The Mind of Evil

"Do you think for once in your life you could manage to arrive before the nick of time!"

The real disappointment of The Mind of Evil is that it's the last Doctor Who story writer Don Houghton and director Timothy Combe had any involvement with. It was the last of the more adult style of storytelling before the cosy UNIT family rot set in. While the story itself may not be at strong as Houghton's Inferno the year before it's still one of the strongest Pertwee stories made. And Combe had the potential to join Douglas Camfield and David Maloney as one of the great classic series directors. But circumstances (or BBC politics) prevented that from happening.

The other thing about this realise (aside from being the last Pertwee one. Yep, that's everything from that era) is that it's the first time The Mind of Evil has been seen in colour since it's original broadcast. It looks good, but I still prefer the black and white version that I'm more familiar with. Parts of the black and white version can be seen on the documentary about the story which evidently was filmed some time ago because not only is Barry Letts in it, but also (and what a joy it was to see) the late,. great Nicholas Courtney!

The other extra on this disc was a half hour documentary from the early seventies on a day in the life of the BBC Television Centre. Aside from being a fascinating insight into how BBC Television worked at the time, watch out for a very young Helen Mirren in what was possibly one of her early TV roles.