible that I will give a 10/10 one day. Especially if it’s short. The War Games came very close. If we gave out half marks that would have scored 9.5 out of ten. Maybe we should give out half marks –
Me: That’s never going to happen. People would have to re-design their graphs. Mark Faulkner has a very interesting question: given that you don’t see who the Doctor regenerates into at the end of The War Games, who would Sue like to see play the role of the Doctor?
Sue: Peter Gordeno.
Me: Are you serious?
Sue: OK, then – Anthony Newley.
Me: Better. OK, next up is our very dear friend, Simon Harries, and he’s coming out of left field with this: it is believed that the Troughton guest stars Peter Barkworth and Joseph Furst used to compete against Philip Madoc and Wolfe Morris in backstage kabaddi contests. Does Sue have any thoughts about who would have won?
Sue: Yes.
Me: Dave Sanders, on the other hand, wants to know: If Sue could go back in time and meet Patrick Troughton in the studio, where would she advise him to go for one of his weeks off? Bear in mind that it’s 1968 and on a BBC salary, so it has to be within reason.
Sue: Good grief. What a question. OK… (after several hours) North Yorkshire. He could mingle with the farmers.
Me: Mike Zeidler has the perennial Snog, Marry, Avoid featuring – a Yeti, the War Lord and Dudley Simpson.
Sue: Terrible choices. Terrible! Well, I’d avoid the Yeti. Obviously. I’d probably marry Dudley; I could help him write some tunes with actual melodies. I could snog Saatchi, no worries.
Me: OK, Richard Lyth and planetpex on Twitter would like to know: which TV series would you most like to make Neil watch every episode of, from beginning to end?
Sue: Norm Abrams New Yankee Workshop.
Me: Google it. It ran for twenty years! Next we have unexplode from Twitter with: if Sue was forced at gunpoint to go to a
Doctor Who black-and-white-era themed fancy dress party, who or what would she go as?
Sue: I’d go as Barbara. In a cardigan.
Me: I was hoping for Zoe in a cat-suit myself. OK, and finally, Malcolm Y wants to know: is Tesco Tony single? And if he is, can I have his phone number?
Sue: Didn’t we have that question in the William Hartnell retrospective?
Me: Yes, he sent it in again.
Sue: Just give him the same answer then.
Me: So what was your favourite question?
Sue: Let’s give it to the woman. Girl power.
Me: Lisa – please contact me with your address and choice of T-Shirt. And if you turn out to be a man we will be very disappointed. So, before we go, Sue, did you prefer Troughton to Hartnell?
Sue: Yes. Without a doubt.
Me: Do you think you’ll miss him?
Sue: Ask me that question again next week.
Me: Can you sum up Patrick Troughton in three words?
Sue: Scruffy, charming and mischievous.
Me: Are you pleased to be moving out of the 1960s?
Sue: I just can’t believe that we don’t have to watch any black and white episodes or bloody recons from now on! It’s such a relief.
Me: Yes, we have definitely seen the back of the recons –
Sue: So when do we start the next lot?
Me: I was going to give you a week off.
Sue: I’m happy to make a start tonight, if you like.
Me: Really? Are you looking forward to the Pertwee stories?
Sue: No, I’m dreading it; I have really strong memories of it being really silly and him driving around in this stupid yellow car. I hated it. I just want it over with.