Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2022-03-24T09:05:31.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Tom Baker returns in Shada but is this lost Doctor Who still a plodder?
items: Logopolis ★★★★
items: The Keeper of Traken ★★★★
items: Warriors' Gate ★★★★
items: State of Decay ★★★★
items: Full Circle ★★★★★
items: Meglos ★★★
items: The Leisure Hive ★★★★★
items: Doctor Who: Shada – a lost classic?
items: The Horns of Nimon ★
items: Nightmare of Eden ★★★
items: The Creature from the Pit ★★
items: City of Death ★★★
items: Destiny of the Daleks ★★★
items: The Armageddon Factor ★★
items: The Power of Kroll ★
items: The Androids of Tara ★★★★
items: The Stones of Blood ★★★★★
items: The Pirate Planet ★★★
items: The Ribos Operation ★★★★
items: The Invasion of Time ★★★
items: Underworld ★
items: The Sun Makers ★★★★★
items: Image of the Fendahl ★★★★
items: The Invisible Enemy ★★
items: Horror of Fang Rock ★★★★
items: The Talons of Weng-Chiang ★★★★★
items: The Robots of Death ★★★★★
items: The Face of Evil ★★
items: The Deadly Assassin ★★★★

Tom Baker returns in Shada but is this lost Doctor Who still a plodder?
type: item
date: 2017-11-24T23:00:02.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Even Douglas Adams deemed it mediocre, but four decades after it was cancelled is this Tom Baker season finale getting the "complete" version it deserves?
encoded: First published in 2017 Shada – a lost classic? I don’t think so. What!? A Doctor Who story written by Douglas Adams. Starring Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor at the height of his powers. Co-starring Lalla Ward as Time Lady companion Romana. Alongside adorable robot-dog K•9. A six-part season finale set in the hallowed halls of Cambridge and outer space, which would have been the first full story aired in the 1980s…? Only it wasn’t to be. A calamity occurred in late 1979 that even the Time Lord couldn’t overcome. Industrial action at the BBC halted Shada halfway into production. All the location filming was in the can, as well as one of three studio sessions at BBC Television Centre. But nothing more would be shot. As the news leaked out at the time, I wasn’t exactly devastated. This era of Doctor Who did not thrill me. Recently I found one of my earliest reviews, where, with great hauteur even at the age of 15, I wrote off Season 17 as “shoddy”. Cash-strapped, cheap-looking, a triumph of frivolity over compelling drama, the programme was buckling under the weight of Douglas Adams’s and Tom Baker’s propensity for silliness. (I’m one of the few who does not love City of Death from earlier that season.) Shada was shelled out in a “last-minute panic” by Adams (above), then also toiling as Doctor Who’s script editor. The cast have always raved about the project, but I suspect Adams’s reputation might have been tarnished had Shada gone out. He admitted in Doctor Who Magazine: “I didn’t particularly like it. It was rather thin – at most a mediocre four-parter stretched over six parts. So when it was cancelled halfway through production, I thought, ‘Phew!’ – because it wasn’t very good, and now at least I’m spared anybody seeing it.” He wasn’t being modest. Douglas Adams, who died shockingly young at 49 in 2001, was given to frankness and had a keen critical eye. There are pockets of magic to enjoy, but in truth Shada is a sprawling but far-from-epic serial. Skagra, one of …

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Logopolis ★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-05-06T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: In Tom Baker's sombre final story, the Doctor battles the Master to save the universe from collapse... And The Five Faces of Doctor Who
encoded: Season 18 – Story 115 "It's the end - but the moment has been prepared for" - the Doctor Storyline The Doctor decides to fine-tune the Tardis but, arriving on Earth to measure a real police box, he's unaware when an Australian air stewardess, Tegan, steps aboard, and that the Master's Tardis has also materialised on the same spot. Events move to Logopolis, a planet of mathematicians whose muttered computations are holding the collapse of the universe at bay. Nyssa arrives from Traken seeking her father, whose body the Master has absorbed. His meddling destroys Logopolis and allows entropy to erase swathes of the cosmos. The rival Time Lords must join forces to halt the damage, but back on Earth the Master betrays the Doctor, sending him plunging to his death from a radio telescope. Watched over by Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, the Doctor regenerates… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 28 February 1981 Part 2 - Saturday 7 March 1981 Part 3 - Saturday 14 March 1981 Part 4 - Saturday 21 March 1981 Production Location filming: December 1980 in London at 43 Ursula Street, Battersea; Albert Bridge and Cadogan Pier, Chelsea. BBC Receiving Station, Sonning Common, Berks. The A413 layby, nr Denham, Bucks Studio recording: January 1981 in TC3 and TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Adric - Matthew Waterhouse Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding Nyssa - Sarah Sutton The Monitor - John Fraser The Master - Anthony Ainley Aunt Vanessa - Dolore Whiteman Detective Inspector - Tom Georgeson Security guard - Christopher Hurst Doctor Who - Peter Davison Crew Writer/script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Designer - Malcolm Thornton Incidental music - Paddy Kingsland Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Peter Grimwade RT review by Patrick Mulkern Even giants must fall. Over an unprecedented seven-year run - and no matter what you made of him - there's no denying that Tom Baker's Doctor had become a towering icon of British television. During that seemingly endless…

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The Keeper of Traken ★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-04-13T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: The Master is resurrected and Nyssa is introduced in a fairy-tale piece that has withered over time
encoded: Season 18 – Story 114 "You still do not recognise me, Doctor, but soon you will know me. Soon!" - Melkur Storyline The Traken Union is renowned for universal harmony but the ancient Keeper who oversees this planetary empire is nearing his time of dissolution. Sensing the threat of "all-pervading evil", he appears in the Tardis and begs the Doctor and Adric to help his people. On Traken, they befriend Tremas, nominated as the next Keeper, and his daughter Nyssa. Kassia, Tremas's new wife, is under the influence of Melkur, a statuesque figure reanimating in the nearby grove. It intends to seize control of the Source, the bioelectronic energy behind Traken. Melkur is in fact a Tardis belonging to the Master, who is still in emaciated form. His plan is thwarted, but he absorbs Tremas's body to effect the regeneration he craves… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 31 January 1981 Part 2 - Saturday 7 February 1981 Part 3 - Saturday 14 February 1981 Part 4 - Saturday 21 February 1981 Production Studio recording: November/December 1980 in TC6, November 1980 in TC8 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Adric - Matthew Waterhouse Nyssa - Sarah Sutton Tremas - Anthony Ainley Kassia - Sheila Ruskin The Keeper - Denis Carey Seron - John Woodnutt Katura - Margot van der Burgh Luvic - Robin Soans Neman - Roland Oliver Voice of Melkur/The Master - Geoffrey Beevers Foster - Liam Prendergast Crew Writer - Johnny Byrne Designer - Tony Burrough Incidental music - Roger Limb Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - John Black RT Review by Patrick Mulkern Rediscovering The Keeper of Traken after so many years is rather like rereading a fairy tale that bewitched you as a child - only to realise that the storytelling is quite thin and that the magic has evaporated entirely. Watching it again, I almost empathised with the Melkur, likened by the Keeper to "a fly caught in honey", waiting out eternity to "calcify and pass harmless…

