Pyramids of Mars (TV story)

Pyramids of Mars
Novelised as:	Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars
Doctor:	Fourth Doctor
Companion(s):	Sarah
Main enemy:	Sutekh
Main setting:	England, Egypt, and Mars, 1911
Key crew
Writer:	Stephen Harris
Director:	Paddy Russell
Producer:	Philip Hinchcliffe
Release details
Story number:	82
Number of parts:	4
Premiere broadcast:	25 October 1975 - 15 November 1975
Premiere network:	BBC1
Format:	4x25-minute episodes
Doctor Who television stories
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You may be looking for the reference book of the same name.

Pyramids of Mars was the third serial of season 13 of Doctor Who. It saw the introduction and first televised appearance of Sutekh.

Synopsis

In a Victorian Gothic mansion, strange things are afoot. The master of the house, away in Egypt, has been replaced by a sinister Egyptian. Cloth-wrapped mummies roam the grounds, killing people. Beneath a pyramid, the last of the Osirans — Sutekh the Destroyer — waits to be freed, to at long last bring his gift of death to all who live.

Plot

Part one

"It's absolutely untouched. The reliquaries are still sealed. Look at this. Great heaven, this tomb must date back to the First Dynasty of the Pharaohs".

Egypt, 1911: Marcus Scarman, Fellow and Professor of Archaeology at All Souls College, Oxford University, is excavating a blind pyramid. He finds the door to the burial chamber is inscribed with the Eye of Horus. The Egyptian labourers flee at the sight of the glowing hieroglyph, leaving the Professor to enter the chamber alone. As he holds a light to see the undisturbed tomb, he is blasted by a green ray that emanates from a seated and cowled figure.

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith are still on their way back to UNIT Headquarters in the TARDIS. Sarah Jane comes in wearing a long white dress she has found in the wardrobe room, which the Doctor recognizes as having belonged to his former companion Victoria; and tells the Doctor he should be glad to be going home. The Doctor is in a mood and replies Earth isn't his home, and it is time he finds something better to do than run around after the Brigadier. Sarah Jane attributes this state of mind to the Doctor going through something of a mid-life crisis. At the moment the tomb is disturbed, the TARDIS is forced out of its flight path. Sarah Jane sees an apparition of an alien, jackal-like face in the console room. The Doctor comments that a mental projection that could have this effect on the TARDIS would be powerful beyond imagination. He follows the energy source back to its point of origin and lands the TARDIS in the Scarman family home, a former priory somewhere in England, occupying the future site of UNIT HQ.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane explore the priory and find what appear to be Egyptian artefacts in the storeroom in which the TARDIS materialised. Discovered by Collins, they are told that the house has been taken over by a mysterious Egyptian gentleman by the name of Ibrahim Namin. Collins urges them to leave. As he turns to inspect the room after the Doctor and Sarah's departure via the window, a sarcophagus lid begins to move.

In another part of the priory, Namin is confronted by Dr Warlock, an old friend of Professor Scarman, but their heated debate is interrupted by a scream. Warlock and Namin find that the scream came from Collins, who has been strangled in the storeroom. Namin shoots Warlock to prevent him from going for help. The Doctor, who has witnessed the argument and heard the scream, prevents the shot from being immediately fatal by using his scarf to pull the gun in Namin's hand. The three make their escape onto the grounds of the estate. Instead of following, Namin removes the lid of another sarcophagus to reveal a mummy. Holding up his ring, he commands the mummy to activate and orders it to pursue them.

"Beware Sutekh. [...] If I'm right, the world is facing the greatest peril in its history".

The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock hide in the woods until the pursuing mummies are called off the hunt by Namin, who is summoned to the central room of the house by a blast of organ music. The three fugitives make their way to a hunting lodge on the grounds used by Laurence Scarman, Professor Scarman's brother, as his home. Laurence is an amateur scientist whose latest invention is the Marconiscope, which the Doctor recognises as a primitive form of radio telescope; Laurence is surprised the Doctor knows what it is. The Doctor asks Laurence to demonstrate the Marconiscope, which he does. However, Laurence then finds he cannot switch the Marconiscope off, and it goes faster and faster before exploding with a flash and a puff of smoke. Having asked Laurence where the Marconiscope's aerial was aimed, Laurence says it was Mars. The Doctor works out that the Marconiscope intercepted a signal from Mars, and uses a more portable device to decode the signal — using the part occurring most frequently as "E", the most common letter in the English alphabet. The signal reads "Beware Sutekh".

