Dodo Chaplet - EPIC FAIL

[Pip Madeley]

I've been listening to a number of stories from Hartnell's third season lately, a season that I think it's fair to say had a number of problems, both on-screen and off. Hartnell's health started to decline, there were big problems behind-the-scenes with the production team and some of the scripts suffered as a result. The quality of the majority of stories paled in comparison to what had gone before and the fact that the series went through five female regulars, three producers and two script editors in the space of a few months was a sure sign that things were not running smoothly. To cap it all, viewing figures were steadily falling, with Galaxy Four part three seen by 11.3m viewers compared to 4.5m for the final episode of The Savages.



The worst thing to come out of this period though, was Dodo Chaplet. The blame for this character can't be laid at Jackie Lane's door, she seemed a pretty decent actress but was saddled with possibly the worst regular character Doctor Who ever had. From her introduction to her departure she only appeared in four stories and three episodes - Jackie was treated pretty shoddily.

Let's begin with the end of The Massacre. The production team had obviously decided a historical companion would not work after Katarina was written out of the series, what with the sheer amount of needless exposition to explain to the character what was going on. Yet bizarrely in the very next story, they seem to have forgotten this and introduce Anne Chaplet, a French girl from history who you expect to join the TARDIS team. It seems to me that suddenly the production team think "Bugger!" and so the character of Dodo is introduced. Not only is it ridiculous that the Doctor would leave Anne Chaplet to die in France - he tells her to go back to her home where surely she would be expected - but they go beyond all credibility by having the TARDIS land in 'present day' London and who should appear but her descendent, Dodo Chaplet. They shoehorn a line in about Dodo's ancestors being French (fancy that) and restore the Doctor's reputation at the same time.

Dodo's first appearance is bizzare. She enters the TARDIS and doesn't bat an eyelid! Rather than commenting on the fact that the Police Box on Wimbledon Common contains a large futuristic control room, she asks for a telephone! And when the Doctor tells her the TARDIS travels in time and space, she just accepts it!! And does the Doctor really believe her great aunt would not care if she was dead? No, he just dematerialises... then Steven tells her they could land anywhere and she isn't bothered!!! Words fail me. Rushed and ridiculous, truly the most ridiculous introduction for any companion.

Onto The Ark, and the first immediate thing I noticed about Dodo is that she's put on a Crusaders costume from the TARDIS wardrobe for no reason. Oh, and her accent has changed from Manchester (ha!) to received pronounciation - odd. It soon becomes clear that Dodo is annoying. Within the first episode she is seen crying, sneezing ("Me nose is runnin") and nearly destroying humanity. Even Katarina wasn't this bad...

Things get even worse in The Celestial Toymaker. Putting aside the fact that the middle episodes are basically padding (episode 3 in particular) and the Doctor is more or less absent (interesting that the production team considered getting rid of Hartnell during this story) the main problem with this story is Dodo - she's an IDIOT. She knows that they're in danger, they'll be become the Toymaker's playthings for eternity if they don't find the TARDIS... so why the hell does she start going on about playing fair and showing compassion for her opponents who are dolls?! For some reason she simply behaves irrationally and stupidly, and never seems to learn.

For instance, during the chairs game she knows that sitting in the wrong one could be fatal... so what does she do? She sits in one and low and behold it's the wrong one. Would you put your life in danger so readily? No, but Dodo would! I just felt sorry for Steven, saddled with her whilst trying to save his life... and by the end of episode four, you just want to shake her! She falls for Cyril's lies and almost loses them the game. I don't know how Steven didn't slap the silly cow - as I said, she doesn't learn anything and it's ridiculous.

The Gunfighters. Now I actually don't mind this story (might be in a minority there) but again, Dodo is pretty rubbish, fainting, screaming and getting herself kidnapped. This is probably a criticism of the script rather than the character, but the fact that she seems worried at having to play the piano and yet turns out to be a female Rick Wakeman verges on the unbelievable.

Little to say about The Savages really, she barely has anything to do, screaming her way through the story and following whoever she is paired with. Luckily, things improve a little in The War Machines. We all know she is written out pretty hastily, simply being taken to the countryside and deciding not to go travelling with the Doctor... no goodbyes, nothing. Maybe what happened that day on Wimbledon Common finally hits her. It's a shame really, as Dodo is pretty good in this story... well, she is taken over by a computer for most of it but nevertheless... no, seriously, episode one is probably her finest moment. Too little too late.

