The Smugglers Part 1
When the Doctor accidentally takes Ben and Polly to 17th century Cornwall, they become entangled in a web of smuggling and murder, and must escape pirates and prove their innocence to return to their own time.
The Doctor, along with new companions Ben and Polly, inadvertently travels to 17th century Cornwall via the TARDIS. Upon arrival, they encounter a peculiar Churchwarden named Longfoot who speaks cryptically of danger and mentions the name Avery. After offering assistance to the travelers, Longfoot is murdered. Ben and Polly seek information on the area, while the Doctor attempts to understand their current surroundings. Unfortunately, suspicion immediately falls on the Doctor and his companions, because they are taken for suspicious strangers by the villagers, particularly the innkeeper Kewper.
Longfoot, before his death, cryptically entrusts the Doctor with a secret, reciting the names "Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney," calling it Deadman's key. The mystery deepens when a menacing figure named Cherub, along with his pirate crew, accosts the Doctor at the inn searching for a message they believe Longfoot passed on before his death. Cherub reveals Longfoot was once a mate, but now is a Christian. The pirates seize the Doctor, believing he holds the key to Avery's gold, leaving Ben unconscious and Polly distraught. Polly seeks help from Kewper, as the Doctor is carried off to a ship called The Black Albatross.
Polly's pleas for assistance are met with suspicion from Squire Edwards who arrives to investigate the murder. Despite Polly’s desperate attempts to explain their predicament and the Doctor's abduction, the Squire, influenced by the wary Kewper, views them as prime suspects in Longfoot's murder and orders their arrest. Ben, regaining consciousness, defends Polly, only to be met with the Squire's unwavering suspicion. As the episode concludes, the Doctor is brought before Captain Pike aboard the Black Albatross, while Ben and Polly are taken into custody as the prime suspects in Longfoot's murder, trapped in the 17th century, with little hope of rescue.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The narrative opens with the Doctor, Ben, and Polly disoriented inside the TARDIS, having inadvertently traveled through time and space. Ben and Polly express disbelief and confusion regarding their predicament, particularly their unexpected arrival in an unknown location. Upon materializing, they find themselves in a cave leading to a 17th-century Cornish beach, a fact the Doctor quickly deduces from the environment and the absence of modern amenities. Their initial attempts to return to their own time are thwarted by the TARDIS's unpredictable nature and the incoming tide. They soon encounter Joseph Longfoot, a Churchwarden who, despite his initial suspicion, offers them temporary shelter and sustenance. Longfoot, a former mate on the ship 'The Black Albatross' turned Christian, cryptically warns them of local dangers and entrusts the Doctor with a "Deadman's secret key" – the names "Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney." Unbeknownst to the travelers, Longfoot is being hunted by his former shipmates, led by the menacing Cherub, who believes Longfoot possesses information about "Avery's gold." Shortly after the Doctor and his companions depart for the local inn, Cherub murders Longfoot, believing he passed the crucial message to the Doctor. The travelers arrive at the inn, where the innkeeper, Kewper, immediately regards them with deep suspicion, a sentiment heightened by Longfoot's recent murder, which Kewper learns about from his stable boy, Tom. The Doctor, Ben, and Polly remain oblivious to the escalating danger and the fact that they are now implicated in Longfoot's death.
The Doctor’s initial irritation at Polly and Ben’s intrusion into the TARDIS shifts abruptly into a moment of cosmic revelation. After scolding them for entering, he abruptly announces the TARDIS’s …
The Doctor’s frustration at Ben and Polly’s intrusion into the TARDIS quickly shifts to revelation as he demonstrates its true function. After scolding them for following him, he explains the …
The Doctor, Ben, and Polly arrive on a beach in what appears to be Cornwall, but the Doctor’s cryptic observation—‘You may know where you are, my dears, but not when’—reveals …
After Ben and Polly’s initial excitement about their unfamiliar surroundings fades, the Doctor—lingering behind—observes the cliffs with growing unease. His muttered 'I wonder' reveals his suspicion that this place is …
The Doctor’s group—still disoriented from their abrupt arrival in 17th-century Cornwall—is abruptly confronted by Longfoot, a suspicious churchwarden armed with a flintlock pistol. Longfoot’s initial aggression stems from his assumption …
After Longfoot’s aggressive interrogation in the churchyard, the Doctor—cornered by Ben’s observation of Longfoot’s anachronistic attire—abandons his fabricated cover story. He explicitly confirms their time-travel predicament, forcing Ben to confront …
In the church vestry, Longfoot—posing as a cautious but hospitable Churchwarden—subtly interrogates the Doctor, Ben, and Polly about their travels while evading questions about his own past. His guarded revelations …
