Three is the magic number.

So, three parts in and the traditionally 'difficult' episode of Who's classic four-part structure.

Part three of 'Spearhead' treads water for much of its running time.  The Doctor and co - with Pertwee thankfully now realising he's not in 'The Navy Lark any more - spend most of their time going back and forth to Channing's factory (whose sheer creepiness, if for no other reason, warrants an arrest).  Elsewhere, that unintelligible poacher and his wife provide some 'light' relief; sufficient for Barry Letts to repeat the trick three years later for 'The Three Doctors'.  Fingers crossed that's the last we see of them in this story.

A bit of retro pondering here, but why exactly do the Autons kidnap Doctor Jon in Part one anyway?  Do they detect an intelligent alien, or are they just suckers for an amnesiac in hospital scrubs?

Liz Shaw is still getting on everyone's proverbial tits; no wonder Letts and co (weren't they big on TOTP once?) dumped her for someone vacuous and sexy.  And the overlooked Captain Munro's interrogation of poacher Seeley (oo-ar) is like some local news reporter trying to instill some gravitas into dull, communal events (he even looks like a newsreader).

But damn it all, it's another cracking cliff-hanger.  General Scobie opens his front door to...himself.  And they say the halcyon days for such things only arrived during the Hinchcliffe/Holmes period.

Still no sign of those auto-glass unfriendly Autons, though...

Comments

[Neil]

Yeah, just what was Channing doing at the hosptial in the first place?

[Ian Davenport]

Not sure why Channing was at the hospital, but it looks like he perks up when he hears a reporter conclude that the unconscious stranger must have found the missing sphere, so I presume Channing wants him so they can get their hands on it.