Mawdryn Undead (TV story): Difference between revisions

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{{Quote|The Doctor and the TARDIS - well, how could I forget?|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart}}
{{title dab away}}
{{Infobox ClassicTV|
{{real world}}
story name= Mawdryn Undead|
{{ImageLinkTV}}
image=[[Image:Mawdryn Undead.jpg|250px]]|
{{Infobox Story SMW
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[List of Doctor Who television stories|TV Stories]]|
|image                 = FiveBrigOverShoulder.jpg
number= [[Season 20]]|
|novelisation          = Mawdryn Undead (novelisation)
story number=126|
|series                 = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
doctor=[[Fifth Doctor]] |
|season number         = Season 20 (Doctor Who 1963)|
companions= <ul><li>[[Nyssa]]</li><li>[[Tegan]]</li><li>[[Turlough]] (joins)</li><li>[[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]]</li></ul>|
|season serial number  = 3
enemy= <ul><li>[[Black Guardian]]</li><li>[[Mawdryn]]</li><li>[[Turlough]]</li></ul> |
|story number           = 125
year= <ul><li>[[Mawdryn]]'s ship; [[1983]]</li><li>[[Brendon Public School]]; [[1983]]</li><li>[[Brendon Public School]]; [[1977]]</li>|
|doctor                 = Fifth Doctor
writer= [[Peter Grimwade]] |
|companions             = [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]], [[Nyssa]]
director= [[Peter Moffatt]] |
|featuring              = Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart{{!}}The Brigadier
producer= [[John Nathan-Turner]] |
|featuring2            = Vislor Turlough
broadcast date= [[1st February]] - [[9th February]] [[1983]] |
|enemy                 = [[Mawdryn]], the [[Black Guardian]], [[Mutant (Mawdryn Undead)|Mutants]]
format= 4 25-minute episodes |
|setting                = [[Mawdryn's ship]], [[1983]]<br />[[Brendon Public School]], [[1977]] and [[1983]]
production code= [[List of production codes|6F]] |
|writer                 = Peter Grimwade
previous story= [[Snakedance]] |
|director               = [[Peter Moffatt]]
next story= [[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]] }}
|producer               = [[John Nathan-Turner]]
|epcount                = 4
|broadcast date         = 1 February - 9 February 1983
|network                = BBC1
|format                 = 4x25-minute episodes
|serial production code = [[List of production codes|6F]]
|prev                  = Snakedance (TV story)
|next                  = Terminus (TV story)
|made prev              = Arc of Infinity (TV story)
|made next             = Terminus (TV story)
|clip                  = An offer from the Black Guardian - Doctor Who - Mawdryn Undead - BBC
|thwr = 209
}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the third serial of [[Season 20 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 20]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It saw the return of [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|the Brigadier]], and was the first story in the "[[Black Guardian]] trilogy". It also marked the first appearance of [[Vislor Turlough]] as both a companion and a villain.


Due to its use of very specific date, such as placing the Brigadier's [[retirement]] during [[1976]], this story attempted to address the so-called [[UNIT dating controversy]]. However, in so doing, it became a major part of that very controversy.


==Synopsis==
== Synopsis ==
A [[warp ellipse]] draws the [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] off course. The [[Fifth Doctor]]'s [[companion]]s are separated from him not in [[space]], but in [[time]], and he has to deal with a treacherous schoolboy named [[Turlough]]. But why does the Doctor's old friend [[the Brigadier]] not remember him at all?
A [[warp ellipse]] draws [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] off course. The [[Fifth Doctor]]'s [[companion]]s are separated from him not in [[space]], but in [[time]], and he has to deal with a treacherous schoolboy named [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]]. But why does the Doctor's old friend, [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|the Brigadier]], not remember him at all?
The mysterious Black Guardian hovers over the shoulder of Turlough, determined to enlist his aid in his deadly scheme - the assassination of the Doctor.


Meanwhile the TARDIS is trapped inside a huge space ship in perpetual orbit, a permanent resting place for the miserable Mawdryn and his eight fellow scientists, all condemned to a state of perpetual regeneration. Only the Doctor's life force can free them, but at a deadly cost - the price of his powers of regeneration.
== Plot ==
=== Part one ===
In [[1983]], the former [[UNIT]] [[Brigadier]] [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] teaches mathematics at [[Brendon Public School]] for Boys. A mischievous student, [[Vislor Turlough|Turlough]], convinces his classmate [[Hippo Ibbotson|Ibbotson]] to join him in a joyride in the Brigadier's priceless antique [[car]], which they accidentally veer off the road and [[Car crash|crash]]. While unconscious, Turlough is contacted by the sinister [[Black Guardian]]. The Black Guardian knows Turlough is actually from another planet. He offers Turlough transportation off [[Earth]] if he will kill the Guardian's greatest enemy: the Doctor.


With Nyssa, Tegan, and the Brigadier stranded in the time zone of 1977, and the Black Guardian closing in, the Doctor must face a terrible dilemma...
At the same time, the [[Fifth Doctor]], [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]] and [[Nyssa]] have problems of their own. As Tegan attempts to get reassurance from the Doctor that she is free from the [[Mara]], [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] is caught in a [[warp ellipse]] and materialises on board [[Mawdryn's ship|an apparently empty starliner]] locked in a perpetual orbit in [[time]] and [[space]]. Turlough, on the Black Guardian's instructions, transports himself onto the liner by means of a [[transmat]] capsule and encounters the TARDIS crew. The Doctor travels to Earth via transmat, taking Turlough with him, to get rid of the transmat interference trapping the TARDIS on the liner. The source of the interference is not far from the school grounds. As the Doctor is sorting out the device, Turlough, responding to the Black Guardian's exhortations, picks up a large rock and prepares to bring it down on the back of the Doctor's head...


==Plot==
=== Part two ===
===Part One===
[[File:Mawdryn regenerating.jpg|thumb|"The Doctor" [[regenerating]].]]
It is 1983 in England at Brendon Public School. Turlough, a red-haired teen with an air of smug superiority, convinces the reluctant Ibbotson to take his math teacher's classic Humber car for a spin. Much to Ibbotson's horror, Turlough continues on beyond school property -- and is forced off the road by an oncoming car. Turlough is flung from the Humber and awakens to find himself floating above his unconscious body as school officials gather at the scene of the accident. A dark figure appears to Turlough and offers him the chance to leave Earth and return to his real home -- but only if Turlough kills the evil entity known as the Doctor. Turlough is hesitant to commit murder -- but as he begins to return to consciousness and the opportunity slips through his fingers, he agrees to do so. He awakens to find Dr Runciman tending to him, while his math teacher -- Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, the former Brigadier of British UNIT -- angrily studies the wreck of his car.
The interference device explodes, knocking [[the Doctor]] backwards and forcing the rock out of [[Turlough]]'s hands. [[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] materialises nearby, but vanishes shortly after, seemingly leaving the Doctor stranded. The Doctor meets [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|the Brigadier]] at the school, but is puzzled when his old comrade-in-arms does not remember him. He eventually works around the apparent gap in the Brigadier's memory by mentioning [[Jo Grant]], [[Liz Shaw]] and other past adventures. To the Doctor's surprise, the Brigadier claims to remember Tegan, having met her shortly before his nervous breakdown in [[1977]]. The Doctor realises that the TARDIS hasn't disappeared; the destruction of the device knocked the TARDIS off a time track and sent it back six years.


Tegan is still recovering from the trauma of her possession by the Mara, and wants to return to Earth to rest in familiar surroundings. Instead, the TARDIS drifts into a warp ellipse and nearly collides with a spaceship travelling through the ellipse -- a fixed orbit through time and space. The Doctor is able to materialise on board the ship, which appears to be an opulent but deserted passenger liner. Exploring further, he and his companions find a transmat bay with an empty space where the capsule should be. According to the controls, someone left the ship six years ago... and went to Earth.
In 1977, [[Tegan]] and [[Nyssa]] encounter the [[transmat]] capsule. Inside is an [[alien]]-looking [[humanoid]] whom they initially believe is the Doctor, horribly injured; they bring the figure back to the TARDIS and make him comfortable on the control room floor with blankets and the burgundy greatcoat worn by [[Fourth Doctor|the previous Doctor]]. Tegan goes to the school for help, where she meets the younger Brigadier, who accompanies her back to the TARDIS, where Nyssa tells them "the Doctor" is regenerating. The three enter the TARDIS control room. The figure, who is a scientist called [[Mawdryn]], now wearing the Doctor's coat, turns to face them. The top of his skull is missing, revealing his pulsing brain. Nyssa screams in horror.