Longfoot’s interrogation of the Doctor and his companions in the church vestry reveals his deep-seated paranoia about Avery’s pirate crew and the threat of Pike’s hook—a weapon tied to his …
In the church vestry, Longfoot’s paranoia and urgency escalate as he abruptly cuts short the Doctor’s attempt to probe about Avery and Pike. His dislocated finger—quickly reset by the Doctor—briefly …
In the shadow of a 17th-century churchyard, Longfoot delivers a veiled farewell to the Doctor and Ben, his formal words laced with urgency as he warns of unseen dangers lurking …
After the Doctor, Ben, and Polly depart the churchyard following Longfoot’s cryptic warning about the inn’s dangers, a knife-wielding pirate—likely Cherub—emerges from hiding behind a gravestone. His stealthy approach to …
Following Longfoot's murder, the narrative intensifies as Cherub and his pirate crew track the Doctor to the local inn. Cherub confronts the Doctor, openly accusing him of possessing a message or secret passed by Longfoot, explicitly mentioning "Avery's gold." The Doctor denies any knowledge, but Cherub remains convinced, asserting that Longfoot, his former shipmate, would have entrusted the information to him. A violent struggle ensues as Ben attempts to defend the Doctor, only to be brutally clubbed unconscious by one of the pirates. Polly, distraught and helpless, is roughly restrained while the Doctor is overpowered. The pirates tie the Doctor, haul him over a shoulder, and carry him out of the inn, dumping him onto a cart. They transport him to the beach, where he is bundled into a rowing boat and taken towards 'The Black Albatross', a sinister pirate vessel anchored offshore. Back at the inn, Polly frantically seeks help for the unconscious Ben and to rescue the Doctor. Her pleas are met with cold suspicion from Kewper, who is already wary of the strangers. The situation worsens with the arrival of Squire Edwards, the local magistrate, who has come to investigate Longfoot's murder. Influenced by Kewper's biased account, the Squire views Polly and the still-unconscious Ben as prime suspects, dismissing Polly's desperate explanation of the Doctor's abduction as a fabrication to divert attention. The authorities' focus shifts entirely to the travelers' perceived guilt, leaving the Doctor's fate in the hands of the pirates.
The Doctor, Polly, and Ben arrive at the village inn drenched from the storm, only to face immediate hostility from the innkeeper, Jacob Kewper, who refuses them lodging. The Doctor …
The Doctor, Polly, and Ben arrive at the inn drenched and desperate for shelter, only to face immediate suspicion from the innkeeper Kewper. The Doctor attempts to leverage Longfoot’s name …
In the taproom, Tom bursts in to report Longfoot’s murder—stabbed in his locked room, the door forced open, no other suspects visible. Kewper immediately seizes on the presence of the …
In the taproom, Tom—visibly shaken—reports the brutal murder of Churchwarden Longfoot to Kewper, describing the locked-room killing with unsettling detail (the victim's eerie smile, the forced door). Kewper immediately seizes …
The climax of the episode unfolds with Ben regaining consciousness at the inn, his head throbbing from the earlier assault. He learns from Polly that the Doctor has been taken and that they are now in grave trouble. Polly explains the Squire's unwavering demand for their identities and origins, which she has refused to divulge, fearing it would compromise their future or further complicate their already precarious situation. When Ben attempts to assert himself and demand the Squire's help in retrieving the Doctor, his defiance only solidifies the Squire's conviction of their guilt. The Squire, acting as the Magistrate of the Borough, formally arrests both Ben and Polly for the murder of Churchwarden Longfoot. He declares they will be imprisoned until the next Assizes, facing severe punishment for the "villainous deed." Simultaneously, the Doctor is brought aboard 'The Black Albatross', the pirate ship, where he is presented to Captain Pike. Cherub, delivering the Doctor, anticipates a "conversation" between the Captain and the "gentleman." The episode concludes with a stark division of the companions' fates: Ben and Polly are left trapped in 17th-century custody, falsely accused of murder and with no means of escape or rescue, while the Doctor is delivered into the hands of Captain Pike, his immediate future uncertain and perilous aboard the pirate vessel. The narrative leaves all three protagonists in extreme jeopardy, facing separate but equally dire threats.
Ben regains consciousness in the inn to find Polly under interrogation by the Squire, who demands answers about their identities and the Doctor’s whereabouts. Ben’s defiant refusal to cooperate—insisting the …
Ben regains consciousness in the inn to find Polly under interrogation by the Squire, who demands answers about their identities and the Doctor’s disappearance. Ben, still disoriented but defiant, refuses …
Ben regains consciousness in the inn, disoriented and unaware of the Doctor’s abduction. Polly quickly informs him of their dire situation: the Squire, the local magistrate, has arrived and is …