095 The Sunmakers

Started 30-Jul

This is the 48th four parter in DW history out of  95 serials, so far.  From this point onwards, four parters are a majority of DW stories at least until they are overtaken by new series 1 parters...

It's also the middle story of Tom Baker's run.

This has plenty of symbolism embedded (the characters and costumes of the Gatherer and the Collector) and quite a good deal of hard physical violence: whips, guns, knives, public steamings, electrocution... and throwing a man from the roof of a high building to his death.

This was in the same year as the ultra violent Target was showing (producer some guy called Philip Hinchcliffe, created by Graham Williams, starring Dr Mehendri Solon (Philip Madoc) and Tomas (Brendan Price) off The Face of Evil, plenty more directors, writers and stars from DW... this show really is the other, other Blakes 7!). The Sweeney was still on ITV... Later in the year comes The Professionals.

I guess punch up violence was in vogue on Brit TV in 1977 so that might explain the violence in The Sunmakers'.

The symbolism is inchoate.

While there is plenty that satirises commerce and accounting as mistaken goals in society (unpaid overtime, breathing tax, the police are called the 'inner retinue') there is also plenty symbolism that satirises popular revolutionary policitcal history e.g. the major target for the rebels in p4 is the 'viscast' studio, the TV station. This marks the story as middle Europe, middle twentieth century communist/anti communist revolutionary in nature. What's possibly missing is the backlash or the reactionary moves that would come from the ousted classes who had any power or privilege that they found was removed by the achievement of the rebels. Luckily there's no dodgy 'Natasha' accents....

The symbolism is undermined by the rushed production in the last episode. Several things clearly went wrong in studio for p4 (cite the seen where the characters start looking for K9 after the prop malfunctions at 4m48s to about 5m03s). This fall-apart seemed to happen in the Image and Invisible too. Is there some studio time pressure causing this? The contrast in quality of direction between p4 and earlier eps in this is extraordinary.

The themes are actually in common with the broad story arc in Blakes 7 which is also about the struggle to overcome a totalitarian future state though the motivations of the oppressors are more powerful and less industrial than in Sunmakers. The means of totalitarian oppression are common. (fascistic 'police' and airborne chemicals  (PCM vs Shadow or Pylene 50 in B7.)

Also very B7 is the props, costumes and sparsely decorated 'corridor' sets. The guards' guns are clearly cardboard boxes with loo roll tubes for barrels. There's plenty of pillars with 'circuit trace' print wall paper. Locations chosen are drab, modern and concrete from unspectacular office block interiors, basements and behind the stairwell places.

Costumes are simple smocks and tunics (possibly this is simply explained by the budget.)
Only the Gatherer and the Collector are any different which serves to mark them as 'other'. The Collector has a dark business suit (of course). The Gatherer is dressed like a giant licorice allsort complete with a ridiculous "bishop's" hat and a cape. He is meant to be an overweening, hidebound buffoon (as well as a tax collector...)

The cast is notably Blakes 7. Not only is Michael Keating (Vila) and Adrienne Burgess (Hanna from Shadow) present but plenty of bit part faces. Eg. Tom Kelly (Nova in Space Fall) appears as the Guard who is confronted by Goudry in p4. Tom Kelly was also in Face of Evil so the link is probably director Pennant Roberts who also did lots of B7 eps. Tom Kelly is famous for being the soldier in Sapphire And Steel-The Railway Station. According to Toby Hadoke his DW career is exemplary: guard (4Q), guard (4W), Vardan (4Z).

Compared to this the rest of the cast are merely superstars...

• Richard Leech (Gatherer Hade) was in famous movies like The Dam Busters (1955), A Night to Remember (1958) and more besides.
• Former child star William Symons (Mandrel) who sadly passed away in June this year, is famous for his long run in Heartbeat. 
• Henry Woolf is famous for his collaboration with noted playwright Harold Pinter apart form numerous film and TV roles. Most significantly he spent most of the 1990's as Professor of Drama at Saskatchewan University.

The script in this is cracking Robert Holmes at his best again. It is noticeable right from the first scene how the dialogue 'info-dumps' seem to paint story background pictures rather than just tell bits of the story they can't be bothered to film. Compare and contrast Sunmakers p1 11m23s (very good) with Invisible Enemy p4 8m24s (a shocking example of what not to do.) It's an amazing skill that really ought to be analysed and copied slavishly (by everyone).

Behind the scenes, Rob is easing his way out of the script editor's chair. Anthony Read has been shadowing him for most of Series 15. Bob is in his 5th year in that job and more as a DW alumnus. He started shadowing Terrance in 1973.

He never really climbs out of the DW blackhole. At the time of his unfortunate death in 1986 he was still being dragged back to it. In a wider world sense his talent might have been seen as wasted but the better episodes of DW (and other series like B7, Bergerac) benefitted from his efforts.


Sunmakers also serves as something of a template for late 80's DW in that it concerns itself with 'bringing down the government' (to almost quote Andrew Cartmel, think Happiness Patrol). It shows that DW can be more than 'monster of the week' which the modern show sometimes boils down to.

But it also reveals that new limitations on DW production at the time in 1977 were holding it back from peaks that had been reached in the last few years.

Sunmakers is great DW. It can be read as a political allegory (not entirely new in DW e.g. Green Death) or just a rollicking DW story. Certainly it's scale and intent are at a new level since the political/social/industrial aspect is front and centre and not distracted by Daleks or anything.

That's a helluva mixed bag, ultimately.


ABM Rating 3.16/4.00
LJM Rating 4.00/5.00
SPJ Rating 9.28/10   

No. 24 (out of 95)

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