Enlightenment is the fifth serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 March 1983. It was the 127th serial of the series, and was written by Barbara Clegg and directed by Fiona Cumming, making it the first serial to be both written and directed by women.
In the serial, the alien time traveller the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and his companions Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson) encounter a group of god-like immortals who are racing historical sailing vessels from Earth through space, crewed by humans they had plucked out of time, in an attempt to win the prize of enlightenment. Turlough is under the control of the Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall), but struggles with the Guardian's orders to kill the Doctor. Enlightenment is the third of three loosely connected serials where the Black Guardian attempts to compel Turlough to kill the Doctor.
The serial's production was beset by problems caused by industrial action taken by electricians at the BBC during filming. It was eventually finished three months behind schedule, but the unavailability of several actors for new filming dates forced the production team to recast their parts at short notice. Enlightenment averaged 6.8 million viewers per episode on its first transmission and received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot Following interference from both the White and Black Guardians, the Fifth Doctor materialises the TARDIS in what appears to be the hold of an Edwardian yacht. The human crew have no idea how they got there, but know they are taking part in a race. The Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Turlough, discover that the yacht and several other historical Earth ships are competing in a solar sail race through the Solar System. The ship's officers reveal themselves to be "Eternals," in contrast to the Doctor and the humans, whom they somewhat dismissively call "Ephemerals". This race is being held by the Guardians and the prize is Enlightenment, the wisdom to know everything. The Doctor finds that the Eternals have made his TARDIS vanish, forcing him and his companions to stay until the race's conclusion.
As the race continues, several of the vessels are destroyed by explosions. The Doctor suspects the crew aboard the Buccaneer, a 17th-century pirate ship. Turlough, while attempting to escape control of the Black Guardian, ends up aboard the Buccaneer, and meets the Eternal Captain Wrack. He professes his desire to join her crew and learns she too is working for the Black Guardian. He finds the device destroying the other ships and hears the Black Guardian's voice nearby. Wrack offers the Edwardian officers a reception aboard her ship. During the reception, Turlough demonstrates the Wrack's equipment to the Doctor, while Wrack hypnotizes Tegan and implants a red crystal in the tiara Tegan is wearing. After the reception and continuation of the race, the Doctor sees the Buccaneer nearing the Edwardian ship, determines that the red crystal is used as a focal point of the weapon, and gets rid of the tiara before Wrack can destroy the ship.
Nearing the end of the race, the solar winds dissipate and the Buccaneer pulls ahead of the Edwardian ship. Not wishing to see Wrack win, the Eternals return the TARDIS to the Doctor, allowing him to travel to the Buccaneer. However, he is captured, and Wrack's first mate suggests that the Doctor be thrown overboard. From the Edwardian ship, Tegan and the others watch as two bodies are ejected from the Buccaneer just before it crosses the finish line.
The ships and their human crews are returned to Earth and the Guardians dismiss the other Eternals. It is revealed that the Doctor won the race, with Wrack and her first mate having suffered "an unfortunate accident". The Doctor refuses the prize, but as Turlough helped the Doctor, he is entitled to a portion of the prize. The Black Guardian reminds Turlough of their bargain, and says that he can give up the diamond, or sacrifice the Doctor to gain both Enlightenment and the TARDIS. Turlough hurls the diamond at the Black Guardian, who vanishes in screams and flames. The Doctor points out that Enlightenment was not the diamond, but the choice itself.
Production
Conception and writing After penning a number of radio and TV scripts, including episodes of Crossroads and Waggoner's Walk, Barbara Clegg submitted a story idea to Doctor Who script editor Eric Saward, an acquaintance from the BBC drama department. Interested in writing for the series, Clegg had been inspired when distant relatives had stayed with her and demanded constant entertainment during their visit, basing the character of the Eternals upon them. Clegg additionally drew inspiration from the Bible's Book of Genesis, deriving the prize of enlightenment from The Tree of Knowledge. Having read about solar winds, she decided to use them as the basis of propulsion for space vessels. Initially titled The Enlighteners, her submission involved ships racing through space that, with the addition of the Black Guardian sub-plot, eventually evolved into the story as screened. Saward and series producer John Nathan-Turner liked Clegg's ideas, and they commissioned the script in September 1981. The first episode was delivered by Clegg in October and the three following episodes were commissioned in January 1982. Parts 2 and 3 were delivered the following month and the final part in March.
