“MUNT MAD!”

It's the line in Doctor Who that everyone's having a laugh about at the moment, because last Monday, the 1972 story The Mutants, starring Jon Pertwee, was released on DVD for the first time. The story begins with a striking homage to Monty Python's Flying Circus, as an old man, dishevelled and dressed in rags, staggers through a misty wilderness, right up to the camera, at which point the entire audience expects him to look at us and announce: “It's ...” But he doesn't, unfortunately. Instead, the Marshal of the planet (Paul Whitsun-Jones) huffs and puffs into view, dressed in a fetching two-tone number that does nothing but accentuate his Weeble-like figure, and start shouting: “Mutt! Mutt!” After him come a couple of guards, Stubbs (Christopher Coll) and Cotton (Rick James), the latter of whom has the deathless line: “Mutt-mad, he is!” You see, the native population are mutating, and the Marshal wants to kill them all. But if the script hadn't changed at the behest of the Head of Serials, Ronnie Marsh, the line would have been: “Munt-mad, he is!” Imagine the chortlings around the country at that! And you don't have to imagine the chortlings on the DVD commentary, because they're there for all to hear, thanks to script editor Terrance Dicks' very funny telling of the story.

I can't really remember when I first saw The Mutants. I had a vague recollection that I might have glimpsed a Mutt's claw raised in the cave, but it was only ever shown once on telly, in Spring 1972, when I was three years old - possible, but … More likely I'm remembering Jeff Cummins' amazing cover of the book Doctor Who and the Mutants by Terrance Dicks, published by Target in 1977, and taking that as a memory of the series.  (That's my copy on the left, a 1984 reprint, distinguished by the white Target logo, fact-fans!)  It's a great image, and a superb painting, but I doubt now that I did see anything of the programme at the time. The memory cheats …

My first viewing of the whole story was a copy leant to me by my boss in the early 1990s, when all of Doctor Who was being shown on UK Gold. It was a second generation copy, and his satellite dish played up every now and then, so the picture wasn't as good as the DVD is now, but still, it was watchable. I didn't think much of the story at all though, particularly the unconvincing special effects, the drawn-out, over-politicised story, and the dreadful acting. I was really very critical in my early twenties, and that didn't even change when it was officially released by BBC Video in 2003, by which time I was in my early thirties. I don't think I even bought the video, because I just wasn't bothered about it.

The DVD has changed all this. The unofficial Restoration Team are gods amongst men, because the work they do to revive the pallid colours and muted sound is miraculous. The Mutants looks so much better than it ever did to me before, and perhaps better than it ever has, full stop. The sound is pin-sharp, giving a beautiful clarity to the dialogue, and as importantly the amazing music created by Tristram Cary, as well as Brian Hodgson's extraordinary sounds. Just on those recommendations alone, the DVD is essential viewing.

There's always more to it than the restoration work alone, of course. My kink is to watch the whole story through with the commentary first of all. Don't know why - that's just the way it is. The Mutants is blessed with no less than seven contributors, plus the laid-back moderation of Nicholas Pegg. Alternating and sharing the six episodes are actors Katy Manning and Garrick Hagon, writer Bob Baker, director Christopher Barry, designer Jeremy Bear, special sound maker Brian Hodgson, and script editor Terrance Dicks. They all add value, and have many fascinating things to say about the making of the programme. Some share stories that are already told elsewhere on the documentaries and production subtitles, but still, it's good to hear these things from the people who were there, as they remember it.

During episode three, Christopher Barry recalls that a book he owns, written by Mark Campbell, describes the acting in the story as 'dire'. Barry himself says he doesn't agree, and he's right not to, since Campbell's book, Pocket Essentials' Doctor Who, is merely opinionated guff dressed up as serious analysis, which any fan - literally, any fan - will offer unheeded at the drop of a hat - it's no more meaningful than that. And yes, I include this blog - it's just a way of getting things off of our collective chest.

Also in the episode three commentary, Christopher Barry and Terrance Dicks talk about black actors, specifically the notable Rick James - notable for the fact that he is not only the sole speaking black character in this story, but in the whole of Doctor Who's ninth season. Barry says he was on the side of the black actors and tried where possible to get them into Doctor Who, then qualifies himself by saying it was only one, and he actually uses the word 'token'. Dicks says Barry was 'progressive', but only compared to others.

This leads neatly on to the stand-out documentary on the disc, RACE AGAINST TIME, directed by Thomas Guerrier, about the appearance of black and other ethnic minority actors in Doctor Who, and on television in general. It's narrated by Noel Clarke, who can justifiably claim to be the series' first black companion, Mickey Smith, first appearing in the 2005 relaunch episode Rose, and then joining as a companion proper at the end of School Reunion (2006). He's now a pretty big name in British movie-making (Kidulthood, Adulthood, 4,3,2,1), sounds matter of fact in his delivery, but not disinterested, and it works because it avoids dominating the documentary with starry, actor-ish speech. He just delivers the lines as written and allows us to take what we want from it. It begs the question then why it's necessary to have a star name, but the publicity would do no harm.

Some really good points are made in the documentary. For example, there is a clear racism metaphor in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, in which two distinct Dalek factions are fighting each other for control of an ancient weapon. They hate each other because each believes the other faction to be impure. There is also a scene in which the companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) takes down a sign hanging in the window of the boarding house in which she's staying. It reads: NO COLOUREDS, and it shocks her, as well as us. Further, in part two, there is a lovely scene with John (Joseph Marcell), a night cafe worker, and the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) talking about the consequences of small actions, and a moving and thoughtful moment of quiet reflection in an action-packed adventure. Yet Marcell is the only black actor in the whole four episodes. There is much better representation in the following year's stories, but quite simply, the documentary shows that there was not enough throughout the series' original 26 years on television.

For for the 2005 revival, Clarke's Mickey Smith is an idiot in Rose, but he becomes a better person thanks to the Doctor's influence, or rather his enabling, from his next appearance in the same year, Aliens of London, since he bravely attacks the Slitheen to save Jackie (Camille Coduri), and uses his computer skills to help the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) in the next episode World War Three. By Boom Town (2005), he's much more confident, and it only improves from there on. Not only that, but there are many other prominent actors of colour throughout the next few years in great roles, so new Doctor Who does do it better.

Nevertheless, the documentary comes to the conclusion that the old series shouldn't necessarily be blamed for its poor showing. That's just how things were. We still had some great performances from such as Earl Cameron and Carmen Munroe, to name but two, to enjoy.

Doctor Who has a worse behind-the-scenes record, in that Waris Hussein, who directed the programme's first four episodes back in November 1963, is the only non-white director ever to have worked on the show - a dubious record he holds to this day - and of course there have been no black producers, script editors, writers even, though Noel Clarke has written for Torchwood.

The other notable item is an interview with costume designer James Acheson, who is now a multi-Oscar-winner and lives in New Zealand. He created such memorable designs as the Mutts themselves, the Zygons, and the Time Lord costumes for The Deadly Assassin (1976) which have become so iconic and lasted into the series revival. But none of that is the reason why this interview is so good. It's because Acheson is just so funny! Two or three times he tries to tell an amusing story about his time on the show, and he stops because he's laughing so much himself. It's hysterical, and very endearing, and I hope we hear from him on DVDs to come.