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{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{ImageLinkTV}}
{{ImageLinkTV}}
{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image                  = They're behind you!.jpg
|image                  = They're behind you!.jpg
|novelisation          = Doctor Who and the Visitation (novelisation)
|novelisation          = Doctor Who and the Visitation (novelisation)
|series                = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|series                = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|season number          = Season 19
|season number          = Season 19 (Doctor Who 1963)|
|season serial number  = 4
|season serial number  = 4
|story number          = 119
|story number          = 119
Line 14: Line 14:
|enemy                  = [[Terileptil]] leader
|enemy                  = [[Terileptil]] leader
|setting                = [[London]], [[August]] - [[September]] [[1666]]
|setting                = [[London]], [[August]] - [[September]] [[1666]]
|writer                = [[Eric Saward]]
|writer                = Eric Saward
|director              = [[Peter Moffatt]]
|director              = [[Peter Moffatt]]
|producer              = [[John Nathan-Turner]]
|producer              = [[John Nathan-Turner]]
|epcount                = 4
|epcount                = 4
|broadcast date        = [[15 February (releases)|15]] - [[23 February (releases)|23 February]] [[1982 (releases)|1982]]
|broadcast date        = 15 February - 23 February 1982
|network                = [[BBC1]]
|network                = BBC1
|format                = 4x25-minute episodes
|format                = 4x25-minute episodes
|serial production code = [[List of production codes|5X]]
|serial production code = [[List of production codes|5X]]
Line 27: Line 27:
|made next              = Kinda (TV story)
|made next              = Kinda (TV story)
|clip                  = The Sonic Screwdriver is Destroyed! - The Visitation - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip                  = The Sonic Screwdriver is Destroyed! - The Visitation - Doctor Who - BBC
|thwr = 114
}}
}}
'''''The Visitation''''' was the fourth serial of [[season 19]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It featured ''Doctor Who''{{'}}s explanation for the starting of the [[Great Fire of London]]. The story also contained the [[#A sonic farewell|last appearance of the sonic screwdriver]] under [[John Nathan-Turner]]'s tenure as [[producer]]. On television, the screwdriver would not return until [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the 1996 TV movie]], and would eventually become a regular feature of the show again after [[BBC Wales]] revived the series in [[2005 (releases)|2005]]. The reason it was decided to have the sonic screwdriver destroyed was because it allowed the Doctor to get out of tricky situations too easily.
'''''The Visitation''''' was the fourth serial of [[Season 19 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 19]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It featured ''Doctor Who''{{'}}s explanation for the starting of the [[Great Fire of London]]. The story also contained the [[#A sonic farewell|last appearance of the sonic screwdriver]] under [[John Nathan-Turner]]'s tenure as [[producer]]. On television, the screwdriver would not return until [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the 1996 TV movie]], and would eventually become a regular feature of the show again after [[BBC Wales]] revived the series in [[2005 (releases)|2005]]. It was decided to have the sonic screwdriver destroyed because it allowed the Doctor to get out of tricky situations too easily.


Behind the scenes, it was important for being Saward's first contribution to the show. Unlike most other cases where the [[script editor]] received credit for writing an individual [[serial]], here the script submission came ''prior'' to Saward's ascension to the script editor's office. It was essentially the script that landed him the job as [[script editor]], rather than the job which necessitated or allowed his writing of the script.
Behind the scenes, it was important for being Saward's first contribution to the show. Unlike most other cases where the [[script editor]] received credit for writing an individual [[serial]], here the script submission came ''prior'' to Saward's ascension to the script editor's office. It was essentially the script that landed him the job as [[script editor]], rather than the job which necessitated or allowed his writing of the script.


It was also notable for its high ratings. It's one of the very few stories told in the [[serial]] format to improve its ratings with every episode. Excluding ''[[Dimensions in Time (TV story)|Dimensions in Time]]'', the final episode is one of only five produced by JNT to have achieved a rating of 10 million viewers or better. Perhaps more tellingly, that episode was the 40th most-watched episode of the week – one of only four occasions when JNT-produced ''Doctor Who'' broke into the top 40. Indeed it was the joint third-highest-ranked episode of JNT's tenure, tying with the final episode of ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]''.
It was also notable for its high ratings. It's one of the very few stories told in the [[serial]] format to improve its ratings with every episode. Excluding ''[[Dimensions in Time (TV story)|Dimensions in Time]]'', the final episode is one of only five produced by JN-T to have achieved a rating of 10 million viewers or better. Perhaps more tellingly, that episode was the 40th most-watched episode of the week – one of only four occasions when JN-T-produced ''Doctor Who'' broke into the top 40. Indeed it was the joint third-highest-ranked episode of JN-T's tenure, tying with the final episode of ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]''.


