A Tribute to Kate O'Mara (The Rani Tales)

On 30th March this year legendary actress Kate O'Mara passed away in Sussex after a short battle with cancer. She was 74. A stalwart of British acting and a firm favourite she appeared in everything from 'The Saint' to 'The Brothers' and achieved lead roles in classic series such as the BBC's ill fated 'Triangle' to the hugely successful 'Dynasty' filmed primarily in Los Angeles, her career was varied and extensive. For me though I always associate O'Mara with her two appearances in 1980's Doctor Who, the Colin Baker story 'The Mark of the Rani' in 1985 and Sylvester McCoy's debut 'Time and the Rani' broadcast on BBC One in September 1987 in which she played the evil Timelord 'The Rani' a character created by regular mid 80's Who writers, husband and wife team Pip & Jane Baker. Hardly regarded as a high point in the series' history I nevertheless have a great fondness for both stories, the positive greatly outweighing the negative in my view, although I'm sure the 80's Doctor Who haters who gleefully pick apart stories from the period with biol and vitriol on internet forums across the world (even today) will disagree with me. This however is my honest and I hope objective review of the appearances O'Mara made in Doctor Who written from the perspective of a great fan of the classic series of the show who has seen every existing episode of the programme. I'll also be touching on the DVD releases of these two stories, released in 2006 and 2010 respectively, featuring a hoard of special features and points of interest in regards to this review. 

Note: This review is mostly commenting on behind the scenes trivia and production details, not plot details or synopses.

Colin Baker as the Doctor with Anthony Ainley as the Master and Kate O'Mara as the Rani

THE MARK OF THE RANI

This story has two 45 minute episodes, as was the format for this experimental season breaking away from the shows original 25 minute episode format that had been the norm since the show first aired on 23rd November 1963. This story follows 'Vengeance on Varos' a classic of the Colin Baker era and is part of his first full season as the Doctor. His companion Peri (played by Nicola Bryant) had been with the series since 'Planet of Fire' the penultimate Peter Davison story aired the year before. The story has a wonderful start, developing the Victorian setting (filmed primarily at Blists Hill Victorian Park in Madeley, Shropshire) with some excellent accompanying music from Jonathan Gibbs. 

John Lewis (friend of ex Radiophonic Workshop musician and the originator of the TARDIS sound Brian Hodgson) was originally hired to score this story but he sadly died of AIDS after completing a score for Part One. His work was ultimately dropped in favour of the continuity of having Jonathan Gibbs write a score for both episodes. The location work orchestrated by director Sarah Hellings is overall very impressive. A newcomer who would later direct episodes of 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes' (previously reviewed on this blog) amongst other celebrated series for Granada she had previously filmed at the location for an outside broadcast feature on 'Blue Peter' as confirmed in the DVD extras. She directs the story with considerable flair which sets it apart from some of the more banal direction of this season of Who (the 22nd season). The Doctor and Peri’s cantankerous relationship is beginning to soften at this point of the series which is a relief, but there a still a few unnecessary moments of argument between them!

The Mark of the Rani demonstrates a consistent certainty with many BBC productions, namely give the Beeb a period drama and they will nail it! Aside from the fact that the Master’s tissue compression eliminator looks like a black dildo and that this was probably Anthony Ainley’s least favourite Master story, his rapport with Kate O’Mara as the Rani and the balance of contempt but also respect they have for each other is both entertaining and effective. The Master fears the scheming nature of the Rani and this caution and frailty is interesting when we consider the Master’s previous portrayals. As Pip & Jane Baker explain in the excellent accompanying documentary 'Lords and Luddites' the Master and the Rani are distinctly different, as the former is immoral and the latter amoral. At this stage of the series Anthony Ainley had been starring as the Master for four years and would return to the series in the following season and then again for the final broadcast classic Doctor Who story 'Survival' in 1989. This is the Rani's debut story and Kate O'Mara's first appearance both in the series and as this character. She had originally been asked to appear as Miss Dawson in the early Jon Pertwee story 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' but she was unavailable and the role ultimately went to Thomasine Heiner. Her role as the Rani is fondly remembered in what would become Doctor Who's most troubled period. During the transmission of the following story 'The Two Doctors' featuring the return of Patrick Troughton as the Doctor it was announced that the series was to be 'rested' for 18 months. The official reason for this was that the BBC needed more money for new programming, such as a soap opera called 'Eastenders'. I wonder happened to that? Of course, as is well known by the Doctor Who fan base the new BBC One Controller Michael Grade and new Head of Serials Jonathan Powell had no liking for the programme, despite its success. They had originally planned to axe the programme, but due to public outcry this was changed to a mere hiatus. 

