Igo back a long way with Fury from the Deep, even though the serial was broadcast before I was born.
The story’s writer, Victor Pemberton, was the fi rst person I ever interviewed, in the 1980s. In the early 1990s I discovered the story’s telesnaps in a forgotten corner of the BBC’s archive, subsequently annotating them for their fi rst publication in Doctor Who Magazine. Later, I revisited the story again when I compiled the ‘photonovel’ text for the telesnap presentation on the BBC’s Doctor Who website. So, what with one thing and another, I’ve listened to the audio recording of this lost story quite a few times over the years. But I’d never watched it until recently.
The animated version of Fury from the Deep, which was released in September, came as something of a revelation. I thought I knew the story well, but the excellent visuals have lent a new dimension to its frequently eerie soundtrack. For the fi rst time, I realise how powerful the original episodes must have been in 1968. Victor was a kind and gentle man, but there’s no denying that he and director Hugh David conceived this as a horror story. Patrick Troughton’s Doctor is never less than a reassuring presence, but I imagine Fury must have given some of its younger viewers sleepless nights. Even this long-in-the-tooth fan felt a bit uneasy during some of the more disturbing scenes.