== Synopsis ==
== Synopsis ==
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== Plot ==
== Plot ==
=== Part one ===
=== Part one ===
At the manor home of a [[17th century]] family, an unwelcome visitor arrives.
In 1666, a small village outside London is illuminated by strange lights in the sky. In a field behind the manor home of
a [[17th century]] family, an alien craft lands and one of its occupants arrives at the house. The family's servant, [[Ralph (The Visitation)|Ralph]] is killed by a blast from an energy weapon. Squire [[John (The Visitation)|John]] and his son [[Charles (The Visitation)|Charles]] open fire with muskets and kill the intruder, but then the Squire's daughter [[Elizabeth (The Visitation)|Elizabeth]] calls them — a strange, armoured figure is punching its way through the front door. The family open fire on the second intruder...


In the console room, the [[Fifth Doctor]] is telling off [[Adric]] for being so reckless with the [[Total Survival Suit|TSS]] during the events of their adventure on [[Deva Loka]], pointing out that the whole [[Kinda]] tribe could have been wiped out. [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] is unsure if she is free of the [[Mara]]. The Doctor notices a fault in the console. [[Nyssa]] is helping Tegan get ready to leave as they prepare to land at Heathrow right after she left. Tegan and Nyssa enter the console room to find that they have landed at Heathrow... three centuries early. Tegan storms out of [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]].
In the console room, the [[Fifth Doctor]] is telling off [[Adric]] for being so reckless with the [[Total Survival Suit|TSS]] during the events of their adventure on [[Deva Loka]], pointing out that the whole [[Kinda]] tribe could have been wiped out. [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] is unsure if she is free of the [[Mara]]. The Doctor notices a fault in the console. [[Nyssa]] is helping Tegan get ready to leave as they prepare to land at Heathrow right after she left. Tegan and Nyssa enter the console room to find that they have landed at Heathrow... three centuries early. Tegan storms out of [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]].
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=== Part two ===
=== Part two ===
The Doctor appears through the wall and explains it is a [[Hologram|holographic]] [[energy barrier]]. They walk through and join the Doctor. In the [[cellar]], they notice the place smells of [[Soliton gas]]. Also in the cellar are several caged [[rat]]s and the device emitting the Soliton gas. While they search the room, the figure from before, an [[android]], sneaks up on them. It stuns Tegan and Adric. The Doctor, Nyssa and Mace are forced to retreat, due to the possible danger of the android's weapon igniting the gas.
The Doctor appears through the wall and explains it is a [[Hologram|holographic]] [[energy barrier]]. They walk through and join the Doctor. In the [[cellar]], they notice the place smells of [[soliton gas]]. Also in the cellar are several caged [[rat]]s and the device emitting the soliton gas. While they search the room, the figure from before, an [[android]], sneaks up on them. It stuns Tegan and Adric. The Doctor, Nyssa and Mace are forced to retreat, due to the possible danger of the android's weapon igniting the gas.


The survivor is a Terileptil fugitive, who interrogates Tegan and Adric about the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor and the others find the Terileptil's ship near the manor. They plan how to deal with the android: A [[sonic booster]] set up in the TARDIS might just deal with it. As they leave the ship, a group of villagers, all wearing the same device Mace found, approach them. They demand the Doctor come with them. When he refuses, they attack. The three run back into the ship, now under siege by the villagers. The Doctor blasts open the rear escape hatch of the ship and the group escapes into the forest to find the TARDIS. The controlled villagers follow them at a distance.
The survivor is a Terileptil fugitive, who interrogates Tegan and Adric about the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor and the others find the Terileptil's ship near the manor. They plan how to deal with the android: A [[sonic booster]] set up in the TARDIS might just deal with it. As they leave the ship, a group of villagers, all wearing the same device Mace found, approach them. They demand the Doctor come with them. When he refuses, they attack. The three run back into the ship, now under siege by the villagers. The Doctor blasts open the rear escape hatch of the ship and the group escapes into the forest to find the TARDIS. The controlled villagers follow them at a distance.
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The Terileptil still needs the Doctor and sends his controlled villagers in to stop them. The villagers throw the Doctor and Mace into a room in the mill. At the manor, the Terileptil has placed one of the bracelets on Tegan. Back at the TARDIS, Adric arrives and assists Nyssa in setting up the sonic booster. The Doctor and Mace disable two of the bracelets and the Terileptil sends the android to retrieve them.
The Terileptil still needs the Doctor and sends his controlled villagers in to stop them. The villagers throw the Doctor and Mace into a room in the mill. At the manor, the Terileptil has placed one of the bracelets on Tegan. Back at the TARDIS, Adric arrives and assists Nyssa in setting up the sonic booster. The Doctor and Mace disable two of the bracelets and the Terileptil sends the android to retrieve them.