Brendon's Headmaster discusses the situation with Lethbridge-Stewart, and is reluctant to take any severe disciplinary action against Turlough -- an orphan whose affairs are dealt with by a very strange solicitor in London. Turlough is recovering in the school hospital, where he finds a crystal cube in his jacket; when he touches the cube it begins to glow and he is able to communicate with his new alien partner. Ibbotson arrives, and Turlough assures him that he'll take all the blame -- though in fact he's already told the Headmaster that he only went along to keep Ibbotson out of trouble. Turlough leaves hospital without waiting to be dismissed, and Ibbotson follows him to the obelisk on the hill above the school. There, Turlough follows the instructions placed in his mind, and presses the base of a stone urn -- releasing a camouflage screen around a transmat capsule. Ibbotson watches in shock as Turlough enters the capsule, which promptly disappears. Ibbotson flees back to the school and babbles everything to Lethbridge-Stewart, who is frankly sceptical; after all, a solid object just can't dematerialise...
=== Part three ===
[[File:Black Guardian on Mawdryn's ship.jpg|thumb|"''There is nothing to fear. Reach out your hand.''"]]
Under the pretence of being [[the Doctor]], suffering a failed regeneration, [[Mawdryn]] convinces the others to bring [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] to the ship, claiming it has restorative capabilities. Meanwhile, the Doctor, [[Turlough]] and the present-day [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier]] use a TARDIS homing device on the damaged [[transmat]] to bring themselves to the ship, splitting up soon after to search for [[Tegan]] and [[Nyssa]]. Under the Black Guardian's instruction, Turlough opens a secret room, revealing several humanoids suffering from the same malady as Mawdryn. Mawdryn fools the present-day Brigadier into using a stolen [[Time Lord]] device to stabilise his condition. Finding the TARDIS, the Doctor reunites with Tegan and Nyssa. When he learns there are two Brigadiers aboard, he has to try to keep them apart lest the resulting energy discharge prove catastrophic.


Turlough emerges from the transmat capsule aboard the alien ship, which he hopes to use to return home; but his new partner won't release him from his contract so easily. Before he can go home, he must fulfil his side of the bargain and kill the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa return to the TARDIS but find that they are unable to dematerialise again. The Doctor soon determines that the transmat capsule has returned -- and that a signal being sent to it from a control box on Earth is interfering with the TARDIS. He returns to check the transmat controls and confirms that the capsule has just arrived from Earth, 1983. But what has it been doing there for the past six years?
The Doctor and Nyssa meet with the present-day Brigadier and Mawdryn. Mawdryn reveals that he and his his fellow scientist tried to steal the secret of regeneration from the Time Lords, but caused perpetual mutations, leaving them practically immortal but in horrible agony. Tegan is chased into the room by [[Mutant (Mawdryn Undead)|Mawdryn's mutated crewmates]]. The mutants take their places in the regeneration room and Mawdryn pleads with the Doctor to help them die by giving them his [[regeneration energy]]. The Doctor refuses, explaining to Tegan that if he did so it would mean the end of him as a Time Lord...


The Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS to find Turlough inside, fiddling with the controls. He claims he simply wandered into the capsule out of curiosity, and although Tegan is suspicious of him, the Doctor seems to take his story at face value. The Doctor intends to take the capsule back to Earth and programmes the TARDIS to follow him once the transmat signal has cut out. Turlough accompanies the Doctor, while Nyssa and Tegan remain in the TARDIS. Once back on Earth, the Doctor soon locates the malfunctioning signal box hidden beneath the stone urn; but as he removes it from its hiding place and begins disassembling it, Turlough -- goaded on by the voice of his partner, the Black Guardian -- finds a large rock and prepares to smash in the unsuspecting Doctor's skull...
=== Part four ===
[[File:Black Guardian on the TARDIS screen.jpg|thumb|left|"''They are harmless, except to the Doctor.''"]]
[[The Doctor]] explains that he can only regenerate twelve times, and that, as he has already done so four times, helping the mutants die would consume all eight of his remaining regenerations. Although Mawdryn proclaims that the only thing they desire is their deaths rather than the Doctor's 'murder,' the Doctor refuses, unwilling to sacrifice his remaining lives to save them from their own mistake.


==== Part Two ====
Under the [[Black Guardian]]'s orders, [[Turlough]] locates the [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier]] of [[1977]] and locks him in a side room to keep the two Brigadiers from touching.
The transmat control box short-circuits and explodes, blowing Turlough off his feet before he can strike. As soon as the beam cuts out, the TARDIS travels to Earth -- but vanishes before the Doctor and Turlough's eyes. At that moment Lethbridge-Stewart arrives to take Turlough back to the school, and although the Doctor is delighted to see his old friend, the former Brigadier doesn't recognize him at all. The Doctor soon realizes why -- or so he thinks -- but although he explains that he's regenerated since they last met, this means nothing to Lethbridge-Stewart, and the Doctor realizes that he has no memory whatsoever of their time together. When the Doctor tries to jog his memory by mentioning UNIT, Lethbridge-Stewart agrees to speak with him privately in his cottage, to find out what this strange young man knows about that top secret organisation.


Tegan and Nyssa emerge from the TARDIS by the obelisk, and as the Doctor isn't there to greet them Tegan worries that the transmat capsule may have malfunctioned. As she and Nyssa gaze at the school below, the capsule materialise nearby, and they enter -- to find the hideously burnt body of a man, about the Doctor's height and general shape. They assume that something has gone terribly wrong with the transmat process, and drag the barely conscious man -- whom they assume to be the Doctor -- into the TARDIS to recover. Tegan decides to seek help from the building at the base of the hill, while Nyssa stays with the Doctor; before leaving, Tegan takes a homing device so she can find her way back to the TARDIS easily.
Trying to leave in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]], the Doctor discovers that [[Tegan]] and [[Nyssa]] have been infected by the same malady as [[Mawdryn]] and his compatriots. Attempted time travel accelerates their conditions and reversing out of the warp ellipse only regresses Tegan and Nyssa into children. The only cure, it seems, is to do what Mawdryn demands; the Doctor must give up his remaining regenerations. Meanwhile, the past Brigadier escapes the room and encounters Mawdryn and his crew. Fearing the time imbalance, they send him into the transmat. Unbeknownst to them, the transmat cannot make the trip while the TARDIS is on the vessel and the capsule returns to its station seconds later.


The Doctor learns that Benton has retired and now sells used cars, while Harry Sullivan has been seconded to NATO. But when he inquires after Jo Grant, Sarah Jane and Liz Shaw, Lethbridge-Stewart begins to feel oddly uneasy -- and when the Doctor mentions Yeti, this opens a floodgate of old memories, of Cybermen, Axons, Daleks, Zygons... and the Doctor, in all his past incarnations. Lethbridge-Stewart wonders how he could ever have forgotten, but when the Doctor suggests he might wish to seek treatment Lethbridge-Stewart loses his temper; he eventually calms down and admits that some years ago, after retiring from UNIT and taking on his teaching position here, he suffered a nervous breakdown, apparently brought on by overwork. The Doctor is pleased to have met his old friend again but soon must get back to the business at hand -- locating his TARDIS, Nyssa, and Tegan. Lethbridge-Stewart recalls once meeting an Australian girl named Tegan... and the Doctor realizes that his TARDIS has materialised in the wrong time zone. And hidden within his old friend's fractured memories are the clues he needs to find it again.
[[File:Mawdryn's ship explodes.jpg|thumb|[[Mawdryn's ship]] explodes.]]
Hooking himself up to Mawdryn's apparatus, the Doctor is about to sacrifice himself when the two Brigadiers meet and touch hands, causing a discharge of temporal energy at precisely the right instant to act as a substitute power source. Tegan and Nyssa are cured, [[Mutant (Mawdryn Undead)|the alien scientists]] end their undead existence and the Doctor remains a Time Lord. The younger Brigadier, however, will not remember his time with the Doctor until they meet again in 1983. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan deliver the 1977 and 1983 versions of the Brigadier back to their respective times. Turlough is in the TARDIS control room when they return. He asks if he can join them and the Doctor comments that he already has. In space, Mawdryn's ship self-destructs.


