Doctor Who: A Brief History Of The Sea Devils

We're one step closer to the Thirteenth Doctor's final adventure, after the airing of the Doctor Who Easter special, 'Legend of the Sea Devils'. The episode sees The Doctor and her companions, Yaz and Dan, team up with real-life Chinese Pirate Queen Madam Ching to keep a crew of Sea Devils from locating a powerful Keystone with which they plan to flood the Earth.

The Sea Devils, cousins of the Silurians, have not been seen onscreen since the Fifth Doctor story 'Warriors of the Deep' in 1984. After classic monsters such as the Silurians and later the Ice Warriors found new life in NuWho, an appearance from the Sea Devils has been eagerly anticipated by fans. To celebrate their return in 'Legend of the Sea Devils', let's take a look back at the history of these classic monsters.

The Sea Devils

The Sea Devils made their first appearance in the six-part serial of the same name in 1972. The story opens with The Third Doctor and his companion Jo Grant at on a secluded Island visiting the imprisoned Master, who claims to have reformed. Before leaving, The Doctor is roped into investigating a number of recent Ship disappearances, leading to he and Jo being attacked by a strange reptilian creature in an sea fortress.

After escaping to a Naval Base, they are informed that the creature has been dubbed a Sea Devil by locals. The Doctor recognises the Sea Devil as being a relative of the Silurians. Back on the island, The Master has been using stolen equipment to build a machine that can control the Sea Devils. He uses it to summon an army of the creatures, and The Doctor is captured. Haunted by his failure to save the Silurians in an earlier story, The Doctor attempts to negotiate peace with the Sea Devils, while on the surface, Jo tries to talk a trigger-happy politician out of a Nuclear attack on the reptiles.

Unfortunately, the negotiations turn sour when The Master uses the Sea Devils to take over the Naval base, forcing The Doctor to sabotage The Master's machine and kill them.

Warriors of the Deep

The Sea Devils returned alongside their cousins the Silurians in the four-part 1984 adventure 'Warriors of the Deep', ready to cause trouble for the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough. The Doctor's wish to give Tegan a peek at humanity's future is complicated when they end up in the middle of two warring human factions. The situation becomes complicated even further by the arrival of a Silurian-Sea Devil alliance, eager to take back planet Earth as their own. Here, the Sea Devils have been given a slight reimagining as elite warriors. The Silurians and Devils plan to release the Myrka, a sea monster, to dispose of their human enemies.

The Doctor, still guilt-stricken over the outcome of his past interactions with both reptilian species, spends the majority of the story trying, and sadly failing, to avoid bloodshed. By the end of the story, only The Doctor, his companions, and a single human crew member, Bulic, remain alive.

Due to the calling of a U.K election, the BBC required extra studio space for upcoming debates and political appearances. This slashed the filming schedule for 'Warriors of the Deep' nearly in half, resulting in a rushed, troubled production. Many scenes had to be done in one take, and in some cases, costumes were only completed shortly before they were needed. This meant that quite a few were badly fitted, and in the case of the Myrka costume, the paint had not dried yet and began rubbing off on other set pieces. Unfortunately, this issue is clearly visible in the completed episodes. Then BBC One Controller Michael Grade, a known detractor of the show, pointed to the problems with the costume as one of the many reasons he wanted to get rid of Doctor Who.

The widely reported production issues with 'Warriors of the Deep' are often pointed at as the reason neither the Silurians or Sea Devils appeared again throughout the remainder of Classic Who, and possibly why it took so long to have the Sea Devils appear in NuWho, even after the successful reintroduction of the Silurians during Steven Moffat's tenure as showrunner.

Time will tell whether the Sea Devils will join the rotation of recurring monsters, or take another long break from the spotlight.