Day 141: The Highlanders Episode 1

A new adventure has started, this time delving into British history as we look at the war between England and Scotland. And I think that I'm right in saying that this is the first time in a Doctor Who historical that the English people have been portrayed as the bad guys, previously being either on the side of good, or at the very least with enough in them to make us sympathise with them. But here, they try to hang the Doctor and Ben, and hunt down Polly in order to capture her to be sent to prison. This is important because it shows how willing Doctor Who is to show history without the bias of nationalism, and it's able to simply tell a story in the way that it wants to. For example, when Ben and Polly meet English characters, they naturally assume that they will be on the side of good, but they fail to realise that history has them as far crueller than they are in their modern world as they have terrible things happen to them. It's a bit of a heavy handed message, yes, but it bears repeating: Who you think will be the good guys won't necessarily be good, no matter what your prejudices of them are. It's a point we might come back to later on as we continue our adventure with The Highlanders.