The Doctor returns to the house in order to formulate a plan to stop Sutekh, followed by Sarah and Laurence Scarman.

Namin and the mummies — really service robots — greet the arrival of "Sutekh", who travels to the priory via a lodestone, the portal of which is disguised as an upright sarcophagus. However it is the Servant of Sutekh who emerges from the portal, appearing as a dark-helmeted humanoid figure dressed in black. Upon realising this, Namin pleads for his life, declaring he is a loyal servant of Sutekh's. But the Servant ignores this, declaring that Sutekh needs no other servant, and kills Namin. He then announces "I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all humanity".

Part two

"Who is the Doctor? Why does he interfere?".

After killing Namin, the Servant transforms into Marcus Scarman, although he appears to be an animated corpse. Scarman uses the space-time tunnel to communicate with Sutekh, immobile in his pyramid, who orders Scarman to secure the perimeter of the estate and to construct an Osiran war missile. After Scarman and the robots leave to execute their orders, the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence enter the main room. The Doctor explains that Sutekh is the last of a powerful alien race called the Osirans, a paranoid megalomaniac who came to believe that all life was his enemy. He locates the space-time tunnel but accidentally activates it and is nearly dragged through. He disrupts the tunnel with the TARDIS key and is knocked unconscious by the energy discharge. Laurence hides the three of them in a priest hole, fearing discovery by his brother.

In another part of the estate, a poacher, Ernie Clements, finds a mummy trapped by one of his snares. He retreats but is prevented from escaping the estate by the deflection barrier Sutekh has ordered to be generated to secure the perimeter. Once Scarman has finished placing the generators, he finds Warlock and questions him about the other people within the barrier. Clements hears Warlock's death scream and tracks Scarman to the house.

While in hiding, the Doctor realises that he will be able to stop Sutekh controlling his Servant and the mummies by using Namin's ring and Laurence's scientific apparatus. Scarman is prevented from finding them by the sudden appearance of Clements. Clements fires his shotgun at Scarman's back and is amazed to see the explosion reverse and all damage healed. Clements panics and retreats, pursued by the robots.

"1980, Sarah, if you want to get off. [...] That's the world as Sutekh would leave it. A desolate planet circling a dead sun".

The Doctor locates Namin's corpse and retrieves the ring. He, Sarah, and Laurence proceed into the TARDIS to avoid detection. Laurence is amazed by the dimensionally transcendental nature of the TARDIS. Sarah suggests they should just leave in the TARDIS, because they know that the world did not end in 1911. The Doctor demonstrates otherwise by moving the TARDIS forward in time to 1980. There, the TARDIS doors open to reveal a blasted wilderness, with thunder, rain and lightning hammering down on to ash fields. Sarah understands that they have no choice but to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh, or the future will be lost.

The TARDIS returns to 1911, and the three retreat to the hunting lodge in order to jury-rig a jamming unit to prevent Sutekh controlling his servants. Laurence finds it too hard to deal with the Doctor's assertion that his brother is dead and that the being with his appearance is just a puppet. Laurence overhears the Doctor telling Sarah that, when the jamming device is activated, all of Sutekh's servants will stop, Marcus Scarman included.

At the crucial moment when the device is activated, Laurence attempts to stop it from happening. The robots overrun the hunting lodge after finding and killing Clements. They knock Laurence out and throw the Doctor to the floor. One reaches out to kill Sarah...

Part three

"It's an Osiran war missile, and almost complete by the look of it".

One of the robots attacks the jamming device and is disabled by a sudden discharge of power. Sarah is threatened by a robot, but the Doctor tells Sarah to grab the ring that they took from Namin and order the robots to return to Control. Sarah does so, and the robots obey.

Surveying the ruined equipment, the Doctor decides that the only thing that he can do is to blow up the partially-assembled rocket in the stable courtyard of the priory. Laurence suggests using blasting gelignite, a supply of which Clements kept in his hut on the estate. The Doctor and Sarah leave to locate the gelignite, ordering Laurence to strip the bindings from the now deactivated robot left in the hunting lodge.

