113 The Celestial Toymaker Part 3: The Dancing Floor

EPISODE: The Celestial Toymaker Part 3: The Dancing Floor
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 113
STORY NUMBER: 024
TRANSMITTED: 16 April 1966
WRITER: Brian Hayles
DIRECTOR: Bill Sellars
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1965-1966) No. 2

Steven & Dodo find themselves in the kitchen of Mrs Wiggs, who's arguing with Sergeant Rugg while Cyril the kitchen bot, who as the Knave slept on the sidelines of the clash with the King & Queen in the last episode, dozes in the kitchen. Dodo & Steven need to hunt the key, which they eventually find hidden in one of Mrs Rugg's pies. Alas the Tardis at the end of this game is a fake too. They then proceed to a dance floor where they are forced to dance with the dolls against Sgt Rugg & Mrs Wiggs but Steven swaps partners to unite with Dodo and the both jump off the Dance floor by another Tardis.... which is again fake. They then meet Cyril, now dressed as a schoolboy who says they can call him Billy. He will be their opponent in the next game.

Worked a bit better for me again this episode. I'm feeling the absence of Hartnell somewhat, especially after the Doctor is missing from Dalek Masterplan 11 and most of the Massacre. I know the invisible Doctor's game with the Toymaker is meant to be adding tension and a time limit to what Steven & Dodo are doing but it isn't for me. Peter Purves says this is one of his favourite stories, along with the Massacre, both of which feature Steven working away from the Doctor for a period of time. It should be noted that the schoolboy Cyril seems to resemble Billy Bunter, and the comment he makes would make it seem that that was the intention, but the copyright holders for that character complained and a voice over announcement was made denying any connection between the characters

The main guest character for this series, the Celestial Toymaker himself, is played by noted actor Michael Gough, who you may know as Alfred from the 80s and 90s Batman movies. He's got one return to Doctor Who, as Hedin in Arc of Infinity, and may well have reprised the role of the Toymaker in The Nightmare Fair if the planned 23rd season of Doctor Who hadn't been cancelled during 1985. At the time he was married to the actress Anneke Wills, who we'll be seeing in a few weeks time.