Minutes later, the android, in the guise of the Grim Reaper, bursts into the mill, frightens off the villagers and takes the Doctor and Mace back to the manor. They find Tegan under the bracelet's control. The Doctor encounters the Terileptil and his offer to take him away from [[Earth]] fails. The Terileptil plans to kill everyone on Earth and take over the planet. Mace is also equipped with a bracelet and the Doctor is thrown in a room where the Terileptil forces the Doctor to drop [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] and then destroys it with a blast from his weapon to make sure the Doctor cannot escape. With his multi-purpose tool now a lump of twisted metal, the Doctor sadly remarks, "I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." The Terileptil brings in a cage with a rat and explains his plan: he will use genetically enhanced plague carried by the fleas on the rats to devastate the population, stating that he is merely paralleling humankind's slaughtering of lesser life forms to ensure their survival. The Terileptil leaves the room and the controlled Tegan prepares to open the cage.
Minutes later, the android, in the guise of the Grim Reaper, bursts into the mill, frightens off the villagers and takes the Doctor and Mace back to the manor. They find Tegan under the bracelet's control. The Doctor encounters the Terileptil and his offer to take him away from [[Earth]] fails. The Terileptil plans to kill everyone on Earth and take over the planet. Mace is also equipped with a bracelet and the Doctor is thrown in a room where the Terileptil forces the Doctor to drop [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] and then destroys it with a blast from his weapon to make sure the Doctor cannot escape. With his trusty multi-purpose tool now a lump of twisted metal, the Doctor sadly remarks, "I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." The Terileptil brings in a cage with a rat and explains his plan: he will use genetically enhanced plague carried by the fleas on the rats to devastate the population, stating that he is merely paralleling humankind's slaughtering of lesser life forms to ensure their survival. The Terileptil leaves the room and the controlled Tegan prepares to open the cage.


=== Part four ===
=== Part four ===
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* [[Richard Mace]] – [[Michael Robbins]]
* [[Richard Mace]] – [[Michael Robbins]]
* [[Terileptil android|Android]] - [[Peter Van Dissel]]
* [[Terileptil android|Android]] - [[Peter Van Dissel]]
* [[The Squire (The Visitation)|The Squire]] – [[John Savident]]
* [[John (The Visitation)|The Squire]] – [[John Savident]]
* [[Charles (The Visitation)|Charles]] – [[Anthony Calf]]
* [[Charles (The Visitation)|Charles]] – [[Anthony Calf]]
* [[Ralph (The Visitation)|Ralph]] – [[John Baker (actor)|John Baker]]
* [[Ralph (The Visitation)|Ralph]] – [[John Baker (actor)|John Baker]]
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=== Uncredited cast ===
=== Uncredited cast ===
* Terileptils - [[Michael Leader]], [[David Sumner]]
* Terileptils - [[Michael Leader]], [[David Sumner]]
* Stuntman/Masked villagers - [[Stuart Fell]], [[Alan Chuntz]] (both [[DWM 274]])
* Scytheman - [[Jeff Wayne]]
* Woodcutter - [[Thomas Knox]]
* Farmhand - [[James Tye]]
* Stuntman/Masked villagers - [[Stuart Fell]], [[Alan Chuntz]]
* Masked Villagers - [[Charles-Adey Grey]], [[Keith Guest]], [[Tom Gandl]], [[Victor Croxford]], [[Bill Whitehead]] (all [[DWM 274]])


== Crew ==
== Crew ==
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Instead, this incidental destruction is indeed the end of the sonic screwdriver in the show's original run.
Instead, this incidental destruction is indeed the end of the sonic screwdriver in the show's original run.


This was not the original plan, however. [[Eric Saward]]'s script initially carried an ending scene where the Doctor would simply seek a replacement from a room full of the devices in the TARDIS. [[Producer]] [[John Nathan-Turner]] objected, actively wanting to get rid of the device, which he thought of as a narrative crutch that writers should be forced to avoid. Accordingly, the sonic didn't come back on television until [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the next story ''not'' produced by JNT]].
This was not the original plan, however. [[Eric Saward]]'s script initially carried an ending scene where the Doctor would simply seek a replacement from a room full of the devices in the TARDIS. [[Producer]] [[John Nathan-Turner]] objected, actively wanting to get rid of the device, which he thought of as a narrative crutch that writers should be forced to avoid. Accordingly, the sonic didn't come back on television until [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the next story ''not'' produced by JN-T]].


Narratively, however, the apparent permanency of the sonic's destruction wasn't explained on television until ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]'', where the [[Tenth Doctor]] implied that the Fifth Doctor failed to replace it simply as a matter of personal choice.
Narratively, however, the apparent permanency of the sonic's destruction wasn't explained on television until ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]'', where the [[Tenth Doctor]] implied that the Fifth Doctor failed to replace it simply as a matter of personal choice.


Meanwhile, in print, the [[Virgin New Adventures]] restored the sonic to the [[Seventh Doctor]] even prior to the release of the 1996 telefilm, but a variety of confusing and contradictory explanations were given. Of greatest relevancy to ''The Visitation'' however, was the notion that the Doctor got the screwdriver back because he successfully "sued the [[Terileptil]]s for criminal damage." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[GodEngine (novel)|GodEngine]]'')
Meanwhile, in print, the [[Virgin New Adventures]] restored the sonic to the [[Seventh Doctor]] even prior to the release of the 1996 telefilm, but a variety of confusing and contradictory explanations were given. Of greatest relevancy to ''The Visitation'' however, was the notion that the Doctor got the screwdriver back because he successfully "sued the [[Terileptil]]s for criminal damage". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[GodEngine (novel)|GodEngine]]'')