The Doctor finds the energy barrier and, with Sarah's help, deactivates a generator loop in order to get through; taking an integral piece with him to prevent it from being reactivated. The deactivation is detected by Sutekh, who orders Marcus Scarman to investigate. Marcus finds Laurence in the hunting lodge. Laurence tries to make Marcus remember his childhood in order to revive his humanity but fails, and Marcus tortures Laurence in order to find out more about the Doctor.

"I hit it. I know I hit it".

The Doctor and Sarah find the gelignite. The Doctor says Sutekh was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus and was finally defeated on Earth by the combined might of 740 Osirans. The Doctor and Sarah hide the gelignite near the rocket before returning to the lodge. There they find Laurence in a rocking chair, strangled, and a robot stripped of its bindings. The Doctor asks Sarah to disguise him in the bindings in order for him to place the gelignite on the rocket without being detected. He successfully does so but then Scarman orders him to place a key component inside the missile and he doesn't immediately respond, making Scarman suspicious.

After Scarman leaves, Sarah shoots the gelignite with Clements' hunting rifle in order to detonate it. However, they see the explosion pause, then retreat back upon itself. The Doctor realises that Sutekh is holding back the detonation using mental power alone and that the only way to destroy the missile is to travel to Sutekh's prison using the space-time tunnel and distract him.

The Doctor enters Sutekh's chamber and calls out his name, disrupting Sutekh's concentration. On Earth, the explosion consumes the rocket. Angered, Sutekh paralyses the Doctor with a blast of mental force.

Part four

"I send you the Time Lord. He will control the machine".

Sutekh decides not to kill the Doctor and instead interrogates him; discovering that he is a Time Lord from Gallifrey. He then locates the TARDIS and decides to use it to transport Scarman to the pyramid of Mars in order to deactivate the Eye of Horus, the force that is trapping him. The Doctor avoids being killed by claiming that the TARDIS controls are isomorphic, meaning they respond to him alone. Sutekh subjects the Doctor to mind control and returns him to the priory as another of his servants. He then orders Scarman to bring a robot and Sarah into the TARDIS to travel to Mars.

On Mars, Sutekh orders Scarman to dispose of the Doctor, and the robot strangles him. Scarman and the robot then find the way out of the first chamber beneath the pyramid and leave Sarah weeping over the Doctor. The Doctor then wakes up, revealing that his respiratory bypass system allowed him to avoid death, and they then set off in search of Scarman.

The Eye of Horus is located at the end of a corridor beneath the pyramid. The corridor is divided into a series of chambers, and progress through the chambers is dependent upon solving logical and philosophical problems. Sutekh navigates Scarman and the robot through each problem with no deliberation, but the Doctor and Sarah are slower. At the last puzzle, a transparent cylinder materialises around Sarah. The voice of Horus tells the Doctor that the chamber has two switches ("one means instant freedom, the other instant death") and that he is allowed to ask one question of one Guardian of Horus. The Guardians materialise at the same moment as the Crucible and are mummy robots swathed in gold bindings. One robot always tells the truth and the other always lies, but which is which?

Since the Guardians are contra-programmed so that one will always give a false answer, the Doctor asks one Guardian, if he were to ask the other Guardian the question, which switch would he indicate? The Doctor reasons that if the Guardian he asks tells the truth then it must indicate the death switch; if it is the liar, then it would still indicate the death switch. The Doctor presses the other switch and the chamber and Guardians disappear, freeing Sarah.

Scarman and the robot reach the chamber containing the Eye of Horus. Another Guardian of Horus appears and does battle with Sutekh's robot. Sutekh realises that he is moments away from freedom and channels all of his power through Scarman in order to destroy the Eye of Horus. Scarman momentarily transforms into the jackal creature Sarah saw earlier in the TARDIS and destroys the Eye. Having fulfilled his purpose, Scarman is freed from Sutekh's control and revels in his freedom before falling to the floor and decaying to dust in an instant. Arriving too late, the Doctor looks back and sees the bulkhead doors open one by one, revealing the TARDIS at the end of the corridor. He realises that the time factor can still save them.

"Release me, insect, or I shall destroy the cosmos!".

Back in the priory, the Doctor exits the TARDIS at a run, holding a piece of the TARDIS console. He runs to the main room of the priory and attaches the device to the space-time tunnel. Sutekh appears in the tunnel, travelling towards the exit, but he cannot seem to reach it. He pleads with the Doctor to release him, offering to spare the Earth as a plaything for the Doctor, but the Doctor simply turns the dial and Sutekh recedes screaming. The Doctor declares that Sutekh lived for about 7000 years. He then explains that the time control from the TARDIS shifted the mouth of the space-time tunnel into the far future, which Sutekh could never hope to reach. They had two minutes to return to Earth from Mars and set the trap because this is the amount of time that it takes for radio waves to propagate between the two planets.