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Warriors' Gate ★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-04-06T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: This is "hardcore, head-scratching, literary sci-fi" featuring time-sensitive Tharils and a farewell to Romana and K•9
encoded: Season 18 – Story 113 "There's nothing beyond those mirrors for people like us, except the reflection of what's here. Only the Tharils can enter your universe that way and that's a talent they're born with. The talent that you hunt them for" - the Doctor Storyline The Tardis arrives in a white void with zero co-ordinates - could this be the boundary between E-Space and N-Space? Nearby stands an ancient gateway, leading to a banqueting hall, as well as a marooned spaceship, captained by the cruel Rorvik. The vessel is piloted by Biroc, a time-sensitive Tharil, who aims to free the rest of his race enslaved on board. On the other side of a mirror in the hall, the Doctor learns the history of the leonine Tharils and resolves to liberate them. In trying to escape the void, Rorvik succeeds only in destroying the ship and freeing his cargo. The Doctor heads off to N-Space with Adric, while Romana and K•9 return to E-Space to assist the Tharils. First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 3 January 1981 Part 2 - Saturday 10 January 1981 Part 3 - Saturday 17 January 1981 Part 4 - Saturday 24 January 1981 Production Black-and-white photography: September 1980 at Powis Castle, Powys Studio recording: September 1980 in TC6, October 1980 in TC1 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Adric - Matthew Waterhouse Rorvik - Clifford Rose Packard - Kenneth Cope Lane - David Kincaid Aldo - Freddie Earlle Royce - Harry Waters Biroc - David Weston Sagan - Vincent Pickering Lazlo - Jeremy Gittins Gundan - Robert Vowles Crew Writer - Steve Gallagher Designer - Graeme Story Incidental music - Peter Howell Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Paul Joyce RT Review by Mark Braxton For a science-fiction series, Doctor Who doesn't actually "do" sci-fi all that often - not hardcore, head-scratching, literary sci-fi. When it does, it seems to bemuse as many fans as it amuses… That's certainly t…

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State of Decay ★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-03-29T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Ancient vampires surface in a supremely atmospheric production of Terrance Dicks's inventive scripts...
encoded: Season 18 – Story 112 "We shall leave this miserable space trap for the real universe. Rich, fat worlds teeming with life. We shall suck their life blood until they are empty husks" - Aukon Storyline The Tardis lands on a planet in E-space where villagers are in thrall to three Lords who rule from a Tower. The Lords, who perform regular "Selections" from among the people, are members of an ancient Earth mission and the Tower is their Arrow-class scout ship. They were turned into vampires long ago to serve the last of the Great Vampires, a race once fought by the Time Lords. The Doctor and K•9 must rescue the kidnapped Romana and Tardis-stowaway Adric, and prevent the resurrection of the Vampire, who stirs beneath the Tower… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 22 November 1980 Part 2 - Saturday 29 November 1980 Part 3 - Saturday 6 December 1980 Part 4 - Saturday 13 December 1980 Production Location filming: April/May 1980 at Burnham Beeches, Bucks Filming: May 1980 at Ealing Studios water tank Studio recording: May 1980 at TC3 and TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Adric - Matthew Waterhouse Aukon - Emrys James Camilla - Rachel Davies Zargo - William Lindsay Ivo - Clinton Greyn Marta - Rhoda Lewis Tarak - Thane Bettany Habris - Iain Rattray Kalmar - Arthur Hewlett Veros - Stacy Davies Karl - Dean Allen Roga - Stuart Fell Zoldaz - Stuart Blake Crew Writer - Terrance Dicks Designer - Christine Ruscoe Incidental music - Paddy Kingsland Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Peter Moffatt RT Review by Mark Braxton I never much cared for vampires as a youngster. I thought they were rather silly, to be honest. I remember going crazy for a series of glow-in-the-dark monster model kits by Aurora: Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll, The Hunchback of Notre Dame… they all took pride of place on my bookshelf. But the Dracula figure didn't. Coupled with the nascent cynicism…

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Full Circle ★★★★★
type: item
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: An outstanding story with the Doctor and Romana passing into E-Space, meeting Adric and Marshmen on the planet Alzarius
encoded: Season 18 – Story 111 "Why can't people be nice to one another, just for a change? I mean, I'm an alien, and you don't want to drag me into a swamp, do you? You do…" - the Doctor Storyline The Tardis passes through a charged vacuum emboitement (CVE), taking the Doctor, Romana and K•9 into E-Space - an "exo-space/time continuum outside our own universe". They materialise on lush Alzarius where the humanoid inhabitants are retreating to the safety of their Starliner, a spacecraft undergoing constant repair. It is the time of Mistfall, when the marshes give rise to supposedly toxic vapour and aggressive reptilian creatures. Assisted by rebellious teenager Adric, the Time Lords must unravel the genetic mystery behind the Marshmen and help complete the Starliner's interminable embarkation… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 25 October 1980 Part 2 - Saturday 1 November 1980 Part 3 - Saturday 8 November 1980 Part 4 - Saturday 15 November 1980 Production Location filming: July 1980 at Black Park, Fulmer, Bucks Studio recording: August 1980 in TC3 and TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Adric - Matthew Waterhouse Login - George Baker Draith - Leonard Maguire Dexeter - Tony Calvin Nefred - James Bree Garif - Alan Rowe Varsh - Richard Willis Tylos - Bernard Padden Keara - June Page Omril - Andrew Forbes Rysik - Adrian Gibbs Marshman - Barney Lawrence Marshchild - Norman Bacon Crew Writer - Andrew Smith Designer - Janet Budden Incidental music - Paddy Kingsland Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Peter Grimwade RT Review by Patrick Mulkern On 24 October 1980, the day before Full Circle began, came the momentous news that Tom Baker would be hanging up his scarf after seven years as the iconic, internationally popular fourth Doctor. Then, halfway through the story's transmission, Peter Davison was announced as his unusually youthful replacement. It was a turbu…

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Meglos ★★★
type: item
date: 2011-03-20T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Tom Baker plays cactus-villain Meglos, while Jacqueline Hill (1960s companion Barbara) returns in a new role
encoded: Season 18 – Story 110 "I think what we've got here is a good, old-fashioned doppelganger" - the Doctor Storyline Romana and K•9 accompany the Doctor to Tigella, where Zastor rules a divided population. The planet's main power source, the Dodecahedron, is malfunctioning but the religious Deons prevent the scientific Savants from investigating the fault. A cactus-like xerophyte called Meglos from neighbouring Zolfa-Thura plots to use the Dodecahedron to take over the universe. He assumes the form of the Doctor to steal it, and deploys Gaztak mercenaries to obstruct the Time Lord… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 27 September 1980 Part 2 - Saturday 4 October 1980 Part 3 - Saturday 11 October 1980 Part 4 - Saturday 18 October 1980 Production Studio recording: June 1980 in TC8, July 1980 in TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - John Leeson General Grugger - Bill Fraser Lieutenant Brotadac - Frederick Treves Zastor - Edward Underdown Lexa - Jacqueline Hill Caris - Colette Gleeson Deedrix - Crawford Logan Earthling - Christopher Owen Tigellan guard - Simon Shaw Crew Writers - John Flanagan, Andrew McCulloch Designer - Philip Lindley Incidental music - Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Terence Dudley RT Review by Mark Braxton Following the imposing curtain-raiser for the new-style, tarted-up Doctor Who, Meglos features another opportunity for Tom Baker to excel under marvellous make-up. With an intriguing science-versus-religion plot, a comedy double act and a cherished former companion popping up as a guest alien, the story cannot disappoint, can it? Let's answer that the long way first. Baker is, indeed, on commanding form. We totally buy the idea of another life form inhabiting his body, not just because of the spiky-mask creation of Cecile Hay-Arthur, but also in Baker's suggestions of menace. The performance is all the more credi…

