The Celestial Toyroom

Episode aired Apr 2, 1966
25m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

308

YOUR RATING

S3.E30

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Michael Gough and William Hartnell in Doctor Who (1963)

Adventure

Drama

Family

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the realms of the Celestial Toymaker, who forces them to play his deadly games.The Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the realms of the Celestial Toymaker, who forces them to play his deadly games.The Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the realms of the Celestial Toymaker, who forces them to play his deadly games.

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

308

YOUR RATING

Director
- Bill Sellars
Writers
- Brian Hayles(by)
- Gerry Davis(teleplay)
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
Stars

Top credits

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Trivia
Peter Stephens was originally going to play one of the characters from Gerald Savory's stage play "George and Margaret," but Savory withdrew permission for his characters to be used at the last moment, and Gerry Davis had to rewrite the script. In fact, it was Gerry who came up with the final edit, but BBC policy at the time forbade him to claim a co-writer's credit for the script.

Quotes
The Celestial Toymaker: I'm bored. I love to play games but there's no-one to play against. The beings who call here have no minds, and so they become my toys. But you will become my perpetual opponent. We shall play endless games together, your brain against mine.

Connections
Referenced in Talking About Regeneration (2009)

User reviews3

Review

Top review

7/10

It's a pretty good start.

The Doctor, Steven and Dodo land in the world of The Celestial Toymaker, a powerful being, and a dangerous one.

It feels like the beginning of the end for William Hartnell, he's still wonderful, but his health had taken a downward turn, partly why he's invisible for most of this.

It's very different, it ventures into the world of surrealism and fantasy, and would set the precedent for episodes like The Mind Robber and Night Terrors.

It's very difficult to review this story as a whole, as it does vary enormously in quality, this first episode though, is quite good.

Michael Gough is great here as The Toymaker, it's such a shame that Colin Baker's Doctor never went to Blackpool for The Nightmare Fair. You wouldn't know it was Carmen Silvera.

It's not a very talky episode, so the audio really does rely on a strong narration, otherwise it would have big gaps, I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

I think it's a good start, 7/10.

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