As the Doctor and Sarah pack up and prepare to leave, a thermal imbalance in the time tunnel causes it to catch fire. The Doctor remembers that the UNIT headquarters was built on the remains of a burnt priory and the two decide to leave, not wanting to be blamed for starting a fire, re-entering the TARDIS and dematerialising.

Outside, the priory is consumed by flames.

Cast

• Doctor Who - Tom Baker
• Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
• Marcus Scarman – Bernard Archard
• Laurence Scarman – Michael Sheard
• Dr. Warlock – Peter Copley
• Namin – Peter Mayock
• Collins – Michael Bilton
• Ahmed - Vik Tablian
• Mummies - Nick Burnell, Melvyn Bedford, Kevin Selway
• Ernie Clements - George Tovey
• Sutekh – Gabriel Woolf

Crew

• Writer - Stephen Harris
• Production Unit Manager - George Gallaccio
• Production Assistant - Peter Grimwade
• Title Music - Ron Grainer & BBC Radiophonic Workshop
• Title Sequence - Bernard Lodge
• Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
• Special Sound - Dick Mills
• Costume Designer - Barbara Kidd
• Make-up - Jean Steward
• Visual Effects Designer - Ian Scoones
• Studio Lighting - Ron Koplick
• Studio Sound - Brian Hiles
• Film Cameraman - John McGlashan
• Film Sound - Andrew Boulton
• Film Editor - M.A.C. Adams
• Script Editor - Robert Holmes
• Designer - Christine Ruscoe
• Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe
• Director - Paddy Russell

Uncredited crew

• Assistant Film Sound Recordist - John Hills-Harrop (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Grip - Sid Marker (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Film Ops Manager - Ian Brindle (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Director's Assistant (Location) - Val Hodgkinson (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Assistant Film Cameraman - Kevin Rowley (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Booking Assistant - Phyllis Page (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Contract Assistant - Nansi Davies (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Sound Recordist - Ron Brown (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Camera Assistant - Nigel Meakin (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Armourer - Des Stewart (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Make-Up Assistants - Carolyn Greaves, M. Wade (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Technical Manager - Harry Bradley (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Inlay Operator - Dave Jervis (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Production Unit Manager - Janet Radenkovic (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Vision Mixer - James Gould (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Design Assistant - Judith Long (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Director's Assistant (Studio) - Caroline Rogers (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Senior Cameraman - Colin Reid (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Costume Assistant - Ray Ingram (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Assistant Floor Manager - Paul Braithwaite (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)
• Floor Assistant - James Burge (INFO: Pyramids of Mars)

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• The Doctor mentions Marie Antoinette.
• The Doctor notes that the dress Sarah is wearing belonged to a former companion, Victoria.
• The Doctor notes that he has lived for around 750 years, which Sarah compares to being "middle-aged".

Planets

• Gallifrey is located at 10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2 from galactic zero centre.

Species

• The Doctor says that Osirans have dome shaped heads and cerebrums "like spiral staircases".

TARDIS

• The TARDIS is compared by Laurence Scarman to something made by H. G. Wells.

Technology

• The Doctor carefully uses his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the generator loop.
• The Doctor uses the stitching in his scarf as a measuring device.

Influences

• The Mummy (1932 and 1959)
• Philip Hinchcliffe suggested the inclusion of the logic puzzle in the concluding instalment, drawing on Franz Kafka's 1926 novel The Castle.
• The Doctor and Sarah calmly turning in unison to walk out of sight of a mummy as it turns to face them was a gag Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen thought up themselves and did without clearing it with the director. It was inspired by a Marx Brothers bit.