Colin Baker as the Doctor with Peri as played by Nicola Bryant 

Getting back to the story, one of my problems with it is the cliffhanger to Part One and reprise in Part Two. This is the only example in the shows history of what I will term a 'cheat cliffhanger' in that what we see at the end of Part One differs from what happens in the reprise. However I can forgive this in part due to the excellent visuals achieved from a mixture of tracking shots, close ups and and minicam work from Hellings. The dialogue and the story by Pip & Jane Baker is not bad at all and of the three stories they wrote ('Terror of the Vervoids', 'Time and the Rani' and also 'The Ultimate Foe Part 2') it's probably the strongest. One criticism of their writing though would be the limited part they write for Peri, the Doctor seemingly spends a lot of time telling Peri to go away and keep out of danger. From a design point of view the Rani’s Tardis (although overlit, like most of the studio sets) is really quite good. The Tyrannosaurus Rex embryo’s aren't too bad in long shot but the full ‘growing’ version looks rubbery and lifeless and lets down the production a tad towards the end as do the slightly wobbly fake trees, the by-product of one of the Rani's traps at Redfern Dell. 

In regards to the 2006 DVD release the special features represent a time when the Restoration Team and 2 Entertain were at their peak (unlike the last few releases which were transparently affected by a considerable budget cut), a full 45 minute documentary called Lords and Luddites, a Now and Then location film, deleted scenes, a look into the music produced for the story, a chance to hear John Lewis’s score for the first episode and Saturday Superstore and the Blue Peter feature Sarah Hellings directed in the late 1970's which influenced her location choices for this story. As with all of the Who DVD releases a commentary (featuring Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kate O'Mara) is included. 

At the 2006 commentary track recording for the story. From left to right Nicola Bryant, Colin Baker and Kate O'Mara

TIME AND THE RANI

This story is the first to feature Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and the last featuring Kate O'Mara as the Rani. Colin Baker had been dismissed by Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell from the role of the Doctor following the 14 part story 'The Trial of a Timelord' broadcast from September - December 1986. The programme's schedule was also changed as it was put up against Coronation Street on Tuesday evenings (in another blatant attempt to kill the show). It would continue however for another two years with McCoy at the helm. 

This story is one of four to feature a pre title sequence (in this story it is the Doctor's regeneration) the others being Peter Davison's debut story 'Castrovalva' in 1982, the 20th Anniversary story 'The Five Doctors' and the Season 25 opener 'Remembrance of the Daleks' broadcast a year after this. This story like 'The Mark of the Rani' has the benefit of some good location work at three quarries in Frome, Somerset and some exciting direction from former Blake's 7 director Andrew Morgan (his first story for the series, his last would be the following season's 'Remembrance of the Daleks'). The Lakertyan make-up is very effective, as is the design of the Rani's bat like slaves the Tetraps and some excellent special and video effects (achieved by Colin Mapson, Mike Tucker and Dave Chapman) make the episode rather stylish for Doctor Who standards, marking the first time the series used CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). 

The Rani (Kate O'Mara) with a Tetrap

Kate O’Mara is on top form here, clearly relishing the opportunity to have a story to herself and be the Doctor's only enemy for this story. This story also marks the debut of a new title sequence and theme tune for the new Doctor, the latter being arranged by Keff McCulloch who also provides some sparky incidental music which helps what is otherwise a rather ridiculous regeneration sequence, the reasons for the Doctor's regeneration being somewhat confused, compounded by Colin Baker not being present for the changeover, forcing McCoy to wear his ill fitting costume and a curly blond wig! Less than 15 minutes in Sylvester McCoy plays the spoons, a talent the actor had that had been recognised by producer John Nathan-Turner who wanted it included in this story and also highlighting his initially comedic portrayal of the role which would get much darker as his tenure progressed. 

