The Twin Dilemma

The Twin Dilemma

Arriving at 1984, we are now well into the era of BBC Micros, Rubik's Cubes and deel[e]y boppers (also known as deel[e]y bobbers, which was news to me) and you can spot the influence of all three in 'The Twin Dilemma' if you look closely enough. Oh, and Harry Worth's coat, of course, but we've probably ploughed that particular furrow more than enough.

I plucked up enough courage to write off and join the Doctor Who Appreciation Society around this point, so I must have been quite hopeful for the future of the show, though sadly this optimism would come crashing down the next year.

The sheer oddness of Colin Baker's dialogue in this one appealed to me and I don't recall being particularly shocked at the costume. With the Bad Taste ethic applying to everything else that's on screen, it doesn't seem as out of place as it might and at least owners of a colour television were getting value for money being presented with all the shades of the speculum.

From my own point of view, the Colin Baker era neatly covers the time from looming 'O'-levels through to the first year of university. In the Sixth Form at our school, uniform rules were relaxed but you were still expected to wear a tie of some sort. Thinking about it last night, it's entirely possible that Colin's outfit influenced my choice in the department, as I was fully of the opinion that the more garish, the better!

This is also the period when I joined the Salisbury Local group, making some life-long friends who you can hear on 'Round The Archives'. I even attended my first convention in 1984, spending a bewildering Saturday in Swindon at the 'Leisure Hive' event, where I was too nervous to talk to anyone, even though I was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt patterned in green foliage and large ripe bananas. Thankfully, no photos exist of that particular monstrosity!

I'm not sure why the Sylvest twins (there's an omen [or 'O'-men?] of the future!) seem to be watching the title sequence to 'No Place Like Home' or why the readout of the registration details of spacecraft X.V.773 clearly displays the BBC Basic program that's powering it, but let's not lose too much sleep over that.

History has not been kind to 'The Twin Dilemma', but putting it on after 'The Caves Of Androzani' wasn't particularly kind, either.

It;s on of those great 'What If?' moments in the show's history, though. If, as with 'Robot', the new Doctor had been introduced by one production team, but allowed to flourish with a new one, what might Season 22 have been like?

Change was certainly in the air, but arguably not enough of it...

Our video about 'The Twin Dilemma' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)