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Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric is one of the best of Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor adventures, a complex tale set around a naval installation on the North Yorkshire coast during WWII. The busy plot involves a Russian commando unit, a code-breaking computer, opening gambits in the Cold War, ancient Norse inscriptions concerning even more ancient evil, a new twist on vampirism, chess, global pollution, and a creature from the end of human history. Key to all this is the theme of faith and a time paradox centred on Ace (Sophie Aldred), which ultimately turns out to be the resolution to mysteries that have haunted the Doctor's companion all her life (they were first touched upon in 1987's Dragonfire, also written by Ian Briggs). The show was shot entirely on location and has above-average production values, generating tension and exciting set-pieces even when the plot threatens to get lost in its own tangles. Nicholas Parsons complements McCoy and Aldred by turning in a strong performance as a the local minister and the tale pays homage to such horrors as Plague of the Zombies (1966), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) and Prince of Darkness (1987) with aplomb. Sadly there would only be one more story, the disappointing Survival (1989), before the BBC put the Doctor into suspended animation. --Gary S. Dalkin
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