Dodo was simply disappointing - they were looking for the new girl, someone who would prove popular with the viewers and they shot themselves in the foot by making her unlikeable and stupid... no wonder she's extinct.

[SiHart]

I think you've summed that up pretty well Pip. It seems that the production team wanted something a bit different- a Northern lass, but the BBC execs said no to that and so her intial character changed in a couple of episodes... and became painfully generic. Shame really, as Jackie Lane herself seemed perfectly capable, but just wasn't given the material to work with.

Si xx

[shada pavlova]

But I liked Dodo.

I cried after reading Who Killed Kennedy.

[SiHart]

"Steven! Those clowns aren't funny anymore." (She seemed to say that every other scene in CT)

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Pretty fair summing up - although I'd say that Jackie Lane actually makes Dodo very watchable (in the same way that Maureen O'Brien's Vicki is so good because of the actress, not the character).

[Captain Tancredi]

I think the other thing to bear in mind is that "the Sixties" crept up on the production team very quickly, so that while Dodo as originally conceived might have been quite contemporary for early 1966, by the middle of the year you're up to Polly, who is quite frankly far more up to date. In the circumstances you can't really hold it against the Lloyd/Davis production team, lumbered with a companion from the previous regime who never really worked in the way that she was supposed to, from cutting their losses and going with a new character.

[Rob McCow]

On the other hand she was the first young female companion from present-day Earth. She was characterised about as well as Susan and Vicki before her. It's quite easy to imagine Vicki in The Ark or The Celestial Toymaker.

She's also fun and enthusiastic. In The Gunfighters, she acts as quite a good foil for Steven, who is naturally more cautious and serious. I think her character works really well in this more comic story. In general, she works very well with the more whimiscal tone of the series at the end of the third year.

I don't think she was totally awful, but it was clear her character wasn't thought through properly, if at all. Jackie Lane is also guilty (to an extent) of pantomime style acting, similar to Bonnie Langford. This isn't necessarily bad, it means that she played the part in a deliberately fun and entertaining way, rather than being overly serious and potentially flat and dull. She was capable of playing a more serious character, such as ... hmm... Anne Chaplet, but chose not to.

But this kind of acting would appeal more to younger children than adults. She'd probably be a hit with the 5-10 year olds.

So I'm not too bothered by Dorothea Chaplet, though I am glad that Benandpolly came in to replace her in time for The Tenth Planet.

[SiHart]

Again, as Pip says, I think she was in the worng place at the wrong time- being caught up in the power struggles between Wiles and Hartnell and a show that was of declining popularity at the time can't have been easy and I think the fluctuations in her character really reflect those troubles.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Well written article there Pip.

Reminds me of how in the 90s at conventions Mel Bush would regularly get awards like "worst thing in sci-fi". And to be honest, Bonnie Langford would personally get the blame for the nadir of Dr Who ...

However having heard a few Big Finishes featuring Bonnie Langford, she's actually quite good, and really it's not so much her as the writers you feel you need to hurl your virtiol against.

[Pip Madeley]

I never had too much of a problem with Bonnie Langford, again it was a case of the characterisation sometimes working against the tone of the programme rather than the actress. And Mel was quite clever in some ways, whereas Dodo was thicker than a copy of Garth Marenghi's "The Oeuvre".

[Lord President]

Dodo was thicker than a copy of Garth Marenghi's "The Oeuvre".

Complete with "The Additionata" and reinforced spine made of genuine cat bone?

[Pip Madeley]

Hell yes

[Paul Monk]

Maybe what happened that day on Wimbledon Common finally hits her

Perhaps this explains it all. Maybe Dodo was in shock the whole time which is why she accepts it all.

[Antony Cox]

turns out to be a female Rick Wakeman

Well, they hid the beard very well, I must say...

[Pip Madeley]

Well, they hid the beard very well, I must say...

Which beard?

[Antony Cox]

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I think Mel is a companion very much in the same mould really. Arguably she had an even worse introduction than Dodo, what with there never really being a real one. Nothing we saw of her ever really fit in with the original character brief, and she was also unceremoniously dumped when she no longer fit in with the direction the production team were taking. While you could argue that Dodo's swan song was her finest hour, Mel's departure was almost as unbelievable as Dodo's arrival. Although it's hard to argue that it was "out of character" as such, as we never really found out what her character even was.