Kate O'Mara doing her Mel impression with Bonnie Langford as Mel and Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor

Much of this story requires The Rani to pretend to be the Doctor's companion Mel (as played by Bonnie Langford) which is totally ridiculous but O’Mara’s engaging performance makes it bearable and actually very well observed and funny. The line “You don’t understand Regeneration Mel, it’s a lottery and I’ve drawn a short plank’ sums up the difficult regeneration the Doctor has in this story, hence his initial confusion to who Mel is and who the Rani is!  McCoy picking his new costume in the TARDIS is not unlike Tom Baker’s opening story ‘Robot’ and he notably tries on both Tom Baker's final costume (designed by June Hudson for Season 18) and Peter Davison's Doctor costume. The cliffhanger to Part One is very effective with a real sense of peril, the Rani’s traps wonderfully realised on screen, much better than they had been in ‘The Mark of the Rani’. The gun carried by the Ikona complete with glitter effect is a bit silly however! Mel as a companion is better than everyone says but her screaming is a very annoying in this story, she seems to have digressed from her character development in 'The Trial of a Timelord' stories 'Terror of the Vervoids' and 'The Ultimate Foe' where she is gutsy in the face of the Doctor's adversaries. The lighting in this story is a mixture of overlit and soft but it works well in this rather flamboyant production. Aside from my misgivings about Langford's performance in this story, the background of Mel as a computer expert is nicely used in ‘Time and the Rani’ unlike any other story, she has worth and the Rani recognises it! 

The Rani is deliciously evil, her costume in particular is better here than in the previous story in which she featured. Costume Designer Ken Trew (who died on January 11th this year) worked on this story, and he has the notable distinction of designing the Master's first costume in the series, for the 1971 story 'Terror of the Autons' the character then being played by Roger Delgado, and the final costume for 1989's 'Survival' the role then being helmed by Anthony Ainley. This blog post is also dedicated to him and the wonderful work he did for the series. A bit of trivia worth noting is that the title sequence is different in Part 4 when darker version of Sylvester McCoy’s winking face was used by mistake. This had originally been a test sequence of the titles that were dropped by producer John Nathan-Turner who feared that they were not distinctive enough, meaning that the image of McCoy's face was brightened for the final version. This mistake was corrected for the video release of this story in 1995, but the Restoration Team (thankfully) have restored this error for the DVD version remaining true to the original version.

Whilst it is true that the production fails in some respects (notably director Andrew Morgan was very unhappy with it) overall 'Time of the Rani' is an unfairly maligned story that overcomes many of its initial challenges from a time when the Beeb well and truly wanted Doctor Who dead (it is important to note that this series was thrown together in about half the time as would of been the norm). 'Time and the Rani' is great fun and a nice break from the overbearing, overlong elements of the previous story ‘The Trial of a Timelord’ and its main highlight is Kate O'Mara's superb performance as the Rani, only second to the Master as a classic foe of the Doctor's. Again the 2010 DVD release is superb, the picture clarity is excellent and there are a hoard of special features and a commentary from Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford and writers Pip & Jane Baker with Kate O'Mara featuring in three of the special features 'The Last Chance Saloon' a documentary focussing on the shows troubled times during the making of the story, a small feature called 'Hot Gossip' in which O'Mara discusses her long term friendship with co-stars Wanda Ventham and Donald Pickering who feature in 'Time and the Rani' and the onset shenanigans that occurred on set and a 1987 Somerset news feature looking at the filming of the story on location.

Sadly, although O'Mara was keen to reprise the role of the Rani in an episode of the grossly overrated new series she never had the chance before her untimely death. Her personal life was sadly full of tragedy and the death of her son less than two years ago cannot of helped her own fragile health (she had been poorly since 2012) and it is perhaps unfortunate that this supremely talented film, television and theatre actress is most remembered for her short lived starring role in 'Dynasty' and the BBC's lamentable 'Triangle' series. She was much loved by her colleagues for being a warm, gregarious and funny person who was devoted first and fore-mostly to the theatre and of course to her legions of fans. The hundreds of tributes to O'Mara from people in the industry is a testament to that. Her output was so prolific that I look forward to coming across more performances from O'Mara as I look through my vintage film and television collection and add to it! A wonderful character actress, performer and by all accounts person, O'Mara will be sorely missed and I regret the fact that of the many actors I have met O'Mara was not one of them. This blog post is dedicated to her. 