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The Leisure Hive ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-03-13T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: It's the 1980s and new producer John Nathan-Turner gives the series a stylish revamp
encoded: Season 18 – Story 109 "There's something called an Experiential Grid - cells of different environments designed to produce physical, psychic and intellectual regeneration. That sounds more like it, don't you think, Doctor?" - Romana Storyline Having braved out-of-season Brighton, where K•9 blows up in the waves, the Doctor and Romana transfer their holiday plans to the more stimulating environment of Argolis, c2290. An interplanetary war has left the planet surface irradiated and its inhabitants sterile. The few surviving Argolins have retreated to the Leisure Hive, a recreation centre for alien visitors that promotes scientific endeavour and interracial understanding. But a warlike Argolin, Pangol, has a hidden purpose for the Hive's Tachyon Recreation Generator - which also becomes the focus for reptilian Foamasi saboteurs and ages the Doctor by 500 years… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 30 August 1980 Part 2 - Saturday 6 September 1980 Part 3 - Saturday 13 September 1980 Part 4 - Saturday 20 September 1980 Production Location filming: March 1980 on Brighton beach, East Sussex Studio recording: April 1980 in TC1 and TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Mena - Adrienne Corri Morix - Laurence Payne Pangol - David Haig Brock - John Collin Hardin - Nigel Lambert Vargos - Martin Fisk Stimson - David Allister Guide - Roy Montague Klout - Ian Talbot Foamasi - Andrew Lane Tannoy voice - Harriet Reynolds Generator voice - Clifford Norgate Crew Writer - David Fisher Designer - Tom Yardley-Jones Incidental music - Peter Howell Script editor - Christopher H Bidmead Executive producer - Barry Letts Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Lovett Bickford RT Review by Patrick Mulkern One could base a thesis around the enigmatic shot that opens the first full Doctor Who story of the 1980s - an extraordinary, minute-and-a-half pan past a parade of stripy bathing huts on Brighton beach. Does it merely signify director Lovett Bickford…

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Doctor Who: Shada – a lost classic?
type: item
date: 2011-03-06T23:30:14.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Even Douglas Adams deemed it mediocre, but four decades after it was cancelled is this Tom Baker season finale getting the "complete" version it deserves?
encoded: First published in November 2017 Shada – a lost classic? I don’t think so. What!? A Doctor Who story written by Douglas Adams. Starring Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor at the height of his powers. Co-starring Lalla Ward as Time Lady companion Romana. Alongside adorable robot-dog K•9. A six-part season finale set in the hallowed halls of Cambridge and outer space, which would have been the first full story aired in the 1980s…? Only it wasn’t to be. A calamity occurred in late 1979 that even the Time Lord couldn’t overcome. Industrial action at the BBC halted Shada halfway into production. All the location filming was in the can, as well as one of three studio sessions at BBC Television Centre. But nothing more would be shot. As the news leaked out at the time, I wasn’t exactly devastated. This era of Doctor Who did not thrill me. Recently I found one of my earliest reviews, where, with great hauteur even at the age of 15, I wrote off Season 17 as “shoddy”. Cash-strapped, cheap-looking, a triumph of frivolity over compelling drama, the programme was buckling under the weight of Douglas Adams’s and Tom Baker’s propensity for silliness. (I’m one of the few who does not love City of Death from earlier that season.) Shada was shelled out in a “last-minute panic” by Adams (above), then also toiling as Doctor Who’s script editor. The cast have always raved about the project, but I suspect Adams’s reputation might have been tarnished had Shada gone out. He admitted in Doctor Who Magazine: “I didn’t particularly like it. It was rather thin – at most a mediocre four-parter stretched over six parts. So when it was cancelled halfway through production, I thought, ‘Phew!’ – because it wasn’t very good, and now at least I’m spared anybody seeing it.” He wasn’t being modest. Douglas Adams, who died shockingly young at 49 in 2001, was given to frankness and had a keen critical eye. There are pockets of magic to enjoy, but in truth Shada is a sprawling but far-from-epic serial. Skagra…

The Horns of Nimon ★
type: item
date: 2011-03-06T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Despite drawing on Greek myths, this tatty, embarrassing production is lowest-calibre Doctor Who.
encoded: Season 17 – Story 108 "Did you know that someone's building a black hole on your doorstep?" - the Doctor Storyline The Tardis collides in space with a vessel from Skonnos, which is transporting Anethan youngsters and radioactive hymetusite as final tribute to the Nimon. In his labyrinthine complex on Skonnos, this bull-like creature has promised power-crazed Soldeed help to rebuild a galactic empire. In truth the planet is but one stepping stone across the universe in the Nimons' "great journey of life"… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 22 December 1979 Part 2 - Saturday 29 December 1979 Part 3 - Saturday 5 January 1980 Part 4 - Saturday 12 January 1980 Production Studio recording: September 1979 in TC3, October 1979 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - David Brierley Soldeed - Graham Crowden Sorak - Michael Osborne Pilot - Bob Hornery Co-pilot - Malcolm Terris Teka - Janet Ellis Seth - Simon Gipps-Kent Sezom - John Bailey Nimons - Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St John Hacker Voice of the Nimons - Clifford Norgate Crew Writer - Anthony Read Designer - Graeme Story Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Script editor - Douglas Adams Producer - Graham Williams Director - Kenny McBain RT review by Patrick Mulkern Picture the scene: two Time Loves aboard their rickety Tardis. "Come on, old girl," says the Doctor. "There's quite a few millennia left in you yet." Romana's bosom swells. "Thank you, Doctor" - until he snaps back, "Not you - the Tardis." She looks daggers at him, before her hoity-toity air dissolves into a rare, beaming grin. It's a moment to charm. Unfortunately, it comes right at the end of this four-parter and almost everything preceding it is Doctor Who of the lowest calibre. When The Horns of Nimon first aired, how our hearts sank, my sisters' and mine, as we spied the programme achieving a new low - a turgid quagmire of vapid characters, amateur dramatics, mirthless antics and clattering sets. Whatever happened…

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Nightmare of Eden ★★★
type: item
date: 2011-02-27T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Stimulating ideas, barrel-scraping antics and the Mandrels – Doctor Who's least frightening monster...
encoded: Season 17 – Story 107 "Would you please listen? Vraxoin is the biggest killer drug in existence and it's on this ship!" - the Doctor Storyline In space above Azure c2116 interstellar cruise liner the Empress comes out of warp drive and collides with a private vessel, Hecate. As the Doctor, Romana and K•9 strive to separate the ships, complications arise with passenger Tryst and his CET machine. An "electric zoo", it has gathered samples of habitats from numerous alien worlds, but unstable interfaces caused by the collision allow savage Mandrel creatures from planet Eden to escape and run amok on the Empress. The Doctor also discovers that someone on board is smuggling a fatally addictive drug called vraxoin… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 24 November 1979 Part 2 - Saturday 1 December 1979 Part 3 - Saturday 8 December 1979 Part 4 - Saturday 15 December 1979 Production Studio recording: August 1979 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - David Brierley Tryst - Lewis Fiander Captain Rigg - David Daker Dymond - Geoffrey Bateman Della - Jennifer Lonsdale Secker - Stephen Jenn Stott - Barry Andrews Waterguard Fisk - Geoffrey Hinsliff Landing Officer Costa - Peter Craze Crewmen - Richard Barnes, Sebastian Stride, Eden Phillips Passengers - Annette Peters, Lionel Sansby, Peter Roberts, Maggie Petersen Crew Writer - Bob Baker Designer - Roger Cann Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Script editor - Douglas Adams Producer - Graham Williams Director - Alan Bromly (& Graham Williams uncredited) RT Review by Mark Braxton In a "transitional" season 17, whose charms always eluded me and continue to do so, Nightmare of Eden is something of a flawed diamond. In story terms it bursts with stimulating, even courageous ideas, and this from Bob Baker, a writer going solo for Doctor Who after many years' successful association with Dave Martin. What makes it work is the coupling of a mind-bending sci-fi paradox (a collision that hasn't physically happen…

