Sadly, it has been reported today that Victor Pemberton, one of the truly great scriptwriters, has died. I thought this made a good occasion to re-upload my review of his highly regarded science fiction radio serial, The Slide, first broadcast in seven weekly parts in 1966.This review was written for The History of the Doctor, hence the very Doctor Who-focused elements in parts.
Victor Pemberton is best
remembered by Doctor Who fans as the author of the Troughton serial
Fury from the Deep, as well as the later audio release The Pescatons,
starring Tom Baker. This is of course just one facet of a prolific
career in television and radio (including work on the UK version of
Fraggle Rock!), including this well-remembered radio serial from
1966. Contrary to popular fan myth, The Slide was never submitted as
a Doctor Who story, although its success did likely have a bearing on
Permberton’s later working for the series, and there are some
similarities to Fury from the Deep. However, these are mostly
restricted to the environmental themes of the plays, and the
relentless, inhuman nature of the threat involved. If anything, The
Slide has a more Quatermass-y vibe, full as
it is with realistic people and concerned scientists being caught up
in unfathomable events.
Set in the small English
town of Redlow, The Slide pits
it and its inhabitants against a constant onslaught from nature. At
first a sudden, unexpected tremor creates a vast crack in the main
road; then, at night, a thick, greenish slurry begins to seep from
the crack, sliding impossibly up the road against the gradient. A
deceptively gentle pace continually piles events upon the characters,
so that each episode drives inexorably towards a terrifying
conclusion. The Mud forms a continuous slide in the night,
encroaching further and further into the town, while at day it
solidifies into an immovable, impenetrable mass.
Themes of environmentalism
and the conflict between human progress and natural order are at the
forefront here. The play begins with the small scale crisis of
townsfolk against a progressive developer who has made sweeping
changes to the town’s environs. This is then reflected in
macrocosm, as the Mud sweeps away the town to create its own
environment, one of stillness and darkness. It even touches on an
almost Gaia-like hypothesis, as the Mud is revealed to not only be
alive, but intelligent, and some come to believe that the Earth
herself is reacting against humanity, endeavouring to scour them from
the surface. It does take the scientific elite an astonishingly long
time to realise that it is sunlight that is causing the Mud to
solidify in daytime, thus presenting a solution, but otherwise the
bouts of theorising provide some of the most intriguing and enjoyable
segments.
What makes the serial so
effective, however, is its focus on real human characters, brought to
life by some of the era’s most talented actors. The onslaught of
the Mud leads to the rural townsfolk to lose their faith, to turn
against one another, or to sink into depression. It’s a grim
portrait of human frailty under pressure - although the revelation
that the Mud is exerting a hypnotic influence is perhaps a bit much.
Maurice Denham portrays Hugh
Deverall’s gradual collapse from influential developer to
incoherent madman with alarming realism, while Dr Richards, the local
GP, struggles to maintain his stiff upper-lipped composure in face of
the onslaught. Meanwhile, the great Roger Delgado raises above a
phony South American accent (“The surface of thee Earth is like
thee theen crust of a pie…”) to create a powerful performance as
the geologist Joseph Gomez.
The writing and
performances are ably supported by some sterling work by the BBC
Radiophonic Workshop. Perfectly created everyday sounds are thrown
into sharp relief by the screeching whine emitted by the encroaching
Mud, amongst which is some brave, highly effective use of silence.
The Slide is a classic piece of science fiction, a masterful look
back at the days of truly great radio.
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