Tegan reaches the school and meets a younger Lethbridge-Stewart, who tries to help her find "Turlough"'s listing in the school register. He is unable to locate any such student, but when Tegan mentions getting help back to the TARDIS, he instantly realizes who her injured friend must be. He sends a student to fetch Dr Runciman and accompanies Tegan back to the TARDIS, but as they go, she sees that the school is preparing to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Since the Doctor was expecting to arrive in 1983, but the TARDIS has materialised in 1977, perhaps the man from the transmat capsule isn't really the Doctor after all...
== Cast ==
* [[Fifth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Peter Davison]]
* [[Tegan Jovanka]] - [[Janet Fielding]]
* [[Nyssa]] - [[Sarah Sutton]]
* [[Vislor Turlough]] – [[Mark Strickson]]
* [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart]] – [[Nicholas Courtney]]
* The [[Black Guardian]] – [[Valentine Dyall]]
* [[Sellick|Headmaster]] – [[Angus MacKay]]
* [[Hippo Ibbotson|Ibbotson]] - [[Stephen Garlick]]
* [[Runciman|Dr Runciman]] - [[Roger Hammond]]
* [[Matron (Mawdryn Undead)|Matron]] - [[Sheila Gill]]
* [[Mawdryn]] – [[David Collings]]
* [[Mutant (Mawdryn Undead)|Mutant]]s – [[Peter Walmsley]], [[Brian Darnley]]


Turlough decides to skip out of his contract and escape from Earth in the transmat capsule -- but the Black Guardian appears in his dreams in the form of the Headmaster, tricking him into revealing his intentions, and Turlough realizes that he'll never be freed of his bargain. Waking in a panic, Turlough wraps up his control cube in his bedding and climbs out of the window. When the Doctor learns of his disappearance he realizes what Turlough intends to do. He's already worried about the high level of coincidence in this affair, which suggests that some cosmic influence is at work behind the scenes; but before he can deal with such abstract concerns he must deal with the matter at hand. And that means Lethbridge-Stewart must remember what happened to him six years ago, and who Nyssa and Tegan really pulled out of the transmat capsule...
=== Uncredited cast ===
* Young Nyssa – [[Lucy Baker]]
* Young Tegan – [[Sian Pattenden]]


As Nyssa waits for Tegan to return, the man in the TARDIS stirs to life, his burns beginning to heal -- and she's shocked to see that he doesn't resemble the Doctor at all. But when he starts to babble about perpetual regeneration, she realizes why; or so she thinks. The regeneration was apparently induced by the instability of the transmat process; now, the "Doctor" demands to be taken back to the alien ship to heal, but Nyssa refuses to go without Tegan. The man, Mawdryn, must wait, but he knows from the presence of the TARDIS that his ending will soon come; although the Time Lords abandoned him to perpetual torment, now he too will become a Time Lord! Tegan and the Brigadier arrive, guided to the TARDIS by the homing beacon, but Mawdryn's healing process has progressed even further -- and as they enter the TARDIS to speak to the Doctor, they find an entirely alien face staring back at them...
== Crew ==
===Part Three===
* [[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[Ian Tootle]]
* [[Costumes]] - [[Amy Roberts]]
* [[Costumes]] - [[Richard Croft]]
* [[Designer (crew)|Designer]] - [[Stephen Scott]]
* [[Film Cameraman]] - [[Godfrey Johnson]]
* [[Film Editor]] - [[Chris Woolley]]
* [[Film sound|Film Sound]] - [[Ron Brown]]
* [[Incidental Music]] - [[Paddy Kingsland]]
* [[Make-Up]] - [[Carolyn Perry]], [[Sheelagh Wells]]
* [[Production Assistant]] - [[Valerie Letley]]
* [[Production Associate]] - [[June Collins]]
* [[Production Manager]] - [[Ann Aronsohn]]
* [[Senior cameraman|Senior Cameraman]] - [[Robin Barnes]]
* [[Studio Lighting]] - [[Don Babbage]]
* [[Studio Sound]] - [[Martin Ridout]]
* [[Special Sounds]] - [[Dick Mills]]
* [[Technical manager|Technical Manager]] - [[Alan Arbuthnott]]
* [[Doctor Who theme|Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]] and the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]]
* [[Title Sequence]] - [[Sid Sutton]]
* [[Theme arrangement]] - [[Peter Howell]]
* [[Vision Mixer]] - [[Carol Johnson]]
* [[Video effects|Video Effects]] - [[Robin Lobb]]
* [[Videotape editor|Videotape Editor]] - [[Rod Waldron]]
* [[Visual effects|Visual Effects Designer]] - [[Stuart Brisdon]]
* [[Writer]] - [[Peter Grimwade]]
* [[Script Editor]] - [[Eric Saward]]
* [[Director (crew)|Director]] - [[Peter Moffatt]]
* [[Producer]] - [[John Nathan-Turner]]


== Worldbuilding ==
=== Anatomy and physiology ===
* Tegan, Nyssa, and the Brigadier refer to having seen the Doctor [[regenerate]].


=== Cultural references from the real world ===
* In 1977, the [[Elizabeth II|Queen]]'s [[Silver jubilee]] is to be celebrated.


The Doctor tries to get Lethbridge-Stewart to remember the events of 1977; not only is this the only way he can find his friends, but he suspects that the events are the cause of Lethbridge-Stewart's nervous breakdown. But at that moment he discovers the control cube wrapped up in Turlough's bedding, and after a moment's thought rushes off to the transmat capsule to stop Turlough from stealing it. Fortunately, Turlough had forgotten that the transmitter was broken. The Doctor returns Turlough's control cube without mentioning what it might be for, and repairs the transmitter, intending to reflect a signal off the ship, through the warp ellipse and back to Tegan and Nyssa in 1977. As he does so he suddenly realizes the danger involved -- if the young Lethbridge-Stewart is to encounter the older Lethbridge-Stewart, the time differential will short out as per the Blinovitch Limitation Effect, releasing a catastrophic charge of temporal energy. As Lethbridge-Stewart tries to remember whether he entered the TARDIS in 1977, Turlough slips away and secretly sabotages the transmitter, which explodes -- separating the Doctor from the TARDIS for good.
=== Individuals ===
* The Doctor mentions several people and things to try to jog the Brigadier's memory, including [[Harry Sullivan]], [[Jo Grant]], [[Sarah Jane Smith]], [[Liz Shaw]], [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]] and [[UNIT]].
* [[John Benton|Sergeant Benton]] left the army in the [[1970s]] and is now a used car salesman.
* [[Harry Sullivan]] went to work with NATO on a top-secret project in [[Porton Down]].
* The Brigadier teaches A-level [[mathematics]].
* [[Powell (Mawdryn Undead)|Powell]] is a student at Brendon Public School.
* [[Solicitor (Mawdryn Undead)|An eccentric solicitor]] is responsible for Turlough.


Tegan, Nyssa and the Brigadier are highly suspicious of the alien figure in the TARDIS, but Mawdryn claims that he is their friend the Doctor and that the unstable transmat induced a mutation during his regeneration. His condition seems to be deteriorating again and he insists that they take him back to the ship, where he may find a laboratory which can help. Tegan is particularly suspicious, especially when the communications console begins to beep and then abruptly stops; but as they have no absolute proof to the contrary, they must give "the Doctor" the benefit of the doubt. Nyssa programmes the TARDIS to reverse its last journey and materialise aboard the ship, and the Brigadier accompanies them. There, Mawdryn departs, telling them to remain where they are as the presence of other life forms may inhibit his regeneration. The Brigadier gives him a moment to get clear and then follows him, just in case, while Tegan and Nyssa remain in the TARDIS. But the Brigadier loses Mawdryn in the ship's corridors and soon becomes lost.
=== Species ===
* Tegan is still wondering if she'll be free of the [[Mara]].
* During the series of flashbacks the Brigadier sees the [[First Doctor]], the [[Second Doctor]], the [[Third Doctor]], the [[Fourth Doctor]], a [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]], a [[Cyberman]], an [[Axon]], a [[Dalek]], the [[K1|K1 Robot]] and a [[Zygon]].


The elder Lethbridge-Stewart clearly recalls the TARDIS departing without him -- and, to the Doctor's delight, he also recalls Tegan giving him the homing device as they approached the TARDIS. The Doctor fetches the homing device from Lethbridge-Stewart's cottage, repairs it, and determines that the TARDIS is now back on board the alien ship. Obviously the alien did not trust the transmat to return him safely and somehow convinced Nyssa and Tegan to take him back. The Doctor takes the homing device back to the transmat capsule; he can use this to home in on the TARDIS, transmatting safely back to the ship. Lethbridge-Stewart and Turlough both insist upon accompanying him. Once aboard the ship, they find a room which the Doctor hadn't encountered last time, and the Doctor sends Turlough to find the TARDIS, while he and the Brigadier investigate. Beyond the mysterious door is a laboratory containing a metamorphic symbiosis generator. This is Gallifreyan technology, used by Time Lords in regeneration crises -- and it's been stolen from Gallifrey and modified.
=== TARDIS ===
* The [[Zero Room]] is mentioned.


Mawdryn's condition continues to deteriorate until he is forced to crawl along the corridors of the ship, his skin blistering and running. By the time he reaches his destination he is too weak to open the secret panel, and must abandon his fellows and crawl further onwards to the laboratory. Turlough happens along moments later, trying to contact the Black Guardian for further instructions. The Guardian orders him to open the panel, which he does -- releasing the creatures beyond, seven other aliens of Mawdryn's kind. As Turlough flees in terror, the aliens stir to life; surprised that Mawdryn is not there, they set off in search of him.
=== Technology ===
* Mawdryn and [[Mutant (Mawdryn Undead)|his followers]] stole a [[metamorphic symbiosis regenerator]], used by [[Time Lord]]s in cases of acute [[regenerative]] crisis, but it induced a perpetual, deathless [[mutation]].