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The Creature from the Pit ★★
type: item
date: 2011-02-20T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: A patchy effort with electrifying Lady Adrasta and Erato – "a giant green blancmange with a four-foot phallus"
encoded: Season 17 – Story 106 "You know it really doesn't eat people, don't you? But you know what it does eat and you haven't been letting it get any, have you? No, you just stuck it in a pit and threw people at it" - the Doctor Storyline Lady Adrasta has a stranglehold on power on Chloris, a jungle planet scarce in metal: she owns its only mine - the Pit - into which she throws all who oppose her. A gigantic green blob lurks at the bottom, which the Doctor learns is Erato, an ambassador from Tythonus. He arrived 15 years earlier hoping to trade metallic ores for chlorophyll. The Doctor, Romana and K•9 must thwart Adrasta, free Erato and avert retaliation from his fellow Tythonians - a neutron star aimed at Chloris's sun… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 27 October 1979 Part 2 - Saturday 3 November 1979 Part 3 - Saturday 10 November 1979 Part 4 - Saturday 17 November 1979 Production Filming: March 1979 at Ealing Studios Model filming: April 1979 at BBC Visual Effects Workshop Studio recording: April 1979 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Voice of K•9 - David Brierley Lady Adrasta - Myra Frances Karela - Eileen Way Organon - Geoffrey Bayldon Torvin - John Bryans Edu - Edward Kelsey Ainu - Tim Munro Doran - Terry Walsh Tollund - Morris Barry Huntsman - David Telfer Guardmaster - Tommy Wright Guard - Philip Denyer, Dave Redgrave Crew Writer - David Fisher Designer - Valerie Warrender Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Script editor - Douglas Adams Producer - Graham Williams Director - Christopher Barry RT Review by Patrick Mulkern Whatever else a Doctor Who story offers, it can stand and fall on the effectiveness of its monsters. A feeble effect or tatty costume will attract ridicule and opprobrium - a fact Graham Williams appreciated only too keenly. Hence his ploy to keep monsters largely incidental, a trend that slackened towards the end of his tenure as producer. If you commission a serial called The Creature from the Pit, then you have to show th…

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City of Death ★★★
type: item
date: 2011-02-13T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Filmed in Paris, co-written by Douglas Adams and with a John Cleese cameo... is this fan-favourite smug and overrated?
encoded: Season 17 – Story 105 "The centuries that divide me shall be undone!" - Scaroth Storyline The Doctor and Romana are enjoying a sojourn in Paris, 1979, until they experience two time slips and stumble upon a plot by Count Scarlioni to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. He already has six authentic copies, all painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, which will finance his temporal experiments. Hopping back to Florence 1505, the Doctor learns that Scarlioni is in fact Scaroth, an alien splintered across time. The last of the Jagaroth, he is determined to travel back 400 million years and prevent his ship exploding - an event that triggered the birth of the human race… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 29 September 1979 Part 2 - Saturday 6 October 1979 Part 3 - Saturday 13 October 1979 Part 4 - Saturday 20 October 1979 Production Location filming: April/May 1979 in Paris at the Eiffel Tower; Dupleix, Trocadéro & Boissière Métro stations; Rue de Rivoli; Le Notre Dame Brasserie, Place du Petit Pont; Denise René Gallery, Blvd St Germain; 47 Rue Vieille du Temple Studio recording: May 1979 in TC3, June 1979 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Count Scarlioni - Julian Glover Countess Scarlioni - Catherine Schell Duggan - Tom Chadbon Kerensky - David Graham Hermann - Kevin Flood Louvre guide - Pamela Stirling Soldier - Peter Halliday Art gallery visitors - John Cleese, Eleanor Bron Crew Writer - David Agnew (a pseudonym for Douglas Adams and Graham Williams) Designer - Richard McManan-Smith Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Script editor - Douglas Adams Producer - Graham Williams Director - Michael Hayes RT Review by Patrick Mulkern I don't much care for City of Death. Tantamount to sacrilege in the Doctor Who world, but there, I've said it. I've outed myself. It's often placed in fandom's top ten. There's no doubting it stands head and shoulders above its season 17 bedfellows in terms of production values. Viewing figures were extraordinary: part four drew in …

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Destiny of the Daleks ★★★
type: item
date: 2011-02-06T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Davros returns and Lalla Ward is the new Romana in this fun, tatty and unintentionally hilarious Season 17 opener...
encoded: Season 17 – Story 104 "There is much to be done. You must tell me of all the victories the Daleks have won whilst I have slept. And all the defeats. I shall learn from your mistakes. The Daleks shall be made into perfect creatures" - Davros Storyline The randomiser sends the Tardis to Skaro. Romana, adopting a new form, and the Doctor discover Daleks mining the planet, using humanoid slaves. They seek their creator, Davros, hoping he will give them the upper hand in a war against the robotic Movellans. Their enemies, meanwhile, have sent a detachment to foil the Dalek mission. Davros revives, his life support having held him in stasis for centuries. As the Dalek and Movellan battle computers are locked in a stalemate, Davros sends a suicide squad to destroy the Movellan ship… First transmissions Episode 1 - Saturday 1 September 1979 Episode 2 - Saturday 8 September 1979 Episode 3 - Saturday 15 September 1979 Episode 4 - Saturday 22 September 1979 Production Location filming: June 1979 at Winspit quarry, Worth Matravers, Dorset; Binnegar Heath sandpit, Wareham, Dorset Studio recording: Studio recording: July 1979 in TC3 and TC1 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Lalla Ward Tyssan - Tim Barlow Commander Sharrel - Peter Straker Davros - David Gooderson Agella - Suzanne Danielle Lan - Tony Osoba Jall - Penny Casdagli Veldan - David Yip Movellan guard - Cassandra Dalek operators - Cy Town, Mike Mungarvan Dalek voices - Roy Skelton (& David Gooderson uncredited) (Interim Romanas - Lee Richards, Maggy Armitage, Yvonne Gallagher) Crew Writer - Terry Nation Designer - Ken Ledsham Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Script editor - Douglas Adams Producer - Graham Williams Director - Ken Grieve RT Review by Mark Braxton Daleks! Davros! Skaro! New aliens! In what was to be Terry Nation's final script for the show, the Doctor encounters his most implacable foes on their own "turf". Unfortunately Nation undoes much of the good work of his epochal Genesis of the Daleks. Back then …