Story notes

• The story was originally written by Lewis Greifer, but was considered unworkable. As Greifer was unavailable to do rewrites, the scripts were completely rewritten by Robert Holmes. The pseudonym used on transmission was Stephen Harris.
• Christopher Benjamin, Maurice Kaufmann, Leonard Sachs and Peter Welch were considered for the role of Marcus Scarman.
• Maurice Kaufmann and Reg Pritchard were considered for Laurence Scarman.
• John Wentworth and Martin Dempsey were considered for Dr Warlock.
• Arthur Hewlett and Jeffrey Segal were considered for Collins.
• Chubby Oates, Mostyn Evans and Freddie Earlle were considered for Ernie Clements.
• Gabor Vernon and Malcolm Rennie were considered for Sutekh.
• Renu Setna and Mike Lewin were considered for Ibrahim Namin. (TCH 24)
• Elisabeth Sladen is credited as "Sarah" in Radio Times for parts one, three and four.
• Although the name of Sutekh's race is pronounced "Osiran" throughout the serial, the scripts and publicity material spell it as "Osirian" in some places and as "Osiran" in others. Many fans use the "Osirian" spelling, as do some reference works such as The Discontinuity Guide and a number of stories, including the entire The True History of Faction Paradox series.
• This story marks the first significant departure from Tom Baker's initial attire in the lead role, as debuted in Robot, now wearing a long burgundy frock coat instead of his original red shooting jacket. His Doctor would wear another new costume variant debuting in the following story, one of several versions throughout the rest of the Fourth Doctor's era.
• Pyramids of Mars 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". For full details, please see that page.
• The new TARDIS console which debuted in the preceding story, Planet of Evil, does not appear again until The Invisible Enemy. Due to the cost of setting up the TARDIS console room for the filming of only a handful of scenes, a new and far less expensive set and console were designed for the following season.
• All the stories from this season were tributes to classic horror and science fiction films. This one was an obvious tribute to, and was influenced by, the original "Mummy" films produced by Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s and their Hammer Productions remakes. These in turn were partly inspired by the legends about the supposed "King Tut's Curse".
• The scenes in Sutekh's "tomb" in this story, in Egypt, are the first time the series has visited a country on Earth outside of the United Kingdom since The Enemy of the World which was set largely in Australia.
• The only character who does not die on-screen in this story is Ahmed, who is only present for the opening scene in Egypt and never meets the Doctor. According to Terrance Dicks' novelisation of the story, he and the other Egyptian labourers are killed by Namin's men on fleeing the tomb. This was not derived from any information given in the televised version. (Conversely, many later media revealed that Sutekh survived his final scene in this story, despite it being clear that he is meant to have died.) As Ahmed's death is never confirmed on-screen, unlike Horror of Fang Rock (also directed by Paddy Russell), Pyramids of Mars cannot count as a story where all the characters, aside from the Doctor and his companion, die.
• This is the only serial in the classic series to depict Mars. To date, the only other televised stories to feature the planet are The Christmas Invasion, The Waters of Mars, The Vault of Secrets, and Empress of Mars.
• The story was chosen by BBC America to represent the Tom Baker era during their 50th anniversary programming. Edited into an omnibus format, it was aired by BBCA on 28 April 2013, after the debut of their homegrown special called The Doctors Revisited - The Fourth Doctor. It also aired in the United Kingdom later in the year on 20 October, along with the Revisited special, on the Watch channel.
• This story was chosen by fans to represent the Tom Baker era by fans to be rebroadcast for Doctor Who @40.
• Sarah is the only female character in this story. The first occasion in which a situation like this occurred was in the First Doctor serial The Smugglers in which Polly was the only female character. Sarah was previously the only female character in The Sontaran Experiment, Revenge of the Cybermen and Planet of Evil. Aside from The Deadly Assassin, in which the only female is a computer voice, this would next occur three years later in The Power of Kroll where Romana is the sole female.
• Several scenes were deleted from the final broadcast. A model shot of the TARDIS landing in the landscape on a barren, alternative 1980 Earth was to be used in part two, but director Paddy Russell decided viewers would feel more impact if the first scene of the new Earth was Sarah's reaction as the TARDIS doors opened. Three scenes of effects such as doors opening and the Doctor materialising from the sarcophagus were removed from the final edit of part four because Russell felt the mixes were not good enough. These scenes were included on the DVD, along with an alternate version of the poacher being hunted down in part two, and a full version of the Osirian rocket explosion.
• That really is Tom Baker in the mummy costume during the scenes where the Doctor is disguised as a mummy. Paddy Russell insisted, much to the star's dismay, as she felt that Baker's body language would be distinctive, but Baker disliked appearing in footage where he would not be recognisable and, to make matters worse, suffered painful scrapes on the fibreglass frame.
• Tom Baker was somewhat standoffish to Gabriel Woolf, who consequently rather enjoyed watching back the scenes where Sutekh tortures the Doctor.
• Ernie Clements was intended to survive the story, but Paddy Russell elected to kill him off instead.
• Lewis Greifer's original script saw the Doctor and his companion (generically referred to as “Jane”) attend a conference on food reserves at the British Museum, along with the Brigadier (who it was suggested might be killed off during the adventure). The Doctor's friend Professor Fawzi and his partner, Dr Robertson, are there to unveil their work on a new type of grain which can flourish on the surface of the Moon, thereby solving the world's hunger problems. However, the conference is soon attacked by the crocodile-like Egyptian god Sebek and his army of mummies. Sebek and his master, Seth, are aliens who came to Earth millennia ago intent on conquest, but were placed in suspended animation via a powerful artefact called the Eye wielded by Horus, another of their kind. Having reawakened, they now intend to replace Fawzi and Robertson's grain with one which will result in the Moon's disintegration — which, in turn, will have catastrophic effects on Earth. The Doctor manages to locate Seth's resting place beneath an Egyptian pyramid, and is assisted by Horus and another deity, Isis, in defeating Seth and destroying the probe in mid-flight.
• Paddy Russell said that her job was to "fill in the gaps". There was scant characterization in the scripts, so she hired good actors to flesh them out. Gabriel Woolf thought he was the third scariest thing in the production.
• Michael Sheard said that he hadn't known how to perform the scene when the Doctor shows Laurence the TARDIS, but then decided that his job was to "live the dream of the children in the audience".
• Michael Sheard recalled on the DVD commentary that Bernard Archard asked for a second take of the scene where Laurence tries to break Marcus from Sutekh's curse. There's the faintest glimmer that he might break through Sutekh's possession, and Archard didn't think he "got it" on the first take.
• When the mummy case is opened in part one, Ibrahim says "Bismi Sutekh" and "baraka," which mean: "in the name of Sutekh" and "blessing" in Arabic.
• George Tovey's daughter Roberta Tovey had previously played Susan in Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
• Elisabeth Sladen suffered a bad case of flu during production.
• Peter Grimwade recommended Michael Sheard for the role of Laurence Scarman. He didn't have to audition for the part. Robert Holmes suggested Bernard Archard for Marcus Scarman.
• Philip Hinchcliffe regarded this as one of Dudley Simpson's best scores.
• The atmosphere between Tom Baker and Paddy Russell was very competitive and he found her directorial style very uncompromising and dictatorial.
• Michael Sheard and Vic Tablian both later played secondary villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Ratings