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Food and drink ===
=== Food and drink ===
* Ralph brings the Squire a drink of [[posset]].
* Ralph brings the Squire a drink of [[posset]].
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* The TARDIS's [[lateral balance cone]]s are "playing up" (probably "temperamental [[solenoid]]s"), foiling the Doctor's attempt to get Tegan back to [[1981]] [[Heathrow]].
* The TARDIS's [[lateral balance cone]]s are "playing up" (probably "temperamental [[solenoid]]s"), foiling the Doctor's attempt to get Tegan back to [[1981]] [[Heathrow]].
* Adric drops his TARDIS [[homing device]] in a fight.
* Adric drops his TARDIS [[homing device]] in a fight.
* When the Doctor is searching for the Terileptils' London base, the scanner shows a "brown and white" [[17th century]] print of [[London]]'s streets.
* When the Doctor is searching for the Terileptils' London base, the scanner shows a brown sepia [[17th century]] print of [[London]]'s streets.


=== Technology ===
=== Technology ===
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== Story notes ==
== Story notes ==
* The working titles for this story were ''The Invasion of the Plague Men'' and ''Plague Rats''.
* The working titles for this story were ''The Invasion of the Plague Men'' and ''Plague Rats''. The settled upon title seems to reference the Great Plague itself, "Visitation" being a term commonly used for it in Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year'.
* This is the only story credited to [[Eric Saward]] that didn't feature a recurring villain, apart from a mention to the [[Mara]].
* This is the only story credited to [[Eric Saward]] that didn't feature a recurring villain, apart from a mention to the [[Mara]].
* The opening sequence in the TARDIS follows on directly from ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]''. Since ''The Visitation'' was filmed before ''Kinda'', [[Peter Davison]] and [[Matthew Waterhouse]] had to act out their characters' responses to the events of ''Kinda'' based solely on the script.
* The opening sequence in the TARDIS follows on directly from ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]''. Since ''The Visitation'' was filmed before ''Kinda'', [[Peter Davison]] and [[Matthew Waterhouse]] had to act out their characters' responses to the events of ''Kinda'' based solely on the script.
* ''Radio Times'' credits [[John Savident]] (The Squire) as "Squire John", and [[Michael Melia]] (Terileptil) as "Terileptil Leader".
* ''[[Radio Times]]'' credits [[John Savident]] (The Squire) as "Squire John", and [[Michael Melia]] (Terileptil) as "Terileptil Leader".
* The Terileptil masks, produced by freelance firm [[Imagineering]], marks the first use of animatronics in the series.
* The Terileptil masks, produced by freelance firm [[Imagineering]], marks the first use of animatronics in the series.
* Eric Saward attributes the name 'Terileptil' to the words "territorial reptiles" in ''[[Doctor Who: The Making of a Television Series]]''.
* [[Eric Saward]] attributes the name 'Terileptil' to the words "territorial reptiles" in ''[[Doctor Who: The Making of a Television Series]]''.
* One part of the Terileptil's laboratory re-uses a [[Hymetusite]] crystal from ''[[The Horns of Nimon (TV story)|The Horns of Nimon]]''.
* One part of the Terileptil's laboratory re-uses a [[Hymetusite]] crystal from ''[[The Horns of Nimon (TV story)|The Horns of Nimon]]''.
* [[Director]] [[Peter Moffatt]] strongly disliked [[Paddy Kingsland]]'s [[incidental music]] for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". ([[DCOM]]: ''The Visitation'') However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with". ([[DOC]]: ''[[Scoring The Visitation]]'')
* [[Director (crew)|Director]] [[Peter Moffatt]] strongly disliked [[Paddy Kingsland]]'s [[incidental music]] for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". ([[DCOM]]: ''The Visitation'') However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with". ([[DOC]]: ''[[Scoring The Visitation (documentary)|Scoring The Visitation]]'')
* Eric Saward disliked [[Michael Robbins]]' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.
* [[Eric Saward]] disliked [[Michael Robbins]]' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.
* Peter Davison named this serial as a favourite. Matthew Waterhouse recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement.
* [[Peter Davison]] named this serial as a favourite. Matthew Waterhouse recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement.
* The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from [[Posikar]] in ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]''.  
* The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from [[Posikar]] in ''[[Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963)|The Trial of a Time Lord]]''.
* The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of Saward's, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in mediaeval England.
* The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of [[Eric Saward]]'s, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in early modern England.
* [[Ian Bannen]], [[Brian Blessed]], [[John Carson]], [[Ronald Fraser]], [[Donald Houston]], [[William Lucas]], [[Glyn Owen]] and [[Donald Pleasence]] were considered for Richard Mace.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bannen Ian Bannen], [[Brian Blessed]], [[John Carson]], [[Ronald Fraser]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Houston Donald Houston], [[William Lucas]], [[Glyn Owen]] and [[Donald Pleasence]] were considered for Richard Mace.
* Peter Davison was late for the first rehearsal because the family cat had taken a live mole into the house and he had to return it safely.
* [[Peter Davison]] was late for the first rehearsal because the family [[cat]] had taken a live [[mole]] into the house and he had to return it safely to the garden.
* Filming at Black Park took place on a [[Heathrow Airport]] flight path and the noise of approaching aircraft regularly disrupted recording. An air traffic controller's strike put an end to these disturbances.
* Filming at Black Park took place on a [[Heathrow Airport]] flight path and the noise of approaching aircraft regularly disrupted recording. An air traffic controller's strike put an end to these disturbances.
* Peter Davison drove himself to the location in his Volkswagen Scirocco.
* [[Peter Davison]] drove himself to the location in his [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Scirocco Volkswagen Scirocco].
* [[Eric Saward]] originally submitted the script for [[Season 18 (Doctor Who 1963)|Season 18]]. [[John Nathan-Turner]] felt the narrative was too similar to ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)|The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'' and that Richard Mace verged on the kind of whimsy he wanted to discourage.


