Written by Terrance Dicks, based on his scripts for the 1977 TV serial.

“As night falls one fine autumn evening the lamp is burning steadily. The three men who make up the crew go peacefully about their duties, unaware of the night of horror that lies before them, little knowing that they would soon be caught up in a strange and terrible conflict, with the fate of the Earth itself as the final stake.”

Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock begins with a creepy prologue describing the Fang Rock Lighthouse, that has the same effect as one of those roving, empty-rooms establishing shots at the start of a horror movie. It’s apt, given this is essentially a slasher movie with the Rutan taking the place of Michael Myers picking off the hapless crew of the lighthouse: it’s as stripped down and austere as The Talons of Weng-Chiang was flamboyant, the White Album to its predecessor’s Sgt. Pepper and every bit as good.

Throughout, the Doctor is described as grim-faced, as if he recognises the bleakness of the situation: an isolated base under siege, surrounded by thick and impenetrable fog; the claustrophobia of the cramped lighthouse, and the menace of the creature outside, observing and hunting its occupants (with Rutan point-of-view sequences to add to the ever-present sense of danger).

But Dicks adds some relief from what could have been unrelentingly dark, mostly through the comedy of Leela’s impatience with Edwardian mores. She has no problem undressing in front of a speechless Vince, and her robust response to the alien threat is continually contrasted with the prissy Adelaide’s screaming and fainting. There’s an amusing thread of Leela giving her a menacing look every time Adelaide threatens to go into hysterics.

There are few additions to Dicks’ TV scripts. He gives a little bit more detail about the endless Sontaran/Rutan War and of the Rutan species: “Rutans have little concept of individual identity, seeing themselves as units of the all-conquering Rutan race. Hence they always speak in the plural.” But mostly it’s an excellent adaptation of an excellent TV story, which perfectly recaptures its strengths. Grade 1.

Next Time: Doctor Who And… The Tomb of the Cybermen.