• Part one - 10.5 million viewers
• Part two - 11.3 million viewers
• Part three - 9.4 million viewers
• Part four - 11.7 million viewers

Filming locations

• Stargroves Estate, Hampshire

Production errors

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 Sutekh stands for the first time, the hand of a studio hand can be seen on the seat of the throne.
• Marcus's tie design changes all the time, with the stripes going from left to right and vice versa.
• The Doctor's necktie changes from orange to brown and back again, depending on the studio recording block and/or whether the scene is on location.
• Just before Marcus Scarman is shot by the poacher, as he approaches the priest hole, the square outline of the metal plate (to protect the actor, Bernard Archard, from the explosive squib) can be seen underneath his jacket.
• As the Doctor taps on Sarah Jane's head while she is weeping over him, the following shot reveals the edge of a camera quickly pulling back out of view from the upper left hand corner, as a startled Sarah Jane looks in the other direction.
• When attacking Sarah Jane in the lodge, a mummy smashes the Marconiscope to pieces and an explosion ensues, yet the telescope is all in one piece in the very next shot.
• Despite being supposedly dead, Laurence Scarman manages to roll himself back over as he falls from the chair (in the opposite direction to which gravity should pull him).
• In part three, when Sarah reprimands the Doctor for his lack of sympathy towards Laurence's death, the Doctor responds by claiming that four people had been killed up to that point (five if Marcus Scarman is included). In actuality, five people besides Marcus had been killed by this time; Collins, Namin, Warlock, Clements and Laurence, all of whom's deaths the Doctor was aware of to some degree. This error is corrected in the story's novelisation.
• In part four, at 12.22, there is a man standing in the darkness behind the door.
• When the TARDIS key is sitting in Scarman's hand, directly after being lowered into it, the strings used to suspend the key in the air can be seen.
• Right before the end of part four, as the Doctor and Sarah enter the TARDIS, the actors' shadows can be clearly seen through the windows of the police box.