=== Ratings ===
=== Ratings ===
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Contents:
Contents:
* Audio Commentary by actors [[Peter Davison]], [[Janet Fielding]], [[Sarah Sutton]], [[Matthew Waterhouse]], and director [[Peter Moffatt]]
* Audio Commentary by actors [[Peter Davison]], [[Janet Fielding]], [[Sarah Sutton]], [[Matthew Waterhouse]], and director [[Peter Moffatt]]
* ''[[Directing Who]]'' - Interview with Peter Moffatt.
* ''[[Directing Who: Peter Moffatt (documentary)|Directing Who]]'' - Interview with Peter Moffatt.
* ''[[Writing a Final Visitation (documentary)|Writing a Final Visitation]]'' - Writer [[Eric Saward]] talks about the origins of his first script for ''Doctor Who''.
* ''[[Writing a Final Visitation (documentary)|Writing a Final Visitation]]'' - Writer [[Eric Saward]] talks about the origins of his first script for ''Doctor Who''.
* ''[[Scoring The Visitation (documentary)|Scoring The Visitation]]'' - Composer [[Paddy Kingsland]] discusses his score.
* ''[[Scoring The Visitation (documentary)|Scoring The Visitation]]'' - Composer [[Paddy Kingsland]] discusses his score.
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* Photo Gallery
* Photo Gallery
* Production Subtitles
* Production Subtitles
* [[Easter Egg]]: Continuity announcements. To access this hidden feature, press left at "Play All" from the main menu.
* [[Easter Egg]]: Continuity announcements. To access this hidden feature, press left at "Play All" from the main menu.


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</gallery>
</gallery>


==== Special Edition ====
The DVD was reissued as a special edition on [[6 May (releases)|6 May]] [[2013 (releases)|2013]].
The DVD was reissued as a special edition on [[6 May (releases)|6 May]] [[2013 (releases)|2013]].
Special Features:
* Commentary with Peter Davison ([[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]]), Janet Fielding ([[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]]), Sarah Sutton ([[Nyssa]]), Matthew Waterhouse ([[Adric]]) and director Peter Moffatt
* ''[[Grim Tales]]'' - Brand-new 45-minute documentary
* ''[[The Television Centre of the Universe (documentary)|The Television Centre of the Universe - Part One]]'' - Peter Davison, [[Mark Strickson]] and Janet Fielding return to [[BBC Television Centre]] and meet up with old friends and colleagues
* ''[[The Apocalypse Element (documentary)|Doctor Forever - The Apocalypse Element]]'' - Examining the world of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' on audio. Including interviews with [[Colin Baker]], [[Russell T Davies]], [[Mark Gatiss]] and many others
* ''Film Trims'' - Shots and sequences cut from the finished programme
* ''Directing Who - Peter Moffatt''
* ''Writing A Final Visitation''
* ''Scoring The Visitation'' - Interview with composer Paddy Kingsland
* Subtitle Production Notes
* ''[[Radio Times]]'' Listings and BBC Sales Sheet
* Photo Gallery
* Coming Soon Trailer - ''[[Inferno (TV story)|Inferno]]'': Special Edition
* Isolated Music Score
* [[Easter Egg]]: Continuity announcements. To access this hidden feature, press left at Photo Gallery on Disc One's Special Features menu to reveal a hidden ''Doctor Who'' logo.


<gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" >
<gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" >
The visitation special edition.jpg|Region 2 Special Edition
The Visitation Special Edition.jpg|Region 2 Special Edition
The visitation special edition region 1.jpg|Region 1 Special Edition
The visitation.jpg|Region 1 Special Edition
File:Visitation special edition australia dvd.jpg|Region 4 Special Edition
</gallery>
</gallery>


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=== Digital releases ===
=== Digital releases ===
* The story was released to download on iTunes.
* The story was released to download on iTunes.
* It is also available for streaming in the US through Hulu Plus or Amazon Instant Video in the UK.
* It is also available for streaming in Canada & the US through BritBox or Amazon Instant Video in the UK.


