Doctor Who: 10 Special Effects That Totally Sucked

5. The Mara Snake

It's a testament to Christopher Bailey's clever script that Kinda works at all, what with it having Adric in it and being set on a jungle planet realised in an overlit studio that resembles a garden centre. Somehow this, and casting comedienne Nerys Hughes, works, especially when Simon Rouse's Hindle goes memorably doolally. We can even forgive the bloke from That's Life overacting. The Tegan sequences set in the nightmarish realm of the Mara are brilliant (although Pauline Fowler's mum Lou Beale popping up is a bit of a shock) and the religious imagery is unusual. However, the makers decide to have one final push to ruin the tale and concoct one of the most joyously appalling effects in Doctor Who history. The Mara exists in the bloke from That's Life and has to be banished by him being stuck in a circle of mirrors. This causes his Mara snake tattoo to come off and become a real snake. This would be fine until someone - obviously inspired by Red Sonja or Moonraker - suggested a giant snake. A lengthy rubber one is bad enough but then it grows into something that looks like a prop for Chinese New Year, only not as convincing. At least they learned the lesson when Snakedance came along.