To commemorate the show's anniversary, every story during Season 20 included the return of an enemy from the Doctor's past. The serial was now scheduled to conclude a three-story trilogy featuring the Black Guardian, and Clegg duly wrote the recurring characters into her scripts. The character was last encountered by the Fourth Doctor at the conclusion of The Key to Time saga in the 1979 serial The Armageddon Factor. The story also saw the return of the White Guardian, who had also not been seen since 1979. By Spring 1982 there were problems with a script by Pat Mills, The Song of the Space Whale, which had been intended to open the Black Guardian trilogy. Mills' script was eventually dropped and the production team considered moving The Enlighteners forward in the season to replace it, necessitating considerable re-writes. Peter Grimwade was eventually commissioned to write Mawdryn Undead to replace The Song of the Space Whale, and The Enlighteners was confirmed as the fifth serial of the season.
The first draft of Part One did not contain any of the material concerning the Guardians, and Turlough was a peripheral figure, with the script focussing on the relationship between Marriner and Tegan. With pre-production underway, Saward changed the story title to Enlightenment in September 1982, a title he felt was more enigmatic. Saward also rewrote portions of the script pertaining to the story-arc, particularly the final confrontation scenes at the end of Part Four. Peter Moffatt had been originally scheduled as the serial's director, but following the problems with the Space Whale script he was asked to helm its replacement due to his experience, and so Fiona Cumming was asked to take over Enlightenment.
Once production began it became apparent that Part One and Part Two were under-running so more dialogue was written to fill in the time. It was originally intended that the character of Jackson would not reappear after the second episode, but during filming Saward became concerned that it appeared that he had been executed and so he and Clegg rewrote Part Three to include him. Part Three also looked to be under running so scenes from Part Four were brought forward and the final scenes with the Guardians were extended to compensate.
Casting Cumming came up with the idea that the Eternals would not blink and cast actors who she believed could provide detached performances. Cumming recalled Peter Sallis had played a similarly detached character in the 1974 BBC drama The Pallisers, and she cast him in the role of Striker. Sallis was present during the rehearsals for the serial but when production was delayed he was unavailable for the new filming dates, being committed to filming Last of the Summer Wine, and was forced to drop out of the production, being replaced by Keith Barron. Lynda Baron was cast as Captain Wrack, having previously participated in Doctor Who in the 1966 serial The Gunfighters as the voice that sings the "Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" heard throughout that story. Tony Caunter, who had previously played Thatcher in The Crusade and Morgan in Colony in Space, was given the role of Jackson, with Christopher Brown and David Rhule being cast as Marriner and Wrack's sidekick Mansell respectively. Similarly to Sallis, David Rhule was unavailable for the revised filming dates in January, so singer Leee John replaced him at short notice, despite having no previous acting experience.
Valentine Dyall had originally played the Black Guardian in the 1979 serial The Armageddon Factor, the character's first appearance in the series, and reprised the role for season 20, appearing in Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment. Similarly, Cyril Luckham reprised the role of the White Guardian that he had previously played in the 1979 serial The Ribos Operation.
Design The interior sets of the boats were not built specifically for the programme, but were pulled together from stock items from various prop warehouses. Cumming had originally hoped to simulate the rocking of the ships by mounting the sets on rollers but the idea was dropped due to costs, with the effect achieved by moving the cameras instead. The photo of Tegan's Aunt Vanessa, one of the items created by Marriner from the contents of her mind, was shot specifically for the filming, requiring Dolore Whiteman (who had played the character in Logopolis) to be contracted for a one-day photoshoot. The models of the boats, used in the racing sequences, were props sourced by visual effects designer Mike Kelt following extensive research at the National Maritime Museum. The ships were mounted on rods for filming, while the oars were battery operated. The model of Davey's ship remained intact, with its explosion being a filmed effect that was edited into the sequence. Kelt was shocked by the dilapidated state of the TARDIS console prop, and was worried about damaging it while filming the explosion from Part One, and asked producer John Nathan-Turner if he could replace it but was told there was no money available.
The anachronistic wetsuits on the Edwardian ship were actually heavy-duty overalls that had been painted black. Janet Fielding struggled with the low-cut ball gown she wore during filming as it threatened to expose her breasts on a number of occasions. The ball gown worn by Baron was made especially for the serial and was the most expensive costume on display. The newspaper found by the Doctor in Part One was a reprint of The Times from September 1901, while the food and drink served during the party scenes was all real.
Filming