Doctor Who: Every Tom Baker/Hinchcliffe Era Story Ranked From Worst To Best

11. The Hand Of Fear

This is a story of lasts and this is the last Doctor Who story for director Lennie Mayne. During the story itself he ends up sometimes as more of a focus, as the episode will have average moments and just as you start to drift off, he€™ll throw something artsy at you like the close up of Sarah Jane stretching her arm out so that her hand almost touches the camera, jerking you out of your daydreams about butterflies. It€™s a rare episode in which the writing is fairly good throughout (which is even rarer for the writers of this story) but the direction is wildly polarized. But of course, this is Sarah Jane€™s last story as a proper companion and she ends up as the main focus of the story as the overcomplicated plot revolves around her. However, in a return to 1960s fashion, not a word of the actual leaving scene was written by the writer and is by far the best part of the episode. In this case it was the work of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. It€™s the scene the episode is rightfully famous for. It€™s perfectly written and directed, everything is left tense and understated. It€™s a brilliant example of how less is more when what isn€™t said is just shown to be known by the characters. It's the most powerful way of honoring the chemistry between them.