Doctor Who recap: The TARDIS team meet King James and zombies in The Witchfinders
By James Aggas
The Witchfinders began with a seemingly cheerful party in a seventeenth century village. But what was the terrible reason for the celebration?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The TARDIS crew encounter witches, living mud, zombies and King James I! But which one is the biggest monster, in the latest Doctor Who episode The Witchfinders?
The latest Doctor Who adventure, The Witchfinders, begins with the TARDIS team arriving at a village called Bilehurst Cragg, during a village ‘party’. They’re initially not sure what it’s for, only that it’s a weekly celebration. However, they very quickly discover why the village is celebrating. And it’s far from a joyous occasion, as they discover on Pendle Hill.
A witch trial is taking place. Organized by land owner Becka Savage, a local villager, Old Mother Twiston, has been accused of witchcraft. The only way to prove her innocence is trial by water – dunking her into the lake. If she drowns, she’s innocent. If she survives, she’s a witch.
The Doctor’s morality is suddenly challenged. She told her TARDIS crew that it’s important not to interfere in historical events. However, she also can’t let an innocent woman die. Naturally, she immediately aims to rescue her, but it wasn’t enough to save Old Mother Twiston.
The Doctor is almost in trouble with the aptly named Savage, until she shows her form of identification (i.e. her old psychic paper), and Savage believes her to be the Witchfinder General.
The TARDIS crew decide to stay a little while longer. Both the Doctor and Graham know a great deal about the Witch Trials, (especially the former, who previously had direct experience of it when she was an old man,) but neither of them have ever heard of Bilehurst Cragg. And considering they discovered that the trials there were weekly, that’s definitely worrying. So they decide to investigate.
It’s not long before the TARDIS team meet their latest historical celebrity – King James I! Unfortunately, unlike meeting Queen Victoria or Elizabeth I (they do meet a lot of the Royal Family in Doctor Who, don’t they?), this is far from a happy meeting.
The TARDIS team meet King James I in The Witchfinders. But will he help relieve villagers of their fears, or only make them worse?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The walking dead
Not only is James clearly horrendously sexist (which is far from surprising, considering it’s the seventeenth century, after all), but he is also a very proactive Witch Hunter himself. This makes things even more difficult for the TARDIS crew, especially as the Doctor is demoted to being just the Witchfinder General’s “assistant”, while Graham is given the main role by the king.
After Willa Twiston – the granddaughter of the old woman killed in the trial – is attacked by a mysterious root in the woods, the Doctor and Yasmin try to gain more information from her on what’s going on. Graham tries to learn why Becka has been keen to execute so many villagers, while Ryan forms a surprisingly close bond with James.
When the Doctor, Yaz and Willa investigate the woods, they come across the reanimated corpse of Old Mother Twiston, as well as other victims of the Witch Trials. Animated by a form of alien mud, they try to tell the king.
However, the King immediately orders his men to shoot the corpse upon seeing it, but the zombie kills the King’s protector very quickly. Even worse, both Becka and James are convinced that the animated corpses are the Doctor’s work. When Willa is put in a difficult position – either tell them that the Doctor’s a witch, or risk being accused of being a witch herself – she essentially points the finger at the Doctor.
Meanwhile, Yaz reunites with both Graham and Ryan, as they investigate the corpses. They’re very keen to visit Becka’s house, but why?
The Doctor initially starts out as a Witchfinder General, but it’s not long before she finds herself labelled a target of the Witch Trials…
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
The dunking of the Doctor
As the Doctor is tied up while awaiting her trial, she has a very personal conversation with James. It seems that it’s not just a devotion to God that causes him to obsess over hunting witches. He also has demons of his own to deal with – in this case, his mother abandoning him when he was only a child. The Doctor seems to come close to getting through to him, but he sends her to be tried, anyway.
Before the Doctor is dunked at her trial, she has a private conversation with Becka. It seems that Becka has her own secrets. There’s something wrong with her, and she’s doing her best to hide it as much as possible.
Graham, Ryan and Yasmin work out that the Doctor’s the subject of the latest trial, but a little too late: when they get there, Becka has already dunked the Doctor in the water. They beg James to order Becka to lift the Doctor from the water.
After a long, torturous moment, the king finally agrees. Becka lifts the chains and branches from the water…but to everyone’s surprise, the Doctor is no longer attached to either of them.
Coming up from the lake, the Doctor reveals she was easily able to escape (thanks in part to her time spent with Houdini). Becka still tries to throw suspicion on the Doctor, but then the corpses arrive. They’ve come for Becka. But not to kill her, as the TARDIS team initially thought. Instead, they want Becka to join them.
Becka’s confession
It’s finally revealed exactly what’s been going on: after cutting down an ancient tree on Pendle Hill because it had been blocking her view, Becka was infected by the alien mud. She tried everything she could to fight it, but it was no use.
So instead, Becka started throwing suspicion onto other villagers. Old Mother Twiston was targeted in particular because she knew Becka’s secret. After confessing that she’s been the “witch” all along, she’s possessed by the mud fully.
The Doctor learns exactly what the alien mud is – “Morax”. And, of course, it’s far from friendly. Not only is it part of an alien army that’s keen to invade the Earth, but it also wants to possess King James.
(Can we just acknowledge that we finally have a proper monster this season? No friendly aliens, but mud that possesses corpses. Let’s be honest, I think that’s something we’re all happy about.)
King James and Ryan form a close bond in this story. But how close?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Rescuing the king
After initially being knocked out, the Doctor and her friends discover that King James had been kidnapped. They plan to rescue him, but first, the Doctor discovers exactly why the Morax have awoken.
The tree that Becka had cut down had been part of a highly sophisticated security system that imprisoned the Morax. When she cut it down, she had damaged the lock, essentially freeing them.
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The Doctor uses parts of the tree as a way to fight off the Morax. Along with not just the rest of her team, but also Willa, who’s now keen to help out her new friends, the Doctor rescues King James. More than that – she reactivates the security system, and the Morax possessing the corpses are sent back into the mud.
However, the Morax possessing Becka refuses to leave. Which isn’t a problem for King James – as he yells, “Burn the witch!”, he touches the creature with his burning torch, which instantly destroys it. Unsurprisingly, the Doctor isn’t exactly happy.
Before the TARDIS crew leave, we learn that Willa plans to train in medicine and learn how to be a doctor herself. We also learn just how keen James was on Ryan, as he asks him to come back with him to London as his…protector. Ryan lets him down gently, though.
The Doctor and her friends then leave in the TARDIS, leaving King James absolutely amazed.
Next. Looking back on An Adventure in Space and Time. dark
What did you think of The Witchfinders? How did it compare to other episodes this series, particularly the historical ones? What did you make of Alan Cumming’s performance as King James? Let us know in the comments below.