The Doctor studies the modifications to the regenerator, commenting that they could do very nasty things to a Time Lord. Lethbridge-Stewart hears a noise in the corridor outside, sets off to investigate, and just misses running into his younger self. He returns to the laboratory to find a charred and pustulent body lying on the floor, and assumes that it's the Doctor. But when he helps the man into a regenerator cubicle and operates the controls at its instructions, the damage to the creature's body is repaired -- and it proves to be Mawdryn. Lethbridge-Stewart threatens to cut off the power if Mawdryn doesn't explain himself, but that doesn't faze Mawdryn. The Brigadier can't kill him... because he cannot die.
=== Theories and concepts ===
* The Doctor cites the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]].
* The two Brigadiers short out the [[time differential]] between themselves.
* The Doctor talks about reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, a catchphrase of his [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]].
* Mawdryn's spacecraft is caught in a [[warp ellipse]].


The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and finds Nyssa and Tegan, and is appalled to learn that they brought the younger Brigadier with them. He rushes back to the laboratory with them, and moments later, Turlough arrives. But the Black Guardian won't let him take off -- he must remain on the ship to witness the Doctor's final defeat.
=== Transport technology ===
* Tegan knows a great deal about [[transmat]]s.
* Mawdryn and his people make use of [[transmat capsule]]s.
* Tegan compares the spacecraft to the ships ''[[RMS Queen Mary|Queen Mary]]'', about its luxury and ''[[Mary Celeste]]'', about its desolation.
* The Brigadier's car is a blue [[1929]] Humber 16/50 open tourer, Imperial model.


The Doctor and his companions arrive back at the laboratory, where Mawdryn confirms the Doctor's suspicions; he and his fellow scientists stole the regenerator from Gallifrey and modified it to grant themselves immortality, but in doing so they induced a perpetual degenerative mutation. The people of their planet exiled them to this ship for eternity, and the Time Lords abandoned them to their fate. Whenever their ship passes within transmat range of an inhabited planet, one of their kind may leave the ship and take on the form of a native to seek help; but until now, their journey has been without end, and all they want to do now is die. The other aliens arrive and take their places in the regenerator cubicles, as Mawdryn begs the Doctor for help. But the Doctor refuses. What Mawdryn wants would mean the end of the Doctor as a Time Lord...
=== UNIT ===
===Part Four===
* The Brigadier, oblivious of the Doctor, asks him if he had signed an [[Official Secrets Act]] to keep secret his involvement with [[UNIT]].


== Story notes ==
* Every story during [[Season 20 (Doctor Who 1963)|Season 20]] included a story element from the Doctor's past. For this four-part story, one such element was the [[Black Guardian]], who last faced the [[fourth incarnation]] of the Doctor at the conclusion of the [[Key to Time]] saga in 1979. Another, of course, was the Brigadier.
* The original intent of the production team was for the character of [[Ian Chesterton]], one of the original regulars from the series' first two seasons from 1963-65, to return for a guest appearance in this story, hence the school setting; Chesterton was a science teacher. However, actor [[William Russell]] proved to be unavailable due to a stage commitment. Some consideration was given to using [[Harry Sullivan]], who was a regular in the programme for a season in the mid-1970s, before the return of Lethbridge-Stewart was eventually decided upon.{{Fact}}
* The ''[[Radio Times]]'' programme listing for part one was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of the Doctor seated in the Brigadier's school quarters with the accompanying caption "More time travel problems for the Doctor (Peter Davison) result in a reunion with old 'friends': 6.50". ''(original published text)''
* ''Radio Times'' credits [[Nicholas Courtney]] as "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart" in the combined cast for parts one/two, and as "Brigadier" in the combined cast for parts three/four. All on-screen credits read "The Brigadier".
* During the scene in part four where the Doctor's companions are regressed to children, the young Nyssa and Tegan were played by [[Lucy Baker]] and [[Sian Pattenden]] respectively — both of whom were uncredited on-screen and in ''Radio Times'' despite having the respective dialogue "It's no good, Doctor!" and "Stop! Stop!"
* Former producer [[Graham Williams]], the creator of the Guardians, did not know about their return in this season and learned about it only years later during an on-stage interview at a ''Doctor Who'' convention.{{Fact}}
* Originally the slot that this story occupies was to have been given to the long-delayed "[[The Song of Megaptera|The Song of the Space Whale]]" (or ''Space Whale''), in which Turlough would have been one of a group of colonists. However, this was again cancelled and this story took its place. Since it would now serve to introduce Turlough rather than include him as an established character, his role was merged with one of the schoolboys.{{Fact}}
* [[Peter Grimwade]]'s previous story, ''[[Time-Flight (TV story)|Time-Flight]]'', also takes place in two different time zones.
* Grimwade based the public school setting on his own upbringing. He was an alumnus of Truro School, an all-boys private establishment in Cornwall and he "knew the background of a dreadful minor public school very well".{{Fact}}
* The script suggests that the Doctor takes Turlough on because he misses [[Adric]].
* Nicholas Courtney later revealed that he was baffled by the script.{{Fact}}
* Turlough's headmaster was originally called Mr Sellick.{{Fact}}
* [[Ian Levine]] pointed out that setting part of the story in 1977 would now break with the continuity of the Brigadier's original serials, but was overruled.{{Fact}}
* [[Peter Davison]] thought there were an awful lot of holes in the plot and was amazed that the audience didn't notice. He claimed that it taught him a lesson about plots in general.{{Fact}}
* [[Mark Strickson]] claimed that the communication crystal was attached to a car battery to make it bright enough to be seen on camera and each scene with it had to be fourteen seconds long otherwise it got too hot to hold.{{Fact}}
* Peter Davison and Nicholas Courtney previously appeared in the ''[[All Creatures Great and Small]]'' episode "Matters of Life and Death".
* Peter Grimwade originally wanted the events of the story to take place several centuries apart, but he was encouraged to bring them closer together so that one character could be present in both time periods.{{Fact}}
* The title was derived from the [[Wales|Welsh]] words ''marw'' (“dead”) and ''dyn'' (“man”).{{Fact}}
* [[David Collings]] was cast as Mawdryn due to his resemblance to [[Peter Davison]].{{Fact}}
* Peter Grimwade included the flashback scene based on the success of similar scenes in ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'' and ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]],'' both of which he directed.{{Fact}}
* Make-up designer [[Sheelagh Wells]] had been disappointed with the way Mawdryn's brain protuberance blended with his skin and so, during the intervening fortnight, costume designer [[Amy Roberts]] hid the join by adding a metal headband to the mutants' outfits.{{Fact}}


=== Ratings ===
* Part one - 6.5 million viewers
* Part two - 7.5 million viewers
* Part three - 7.4 million viewers
* Part four - 7.7 million viewers


Time Lords can only regenerate twelve times, and the Doctor has already used up four of his. If he gives his regenerative powers to the mutants, allowing them to die, he will never be able to regenerate again. They have experimented for centuries and have been unable to find a cure for their condition, but the Doctor refuses to give up his eight remaining lives to get them out of the mess they've made for themselves. The Doctor and his companions depart, and the mutants allow them to go peacefully -- for Mawdryn knows that the Doctor will return, of his own free will...
=== Filming locations ===
* Trent Park campus of Middlesex Polytechnic, Cockfosters, Enfield, Greater London
* [[BBC Television Centre]] ([[List of stories recorded at BBC Television Centre|Studio 6]]), Shepherd's Bush, [[London]]


The Black Guardian discovers that the two Brigadiers are present on the ship, and orders Turlough to ensure they do not meet. Turlough emerges from the TARDIS and locates the younger Brigadier, and offers to take him to the Doctor. In fact, Turlough tricks him and locks him in the chamber from which the mutants earlier emerged. Turlough then returns to the TARDIS just as the others arrive, and the Doctor tells him to find the younger Brigadier and take him to the transmat. The homing device will allow the transmat capsule to transfer into the TARDIS once the TARDIS is clear of the ship. Turlough returns to fetch the younger Brigadier -- but, much to the Black Guardian's fury, the Brigadier has already escaped.
=== Production errors ===
{{discontinuity}}
* In the scene in which Turlough crashes the Brigadier's car, when he closes in on the other car, the next shot shows the car on the other side of the road, then the next shot shows the car on the right side of the road.
* In the same scene, both sides of the road are covered in thick bush, but as the car is about to crash, an open gate suddenly appears.
* While both aspects of the Brigadier are walking the same stretch of corridor in Mawdryn's ship, a split-screen effect is used to have them both present, then faded out so that one of them can cross the full length of the set. Unfortunately, the fade is obvious in the finished programme as one half of the scene clearly shifts in tone.


