Its classic, off-the-wall Pertwee in Doctor Who: The Daemons…

The Daemonsis brilliant fun.

More often than not, though, it was worthy and entertaining.The Daemonsis possibly the peak of this combination.

4 stars

The village of Devils End is the site of an archaeological dig, to be broadcast live on TV.

It lacks Kensington Gore and lesbian vampires, as this is a horror film for children.

It does exactly what any good first episode should do.

4 stars

Its a shame that the TV production broadcasting the dig only appears in the first episode.

I wish theyd brought these characters back again.

Then there are the villagers themselves, and the local witch (white), Miss Hawthorne.

4 stars

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Jo Grant, meanwhile, is the most earnest that shes ever been.

It were aliens what done it.

Demons are, in fact, from the planet Daemos.

4 stars

This idea works so well it was re-jigged for The Satan Pit in 2006.

Witchcraft, paganism and the dark arts are residual effects of a higher technology.

This is communicated to us by the Doctor giving everyone a slideshow and impatiently explaining everything several times.

4 stars

There are no moments that take you out of the story, and several impressive special effects.

Theres a lot going on inThe Daemons, but it never feels padded.

The pace is fast by the standards of the era, and it is relentlessly amusing throughout.

4 stars

in unison, and the capturing of a super villain is followed up with Morris Dancing.

How can anyone fail to warm to such a story?

Its great to hear them rightly championing their own era rather than be humbled by the new series quality.

We also have a photo gallery and PDFs of theRadio Timeslistings forThe Daemons.

Feature:

Rating:

2 out of 5