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The Armageddon Factor ★★
type: item
date: 2011-01-29T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Atrios and Zeos face oblivion in this disappointing season finale, saved mostly by a magnificent villain – the Shadow
encoded: Season 16 – Story 103 "Astra, remember, you're the sixth princess of the Sixth Royal House of the Sixth Dynasty... And we're looking for the sixth segment of the Key to Time. Oh, you're in greater danger even than we imagined" - Romana Storyline The Doctor, Romana and K•9 arrive on Atrios during the final stages of its war against twin planet Zeos. Armageddon is being orchestrated by a third party, the Shadow, who has the Atrian Marshal, Princess Astra and battle computer Mentalis all in his power. But the Shadow is also an agent of the Black Guardian. He knows the whereabouts of the sixth and final segment of the Key to Time and has been waiting for the Doctor to arrive with the other five… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 20 January 1979 Part 2 - Saturday 27 January 1979 Part 3 - Saturday 3 February 1979 Part 4 - Saturday 10 February 1979 Part 5 - Saturday 17 February 1979 Part 6 - Saturday 24 February 1979 Production Model filming: October 1978 at Ealing Studios Studio recording: November/December 1978 in TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Voice of K•9 - John Leeson The Marshal - John Woodvine Princess Astra - Lalla Ward The Shadow - William Squire Major Shapp - Davyd Harries Merak - Ian Saynor Drax - Barry Jackson The Black Guardian - Valentine Dyall Pilot - Pat Gorman Hero - Ian Liston Heroine - Susan Skipper Crew Writers - Bob Baker, Dave Martin Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Richard McManan-Smith Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Michael Hayes RT Review by Patrick Mulkern So we've been following the Time Lords' quest for 20 weeks now, the Key to Time season arc is drawing to a close and we're all geared up for a satisfying denouement with the Black Guardian in a finale excitingly entitled The Armageddon Factor. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually. This is late 70s Doctor Who, remember. Planning-meeting minutes (imagined): um, budget almost exhausted. So minuscule cast, pl…

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The Power of Kroll ★
type: item
date: 2011-01-27T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: A soggy off-day for writer Robert Holmes delivers a giant squid and green, loincloth-clad Swampies
encoded: Season 16 – Story 102 "Great One, we ask only that the dryfoots and their abominations be crushed by thy mighty power! Master, this is thy servant!" - Ranquin Storyline The Doctor and Romana become separated on the marshy third moon of Delta Magna while seeking the fifth segment of the Key to Time. Escaping Earth colonists on a methane refinery, the Doctor rescues Romana from indigenous Swampies about to sacrifice her to their water deity, Kroll. The natives plan to attack the Earthmen, using weapons from Rohm-Dutt. The gunrunner is later killed by Kroll, an enormous squid-like creature, which colonist leader Thawn prepares to destroy with a rocket… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 23 December 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 30 December 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 6 January 1979 Part 4 - Saturday 13 January 1979 Production Location filming: September 1978 at the Maltings, Snape and Iken Cliff (near Snape) in Suffolk Filming: October 1978 at Bray Studios water tank Studio recording: October 1978 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Thawn - Neil McCarthy Rohm-Dutt - Glyn Owen Fenner - Philip Madoc Ranquin - John Abineri Varlik - Carl Rigg Dugeen - John Leeson Harg - Grahame Mallard Skart - Frank Jarvis Mensch - Terry Walsh Crew Writer - Robert Holmes Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Don Giles Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Norman Stewart RT Review by Mark Braxton It's terribly hard to summon much enthusiasm for some stories. And, sadly, this soggy four-parter is one such. Robert Holmes's reported dislike of the commission ("Bob, give us the biggest monster ever!") is pretty transparent. In place of his trademark wit and scorching two-handers are tepid dialogue and dull characters. There is no interest here for Holmes, so it seems he dashed off an uncharacteristically humdrum potboiler. The sniggers induced by methane discharges and loincloth-clad Swampies are barely stifled by the titular terror, and the general …

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The Androids of Tara ★★★★
type: item
date: 2011-01-20T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: A summery romp in which the Doctor and Romana must stop Count Grendel from becoming King of Tara
encoded: Season 16 – Story 101 "Crown an android King of Tara? Never!" - Farrah Storyline Arriving on Tara, the Doctor enjoys a fishing break while Romana quickly sources the fourth segment of the Key to Time - a piece of statuary. But the two Time Lords are soon drawn into a web of intrigue surrounding the succession to the Taran throne. The Doctor is recruited to complete an android copy of Prince Reynart, who is threatened with assassination by Count Grendel of Gracht. Romana, meanwhile, falls into the clutches of the wicked count, who is delighted to see she's the identical double of Strella, the princess second in line to the throne… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 25 November 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 2 December 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 9 December 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 16 December 1978 Production Location filming: July 1978 at Leeds Castle, Kent Studio recording: August 1978 in TC6 and TC1 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Count Grendel - Peter Jeffrey Prince Reynart - Neville Jason Swordmaster Zadek - Simon Lack Swordsman Farrah - Paul Lavers Madame Lamia - Lois Baxter Archimandrite - Cyril Shaps Kurster - Martin Matthews Till - Declan Mulholland Crew Writer - David Fisher Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Valerie Warrender Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Michael Hayes RT Review by Patrick Mulkern With splashes of sunlit location filming, ample greenery, vibrant costumes, a castle, hunting lodge, even a pavilion, The Androids of Tara achieves the feel of a summer pageant. And the Doctor gets into the spirit himself, for once forgoing adventure to fish and doze in the sun, before engaging with alien royalty for the third time this season. He adjusts to every twist and turn with bonhomie and looks the part in a russet velvet coat. It's a great vehicle for Tom Baker. Such was writer David Fisher's success with The Stones of Blood, he was swiftly recommissioned (in the 1970s it was rar…

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The Stones of Blood ★★★★★
type: item
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: The 100th story offers a Celtic goddess, blood-sucking Ogri, fabulous Beatrix Lehmann and a Sapphic undertone...
encoded: Season 16 – Story 100 "Until recently, the land the circle stands on has always been owned by a woman. Haven't you noticed?" - Romana Storyline Romana has her first taste of the Doctor's "favourite planet", Earth, when the quest for the Key to Time brings them to the Nine Travellers, a stone circle on Boscombe Moor. They befriend Professor Rumford and Vivien Fay who are surveying the circle, but soon fall foul of a Druidic sect worshipping a Celtic goddess, the Cailleach. K•9 deduces that several stones are silicon-based globulin-deficients - blood-sucking Ogri who obey Miss Fay. She has been posing as the Cailleach, but is in fact Cessair of Diplos, a criminal who came to Earth 4,000 years ago. Aboard a hyperspace vessel near the circle, the Doctor unwittingly releases justice machines called the Megara, who proceed to put him on trial… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 28 October 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 4 November 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 11 November 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 18 November 1978 Production Location recording: June 1978 at Rollright Stones and Little Rollright, Oxfordshire; Reed College, Little Compton, Warwickshire Studio recording: July 1978 in TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Professor Emilia Rumford - Beatrix Lehmann Vivien Fay/Cessair of Diplos - Susan Engel Leonard De Vries - Nicholas McArdle Martha - Elaine Ives-Cameron Campers - James Murray, Shirin Taylor Megara voices - Gerald Cross, David McAlister Crew Writer - David Fisher Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - John Stout Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Darrol Blake RT Review by Patrick Mulkern There's fresh blood in the chalice as Doctor Who clocks up its 100th story: it's a confident debut from writer David Fisher and an impressive one-off engagement for director Darrol Blake and designer John Stout. But while we appreciate what these new boys can do, The Stones of Blood is - refreshingly - a tale concer…