== Doctor Who Illustrated Guides ==
== Doctor Who Illustrated Guides ==
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{{DWTV}}
{{DWTV}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[cy:The Visitation (stori deledu)]]
[[cy:The Visitation (stori deledu)]]
[[de:The Visitation]]
[[de:The Visitation]]
[[es:The Visitation]]
[[es:The Visitation]]
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
[[Category:Doctor Who (1963) television stories]]
[[Category:Doctor Who (1963) television stories]]

Latest revision as of 20:08, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

The Visitation was the fourth serial of season 19 of Doctor Who. It featured Doctor Who's explanation for the starting of the Great Fire of London. The story also contained the last appearance of the sonic screwdriver under John Nathan-Turner's tenure as producer. On television, the screwdriver would not return until the 1996 TV movie, and would eventually become a regular feature of the show again after BBC Wales revived the series in 2005. It was decided to have the sonic screwdriver destroyed because it allowed the Doctor to get out of tricky situations too easily.

Behind the scenes, it was important for being Saward's first contribution to the show. Unlike most other cases where the script editor received credit for writing an individual serial, here the script submission came prior to Saward's ascension to the script editor's office. It was essentially the script that landed him the job as script editor, rather than the job which necessitated or allowed his writing of the script.

It was also notable for its high ratings. It's one of the very few stories told in the serial format to improve its ratings with every episode. Excluding Dimensions in Time, the final episode is one of only five produced by JN-T to have achieved a rating of 10 million viewers or better. Perhaps more tellingly, that episode was the 40th most-watched episode of the week – one of only four occasions when JN-T-produced Doctor Who broke into the top 40. Indeed it was the joint third-highest-ranked episode of JN-T's tenure, tying with the final episode of Earthshock.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Fifth Doctor tries to take Tegan back to Heathrow Airport but the TARDIS arrives in the 17th century instead of the 20th. The time travellers find a space capsule has crash-landed nearby and that its alien occupants, three Terileptil prison escapees, intend to wipe out all indigenous life on Earth by releasing rats infected with an enhanced strain of the great plague.

The creatures are also using a sophisticated android to strike terror into the local villagers. Aided by itinerant thespian Richard Mace, the Doctor tries to unravel the evil plot.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

In 1666, a small village outside London is illuminated by strange lights in the sky. In a field behind the manor home of a 17th century family, an alien craft lands and one of its occupants arrives at the house. The family's servant, Ralph is killed by a blast from an energy weapon. Squire John and his son Charles open fire with muskets and kill the intruder, but then the Squire's daughter Elizabeth calls them — a strange, armoured figure is punching its way through the front door. The family open fire on the second intruder...

In the console room, the Fifth Doctor is telling off Adric for being so reckless with the TSS during the events of their adventure on Deva Loka, pointing out that the whole Kinda tribe could have been wiped out. Tegan is unsure if she is free of the Mara. The Doctor notices a fault in the console. Nyssa is helping Tegan get ready to leave as they prepare to land at Heathrow right after she left. Tegan and Nyssa enter the console room to find that they have landed at Heathrow... three centuries early. Tegan storms out of the TARDIS.

The four gather outside the TARDIS. They smell sulphur and head off to find the source. They are attacked by villagers but escape. In the confusion, Adric drops his TARDIS homing device and the group is separated. A highwayman and proclaimed thespian, Richard Mace, encounters the group and takes them to safety inside a barn.

While questioning Mace, they find out that some kind of comet recently landed nearby. The Doctor knows it was no comet and immediately takes interest in the necklace Mace is wearing. It is actually a bracelet used for prisoner control on other planets. The group begins searching the barn and comes across several power packs. Since they are far more fragile than the necklace, there were survivors. They set off to the nearby manor of the person who owns the barn.

No one answers the front door, so the Doctor and Nyssa find a way in through a window. While searching the manor, they find more power packs, gunpowder, and a mark from a high energy weapon. The Doctor also notices a wall where there shouldn't be one. While he continues his investigation of the wall, Nyssa goes to the front door and lets the others in. When they return to the wall, the Doctor is nowhere to be found. As the four stand there, trying to figure out where he's gone, a figure shuts and locks the door behind them.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor appears through the wall and explains it is a holographic energy barrier. They walk through and join the Doctor. In the cellar, they notice the place smells of soliton gas. Also in the cellar are several caged rats and the device emitting the soliton gas. While they search the room, the figure from before, an android, sneaks up on them. It stuns Tegan and Adric. The Doctor, Nyssa and Mace are forced to retreat, due to the possible danger of the android's weapon igniting the gas.

The survivor is a Terileptil fugitive, who interrogates Tegan and Adric about the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor and the others find the Terileptil's ship near the manor. They plan how to deal with the android: A sonic booster set up in the TARDIS might just deal with it. As they leave the ship, a group of villagers, all wearing the same device Mace found, approach them. They demand the Doctor come with them. When he refuses, they attack. The three run back into the ship, now under siege by the villagers. The Doctor blasts open the rear escape hatch of the ship and the group escapes into the forest to find the TARDIS. The controlled villagers follow them at a distance.

Back in the manor, Tegan and Adric have been placed in a locked room. Nyssa heads back to the TARDIS to work on the sonic booster. The Doctor and Mace go to take a horse from a nearby mill to make their way back to the manor. Tegan and Adric escape from the room and go into the manor proper. Adric jumps out a window before Tegan is recaptured by the android. Just before leaving the mill, the Doctor and Mace are confronted by uncontrolled villagers. The villagers disarm them and prepare to execute them for being "plague carriers". An executioner raises his scythe to carry out the execution.