Kate O'Mara in 2013 

NOTE: All production stills and photographs used in this review are copyrighted to the BBC and 2Entertain. The next review will be on the much loved ATV series 'Timeslip'. 

Star Maidens (Battle of the Sexes in Space!)

Star Maidens is a curio amongst the crowded halls of science fiction television. An Anglo-German production featuring a mixture of both English and German actors, Star Maidens was produced by Portman Productions and distributed by German and Scottish companies. Filmed at Bray Studios (famous for being the original home of Hammer Horror) in Berkshire, the show was made by a number of personnel who had been involved with 'Space: 1999' the big budget science fiction drama that premièred in September 1975, most notably special effects designer Brian Johnson who worked in the same capacity on 'Space: 1999' who, here creates a similar look and tone, just on a massively reduced budget. Gareth Thomas who would later appear in the excellent 'Children of the Stones' and play the lead character Roj Blake in 'Blake's 7' plays Shem the reluctant male escapee from Medusa in this programme, with Derek Farr playing Professor Evans (he would later guest appear in 'Blake's 7). Two of the show's female leads Judy Geeson (Fulvia) and Lisa Harrow (Liz Becker) had also guest starred in 'Space: 1999' before they appeared in Star Maidens.

Adam and Shem, the two male domestics wishing to escape the constraints of Medusa, as played by Pierre Brice and Gareth Thomas

Star Maidens links with other classic science fiction series makes it of great interest. Created and often written by Eric Paice (who had previously written for 'The Avengers') the show is a sex comedy which follows the exploits of two male domestics Adam (played by French actor Pierre Brice) and Shem as they escape from the dominant rule of their home planet Medusa by women. The programme explores the theme of role reversal in great depth, the initial episodes setting up the story of Adam and Shem as they arrive on earth after stealing a Medusan spacecraft, the later episodes dealing with the predicament of Rudi Schmidt (Christian Quadflieg) and Liz Becker (two scientists from earth) as they are taken hostage and live out their lives in the peculiar society of Medusa.

Judy Geeson and Lisa Harrow with a Medusan robot 

This thirteen episode mini series, each episode running to 25 minutes in length is often a little light on story, the second episode 'Nemesis' is essentially a run-around as the earth's police force fail to catch Adam and Shem and notably features the hilarious line "There are two funny men stealing our apples" as Adam and Shem raid a local farm for food, but the whole thing has a certain charm and is overall very enjoyable.

The late Dawn Addams and German actress Christiane Kruger also had key roles in the series

 
Despite the low budget, the production values aren't too bad, the Medusa set for example is quite expansive and visually interesting and there is plenty of earthbound location footage (all shot in Berkshire). The Medusan women (and many of the men) are gorgeous and Judy Geeson is excellent as Fulvia (long before Inseminoid!) but the curious blond streaks in the male domestics hair takes some getting used to, particularly if your used to seeing Gareth Thomas (a particular victim of the hair dye) in his Roj Blake persona. It's a pity that the series was shot on cheap 16mm colour film as the results are a bit jumpy when viewed today, but this series all in all is very good fun. Sit back, relax and don't take it too seriously, this is well worth purchasing on DVD!

The sizeable main set of the planet Medusa built at Bray Studios for the series

NOTE: All production stills and photographs used in this review are copyrighted to Portman Productions Delta Entertainment and ITV. The first seven of my Screenprick reviews are edited and embellished versions of reviews I have previously published on IMDb (Internet Movie Database) under the account name 'The Valeyard'. Reviews Seven and Nine will be brand new reviews posted on this blog first! The next review will be a tribute to the late actress Kate O'Mara who died on 30th March. I will be reviewing the two Doctor Who stories she appeared in 'The Mark of the Rani' and 'Time and the Rani'.