Mawdryn and the other mutants watch as the TARDIS dematerialises -- and the younger Brigadier then arrives. Realizing the danger, Mawdryn ushers the Brigadier off to the transmat capsule so he can return to Earth. But the Doctor and his companions have run into a problem; Tegan and Nyssa have collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS, their skin disintegrating just like Mawdryn's. The aliens' past experimentation to find a cure has resulted in a viral side-effect, and Nyssa and Tegan were infected when they carried Mawdryn from the transmat capsule to the TARDIS. The Doctor is able to reverse the effect by travelling back to the ship, but when he tries to negotiate the warp ellipse in the opposite direction Nyssa and Tegan revert to childhood. Once again the Doctor must return to the ship to reverse the effect -- and as the TARDIS is unable to leave the ship, the transmat capsule is unable to dematerialise as well. The younger Brigadier emerges from the capsule to find himself still on board the ship, and sets off in search of the Doctor.
=== Myths ===
* The flashback montage when the Brigadier recovers his memory commits a continuity error by including a [[Krynoid]], an enemy the Brigadier never encountered. ''The montage actually depicts an [[Axos|Axon]], which the Brigadier ''did'' encounter. This confusion is likely the result of the first-stage Krynoid re-using an Axon costume that was sprayed green, and the montage using a sepia tint which makes the Axon look darker and more like a Krynoid''.


The Doctor emerges from the TARDIS to confront Mawdryn, who admits that Nyssa and Tegan have been infected, although not deliberately. The aliens have found no cure for the degeneration, and they will fall subject to it whenever they travel through Time -- and as they must negotiate the warp ellipse to leave the ship, that means they will be trapped here for the rest of their lives. Their only hope is to share in the Doctor's life force, and the mutants refuse to allow them to use the laboratory unless the Doctor allows them to share in the power as well. The Doctor has no choice; in order to save his companions' lives, he must give up eight of his own. Lethbridge-Stewart accompanies them to the laboratory to operate the regenerator while the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and the mutants connect themselves to it. But as the regenerator begins to power up, the younger Brigadier hears the sound and approaches the laboratory to investigate. Turlough, warned by the Black Guardian of the danger, arrives moments too late. The younger Brigadier enters the laboratory just as the transfer is about to take place -- and the elder Brigadier finally remembers what happened to him six years ago. Before the Doctor can do anything, the two Brigadiers touch, and there is a colossal explosion...
== Continuity ==
* The Black Guardian swore revenge on the Doctor during his [[fourth incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Armageddon Factor (TV story)|The Armageddon Factor]]'')
** He continues to use Turlough in pursuit of this revenge. ([[TV]]: ''[[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]]'', ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)|Enlightenment]]'')
* Tegan is still unsure if she is finally free of the Mara. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]'', ''[[Snakedance (TV story)|Snakedance]]'')
* It is explicitly stated that the Doctor is currently in his fifth incarnation.
* Another example of Time Lord technology being used to create perpetual regeneration was used by the [[Minyan]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Underworld (TV story)|Underworld]]'')
* Turlough's origins are finally explained in his final adventure aboard the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'')
* When Nyssa and Tegan are caring for a decrepit Mawdryn, he is given the red greatcoat that the Doctor wore near the end of his fourth incarnation ([[TV]]: ''[[The Leisure Hive (TV story)|The Leisure Hive]]'' through [[TV]]: ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]''); Mawdryn later proceeds to wear this coat for some time.
* The Doctor says, "If I reverse the polarity of the neutron flow...", as sometimes said by the [[Third Doctor]].
* When remembering his time with the Doctor, the older Brigadier recalls:
** a [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Web of Fear (TV story)|The Web of Fear]]'')
** a [[Cyberman]] and the [[Second Doctor]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion (TV story)|The Invasion]]'')
** the [[Third Doctor]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'')
** a [[Silurian]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'')
** an [[Axon]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Claws of Axos (TV story)|The Claws of Axos]]'')
** a [[Dalek]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks (TV story)|Day of the Daleks]]'')
** {{Delgado}} ([[TV]]: ''[[Terror of the Autons (TV story)|Terror of the Autons]]'')
** witnessing the Doctor's third regeneration ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]])''
** seeing the interior of [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] and the [[First Doctor]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'')
** the [[K1]] robot ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'')
** a [[Zygon]] and the [[Fourth Doctor]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Terror of the Zygons (TV story)|Terror of the Zygons]]'')
* When [[Tegan]] is suspicious about [[Turlough]], saying that "Humans just don't walk into transmat capsules", [[Nyssa]] then disproves her by saying "Like you did, walking into the TARDIS on the [[Barnet Bypass]]?" ([[TV]]: ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'')
* Tegan mentions the ''[[Mary Celeste]]''. The [[First Doctor]] had a hand in its mysterious fate. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Chase (TV story)|The Chase]]'')
* Tegan also mentions the ''[[RMS Queen Mary|Queen Mary]]''. The Doctor landed aboard during his [[Fourth Doctor|fourth incarnation]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Ghost Ship (novel)|Ghost Ship]]'')
* Nyssa wishes that the previously-jettisoned [[Zero Room]] was still in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]'')
* The TARDIS's [[homing device]] is used again. ([[TV]]: ''[[Full Circle (TV story)|Full Circle]]'', ''[[The Keeper of Traken (TV story)|The Keeper of Traken]]'')
* [[Charlie Gibbs]] was another of Turlough's classmates. However, Turlough did not learn until [[2013]] that Gibbs was also from Trion and that his family supported the opposing faction in the [[civil war]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eldrad Must Die! (audio story)|Eldrad Must Die!]]'')
* In his [[1996]] book ''[[Who Killed Kennedy (novel)|Who Killed Kennedy]]'', the journalist [[James Stevens]] described Brendon Public School as "a minor public school for boys." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Who Killed Kennedy (novel)|Who Killed Kennedy]]'')
* Turlough enjoyed studying [[history]] while at Brendon Public School. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Phantasmagoria (audio story)|Phantasmagoria]]'') However, he hated [[William Shakespeare]]'s works. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Emerald Tiger (audio story)|The Emerald Tiger]]'')
* As a Time Lord, the Doctor can only [[regenerate]] twelve times. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Deadly Assassin (TV story)|The Deadly Assassin]]'')
* When the Brigadier is being returned to 1983, he notes that the Doctor's "been making some changes around here". Similarly, the [[Second Doctor]] previously critiqued his immediate successor's choice of interior decorating, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'') and the [[Fifth Doctor]] disliked the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s "desktop theme". ([[TV]]: ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]'') The Tenth Doctor himself expressed an immediate dislike to [[Eleventh Doctor|his successor]]'s TARDIS interior design. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')


In the corridors outside, Turlough is surprised to find that he is still alive... and when he takes the control cube from his pocket, he finds it cracked through.
== Home video and audio releases ==
=== DVD releases ===
This story was released as ''Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead''.


The Brigadier's timing has been impeccable. The release of temporal energy was redirected through the regenerator at the moment of transfer, curing Nyssa and Tegan and killing the mutants while allowing the Doctor to retain his eight remaining regenerations. Mawdryn is the last to die, grateful that his journey is finally over. With the death of the mutants the ship begins to drop out of orbit, and as the Doctor and his companions carry the groggy Brigadiers back to the TARDIS, Tegan takes the opportunity to thank him for risking his lives for their sake.
Released:
* [[10 August (releases)|10 August]] [[2009 (releases)|2009]] - Region 2
* [[5 November (releases)|5 November]] 2009 - Region 4
* [[3 November (releases)|3 November]] 2009 - Region 1


While Nyssa waits in the TARDIS corridors with the recovering Lethbridge-Stewart, the Doctor and Tegan take the unconscious younger Brigadier back to 1977. There, as Dr Runciman arrives in response to his earlier request for help, the Brigadier stirs to life just in time to see the TARDIS vanish without him. The Doctor then transports the elder Lethbridge-Stewart back to 1983, where he announces that he's feeling better than he has for six years. The Doctor then remembers about Turlough and enters the TARDIS to rescue him from the aliens' ship, only to find that Turlough has already stowed away aboard the TARDIS. Turlough asks the Doctor for permission to join his company... and Nyssa and Tegan share a doubtful glance as the Doctor happily welcomes him aboard.
==== Special Features: ====
* Commentary by [[Peter Davison]] ([[Fifth Doctor|the Doctor]]), [[Mark Strickson]] ([[Turlough]]), [[Nicholas Courtney]] ([[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|The Brigadier]]), and Script Editor [[Eric Saward]].
* ''[[Who Wants to Live Forever? (documentary)|Who Wants to Live Forever?]]'' - Cast and crew look back at the making of this story
* ''[[Liberty Hall (home video)|Liberty Hall]]'' - A new drama in which a journalist travels to Brendon School to interview Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
* Deleted and Extended Scenes
* Film Trims - Taken from the location filming, including clapperboards and cast and crew setting up and performing various scenes
* Out-takes
* New CGI effects - The option to watch the story with many of the original video effects sequences replaced by new CGI
* Continuity - Original BBC-1 continuity announcements
* Studio floorplans (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
* CGI Storyboards (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
* ''[[Radio Times]]'' Listings (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
* Isolated Music Score
* Production Information Subtitles
* Photo Gallery
* Coming Soon Trailer - ''[[The Twin Dilemma (TV story)|The Twin Dilemma]]''
* Easter Eggs:
** TARDIS Information File. To access this hidden feature, press left at Deleted and Extended Scenes on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden ''Doctor Who'' logo.
** ​Studio floorplans. To access this hidden feature, press left at Set Photo Gallery on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden ''Doctor Who'' logo.