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The Pirate Planet ★★★
type: item
date: 2011-01-06T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: "Revered writer Douglas Adams embraces the show's new comedic approach with buccaneering vim"
encoded: Season 16 – Story 99 "This must be one of the great engineering feats of all time: a hollow, space-jumping planet" - Mr Fibuli Storyline Seeking the second segment of the Key to Time on Calufrax, the Doctor, Romana and K•9 instead land on Zanak. This, they discover, is merely a shell powered by engines that enable it to materialise around other planets - including Calufrax - in order to extract their mineral wealth. Behind the piratical plunder is the cyborg Captain, who with each conquest announces a new age of prosperity to his duped subjects. The time travellers, aided by roaming telepaths called Mentiads, manage to board the Bridge, from where the Captain plots to take over the Earth… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 30 September 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 7 October 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 14 October 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 21 October 1978 Production Location filming: May 1978 at Coity Mountain; Monmouthshire golf course, Llanfoist; Daren-felen disused railway tunnel; Bwlch y Garn, Ebbw Vale; and Big Pit, Blaenavon - all in Gwent. Cathedral Cave, Dan-yr-Ogof in Powys. Berkeley Power Station, Gloucestershire Studio recording: May/June 1978 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Voice of K•9 - John Leeson The Captain - Bruce Purchase Mr Fibuli - Andrew Robertson Kimus - David Warwick Balaton - Ralph Michael Mula - Primi Townsend Pralix - David Sibley Nurse - Rosalind Lloyd Citizen - Clive Bennett Guard - Adam Kurakin Mentiad - Bernard Finch Crew Writer - Douglas Adams Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - John Pusey Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Pennant Roberts RT Review by Mark Braxton All aboard the Tardis, me hearties! The debut Doctor Who script from revered writer Douglas Adams embraces the show's new comedic approach with buccaneering vim. The title tells you everything you can expect from this fizzing four-parter - unscrupulous fortune-hunters, scattered jewels, a disfigured captain, a "parrot", even…

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The Ribos Operation ★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-12-13T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: The White Guardian sends the Doctor on a season-long quest for the Key to Time and gives him Time Lady companion Romana
encoded: Season 16 – Story 98 "Please don't panic, Romana. Come and sit down… when you've faced death as often as I have, this is much more fun" - the Doctor Storyline The Tardis is stopped in flight by the god-like White Guardian, who commands the Doctor to collect the six segments of the Key to Time. They've been scattered and disguised throughout the cosmos, but must be reassembled to avert eternal chaos. A reluctant Doctor is also saddled with a new assistant, Romana, a haughty graduate from the Time Lord Academy. First stop: the city of Shur on Ribos. It's an inhospitable, feudal world in the grip of an Icetime. Earth-born conman Garron and sidekick Unstoffe are conspiring to sell Ribos to the Graff Vynda-K, a deposed despot from Levithia. They reel him in with a lump of blue jethrik, "the rarest and most valuable element in the galaxy" - which no one yet realises is the first segment of the Key to Time… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 2 September 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 9 September 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 16 September 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 23 September 1978 Production Studio recording: April 1978 in TC4 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Romana - Mary Tamm Voice of K•9 - John Leeson The White Guardian - Cyril Luckham Garron - Iain Cuthbertson Unstoffe - Nigel Plaskitt Graff Vynda-K - Paul Seed Sholakh - Robert Keegan Captain - Prentis Hancock Binro - Timothy Bateson The Seeker - Ann Tirard Shrieves - Oliver Maguire, John Hamill Crew Writer - Robert Holmes Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Ken Ledsham Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - George Spenton-Foster RT Review by Patrick Mulkern Season 16 acts for me like comfort TV. Its six stories provide a rich and varied degustation menu, some dishes more appetising than others, but each a tantalising taster of new humanoid societies (Ribos, Zanak, Diplos, Tara, Delta Magna, Atrios) - all of which could be, but never have been, savoured again. Violence, horror and chills have ceded to …

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The Invasion of Time ★★★
type: item
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: In a very silly, shoddy six-parter set on Gallifrey, Sontarans arrive, Leela departs and the Tardis has brick walls
encoded: Season 15 – Story 97 "Don't you care about your world being invaded by alien warmongers? These are Sontaran shock troops… a few, still, but soon there'll be thousands, millions, threatening time itself" - the Doctor Storyline An out-of-character Doctor arrives on Gallifrey claiming presidency of the Time Lords. In apparent collusion with the telepathic Vardans, he expedites their arrival by making K•9 deactivate the planet's defences. His behaviour is intended to deflect Vardan suspicion; he even banishes Leela from the citadel in case she derails his plan. As Leela joins a fighting force of exiled Time Lords, K•9 helps the Doctor eject the Vardans, only to lay the way open for a Sontaran influx. When the newcomers' offensive is repelled, Leela stays behind with Chancellery guard Andred, and K•9 joins her. Departing in the Tardis, the Doctor unboxes a new version of the robot. First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 4 February 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 11 February 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 18 February 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 25 February 1978 Part 5 - Saturday 4 March 1978 Part 6 - Saturday 11 March 1978 Production Location filming: November/December 1977 at British Oxygen, Hammersmith; St Anne's Hospital and Beachfields quarry in Redhill, Surrey Filming: November 1977 at Bray Studios OB recording: November/December 1977 at St Anne's Hospital, Redhill, Surrey Studio recording: November 1977 in TC8 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Borusa - John Arnatt Andred - Chris Tranchell Castellan Kelner - Milton Johns Rodan - Hilary Ryan Lord Gomer - Dennis Edwards Lord Savar - Reginald Jessup Gold usher - Charles Morgan Ablif - Ray Callaghan Jasko - Michael Mundell Nesbin - Max Faulkner Presta - Gai Smith Vardans - Stan McGowan, Tom Kelly Stor - Derek Deadman Sontaran - Stuart Fell Bodyguard - Michael Harley Guard - Christopher Christou Castellan guard - Eric Danot Crew Writer - David Agnew (a pseudonym for Graham Williams and Anthony Read) I…

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Underworld ★
type: item
date: 2010-11-13T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: "Thud! The sound of my head hitting the keyboard after this unremitting exercise in tedium..."
encoded: Season 15 – Story 96 "None of us likes it, but the Quest is the Quest" - Jackson Storyline At the edge of the cosmos the Tardis lands aboard the R1C, a spaceship crewed by four weary Minyans who've been on a quest for 100,000 years. Led by Captain Jackson, they've stayed alive using Time Lord powers of regeneration, while tracking the P7E, a ship containing the race banks of their lost civilisation. Jackson's ship plunges into a spiral nebula, at the heart of which a new planet is forming around the P7E. In tunnels at its core, their fellow Minyans have evolved into Trogs, Guards and Seers, whose lives are controlled by a megalomaniac computer, the Oracle. The Doctor, Leela and K•9 must help the Minyans escape this oppressive underworld and set course for Minyos Two… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 7 January 1978 Part 2 - Saturday 14 January 1978 Part 3 - Saturday 21 January 1978 Part 4 - Saturday 28 January 1978 Production Studio recording: October 1977 in TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Jackson - James Maxwell Herrick - Alan Lake Orfe - Jonathan Newth Tala - Imogen Bickford-Smith Rask - James Marcus Tarn - Godfrey James Idmon - Jimmy Gardner Idas - Norman Tipton Guard Klimt - Jay Neil Ankh - Frank Jarvis Lakh - Richard Shaw Naia - Stacey Tendeter Voice of the Oracle - Christine Pollon Crew Writers - Bob Baker, Dave Martin Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Dick Coles Script editor - Anthony Read Producer - Graham Williams Director - Norman Stewart RT Review by Patrick Mulkern Thud! Sorry, that wasn't the Minyan spaceship impacting another new world, but the sound of my head hitting the keyboard after this unremitting exercise in tedium. All sorts of excuses could be (and have been) made for Underworld: chiefly, inexperienced personnel struggling with budget constraints and edicts from BBC executives to tone down the programme's violence, horror and fear factor. But there's really no defence for such…

