Four Episodes
Aired between 5th October 1987 and 26th October 1987
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Nicholas Mallett
Synopsis
In a grotty corridor, a girl dressed all in yellow hides from others looking for her. Whilst they don't find her, something menacing and robotic definitely does. Later, an officer - Caretaker 345/12 subsection 3 reports to his superior, the Chief Caretaker about finding a bloodied yellow rag on the floor. Not long afterwards, he also finds a deadly fate at the hands of a robotic "Cleaner".
In the TARDIS, Mel is studying a video guide to a luxury apartment building - Paradise Towers. She says she's looking forwards to trying out the swimming pool at the top of the tower. When they get outside however, they see that things aren't as they should be - the area is a dump, with graffiti and grime everywhere.
It's not long before they are confronted and threatened by a bunch of women called the Red Kangs. As their name suggests, they wear all red, and they have funny names such as bin liner and fire escape.
The Kangs explain there are three types of people in Paradise Towers - the Kangs, the Old Ones, and the Caretakers. The Kangs find the other types annoying and therefore they take the Doctor and Mel prisoner. They're being taken to their base when the Caretakers show up to arrest them all for Wallscrawling. The Doctor falls and is captured but the rest escape.
Rushing away from the Caretakers, Mel is taken in by two "old ones" - Tabby and Tilda. They are residents in the tower and they invite Mel inside for tea and lots of cake that they insist she eats.
Shortly afterwards, a man bursts through the door and points a gun at them, asking if they're being bothered. He introduces himself as Pex and fancies himself as a lean, mean, fighting machine, patrolling the streets of Paradise Towers and putting things to rights. Mel explains no one was in trouble and she goes to look for the Doctor, Pex going after her.
The Doctor meanwhile, after narrowly escaping an encounter with a robotic Cleaner, is taken to see the Chief Caretaker. Once there, the Chief pronounces that the Doctor is in fact the great architect, come to make Paradise Towers clean and lawful once more. Then he orders him killed. The Doctor protests of course, but the Chief insists. He is called away to investigate the disappearance of Caretaker 345 and tells the Deputy Chief Caretaker to guard him.
Whilst being guarded, the Doctor outwits the Deputy Chief Caretaker by putting some new rules in the book, allowing him to escape whilst they are obeying them. On the streets, he breaks an old payphone and gets some money from it. The Cleaners turn up and he's forced down a garbage chute.
Elsewhere, Tilda and Tabby are visited by another Resident - Maddy. She says there's another Caretaker missing and worries that it's not normal. The two ladies agree, covering up their suspicious looking meat for dinner.
The Doctor meanwhile wakes up in the Red Kang's HQ. He uses the money he got to work an old vending machine, winning their trust by giving them lemonade. He asks them about the cleaners that they've depicted in their wallscrawls, but the Kangs don't know anymore than he does.
The Chief Caretaker meanwhile is acting very unusual. He visits the basement where another robotic creature dwells. He refers to it as his pet, and he as it's "daddy". The creature is hungry and he is clearly fearful of it. He promises to feed the Great Architect to it.
Mel and Pex are in due course captured by the Blue Kangs before they can reach the pool at the top of the towers. The Kangs make fun of Pex and tell Mel he was meant to go off and fight in a war with all the other middle aged people in their society, but he stowed away in the shuttles bringing the others to Paradise Towers. therefore, he's a "scaredy-cat". Pex can't handle the name calling and leaves. Mel goes after him, but finds herself back with Tilda and Tabby.
The ladies begin to feed her again, but when she goes to leave, they tie her up and threaten her with a toasting fork. They clearly intend to eat her! Tabby goes to get the cooking instruments ready and she's dragged down the garbage chute by a robotic arm.
Pex shows up but is scared to confront a manic Tilda. She throws a knife at him but misses. When she goes to get the other knife, she is also dragged down the chute. Pex unties Mel and they run off to find the "great pool in the sky" where she agreed to meet the Doctor.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is found by the Caretakers. He buys the Kangs time enough for them to escape, but he is taken once more before the Chief Caretaker. The Chief Caretaker explains that the Great Architect disappeared shortly after creating Paradise Towers, and he believes the Doctor to be him. He is called away with the reported death of Tilda and Tabby and orders the Deputy Chief Caretaker to guard the Doctor once more. This time, the Doctor is freed by Bin Liner and Fire Escape who turn up and knock all the guards out.