Up in space, Mawdryn’s ship self-destructs...
Notes:
* Editing for the DVD release was completed by the [[Doctor Who Restoration Team]].
* It is available only in ''The Black Guardian Trilogy'' box set.


==Cast==
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true" widths="150">
*[[Fifth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Peter Davison]]
Mawdryn undead region4.jpg|R4 DVD cover
*[[Tegan Jovanka]] - [[Janet Fielding]]
Mawdryn_undead_us_dvd.jpg|R1 DVD cover
*[[Nyssa]] - [[Sarah Sutton]]
Bbcdvd-mawdrynundead.jpg|Region 2 DVD cover
*[[Turlough]] – [[Mark Strickson]]
</gallery>
*[[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] – [[Nicholas Courtney]]
*[[Black Guardian | The Black Guardian]] – [[Valentine Dyall]]
*Headmaster – [[Angus MacKay]]
*[[Ibbotson]] - [[Stephen Garlick]]
*[[Runciman | Dr Runciman]] - [[Roger Hammond]]
*Matron - [[Sheila Gill]]
*[[Mawdryn]] – [[David Collings]]
*[[Mutant]]s - [[Peter Walmsley]], [[Brian Darnley]]


==Crew==
==== Box set ====
*[[Studio Lighting]] - [[Don Babbage]]
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
*[[Visual Effects]] - [[Stuart Brisdon]]
Bbcdvd87-us.jpg|Region 1 cover
*[[Production Associate]] - [[June Collins]]
</gallery>
*[[Costumes]] - [[Richard Croft]]
*[[Title Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]] and the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]]
*[[Theme arrangement]] - [[Peter Howell]]
*[[Film Cameraman]] - [[Godfrey Johnson]]
*[[Incidental Music]] - [[Paddy Kingsland]]
*[[Production Assistant]] - [[Valerie Letley]]
*[[Special Sounds]] - [[Dick Mills]]
*[[Make-Up]] - [[Carolyn Perry]], [[Sheelagh Wells]]
*[[Studio Sound]] - [[Martin Ridout]]
*[[Costumes]] - [[Amy Roberts]]
*[[Designer]] - [[Stephen Scott]]
*[[Assistant Floor Manager]] - [[Ian Tootle]]
*[[Film Editor]] - [[Chris Woolley]]
*[[Writer]] - [[Peter Grimwade]]
*[[Script Editor]] - [[Eric Saward]]
*[[Director]] - [[Peter Moffatt]]
*[[Producer]] - [[John Nathan-Turner]]


==References==
=== Video releases ===
*The Doctor cites the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]].
This story was released on VHS in November 1992 in the UK markets, 1993 in Australian markets and 1994 in US markets.
*Tegan is still wondering if she'll be free of the [[Mara]].
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true" widths="180">
*The Doctor lists off several people to try to jog the Brigadier's memory including: [[Harry Sullivan]], [[Jo Grant]], [[Sarah Jane Smith]], [[Liz Shaw]], [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]] and [[UNIT]].
File:Mawdryn Undead VHS UK cover.jpg|VHS UK cover
*[[John Benton|Sergeant Benton]] left the army in the 1970s and is now a used car salesman.
File:Mawdryn Undead VHS Australian cover.jpg|VHS Australian cover
*[[Harry Sullivan]] went to work with NATO on a project in [[Porton Down]].
File:Mawdryn Undead VHS US cover.jpg|VHS US cover
*During the series of flashbacks the Brigadier sees; The [[First Doctor]], [[Second Doctor]], [[Third Doctor]], [[Fourth Doctor]], a [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]], a [[Cyberman]], an [[Axon]], a [[Dalek]], [[K1|K1 Robot]] and a [[Zygon]].
</gallery>
*Tegan knows a lot about [[transmat]]s, probably from her experiences in [[MA]]: ''[[Cold Fusion]]''.
*Tegan and Nyssa refer to seeing the Doctor [[regenerate]].
*The [[Zero Room]] is mentioned.
*Mawdryn stole a [[metamorphic symbiosis regenerator]], used by [[Time Lord]]s in cases of acute [[regenerative crisis]], but it induced a perpetual, deathless [[mutation]].
*The Doctor talks about reversing the polarity of the [[neutron flow]] a catchphrase of the [[Third Doctor]].


==Story Notes==
== External links ==
*Every story during [[Season 20]] had the Doctor face an enemy from each of his past incarnations. For this trilogy, the enemy was the [[Black Guardian]], who last faced the [[Fourth Doctor|fourth incarnation]] of the Doctor at the conclusion of the [[Key to Time]] saga in [[1979]].
* {{bbcepguideclassic|mawdrynundead/|Mawdryn Undead}}
*[[David Collings]], who played Mawdryn, also appeared in the [[Tom Baker|Fourth Doctor]] stories [[DW]]: ''[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]'' as [[Vorus]] and [[DW]]: ''[[The Robots of Death]]'' as [[Poul]], and would himself play an alternate Doctor in [[Big Finish Productions]]' [[Doctor Who Unbound]] audio drama, ''[[Full Fathom Five]]''.
* {{radiotimes|2012-01-24/mawdryn-undead}}
*The original intent of the production team was for the character of [[Ian Chesterton]], one of the original regulars from the series' first two seasons from [[1963]]-[[1965|65]], to return for a guest appearance in this story, hence the school setting as Chesterton was a science teacher. However, actor [[William Russell]] proved to be unavailable. Some consideration was given to using instead the character of [[Harry Sullivan]], who was a regular in the programme for a season in the mid-[[1970s]], before the return of Lethbridge-Stewart was eventually decided upon.
{{dwcast}}
*''Radio Times'' credits Nicholas Courtney as '''Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart''' in the combined cast for Parts One/Two, and as '''Brigadier''' in the combined cast for Parts Three/Four. All on-screen credits read '''The Brigadier'''.
{{dwrefguide|who_6f.htm|Mawdryn Undead}}
*Former producer [[Graham Williams]], the creator of the Guardians, did not know about their return in this season and learned about it only years later during an on-stage interview at a ''Doctor Who'' convention.
* {{briefhistory|serials/6f.html|Mawdryn Undead}}
*Originally the slot that this story occupies would have been given to the long-delayed "[[Song of the Space Whale]]" (or "Space Whale"), in which Turlough would have been one of a group of colonists, however this was once again cancelled and this story took its place.
* {{locguide|mawdrynundead|Mawdryn Undead}}
*Peter Grimwade's previous story, [[DW]]:  ''[[Time-Flight]]'', also takes place in two different times.
{{DWTV}}
 
===Ratings===
*Part 1 - 6.5 million viewers
*Part 2 - 7.5 million viewers
*Part 3 - 7.4 million viewers
*Part 4 - 7.7 million viewers
 
===Myths===
''to be added''
 
===Filming Locations===
*Trent Park campus of Middlesex Polytechnic, Cockfosters, Hertfordshire
*[[BBC Television Centre]] ([[List of stories recorded at BBC Television Centre|Studio 6]]), Shepherd's Bush, [[London]]
 
===Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors===
*Mawdryn Undead has the unfortunate distinction of contributing to one of the biggest and most widely discussed contradictions in the ''Doctor Who'' universe: the "[[UNIT dating controversy]]".
*The Brigadier states that he has seen the Doctor regenerate twice. In fact, he has only seen him regenerate once, in [[DW]]:  ''[[Planet of the Spiders]]'' The former might refer to [[ST]]: ''[[The Touch of the Nurazh]]'' or his thoughts on that the Third Doctor had changed back to the Second in [[DW]]: ''[[The Three Doctors]]''. ''Alternatively, he might simply have chosen his words poorly and been referring to his knowledge of the Doctor's regeneration from Second to Third, even though he did not physically witness it. Also, his actual words are that he has 'seen <u>it</u> twice' which could just as easily refer to the after effects of regeneration (amnesia, disorientation, etc) and not the process itself.''
*With a whole cosmos to choose from, couldn't the Black Guardian have selected a more reliable assassin to deal with the Doctor than Turlough? ''He is limited to picking someone who will come in contact with the Doctor, having no power to directly influence what happens within the universe. Turlough is the most likely candidate of who he has to choose from.''
*If Mawdryn and his associates really wanted to die, couldn't they simply have rigged the engines of their ship to explode (as we see happen at the end of the story). The explosion would surely have been enough to scatter their molecules across space, making further regeneration impossible. The same would, after all, certainly kill a Time Lord. ''Their journey was in part meant to be a punishment. The engines might have been designed to be tamper-resistant.''
 