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The Sun Makers ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-11-06T23:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Robert Holmes's ingenious, witty spoof of bureaucracy and the tax system – set on Pluto
encoded: Season 15 – Story 95 "Grinding oppression of the masses is the only policy that pays dividends" - the Collector Storyline Landing on Pluto in the distant future, the Doctor, Leela and K•9 find a habitable world and a working population taxed by "the Company" on everything under the six suns. Its human representative, Gatherer Hade, answers to the mysterious Collector, one of a race of Usurians who suppress civilisations by economic means. The travellers foment an underground rebellion in a bid to overthrow the Company… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 26 November 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 3 December 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 10 December 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 17 December 1977 Production Location filming: June 1977 at WD & HO Tobacco Factory, Hartcliffe, Bristol; and Camden Town deep tube shelters, London Studio recording: July 1977 in TC3 and TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Gatherer Hade - Richard Leech The Collector - Henry Woolf Bisham - David Rowlands Marn - Jonina Scott Cordo - Roy Macready Mandrel - William Simons Goudry - Michael Keating Veet - Adrienne Burgess Synge - Derek Crewe Nurse - Carole Hopkin Commander - Colin McCormack Guard - Tom Kelly Crew Writer - Robert Holmes Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Tony Snoaden Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Graham Williams Director - Pennant Roberts RT Review by Mark Braxton If anger can be said to have a good side, it is this: occasionally it is muzzled, shaped and channelled into a work of art. Robert Holmes was clearly angry when he wrote The Sun Makers. A sour experience with the British taxation system spurred him to savage its bureaucracy, arbitrariness and dismissiveness. That he does so with such delicacy, even beauty, says much for his control and his imperious way with words. Everything about the production is playful, witty, ingenious. The story is easily one of the most successful in the canon - not necessarily with the public, but in …

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Image of the Fendahl ★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-10-20T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: The Doctor and Leela encounter an ancient skull with a terrifying power in a spooky English mansion
encoded: Season 15 Story 94 "The Fendahl absorbs the full spectrum of energy, what some people call a life force or soul. It eats life itself" - the Doctor Storyline The Tardis is dragged off course by a sonic time scan emanating from Fetch Priory in the English countryside. A team of scientists led by Dr Fendelman are experimenting on a fossilised skull thought to be 12 million years old - a date that confounds their knowledge of human evolution. The Doctor realises the skull is a remnant of the Fendahl, a creature from the Fifth Planet that "grows and exists by death". Over eons it has engineered humanity to re-exert itself in the present day using energy from Fendelman's time scanner… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 29 October 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 5 November 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 12 November 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 19 November 1977 Production Location filming: August 1977 at Stargrove Manor, East End, Hampshire Studio recording: August/September 1977 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Thea Ransome - Wanda Ventham Martha Tyler - Daphne Heard Dr Fendelman - Denis Lill Ted Moss - Edward Evans Jack Tyler - Geoffrey Hinsliff Maximillian Stael - Scott Fredericks Adam Colby - Edward Arthur David Mitchell - Derek Martin Hiker - Graham Simpson Crew Writer - Chris Boucher Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Anna Ridley Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Graham Williams Director - George Spenton-Foster RT Review by Patrick Mulkern I recall meeting the Doctor, for the second time, in September 1978 quite vividly. Well, you would, wouldn't you? I'd won a local newspaper competition, along with maybe a dozen other young fans, for an audience with "Tom Baker" at the Bull Inn, Gerrards Cross. A towering figure, he turned up with trademark scarf and flouncy hair, and in benevolent Gallifreyan mode fielded such demanding questions as "What's your favourite story?" "Ooh, erm, I really can't remember them all," stalled the Doctor, then inspiratio…

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The Invisible Enemy ★★
type: item
date: 2010-10-13T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: A change in tone for Who – less horror, more humour and the arrival of K•9
encoded: Season 15 – Story 93 "It is the right of every creature across the universe to survive, multiply and perpetuate its species. How else does the predator exist?" - the Nucleus Storyline An intelligent virus - the Nucleus of the Swarm - infects the Doctor aboard the Tardis, which lands on Saturn's moon Titan around the year AD 5000. The personnel of a refuelling station, and a shuttle relief crew arriving there, are also contaminated. Before lapsing into a coma, the Doctor instructs Leela how to pilot the Tardis to a local hospital asteroid. Here Professor Marius, assisted by his "personal data bank", K•9, clones the time travellers and injects them into the Doctor's blood stream to fight the parasite… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 1 October 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 8 October 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 15 October 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 22 October 1977 Production Filming: April 1977 at Bray Studios Studio recording: April 1977 in TC6 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Voice of K•9 - John Leeson Professor Marius - Frederick Jaeger Lowe - Michael Sheard Safran - Brian Grellis Meeker - Edmund Pegge Silvey - Jay Neill Parsons - Roy Herrick Marius's nurse - Elizabeth Norman Ophthalmologist - Jim McManus Cruikshank - Roderick Smith Hedges - Kenneth Waller Medic - Pat Gorman Reception nurse - Nell Curran Crewman - Anthony Rowlands Nucleus - John Scott Martin Nucleus voice - John Leeson Crew Writers - Bob Baker, Dave Martin Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Barry Newbery Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Graham Williams Director - Derrick Goodwin RT Review by Mark Braxton After the fog and corpses of the Hinchcliffe throwback Horror of Fang Rock came a sharp contrast, and a new direction: a kidified, Poundland Star Wars. Under unequivocal instruction from on high, new producer Graham Williams was told to tone down the programme's violence and to increase its humour. Perhaps also influenced by the global sensation of Luke Skywalker and co at t…

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Horror of Fang Rock ★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-10-06T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Season 15 kicks off in a Victorian lighthouse beset by an eerie shapeshifting Rutan
encoded: Season 15 – Story 92 "Gentlemen, I've got news for you: this lighthouse is under attack and by morning we might all be dead. Anyone interested?" - the Doctor Storyline Arriving on a small, craggy island off the English coast around the dawn of the 20th century, the Doctor and Leela enter a lighthouse that becomes shrouded in fog. As its inhabitants Ben, Reuben and Vince struggle with power failures, a steam yacht runs aground on the rocks. The high-society passengers seek shelter in the lighthouse, but a creature from a crash-landed spaceship begins to kill them one by one. The monster, whose Rutan race is at war with the Sontarans, can assume different forms at will. How can the Doctor find the killer…? First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 3 September 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 10 September 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 17 September 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 24 September 1977 Production Filming: May 1977 at Ealing Studios Studio recording: May/June 1977 at Pebble Mill, Birmingham Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Reuben - Colin Douglas Vince Hawkins - John Abbott Ben - Ralph Watson Lord Henry Palmerdale - Sean Caffrey Colonel James Skinsale - Alan Rowe Harker - Rio Fanning Adelaide Lessage - Annette Woollett Voice of Rutan - Colin Douglas Crew Writer - Terrance Dicks Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Paul Allen Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Graham Williams Director - Paddy Russell RT Review by Mark Braxton Turning a corner in the show's development, and marking the start of Graham Williams's time as producer, Horror of Fang Rock was a serial absolutely dripping with the most abject difficulty. The 11th-hour withdrawal of a vampire story compelled a speedy replacement by Terrance Dicks, and with no space available at Television Centre, recording had to be transferred to BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham, with all the associated transportation of sets and equipment. Despite, or perhaps because of, the all-hands-to-the-pump nature of the producti…