The Chief Caretaker talks to Maddy who makes a fuss of the continuing disappearances. The Caretaker insists everything is under control and offers her a bigger apartment to keep quiet.
Mel and Pex avoid the Cleaners and make it into the lift. They are dropped to the basement, and hear ominous sounds of "soon I shall be free". They decide not to investigate and work on fixing the lift to get them to the swimming pool.
The Doctor does some investigation into the Great Architect. It turns out it was a man called Kroagnon. He built many structures but went mad, allegedly killing some of the residents in his buildings.
Mel and Pex make it to the swimming pool, but the Doctor isn't there. Mel decides the water is lovely and goes for a swim, but Pex is very afraid of it and says they shouldn't be there. His fears prove true as soon Mel is attacked by a giant yellow lobster robot. She begs Pex to shoot it but he's too scared, so she has to free herself and shoot it herself.
The Doctor meets up with the Blue Kangs and has to convince both Blue and Red gangs to stop arguing and work together as he believes Kroagnon is still out there, causing problems. He gets the Kangs to agree to take him to the basement (where they have seen strange things) and sure enough, they find a robotic monster there. It gets the Chief Caretaker who is upset at the creature for being too greedy and obvious. The creature reveals itself as Kroagnon and determines that it will possess the body of the Caretaker and finally be free.
The Doctor and the Kangs run off, and the Caretaker emerges, silver-faced and zombified.
The now Zombie Caretaker is the new body of Kroanon. It reveals that it was imprisoned there after it tried to stop the use of Paradise Towers and now it is free, it will use the cleaners to kill everyone in the towers.
Mel and Pex are about to leave the pool area, but are joined by the Doctor, the Kangs, the Residents and the Caretakers - all banding together in desperation as Kroagnon moves his way up the towers, killing everything in sight.
Using some explosives that were stashed in the towers for the Caretakers, the alliance of residents and staff come together and start destroying the Cleaners, laying a trap for Kroagnon. The trap requires someone to lead Kroagnon to them. Pex finally finds the bravery within himself and agrees to be the one to do it. He succeeds and the Doctor tries to shove him down the garbage chute with a chunk of dynamite but fails. It's left to Pex to be the one to do the deed, sacrificing himself in the process.
The survivors hold a ceremony afterwards, honouring Pex's bravery. The Doctor is gifted a red and a blue scarf as thanks from the Kangs as he and Mel leave in the TARDIS.
Trivia
- Apparently, the story came together from a conversation that Andrew Cartmell and Stephen Wyatt had in the pub whilst discussing possible ideas for the show.
- The original version of the story had all the Caretakers as fat, old men, which was disappointing to Wyatt when they got young fit men instead.
- Roger Daltrey was considered for the role of the Deputy Chief Caretaker
- The music for the first episode was produced by a different person, but John Nathan-Turner asked for it to be re-scored as he found it too monotonous and repetitive
- The only outdoor scenes were the swimming pool. It was in the grounds of a mansion held by an Arab Sheik. The water was freezing and Bonnie Langford had to be kept warm between takes with hair dryers!
- The scenes with the Cannibals - Tabby and Tilda drew complaints as they showed the potential use of knifes as weapons.
The Review
So as opposed to the previous story, Paradise Towers has a lot to like that is let down by only a few things. Where it's similar is that at least half of those things are in the execution.
The concept of a bright-future high rise turned into a dystopia is good and is very reminiscent of Judge Dredd and the British Sci Fi scene of the 80s. The whole stuff about Kroagnon though is there to justify a monster of the week. It would have been far better without it in every respect.
The concept of gangs, cannibal women and someone who tried to escape but get trapped in someplace far worse is also good. The execution is terrible however, with childish acting adult women, terrible, terrible dialogue and overacted cowardice that destroy any credibility. Even Bonnie who was relatively good up to now, has gone full Panto and overacts every scene.
The Caretakers were actually good, especially Richard Briars, although that all goes out of the window, once the ones who look like Village People turn up and start acting stupid. Also, once Briars turns into a zombie, it goes decidedly downhill.
The swimming pool is meh, because it doesn't do anything other than have a way for people to meet there, and how Mel and Pex couldn't see the giant yellow lobster robot I'll never know!
All in all, it's a good concept that I would have loved to see work, and there's some truly entertaining characters within it (the cannibals and the Chief Caretaker), but it is a bit of a let down through execution.
Rating
6 out of 10
Re-Watchability Factor
5 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
- The God Complex (Doctor Who, Series 6)
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