==Continuity==
*The "Black Guardian Trilogy" continues in the story [[DW]]: ''[[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]]''.
*[[Fourth Doctor|The Doctor]] last encountered the [[Black Guardian]] in [[DW]]: ''[[The Armageddon Factor]]'',  in which he also hinted that what he thought was the [[White Guardian]] in [[DW]]: ''[[The Ribos Operation]]'' may have been the Black Guardian posing as his counterpart.
*At the story's opening, Tegan is still unsure if she is finally free of the Mara, a reference to the previous story, [[DW]]: ''[[Snakedance]]''.
*Mawdryn Undead also makes the first explicit statement in the series that the current Doctor is the fifth incarnation.
*Another example of Time Lord technology being used to create perpetual regeneration was seen in [[DW]]: ''[[Underworld]]''.
*Turlough's origins are finally explained in [[DW]]: ''[[Planet of Fire]]''.
*Mawdryn finds in the TARDIS and wears the red coat worn by the [[Fourth Doctor]].
*There are a series of flashbacks as the Brigadier remembers including:
:*[[DW]]: ''[[The Web of Fear]]'': a [[Robot Yeti|Yeti]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'': a [[Cyberman]] and the [[Second Doctor]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'': [[Third Doctor]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[The Claws of Axos]]'': an [[Axon]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks]]'': a [[Dalek]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[The Three Doctors]]'': seeing the interior of  [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] and the [[First Doctor]],
:*[[DW]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'': the [[K1]] Robot,
:*[[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Zygons]]'': a [[Zygon]] and the [[Fourth Doctor]].
 
==Timeline==
*This story occurs after [[MA]]: ''[[Goth Opera]]''
*This story occurs before [[DW]]: ''[[Terminus (TV story)|Terminus]]''
 
==DVD, Video and Other Releases==
This story along with [[DW]]: ''[[Terminus (TV story)]]'' and [[DW]]: ''[[Enlightenment (TV story)]]'' was released in [[The Black Guardian Trilogy]] Boxset on 10th August 2009 in the UK.
 
This story was released on VHS in November 1992.
 
==Novelisation==
[[Image:Mawdryn Undead novel.jpg|right|75px]]
: ''Main article: [[Mawdryn Undead (novelisation)]]''
 
* Novelised by [[Peter Grimwade]] in [[1984]].
 
==See Also==
''to be added''
 
==External Links==
*{{bbcepguideclassic|mawdrynundead/|Mawdryn Undead}}
*{{dwrefguide|who_6f.htm|Mawdryn Undead}}
*{{briefhistory|serials/6f.html|Mawdryn Undead}}
*{{locguide|mawdrynundead|Mawdryn Undead}}
 
{{season 20}}
{{Regeneration stories}}
{{Regeneration stories}}
{{Black Guardian stories}}
{{UNIT stories}}
{{UNIT stories}}
[[Category:Fifth Doctor episodes]]
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:1983 television stories]]
 
[[Category:Doctor Who (1963) television stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1977]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1977]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1983]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1983]]
[[Category:Stories set in England]]
[[Category:Stories set in England]]
[[Category:Black Guardian trilogy]]
[[Category:Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart television stories]]
[[Category:Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart episodes]]
[[Category:Regeneration television stories]]
[[Category:Season 20 stories]]
[[Category:Four part serials]]
[[Category:The Doctors and Monsters, Aliens, Robot stories]]
 
[[de:126 - Mawdryn Undead]]
[[es:Mawdryn Undead]]
[[fr:Mawdryn Undead (TV)]]
[[ru:Мертвец Модрин]]

Latest revision as of 20:17, 4 August 2024

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Mawdryn Undead was the third serial of season 20 of Doctor Who. It saw the return of the Brigadier, and was the first story in the "Black Guardian trilogy". It also marked the first appearance of Vislor Turlough as both a companion and a villain.

Due to its use of very specific date, such as placing the Brigadier's retirement during 1976, this story attempted to address the so-called UNIT dating controversy. However, in so doing, it became a major part of that very controversy.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

A warp ellipse draws the TARDIS off course. The Fifth Doctor's companions are separated from him not in space, but in time, and he has to deal with a treacherous schoolboy named Turlough. But why does the Doctor's old friend, the Brigadier, not remember him at all?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

In 1983, the former UNIT Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart teaches mathematics at Brendon Public School for Boys. A mischievous student, Turlough, convinces his classmate Ibbotson to join him in a joyride in the Brigadier's priceless antique car, which they accidentally veer off the road and crash. While unconscious, Turlough is contacted by the sinister Black Guardian. The Black Guardian knows Turlough is actually from another planet. He offers Turlough transportation off Earth if he will kill the Guardian's greatest enemy: the Doctor.

At the same time, the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa have problems of their own. As Tegan attempts to get reassurance from the Doctor that she is free from the Mara, the TARDIS is caught in a warp ellipse and materialises on board an apparently empty starliner locked in a perpetual orbit in time and space. Turlough, on the Black Guardian's instructions, transports himself onto the liner by means of a transmat capsule and encounters the TARDIS crew. The Doctor travels to Earth via transmat, taking Turlough with him, to get rid of the transmat interference trapping the TARDIS on the liner. The source of the interference is not far from the school grounds. As the Doctor is sorting out the device, Turlough, responding to the Black Guardian's exhortations, picks up a large rock and prepares to bring it down on the back of the Doctor's head...

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

"The Doctor" regenerating.

The interference device explodes, knocking the Doctor backwards and forcing the rock out of Turlough's hands. The TARDIS materialises nearby, but vanishes shortly after, seemingly leaving the Doctor stranded. The Doctor meets the Brigadier at the school, but is puzzled when his old comrade-in-arms does not remember him. He eventually works around the apparent gap in the Brigadier's memory by mentioning Jo Grant, Liz Shaw and other past adventures. To the Doctor's surprise, the Brigadier claims to remember Tegan, having met her shortly before his nervous breakdown in 1977. The Doctor realises that the TARDIS hasn't disappeared; the destruction of the device knocked the TARDIS off a time track and sent it back six years.

In 1977, Tegan and Nyssa encounter the transmat capsule. Inside is an alien-looking humanoid whom they initially believe is the Doctor, horribly injured; they bring the figure back to the TARDIS and make him comfortable on the control room floor with blankets and the burgundy greatcoat worn by the previous Doctor. Tegan goes to the school for help, where she meets the younger Brigadier, who accompanies her back to the TARDIS, where Nyssa tells them "the Doctor" is regenerating. The three enter the TARDIS control room. The figure, who is a scientist called Mawdryn, now wearing the Doctor's coat, turns to face them. The top of his skull is missing, revealing his pulsing brain. Nyssa screams in horror.

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

"There is nothing to fear. Reach out your hand."

Under the pretence of being the Doctor, suffering a failed regeneration, Mawdryn convinces the others to bring the TARDIS to the ship, claiming it has restorative capabilities. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Turlough and the present-day Brigadier use a TARDIS homing device on the damaged transmat to bring themselves to the ship, splitting up soon after to search for Tegan and Nyssa. Under the Black Guardian's instruction, Turlough opens a secret room, revealing several humanoids suffering from the same malady as Mawdryn. Mawdryn fools the present-day Brigadier into using a stolen Time Lord device to stabilise his condition. Finding the TARDIS, the Doctor reunites with Tegan and Nyssa. When he learns there are two Brigadiers aboard, he has to try to keep them apart lest the resulting energy discharge prove catastrophic.

The Doctor and Nyssa meet with the present-day Brigadier and Mawdryn. Mawdryn reveals that he and his his fellow scientist tried to steal the secret of regeneration from the Time Lords, but caused perpetual mutations, leaving them practically immortal but in horrible agony. Tegan is chased into the room by Mawdryn's mutated crewmates. The mutants take their places in the regeneration room and Mawdryn pleads with the Doctor to help them die by giving them his regeneration energy. The Doctor refuses, explaining to Tegan that if he did so it would mean the end of him as a Time Lord...

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

"They are harmless, except to the Doctor."