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The Talons of Weng-Chiang ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-09-13T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Mr Sin, Magnus Greel, giant rats... A grisly pastiche of all things Victorian makes for a Grand Guignol classic
encoded: Season 14 – Story 91 "Have I ever, in my 30 years in the halls, seen such a dazzling display of lustrous legerdemain? So many feats of superlative, supernatural skill? The answer must be never, sir. Never" - Jago Storyline In fogbound Victorian London, a trail of disappearing women and gruesome murders points to the Palace Theatre music hall. Chinese stage magician Li H'sen Chang and his lethal dummy, Mr Sin, are allied to the Tong of the Black Scorpion and in the service of their lord, Weng-Chiang, a disfigured maniac lurking in the sewers. The Doctor and Leela befriend the theatre owner Mr Jago and pathologist Professor Litefoot. They realise that Weng-Chiang is in fact Magnus Greel, a foe from the future using the missing women to recharge his life force and determined to recover his precious time cabinet… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 26 February 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 5 March 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 12 March 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 19 March 1977 Part 5 - Saturday 26 March 1977 Part 6 - Saturday 2 April 1977 Production Location filming: December 1976 at Ealing Studios, Wapping, St Katherine's Dock and Southwark in London; 24 Cambridge Park, Twickenham OB recording: January 1977 at Northampton Repertory Theatre; St Crispin's Hospital, Duston, Northampton Studio recording: January 1977 in TC1 and February 1977 in TC8 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Li H'sen Chang - John Bennett Henry Gordon Jago - Christopher Benjamin Professor George Litefoot - Trevor Baxter Weng-Chiang/Magnus Greel - Michael Spice Mr Sin - Deep Roy Casey - Chris Gannon Joseph Buller - Alan Butler Ghoul - Patsy Smart Sergeant Kyle - David McKail PC Quick - Conrad Asquith Lee - Tony Then Coolie - John Wu Teresa - Judith Lloyd Cleaner - Vaune Craig-Raymond Singer - Penny Lister Ho - Vincent Wong Crew Writer - Robert Holmes Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Roger Murray-Leach Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe Director - David Maloney RT R…

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The Robots of Death ★★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-09-06T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Mark Braxton
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Robots attack their masters aboard a Sandminer in this immaculately crafted whodunnit – "my Desert Island Who"
encoded: Season 14 – Story 90 "Your orders are to find and destroy all remaining humans. Secrecy is no longer necessary" - SV7 Storyline The Tardis lands on Storm Mine 4, a sandminer vessel quarrying an alien world. When members of its robot-assisted human crew are killed, the Doctor and Leela become the prime suspects. Does Commander Uvanov know more than he is saying? Why is an undercover agent aboard? And could the unthinkable be true: that robots have been programmed to commit murder? First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 29 January 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 5 February 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 12 February 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 19 February 1977 Production Visual effects filming: November 1976 at BBC Visual Effects Dept, west London Studio recording: November/December 1976 at TC1 and TC8 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Uvanov - Russell Hunter Toos - Pamela Salem Dask - David Bailie Poul - David Collings Borg - Brian Croucher Zilda - Tania Rogers Cass - Tariq Yunus Chub - Rob Edwards SV7 - Miles Fothergill D84 - Gregory de Polnay Crew Writer - Chris Boucher Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Kenneth Sharp Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe Director - Michael E Briant RT review by Mark Braxton Long-term viewers would have been forgiven for yawning at the prospect of more tin-pot foes: The Dominators, The Krotons and Robot all clanked and stank in varying degrees. But it's clear within seconds that this streamlined, immaculately crafted whodunnit is a very different batch of circuits. The titular tinheads here are arguably the best pieces of design the show has ever seen. (They clearly made an impression on Russell T Davies, if the golden Host in Voyage of the Damned are anything to go by.) With their clean lines, graceful choreography and perfect diction, the robots are utterly beautiful. The fact that they are dispassionate killers makes one's admiration all the more confused. The voices, too, are wonderful. The calm and cul…

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The Face of Evil ★★
type: item
date: 2010-08-29T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: Louise Jameson is a "stonking success" as Leela in an otherwise lifeless tale about power-mad computer Xoanon...
encoded: Season 14 – Story 89 "It thought I was itself. Then it began to develop another separate self, its own self. And that's when it started to go mad" - the Doctor Storyline The Doctor's solitary travels end abruptly when he arrives in an alien forest and befriends an intelligent primitive called Leela. She has been outcast from her tribe, the Sevateem. Beset by phantoms, Leela's kinsmen are determined to release their god Xoanon from an enemy tribe, the Tesh, and the Evil One - who has the same face as Doctor. The Time Lord realises the Sevateem and Tesh are the descendants of space explorers and that Xoanon is a computer he tried to mend long ago, which since has developed multiple personalities… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 1 January 1977 Part 2 - Saturday 8 January 1977 Part 3 - Saturday 15 January 1977 Part 4 - Saturday 22 January 1977 Production Filming: September 1976 at Ealing Studios Studio recording: October 1976 in TC3 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Leela - Louise Jameson Neeva - David Garfield Andor - Victor Lucas Tomas - Brendan Price Calib - Leslie Schofield Sole - Colin Thomas Lugo - Lloyd McGuire Jabel - Leon Eagles Gentek - Michael Elles Guards - Tom Kelly, Brett Forrest Acolyte - Peter Baldock Xoanon voices - Rob Edwards, Pamela Salem, Anthony Frieze, Roy Herrick Crew Writer - Chris Boucher Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Austin Ruddy Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe Director - Pennant Roberts RT Review by Patrick Mulkern New Year's Day 1977 ushered in a "New Series" of Doctor Who… at least Radio Times seemed justified in billing it so, as the programme had been off air for six weeks. Indeed, as I watched The Face of Evil on its first transmission, it felt like the start of a whole new era… and how clearly I recall the sinking sensation that my favourite TV show was no longer being made for me. Doctor Who was looking tired and insipid: no tension, no fear factor… Instead leaden storytelling, uninvolving cha…

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The Deadly Assassin ★★★★
type: item
date: 2010-08-27T22:00:00.000Z
creator: Patrick Mulkern
subject: Doctor Who Guides
subject: News
subject: Sci-fi
subject: TV
subject: Doctor Who Story Guides
subject: Fourth Doctor
description: The Master's putrid skull and split bangers for fingers have to be the most revolting images presented on teatime TV
encoded: Season 14 – Story 88 "The Master. He'd have destroyed Gallifrey, the Time Lords, everything, just for the sake of his own survival" - the Doctor Storyline The Doctor is summoned to Gallifrey on Presidential Resignation Day. Framed for the assassination of the outgoing president, he evades execution by offering himself as a candidate for the post. An old enemy is at large in the Capitol - a cadaverous version of the Master who has reached the end of his regeneration cycle. He plans to unleash ancient powers at the heart of Time Lord civilisation to revitalise himself… First transmissions Part 1 - Saturday 30 October 1976 Part 2 - Saturday 6 November 1976 Part 3 - Saturday 13 November 1976 Part 4 - Saturday 20 November 1976 Production Location filming: July 1976 at Betchworth quarry, Surrey; Royal Alexandra and Albert School, Merstham, Surrey; and Wycombe Air Park, High Wycombe, Bucks. Studio recording: August 1976 in TC3 and September 1976 in TC8 Cast Doctor Who - Tom Baker Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall The Master - Peter Pratt Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty Cardinal Borusa - Angus Mackay Commander Hilred - Derek Seaton Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters The President - Llewellyn Rees Gold Usher - Maurice Quick Solis - Peter Mayock Time Lords - John Dawson, Michael Bilton Voice - Helen Blatch Crew Writer - Robert Holmes Incidental music - Dudley Simpson Designer - Roger Murray-Leach Script editor - Robert Holmes Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe Director - David Maloney RT Review by Patrick Mulkern The Deadly Assassin is iconoclasm writ large. As an entire story unfolds on the Doctor's home planet, Robert Holmes remoulds Gallifrey in a form peculiarly his own, and whatever we thought we knew about the Time Lords, we are forced to revise. The truth is the Time Lords were only omnipotent beings in their debut story (The War Games, 1969). Then they could simply stare intruders out of existence. In subsequent glimpses they've been …

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