Doctor Who: Malcolm Hulke – Political storytelling done right

We look at Malcolm Hulke’s extremely strong, often politically driven stories for Doctor Who. What made them stand out, and why do they still hold up decades later?

With Series 11 of Doctor Who, one thing that became very clear to see was how heavy politics were involved in many episodes. Particularly the historical episodes, such as Rosa or Demons of the Punjab.

Of course, we all know that political storytelling isn’t exactly new for Doctor Who. Steven Moffat certainly gave us his fair share of episodes with a strong political message during his era, and even Russell T Davies had stories with less than subtle messages. (But as the writer of the excellent Years and Years, that’s hardly surprising.)

However, the very best writer of political storytelling – at least within Doctor Who – has to be Malcolm Hulke. While his earliest stories for the series were for Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, it was during Jon Pertwee’s era that he gave us some of the very best politically driven stories of the show.

While the Silurians and the Sea Devils proved themselves to be a major threat, they were given the strong reason for simply wanting their planet back.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

More complex foes

A common theme of Hulke’s work was the idea of two different races or forces – one of which was usually human – that were at risk of fighting each other. And what made these stories interesting was how both sides were usually depicted as being highly sympathetic.

For example, Hulke’s first story for the Third Doctor, Doctor Who and the Silurians, explored the idea of a race that had ruled the Earth millions of years before humanity did. More importantly, The Silurians heavily focused on what happened when they suddenly returned, and how they saw humanity and vice versa.

The original story was brilliant because the idea was explored in-depth. The Silurians weren’t your typical invading force, but they weren’t exactly keen to share the planet with a bunch of apes, either.

There were also many human characters who made the situation worse. Some through the best of motives, like wanting to protect their own. Others less so, such as having a greed for knowledge. On the whole, this was an extremely complex story, one that lead to a brilliant and shocking ending.

The Draconians were an extremely well-realized race with a lot of depth.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

The Draconians and the Sea Devils

Another strong example is Frontier in Space. Again, this involves a very delicate situation, and the tension comes from two very different sides, neither of which is clearly evil, at risk of starting a war with one another. In this case, the Earth and the Draconian Empires.

The Draconians have to be one of the best realized races in Doctor Who history. Along with having a strong sense of honor, there was also a feeling of the Draconians having a rich history and culture. On top of that, the makeup job is probably one of the very best in the whole of the Classic Series.

What’s interesting about both this story and The Sea Devils – the sequel to The Silurians – is that both do feature a clear villain in the form of the Master. But, while Roger Delgado’s incarnation is still handled well, Hulke makes sure that fear and paranoia are the true enemies, for both major sides. This is especially true in Frontier, where the two empires overcoming their differences to fight a bigger threat is a key plot point in the story.

A consistently strong writer

More from Winter is Coming

• For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
• Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
• Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
• Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
• Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”

While the last story Hulke wrote, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, isn’t one of the most fondly remembered stories of Pertwee’s era, this is mainly due to the dinosaurs themselves. Unsurprisingly, the BBC couldn’t exactly make them look realistic on a tiny budget back in 1974.

Still, that doesn’t stop the story itself from being brilliant. There are strong messages of looking after the planet while we still can. At the same time, we also get a story of intrigue and conspiracies, especially when a major character makes a shocking betrayal. Along with The Time Warrior, it’s probably one of the strongest stories from Jon Pertwee’s final season.

Malcolm Hulke was an absolutely brilliant writer who knew how to explore rich and complex issues in Doctor Who. More importantly, he knew how to do this while still telling a strong story with rich and well-developed characters. We didn’t have a writer that could handle that balance so brilliantly before, and we haven’t really had one since.

Are you a fan of Malcolm Hulke’s stories? Do you think he was the best writer of political stories in Doctor Who? Do you think there’s anything New Series writers could learn from his work? Let us know in the comments below.