The Sea Devils - Broadcast and Reception

Broadcast and Reception

Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a favourable review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), calling it "a good Malcolm Hulke script", with a "pedestrian" pace that still allowed for some suspense. However, they felt that the music "veers between being eerily experimental and tunelessly intrusive". In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker described the story as "a colourful adventure yarn" with quality direction and high production values. They praised the acting of both the main cast and the guests, finding Trenchard the most interesting. They noted that the incidental music had a mixed reception because of its radical departure, but it remained the most striking aspect of the story.

In 2009, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times wrote that The Sea Devils was the Third Doctor's era reaching an "apex in ambition and quality", praising the design of the Sea Devils and the supporting characters. DVD Talk's John Sinnott wrote that the story was "very good", although he felt it would have been better as a four- or five-parter. He also disliked the incidental music. Den of Geek felt that The Sea Devils was the best story on the Beneath the Surface DVD boxset (including Doctor Who and the Silurians and Warriors of the Deep, though it was also noted that the story would have worked better if it was shorter. The website included the serial on their list of "Top 10 Classic Doctor Who Scores".