C03S08 The gunfighters

Synopsis

Tombstone, Arizona, 1881.  The air is filled with the sounds of shooting, cussing, and toe-tapping tunes knocked out on the battered piano at the Last Chance Saloon.  And then there is something less familiar: the wheezing, groaning sound of a police box materialising.

The Doctor and his companions aren't the only newcomers in town.  The Clanton brothers have ridden in to settle a grudge with Doc. Holliday, the notorious gambler, drinker, and dentist.  In the Wild West, tempers are short, guns are swift, and a moment's hestiation on the draw can mean death...

Cover notes

The Gunfighters is in some ways the most ambitious story Doctor Who ever attempted: a Western with a mostly British cast, recorded in a tiny television studio.  Broadcast in 1966, the same year The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly hit cinemas, it shared the Sergio Leone movie's cheerful cynicism about American frontier myths.  It did not, however, share its budget.

Without access to the grand vistas that form the usual Western backdrop, The Gunfighters finds its strength in a witty, well-written script by Donald Cotton.  The production exudes an irresistible sense of fun.  Steven and Dodo's glee in choosing their costumes and Western aliases resembles that of children raiding the dressing-up box; and William Hartnell gets the opportunity to show off the comic skills which got him noticed as an actor at the beginning of his career.

As it turned out, The Gunfighters had a surprising legacy.  Anthony Jacobs, who played Doc Holliday, was visited on set by his young son, Matthew.  This event made a lasting impression.  Thirty years later, when the Doctor returned to the United States for Doctor Who The Movie, a grown-up Matthew Jacobs wrote the script.  In one of the pivotal scenes, the newly-regenerated Doctor searches for an outfit.  After dismissing several options, he finds just the thing.  It is a Wyatt Earp costume...

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