Synopsis
In 12th century Palestine, the Doctor and his friends are drawn into the holy war between the forces of King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin.
Doctor Who: The Crusade
Cast
William Hartnell Jacqueline Hill William Russell Maureen O'Brien Julian Glover Bernard Kay Roger Avon Walter Randall John Flint Bruce Wightman Reg Pritchard Tony Caunter David Anderson Derek Ware Valentino Musetti Chris Konyils Raymond Novak Jean Marsh Robert Lankesheer Zohra Segal Gábor Baraker George Little John Bay Petra Markham David Brewster Anthony Colby Sandra Hampton Viviane Sorrél Diane McKenzie Show All…
Director
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Lighting
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Production Design
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Costume Design
Makeup
Releases by Date
TV
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UK
Releases by Country
UK
17 Apr 1965
- TV
Popular reviews
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Watched on Dailymotion on 10th June 2023 as part of Hartnellthon, a marathon of early-to-mid 1960s Doctor Who
2011 Loose Cannon Reconstruction (LC33)
In comparison to The Romans, this is a throwback to the previous type of historical with a more prestigious tone where the Doctor and co are thrown into important historical events and have to work their way out of it. It’s light on plot to be sure - though I loved how nuanced Whittaker’s depiction is in portraying both Richard and Saladin’s groups as honourable and flawed instead of a clear ‘good guy/bad guy’ simplicity and the dialogue is undeniably rich - but it’s mostly held up by two very important aspects; firstly…
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"The Crusade has perhaps Doctor Who's first truly stellar cast; Julian Glover and Jean Marsh would be impressive signings for the show today (and both would return), while Tutte Lemkow has a ball as the bandit Ibrahim. Bernard Kay is also impressive as Saladin, although the neutrality that The Crusade is often praised for only really extends as far as the two leaders. Once the TARDIS crew are split up, there's no question about which side of the conflict exhibits the most sadism; the Doctor and Vicki are accused of treason by the English, while on the Saracen side Barbara is threatened with yet more rape and Ian is tied up in the desert to be eaten alive by ants.…
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Loose Cannon Reconstruction
I’m gonna choose to believe that the characters are actually wearing blackface in-universe. It’s a pretty dull serial overall with some nice moments and a whole lotta racism - mostly it’s boring
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The Doctor straight-up steals fabrics from a street merchant and doesn’t suffer any consequences! Now that’s an OG.
The story is partially missing, but thanks to the Lost in Time boxset and Loose Cannon’s reconstructions, I got to enjoy this little fun historical drama. Bless BBC Video and Loose Cannon for their efforts.
Decent story, but the unintentional racism and brown face isn’t charming. However, the Muslim characters are portrayed with compassion and humanity and the Crusaders are shown as childish and mentally unbalanced. It’s definitely a nice nuance that solidifies Doctor Who’s unique position in the history of science fiction.
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What is all this? Who is he? How did he attack you? Why did he attack you?
I don’t know. I didn’t stop to ask him.The Crusade may only have 2 surviving episodes (with The Lion in the worst shape) but it’s sense of scale in a studio space is to be applauded, with fantastic supporting actors and a wonderful lead performance from Hartnell. The Crusade is rather light on its story but fantastic in terms of its atmosphere.
Gently, my boy, gently.
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hovering on three stars for me because there are bits i like and i think the doctor's on good form, but the thing i really struggle to get past is its depiction of the crusades. other people have probably written about it far more intelligently than me but among other things i find it difficult to lean into the amount of sympathy or at least interest the story expects me to have for the english and particularly richard. he invaded a foreign land for the express purpose of conquest but it's alright because he wants peace now! even his argument with joanna falls short because her reason for not wanting to be forced into marriage is that she doesn't want…
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A very good historical story from the Hartnell era, The set and costume design was brilliant as you felt like you were in the 12th Century and the performances were spot on especially Hartnell's.
The only downside was on the Lost in Time dvd set episodes 2 and 4 were audio only with no telesnaps which made the story a bit difficult to follow hence the 4/5 star rating.
Overall very good!!!
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Back at it again with the missing serial episodes (this time it’s episodes 2 and 4 apparently :P). This time it’s about the Third Crusade.
The dialogue and King Richard are seemingly well done in this from review which is ironic if you remember how the patterns are just “History, Sci-Fi, and repeat”. Maybe the history episodes are hits while some Sci-Fi are both hit or miss. Though for the Crusade, it did kinda felt, even with the missing parts, felt like nothing happened too much.I tell you, Barbara really needs some supervision from being taken. 🧍♂️
Overall: It’s okay, not much else to say. 🤷♂️. 6/10. -
Some great performances from the guest cast and a focus on political intrigue largely make up for a plodding plot and some uninteresting detours. It's amazing how 12th century Palestine is made up of three rooms and an English forest.