Ask Joe or Jill Public what they remember about Doctor Who and it is unlikely that that their first answer will be that it was the hilarious dialouge. Doctor Who is first and foremost the programme that put the nation's children 'behind the sofa'. Yet one of the formula's great strengths has been its good humour. It is the comedy part that brings colour to the regular characters and is often what establishes them. Would Sarah Jane be so popular without her humorous exchanges with the Doctor and others? Could the Brigadier have become more than just another officer if he hadn't been the butt of so many of the Doctor's quips? Would the programme have lasted twenty-nine years if the Doctor had been permanently moody and serious. It is our sense of humour that distinguishes us from other mammals and in the same way it adds dimension to many fictional characters. Comedy also extends the variety of the programme, enabling it to tackle subjects and stories that would be awkward to tell well in an action/horror style. The much vaunted flexibility of the formula has enabled a wide variety of humour to be experimented with, though with variable success. Farcical shenanigans in ancient Rome, broad satire on Pluto, witty by-play in Paris, black comedy on Varos and even camp excess at Shangri-La. Trying to explain why the comedy in Doctor Who works is just as hard as explaining a joke to someone who doesn't get it. Humour is such a personal affair.
On a practical front, Doctor Who has been fortunate to have had so many actors and actresses with good comedy ability. Certainly all seven Doctors have had there comic moments and most of the assistants have benefitted from at least a couple of good lines.
A lot of the comedy in the programme comes from its Britishness. We practically have a copyright on eccentricity and the Doctor is one of the ultimate eccentrics. His peculiar behaviour in the face of monsters and officials alike is sure fire comedy. With it he can puncture pomposity and arrogance, for example his remark to Dask, ."I suppose you're going to be one of those boring maniacs who needs to gloat! You're going to tell me your plans to rule the universe!". However most of the time his actions are not deliberately funny, they just seem that way to the viewer. When he meets a monster or a villain he is usually calm and courteous even if the other person strikes or threatens him, where as any reasonable person would be more aggressive. This frequently leads to comedy as the other character is confused by his attitude. This deadpan kind of humour, where characters casually say and do odd things, is perfect for fantasy and appears in entries as diverse as The Addams Family to Terminator 2. Doctor Who nearly always carries it off successfully. A typical example is the Doctor's first meeting with Erato. His attempts to communicate by pressing his head against the green blob, then blowing down one of its psuedopods are amusing for the viewer but to him they are a perfectly reasonable way of introducing himself. The humour of the Doctor's behaviour is increased further by the observations of his companions. Most have commented on him at some time with line like Romana's, ."Doctor, sometimes I don't think you're quite right in the head!". The Doctor is not always unreadable though. Sometimes his reactions can be human and still entertaining. He can be embarrassed such as when he becomes accidentally engaged to Cameca and he frequently looks sheepish as the TARDIS which he frequently claims is wonderful, delivers him to the wrong place. It is both funny and comforting that even a wise and knowledgeable Time Lord can make mistakes.
Incidentally, another advantage of being a British programme is that by and large it avoids the meaningful speech at the end of the story, a blight which has ruined many a good US series, but that's really a debate for another time.
In real life people make jokes, often as a comfort in difficult situations and it looks very odd in a play when everyone is po-faced and serious all the time. By giving the Doctor and other characters deliberate funny lines it demonstrates another side of their character and often helps their believability. A favourite of mine comes when the Doctor and Sarah are being entertained by the evil Harrison Chase, ."Doctor we have to get out here!", "You're right, the music's terrible!".. . Griffith's mimicry of the Cybermen during 'Attack', ."Getting-a bit-rough-is-it?"., is both funny but at the same time very understandable; he is completely out of his depth and his mouth is working unthinkingly. However a lot of the comedy in Doctor Who comes not from people making jokes but simply from dialogue which is unintentionally humorous. When Sarah Jane launches into a diatribe about the miseries of a companion's life she is pretty serious but the scene is quite funny because of the way she describes it.
Because the programme is allowed to flirt with comedy; many superb supporting characters have been written for the series; people who are certainly amusing but at the same time believable. Henry Gordon Jago is definitely larger than life but that's what is expected of an impresario. He has many classic comedic traits, he is cowardly, boastful, conniving and unreliable. This leads to some wonderful moments like his advice to Casey, ."Have you been drinking? Well it's time you started!". or where he approaches the Doctor on his hands and knees because he is attempting to be inconspicuous. The comedy works because it is believable that such a person would behave like that. In 'The Web of Fear', Professor Travers is raised from just being a sympathetic scientist by his marvellous blustery manner. The way he stamps about the military base complaining and not listening is great fun. His reaction when reporter Harold Chorley tells him he's from London Television, "Are you an actor or something?". is wonderfully timed. Miss Hawthorne, with her picturesque speech and self-appointed role as White Witch is a comedy natural. She comes from a distinguished line of brisk, female eccentrics from British plays and films; usually portrayed by Margaret Rutherford and Joyce Grenfield. Captain Cook from 'Greatest Show' was certainly villainous but he had a pathetic quality in his droning monologues that made him an amusing character. He also works because we've all met would be cosmopolitans who tell us they've been there and seen it all, the Captain is a perfect caricature of them.
It is a cliché‚ that the British can laugh at themselves but only because there's a lot of truth in it. Though it is a long way from parody, the programme has always had an appreciation of its own bizarreness. Some of its funniest lines have been those that have poked fun at the Doctor Who formula. During a brief pause in the action of 'The Pirate Planet' someone asks the Doctor, ."Is this what you do most of the time?". to which he replies casually, ."No, most of the time I save planets!". Another splendid example comes when the Brigadier sums up the situation at Devils's End, ."So the Doctor was frozen stiff at the barrow, then revived by a freak heatwave. Benton was beaten up by invisible forces, and the local white witch claims she's seen the Devil. Apart from that it's been a quiet night!". In such terms, the build up of unearthly events seems ridiculous and for a moment we see that before we return to the action. But the in-joke is dangerous territory because badly handled it can spoil the entire episode. One occasion though where it went badly wrong was Hartnell's corny Christmas toast and even more cring-inducing was the BBC announcer in 'Rememberance of the Daleks'. The delicate illusion of the show received a body blow those times.
Comedy and horror are quite close since they both address the emotions in a pretty immediate way. Doctor Who has been expert at exploiting both of them and that's partly why I still want to write about the programme and make audios and why you are bothered to read about it. Splendid comedy, most of it!
Gareth Preston
This article first appeared in Celestrial Toyroom in 1993.