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Terileptil still needs the Doctor and sends his controlled villagers in to stop them. The villagers throw the Doctor and Mace into a room in the mill. At the manor, the Terileptil has placed one of the bracelets on Tegan. Back at the TARDIS, Adric arrives and assists Nyssa in setting up the sonic booster. The Doctor and Mace disable two of the bracelets and the Terileptil sends the android to retrieve them.

Minutes later, the android, in the guise of the Grim Reaper, bursts into the mill, frightens off the villagers and takes the Doctor and Mace back to the manor. They find Tegan under the bracelet's control. The Doctor encounters the Terileptil and his offer to take him away from Earth fails. The Terileptil plans to kill everyone on Earth and take over the planet. Mace is also equipped with a bracelet and the Doctor is thrown in a room where the Terileptil forces the Doctor to drop his sonic screwdriver and then destroys it with a blast from his weapon to make sure the Doctor cannot escape. With his trusty multi-purpose tool now a lump of twisted metal, the Doctor sadly remarks, "I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." The Terileptil brings in a cage with a rat and explains his plan: he will use genetically enhanced plague carried by the fleas on the rats to devastate the population, stating that he is merely paralleling humankind's slaughtering of lesser life forms to ensure their survival. The Terileptil leaves the room and the controlled Tegan prepares to open the cage.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor disables the bracelets and stops both of them. The Terileptil leaves for his base in the nearby city and sends the android to take control of the TARDIS. The Doctor, Tegan and Mace escape from the room and search the Terileptil's lab. It is empty. Mace tells the Doctor that the nearby city the Terileptil referred to is London. The android arrives at the TARDIS but is dealt with by the sonic booster Nyssa finished. Adric and Nyssa move the TARDIS to meet the Doctor and the others at the manor.

The fire's true importance revealed.

Using the TARDIS scanner, the Doctor locates the Terileptil in London. The TARDIS rematerialises there and the five enter the building. With the Terileptil leader are two other Terileptils who get the jump on the Doctor and Mace. The Doctor drops a torch taken from the building into a pile of hay, which catches fire. The Doctor and Mace stop the Terileptils, but one of the latter's weapons is dropped into the fire, where it overheats and explodes. The explosion destroys the building and escalates the fire into a raging inferno, into which the Doctor and company throw the plague serum. The fire also violently burns the Terileptils to death. Mace elects to stay behind to help fight the blaze as the Doctor, Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa leave in the TARDIS.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor's companions ask him why he is simply running away, rather than helping fight the fire. The Doctor responds by stating that he has "a sneaking suspicion that [they] should let this fire run its course": the fire is at Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire of London started.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

A sonic farewell[[edit] | [edit source]]

In use since the 1968 Second Doctor serial, Fury from the Deep, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver was destroyed here by the Terileptil leader. It's done without any special fanfare and is only marginally important to the plot. Modern audiences, used to seeing the sonic destroyed and almost instantly replaced in stories like Smith and Jones and The Eleventh Hour would probably imagine that the Fifth Doctor gets a new one in the next story. Even contemporary audiences would have had cause to expect a replacement was at least easy to craft since they had seen Romana II make one only a couple of years earlier in The Horns of Nimon.

Instead, this incidental destruction is indeed the end of the sonic screwdriver in the show's original run.

This was not the original plan, however. Eric Saward's script initially carried an ending scene where the Doctor would simply seek a replacement from a room full of the devices in the TARDIS. Producer John Nathan-Turner objected, actively wanting to get rid of the device, which he thought of as a narrative crutch that writers should be forced to avoid. Accordingly, the sonic didn't come back on television until the next story not produced by JN-T.

Narratively, however, the apparent permanency of the sonic's destruction wasn't explained on television until Time Crash, where the Tenth Doctor implied that the Fifth Doctor failed to replace it simply as a matter of personal choice.

Meanwhile, in print, the Virgin New Adventures restored the sonic to the Seventh Doctor even prior to the release of the 1996 telefilm, but a variety of confusing and contradictory explanations were given. Of greatest relevancy to The Visitation however, was the notion that the Doctor got the screwdriver back because he successfully "sued the Terileptils for criminal damage". (PROSE: GodEngine)

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Food and drink[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Ralph brings the Squire a drink of posset.

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Terileptils are very intelligent semi-reptilian creatures who have a heightened appreciation of aesthetics and warfare.
  • These Terileptils have escaped from the Tinclavic mines on Raaga, where they have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • Terileptils cannot last long without breathing soliton gas; the substance is volatile when mixed with oxygen, it also smells a bit like sulphur.

