The Tom Baker era also played grisly host to the next selection as more meddling scientists incurred the wrath of ancient Time Lord enemy the Fendahl. Giant, shambling sleeping bags with the power to possess, it wasn't long before the humans realized they'd made a dreadful mistake by summoning them. What followed has to be one of the most harrowing exits in the entire canon. Max Stael (Scott Fredericks) somehow got the impression that bringing these horrors into the world through a Kenyan death skull would be a good thing. Once he understood it wasn't, he decided to end it all. Not wanting to become a puppet of the Fendahl, he asked the Doctor to pass him a gun. And chillingly, the curly-haired Gallifreyan agreed. Chris Boucher didn't mess about when it came to shocking the viewer but to hear the weapon going off in the background at a time when the family were sitting down to tea made quite an impression indeed.
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