The Doctor explains that he can only regenerate twelve times, and that, as he has already done so four times, helping the mutants die would consume all eight of his remaining regenerations. Although Mawdryn proclaims that the only thing they desire is their deaths rather than the Doctor's 'murder,' the Doctor refuses, unwilling to sacrifice his remaining lives to save them from their own mistake.

Under the Black Guardian's orders, Turlough locates the Brigadier of 1977 and locks him in a side room to keep the two Brigadiers from touching.

Trying to leave in the TARDIS, the Doctor discovers that Tegan and Nyssa have been infected by the same malady as Mawdryn and his compatriots. Attempted time travel accelerates their conditions and reversing out of the warp ellipse only regresses Tegan and Nyssa into children. The only cure, it seems, is to do what Mawdryn demands; the Doctor must give up his remaining regenerations. Meanwhile, the past Brigadier escapes the room and encounters Mawdryn and his crew. Fearing the time imbalance, they send him into the transmat. Unbeknownst to them, the transmat cannot make the trip while the TARDIS is on the vessel and the capsule returns to its station seconds later.

Mawdryn's ship explodes.

Hooking himself up to Mawdryn's apparatus, the Doctor is about to sacrifice himself when the two Brigadiers meet and touch hands, causing a discharge of temporal energy at precisely the right instant to act as a substitute power source. Tegan and Nyssa are cured, the alien scientists end their undead existence and the Doctor remains a Time Lord. The younger Brigadier, however, will not remember his time with the Doctor until they meet again in 1983. The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan deliver the 1977 and 1983 versions of the Brigadier back to their respective times. Turlough is in the TARDIS control room when they return. He asks if he can join them and the Doctor comments that he already has. In space, Mawdryn's ship self-destructs.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Anatomy and physiology[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Tegan, Nyssa, and the Brigadier refer to having seen the Doctor regenerate.

Cultural references from the real world[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Theories and concepts[[edit] | [edit source]]

Transport technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Tegan knows a great deal about transmats.
  • Mawdryn and his people make use of transmat capsules.
  • Tegan compares the spacecraft to the ships Queen Mary, about its luxury and Mary Celeste, about its desolation.
  • The Brigadier's car is a blue 1929 Humber 16/50 open tourer, Imperial model.

UNIT[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Brigadier, oblivious of the Doctor, asks him if he had signed an Official Secrets Act to keep secret his involvement with UNIT.

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

  • Every story during Season 20 included a story element from the Doctor's past. For this four-part story, one such element was the Black Guardian, who last faced the fourth incarnation of the Doctor at the conclusion of the Key to Time saga in 1979. Another, of course, was the Brigadier.
  • The original intent of the production team was for the character of Ian Chesterton, one of the original regulars from the series' first two seasons from 1963-65, to return for a guest appearance in this story, hence the school setting; Chesterton was a science teacher. However, actor William Russell proved to be unavailable due to a stage commitment. Some consideration was given to using Harry Sullivan, who was a regular in the programme for a season in the mid-1970s, before the return of Lethbridge-Stewart was eventually decided upon.[source needed]
  • The Radio Times programme listing for part one was accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of the Doctor seated in the Brigadier's school quarters with the accompanying caption "More time travel problems for the Doctor (Peter Davison) result in a reunion with old 'friends': 6.50". (original published text)
  • Radio Times credits Nicholas Courtney as "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart" in the combined cast for parts one/two, and as "Brigadier" in the combined cast for parts three/four. All on-screen credits read "The Brigadier".
  • During the scene in part four where the Doctor's companions are regressed to children, the young Nyssa and Tegan were played by Lucy Baker and Sian Pattenden respectively — both of whom were uncredited on-screen and in Radio Times despite having the respective dialogue "It's no good, Doctor!" and "Stop! Stop!"
  • Former producer Graham Williams, the creator of the Guardians, did not know about their return in this season and learned about it only years later during an on-stage interview at a Doctor Who convention.[source needed]
  • Originally the slot that this story occupies was to have been given to the long-delayed "The Song of the Space Whale" (or Space Whale), in which Turlough would have been one of a group of colonists. However, this was again cancelled and this story took its place. Since it would now serve to introduce Turlough rather than include him as an established character, his role was merged with one of the schoolboys.[source needed]
  • Peter Grimwade's previous story, Time-Flight, also takes place in two different time zones.
  • Grimwade based the public school setting on his own upbringing. He was an alumnus of Truro School, an all-boys private establishment in Cornwall and he "knew the background of a dreadful minor public school very well".[source needed]
  • The script suggests that the Doctor takes Turlough on because he misses Adric.
  • Nicholas Courtney later revealed that he was baffled by the script.[source needed]
  • Turlough's headmaster was originally called Mr Sellick.[source needed]
  • Ian Levine pointed out that setting part of the story in 1977 would now break with the continuity of the Brigadier's original serials, but was overruled.[source needed]
  • Peter Davison thought there were an awful lot of holes in the plot and was amazed that the audience didn't notice. He claimed that it taught him a lesson about plots in general.[source needed]
  • Mark Strickson claimed that the communication crystal was attached to a car battery to make it bright enough to be seen on camera and each scene with it had to be fourteen seconds long otherwise it got too hot to hold.[source needed]
  • Peter Davison and Nicholas Courtney previously appeared in the All Creatures Great and Small episode "Matters of Life and Death".
  • Peter Grimwade originally wanted the events of the story to take place several centuries apart, but he was encouraged to bring them closer together so that one character could be present in both time periods.[source needed]
  • The title was derived from the Welsh words marw (“dead”) and dyn (“man”).[source needed]
  • David Collings was cast as Mawdryn due to his resemblance to Peter Davison.[source needed]
  • Peter Grimwade included the flashback scene based on the success of similar scenes in Logopolis and Earthshock, both of which he directed.[source needed]
  • Make-up designer Sheelagh Wells had been disappointed with the way Mawdryn's brain protuberance blended with his skin and so, during the intervening fortnight, costume designer Amy Roberts hid the join by adding a metal headband to the mutants' outfits.[source needed]

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Part one - 6.5 million viewers
  • Part two - 7.5 million viewers
  • Part three - 7.4 million viewers
  • Part four - 7.7 million viewers

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.
  • In the scene in which Turlough crashes the Brigadier's car, when he closes in on the other car, the next shot shows the car on the other side of the road, then the next shot shows the car on the right side of the road.
  • In the same scene, both sides of the road are covered in thick bush, but as the car is about to crash, an open gate suddenly appears.
  • While both aspects of the Brigadier are walking the same stretch of corridor in Mawdryn's ship, a split-screen effect is used to have them both present, then faded out so that one of them can cross the full length of the set. Unfortunately, the fade is obvious in the finished programme as one half of the scene clearly shifts in tone.

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The flashback montage when the Brigadier recovers his memory commits a continuity error by including a Krynoid, an enemy the Brigadier never encountered. The montage actually depicts an Axon, which the Brigadier did encounter. This confusion is likely the result of the first-stage Krynoid re-using an Axon costume that was sprayed green, and the montage using a sepia tint which makes the Axon look darker and more like a Krynoid.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

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

This story was released as Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead.

Released:

Special Features:[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Commentary by Peter Davison (the Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), and Script Editor Eric Saward.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever? - Cast and crew look back at the making of this story
  • Liberty Hall - A new drama in which a journalist travels to Brendon School to interview Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • Film Trims - Taken from the location filming, including clapperboards and cast and crew setting up and performing various scenes
  • Out-takes
  • New CGI effects - The option to watch the story with many of the original video effects sequences replaced by new CGI
  • Continuity - Original BBC-1 continuity announcements
  • Studio floorplans (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
  • CGI Storyboards (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
  • Radio Times Listings (DVD-ROM - PC/Mac)
  • Isolated Music Score
  • Production Information Subtitles
  • Photo Gallery
  • Coming Soon Trailer - The Twin Dilemma
  • Easter Eggs:
    • TARDIS Information File. To access this hidden feature, press left at Deleted and Extended Scenes on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden Doctor Who logo.
    • ​Studio floorplans. To access this hidden feature, press left at Set Photo Gallery on the Special Features menu to reveal a hidden Doctor Who logo.

Notes:

  • Editing for the DVD release was completed by the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
  • It is available only in The Black Guardian Trilogy box set.
  • R4 DVD cover

    R4 DVD cover

  • R1 DVD cover

    R1 DVD cover

  • Region 2 DVD cover

    Region 2 DVD cover

Box set[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Region 1 cover

    Region 1 cover

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

This story was released on VHS in November 1992 in the UK markets, 1993 in Australian markets and 1994 in US markets.

  • VHS UK cover

    VHS UK cover

  • VHS Australian cover

    VHS Australian cover

  • VHS US cover

    VHS US cover

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

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