The Gunfighters opens in A Holiday for the Doctor, with the Doctor needing a broken tooth seen to. After a few moments embarrassing behaviour from Steven and Dodo, excited over being in the 'Wild West', Wyatt Earp hauls them in, tensions are high as the Clanton's are after Doc Holliday, so the Doctor says that they are a group of traveling performers. John Alderson is superb throughout as Wyatt Earp, giving the character a wearyness that suits the character's actions throughout The Gunfighters.

After signing in at the Last Chance Saloon, the Doctor finally gets his tooth seen to by Doc Holliday. This sequence is quite amusing as the Doctor submits himself to Holliday's primative and unorthodox dentistry, with William Hartnell playing up the Doctor's misery superbly and Anthony Jacobs puts in a quite engaging performance as Holliday. The Clanton's are at the Saloon, and mishear Steven and Dodo - they believe that the Doctor is Holliday, a fact which Kate and Holliday play up on, dressing the Doctor up with Holliday's gun and other accessories. As Steven and Dodo perform for their lives, the Doctor walks into trouble... A Holiday for the Doctor sets the story up quite well - the feud between the Clanton's and Doc Holliday is quickly established, as is Earp's own past. Director Rex Tucker and Designer Barry Newbery have worked well to turn a studio into a fairly good recreation of Tombstone, helped by Donald Cotton's script that centres most of the action in a small area.

In the second episode, Don't Shoot the Pianist all three regular characters end up in trouble - Dodo falls in with Kate and Doc Holliday, who take her when they skip town; Steven is captured by the Clanton's; and the Doctor is arrested by Bat Masterson and Earp. This actually works in the story's favour as it allows time to further develop characters of the Clanton's and Kate. The episode ends with Steven about to be lynched...

Wyatt Earp saves Steven from the lynching by knocking out Phineaus Clanton, who is then locked up and the Doctor walks free with Steven. When Johnny Ringo arrives in Tombstone, The Gunfighters steps up a level. Ringo is another level up from the Clanton's and Holliday - he takes vendettas and gun battles quite seriously, with Lawrence Payne turning in a wonderful performance that gives Ringo a cold, hard edge. Charlie, the barman at the Last Chance Saloon gossips for the last time, with Ringo shooting him before the Doctor and Steven arrive back. Steven heads off with Ringo to find Dodo, as the Clanton's draw first blood by killing Warren Earp... In the third episode The Gunfighters becomes more serious, as deaths occur onscreen - first Charlie, then Warren; it's fairly obvious that Donald Cotton is building the story up to the climatic gunfight that occurs in the final episode.

The O.K. Corral see the climatic battle pulled off quite well by the production teram with Rex Tucker using some unusual camera angles to show off the battle. The Clanton's and Ringo are killed; Earp becomes an outlaw once more; and the TARDIS crew depart, with a parting gift from Holliday - the new 'Wanted' poster of Holliday. The story wraps up quite well by showing the aftermath of the battle, and the consequences for the surviving participants; something not always considered by all historicals - what happens next to the historical figures the TARDIS crew encounter.

The song that pervades throughout The Gunfighters is The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, lyrics by Donald Cotton and Rex Tucker, composition by Tristram Cary and sung by Linda Baron. The ballad works well not only to set the scene, but also to fill the viewer in on items not immediately covered by the story proper (such as Johnny Ringo and Kate's prior relationship) and the action that has just occurred in the story. By playing the ballad over moments of little action and speech at the beginning and end of scenes, Tucker and Cotton have ensured that it doesn't obstruct the story flow too much, and it allows the audience to some lull time to properly digest the events of the previous scene. It's also quite cleverly written in parts, with puns and wordplay inserted into summary narrative that makes up the majority of the ballad's lyrics.

The Gunfighters isn't as bad as fan wisdom states; in fact it's far from it, historical inaccuracy aside. A rather witty script from Donald Cotton, some reasonable performances from the TARDIS crew, some excellent acting from the guest cast, great direction from Rex Tucker and Barry Newbery's usual high standard in set design combine to make The Gunfighters quite a reasonable story, with The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon the icing on the cake.

7.8/10

Next time: The Doctor encounters some fans...