As an exploration of a historical event that has been much mythologised and written about for children in the past, the story mostly succeeds in avoiding the obvious potential pitfalls, such as depicting the conflict as a simplistic cowboys-and-Indians-style goodies versus baddies situation.

For instance, King Richard is shown to have both foolhardy judgement (it is his carelessness and complacency at the beginning of the story, airily dismissing his men's concerns, that helps to cause most of the problems), and a petulant and childish bad temper, culminating in utter fury on occasion, the latter seen both at the end of the first episode when he angrily rebuffs Ian's appeal for a rescue of Barbara, and especially in his confrontation with Joanna, which quickly becomes a highly charged power struggle. Both of these are traits that chroniclers attributed to him, and as it happens he had long been regarded rather ambivalently at best by historians even in 1965, so perhaps it is not surprising that an intelligent writer was able to resist any temptation to idealise him. His sense of devotion is made clear enough in the final prayer that he will see Jerusalem that we hear him uttering.

Saladdin, who fascinated many of the historians of the Third Crusade with his reputation for clemency and wisdom, is depicted as a highly thoughtful and pensive character who does not let himself be swayed by hotheads. He orders that Sir William des Preaux be treated well with no hardship while in his captivity, and is able to allow Barbara the means to turn the tables on El Akir when the latter is furious at having learned of her deception of him. His quietly calculating intelligence is perhaps most especially in evidence in the scene when he and Saphadin are discussing Richard's offer of marriage to Joanna for the latter. Saphadin's eagerness is slightly counter pointed by his brother's more cautious reaction, suspecting Richard's motivation and sincerity, and questioning whether the presence of massed soldiers will allow the matter to be resolved simply be a marriage of convenience ( a suspicion which turns out to be justified to some degree at least on the evidence of the Earl of Leicester's attitude), although he still permits accepting the offer, lest it should bear fruit ("Hold one hand out in friendship, but keep the other on your sword").

Generally then, both Saladdin and Richard are shown to be handling the conflict between them in a cautious and pragmatic manner, looking for workable peace deals if possible, willing to negotiate through intermediaries and respect humane standards in treatment of prisoners. Both leaders are also played to good effect by Bernard Kay, who gives a very sober and controlled performance as the former, and Julian Glover, who invests both authority and passion in his acting.

Some of the other characters edge closer to stereotype. Ben Daheer is obvious comic relief, and although he is knowingly selling stolen clothes, I'm not sure this wholly exonerates the Doctor (on a "Two wrongs don't make a right" basis) from stealing some of his stock in turn, especially as it's obvious he and Vicki were planning that even before approaching his bazaar.

The only real villain of the story is El Akir, and he is, unfortunately, something of a stock character, the evil oriental despot with a scar over one eye to show it, and his harem of kidnapped women, with this latter having startlingly "adult" implications for a 60s children's programme. However, his victims are depicted with integrity and humanity, and it is fitting that he is finally killed, not by one of the regular characters or King Richard's men, but by Haroun ed-Din, who has already explained the great suffering this man has forced onto him.

The scenes in the third episode where Barbara is rescued and sheltered by Haroun (a character played very sympathetically by George Little) are quite a powerful mini-drama in their own right. The writing is particularly skilful in showing how Haroun has carefully withheld the worst details of what has happened from his daughter Safiya, and the latter's innocent surprise at her father leaving the knife behind (when he has already requested Barbara to use it on Safiya if she fears El Akir's men will find them) is effectively poignant. It also helps develop Barbara's character when she takes the option of surrendering herself to El Akir's men to help save Safiya's life and stop them destroying Haroun's house, a selfless course of action which ultimately pays off too, as Haroun is able to rescue her after hearing what happened from Safiya.

The Doctor's frustration at getting increasingly caught up in court intrigue, resulting in his becoming more and more of an enemy to the Earl of Leicester is brought out quite distinctly. Hartnell is on good form for his arguments with the latter, emphasising the Doctor's love of peace, along with his apparent inability to stop himself sound patronising, hence the way their disagreement ends up with his impugning the Earl's intelligence. And while "I HATE fools!" isn't the best put-down ever, he bellows it with great gusto. It's easy enough to understand his irritation at being unable to stop himself being estranged from Joanna, judging it more important to stay on good terms with the King. Jean Marsh is particularly fiery as Joanna, proving herself more than equal to Glover's raging in their argument about the proposed marriage.

The scripting is very ornate in parts, with some lines comprising rather versified imagery ("to give a host of men lives and futures, now there's a marriage contract that could make a saint of any woman...") in a way more characteristic of the stage than television. In general the story could be said to be more mannered than most, although this doesn't prevent it from opening with a fairly action packed fight scene, including characters being stabbed, and a frenetic battle between Ian and one of El Akir's men.

On the evidence of the first and third episodes, the production values seem to be arguably better than any preceding story in this season so far, with a particularly good castle set which Richard, Joanna and the others are seen to hurry through during their argument sequence, with Haroun's house and the surrounding streets also lit fairly subtly. Overall the story seems to be mostly made, written and acted to a very high standard. One of the more ambitious historicals.