London[[edit] | [edit source]]

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The working titles for this story were The Invasion of the Plague Men and Plague Rats. The settled upon title seems to reference the Great Plague itself, "Visitation" being a term commonly used for it in Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year'.
  • This is the only story credited to Eric Saward that didn't feature a recurring villain, apart from a mention to the Mara.
  • The opening sequence in the TARDIS follows on directly from Kinda. Since The Visitation was filmed before Kinda, Peter Davison and Matthew Waterhouse had to act out their characters' responses to the events of Kinda based solely on the script.
  • Radio Times credits John Savident (The Squire) as "Squire John", and Michael Melia (Terileptil) as "Terileptil Leader".
  • The Terileptil masks, produced by freelance firm Imagineering, marks the first use of animatronics in the series.
  • Eric Saward attributes the name 'Terileptil' to the words "territorial reptiles" in Doctor Who: The Making of a Television Series.
  • One part of the Terileptil's laboratory re-uses a Hymetusite crystal from The Horns of Nimon.
  • Director Peter Moffatt strongly disliked Paddy Kingsland's incidental music for this serial, saying it was replete with "turgid chords". (DCOM: The Visitation) However, Kingsland called Moffatt his "favourite director to work with". (DOC: Scoring The Visitation)
  • Eric Saward disliked Michael Robbins' performance as Richard Mace, largely because he kept changing his lines. Robbins, for his part, is said to have hated working on this story.
  • Peter Davison named this serial as a favourite. Matthew Waterhouse recalled Davison entering the rehearsal room shaking the script with excitement.
  • The Terileptils, and the pioneering animatronic masks used to bring them to life, were intended to return. Those plans fell through. One mask did end up being reused in modified form on a delegate from Posikar in The Trial of a Time Lord.
  • The story was inspired by the work of a former girlfriend of Eric Saward's, who had been studying the architecture which arose in the wake of the Great Fire of London. She observed that the black rats which carried the plague became virtually extinct within months of the Great Fire, and Saward thought that this would provide an effective science-fiction “hook” for a story about social conditions in early modern England.
  • Ian Bannen, Brian Blessed, John Carson, Ronald Fraser, Donald Houston, William Lucas, Glyn Owen and Donald Pleasence were considered for Richard Mace.
  • Peter Davison was late for the first rehearsal because the family cat had taken a live mole into the house and he had to return it safely to the garden.
  • Filming at Black Park took place on a Heathrow Airport flight path and the noise of approaching aircraft regularly disrupted recording. An air traffic controller's strike put an end to these disturbances.
  • Peter Davison drove himself to the location in his Volkswagen Scirocco.
  • Eric Saward originally submitted the script for Season 18. John Nathan-Turner felt the narrative was too similar to The Talons of Weng-Chiang and that Richard Mace verged on the kind of whimsy he wanted to discourage.

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Part one - 9.1 million viewers
  • Part two - 9.3 million viewers
  • Part three - 9.9 million viewers
  • Part four - 10.1 million viewers

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • An outtake exists of a horse walking through and destroying a wooden archway. The outtake exists and has been broadcast many times. It has been misreported as coming from this story; in truth, it occurred during production of TV: The Awakening.

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • When the doors open in the interior of the crashed ship, you can clearly see that the forest in which the craft is supposedly located is not there.
  • When the Doctor decides that Nyssa should go to the TARDIS alone, while he and Richard Mace go to see the miller, she leaves back in the direction from which they had entered the clearing.
  • When Nyssa says, "We should go and get Adric and Tegan", she says "Andrid" instead of Adric.
  • Adric says, "The Doctor and the Tegan."
  • The Doctor pulls the bracelet off the leader of the village, but when it shows the leader again, he is still wearing the bracelet.
  • When the Doctor takes the arrow out the escape pod wall and takes it over to the escape hatch, the camera loses focus and clearly refocuses while he primes the mechanism to blow open the hatch.
  • When the android enters the TARDIS, its skull mask visibly detaches and hangs from the top of its head during the on-location portion of the scene.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home video and audio releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

DVD releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was released as Doctor Who: The Visitation.

Released:

PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1329
NTSC - Warner Video E2157

Contents:

Notes:

  • DVD Region 2 UK cover

    DVD Region 2 UK cover

  • DVD Region 4 Australian cover

    DVD Region 4 Australian cover

  • DVD Region 1 US cover

    DVD Region 1 US cover

  • DVD Region 2 Netherlands cover

    DVD Region 2 Netherlands cover

Special Edition[[edit] | [edit source]]

The DVD was reissued as a special edition on 6 May 2013.

Special Features:

  • Region 2 Special Edition

    Region 2 Special Edition

  • Region 1 Special Edition

    Region 1 Special Edition

  • Region 4 Special Edition

    Region 4 Special Edition

Video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was released as Doctor Who: The Visitation / Black Orchid with Black Orchid as part of a two tape set.

Released:

  • UK July 1994
PAL - BBC Video BBCV5349
  • Australia August 1994
PAL
  • US June 1996
NTSC
  • VHS UK cover

    VHS UK cover

  • VHS US cover

    VHS US cover

  • VHS AUS cover

    VHS AUS cover

Digital releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The story was released to download on iTunes.
  • It is also available for streaming in Canada & the US through BritBox or Amazon Instant Video in the UK.

Doctor Who Illustrated Guides[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Making of a Television Series.jpg

The Making of a Television Series is a guide to the production of this story.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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