Continuity

• A puzzle in the Pyramids of Mars reminds Sarah of the City of the Exxilons. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
• PROSE: Scarab of Death is set immediately after this story and has the Doctor and Sarah visiting the ruins of Phaester Osiris in the future.
• Faction Paradox members during the War in Heaven would later find themselves interacting with the Osirians' distant past, witnessing Sutekh's betrayal of the rest of the Osirian Court, his fight with Horus (revealed to actually be a reincarnation of Osiris in the body of Christine Summerfield), and his eventual imprisonment on Mars. (AUDIO: The Ship of a Billion Years, Ozymandias, The Judgment of Sutekh)
• PROSE: The Sands of Time is a prequel and sequel to this story.
• A powerful alien again influenced the technical development and mythologies of humans. (TV: The Dæmons, Image of the Fendahl, City of Death)
• The Doctor alludes to having been wrongly accused of having started the Great Fire of London on 2 September 1666. (PROSE: The Republican's Story) Ironically, it was actually started when a Terileptil weapon overloaded in a bakery on Pudding Lane, the Fifth Doctor playing a major role in causing the conflagration. (TV: The Visitation) His involvement in the fire remained a source of embarrassment for the Doctor in his sixth incarnation. (AUDIO: Point of Entry, The Marian Conspiracy, Doctor Who and the Pirates) During the Doctor's first incarnation, the TARDIS materialised in London, shortly after the Great Fire began. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space)
• Sarah refers to the Mummies during her comparison with Rose Tyler about her travels with the Doctor. (TV: School Reunion)
• When the Doctor opens a hidden door using hand gestures, Sarah says, "Tribophysics!" The Doctor would later add a Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator to the TARDIS. (TV: Boom Town)
• The dress worn by both Victoria and Sarah would still be in the TARDIS wardrobe during the Doctor's fifth incarnation. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home)
• The Doctor remarks that he is "something like" 750 years old. He will continue to refer to his age as such for a while. (TV: The Android Invasion, The Brain of Morbius etc.)
• The Doctor takes Sarah Jane to the future to show her the result of what happens if Sutekh isn't stopped. Much later, the Fifteenth Doctor would similarly show his companion Ruby Sunday what would happen if they didn't stop Maestro. (TV: The Devil's Chord)

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

Released as Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars, the DVD had topped a DWM poll in 2003 as the most wanted DVD release at that point in time.

Released:

• Region 2 - 1 March 2004

PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1350

• Region 4 - 10 June 2004
• Region 1 - 7 September 2004

NTSC - Warner Video E2023

Contents:

• Commentary by Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Michael Sheard (Laurence Scarman), Philip Hinchcliffe (Producer) and Paddy Russell (Director)
• Deleted Scenes - A short selection of deleted and extended scenes from the story
• Osirian Gothic - A nostalgic look back at the making of Pyramids of Mars, with contributions from cast members and production personnel
• Serial Thrillers - A documentary looking back at the Philip Hinchcliffe era and what made it one of the most successful and popular periods in Doctor Who's history
• Now and Then - The serial's locations revisited, almost 30 years on
• Oh Mummy! - A tongue-in-cheek look at Sutekh the Destroyer's varied career after Pyramids of Mars
• Photo Gallery
• Production Subtitles
• Howard Da Silva Intros (Region 1 only)
• Easter Egg: BBC continuity announcements for original broadcast and 1994 repeat airing. To access this hidden feature, press left at Oh Mummy 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.
• Some Region 4 pressings of this release have a problem with the blurb on the back. The last sentence should read "and no power in the universe can stand in his way." However, it reads "and no power in the universe can."

• 

  Region 2 UK cover

• 

  Region 4 Australian cover

• 

  Region 1 US cover

• 

  Region 2 Netherlands cover

The Sarah Jane Adventures release

Pyramids of Mars was also included as a special feature on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 as a tribute to the late Elisabeth Sladen.

Releases:

• Region 2 - 31 October 2011

VHS releases

This story was released as Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars.

• First Release:

• UK October 1985

PAL - BBC Video BBCV4055

Notes: The video was edited into compilation form.

• Second Release:

• UK April 1994
• PAL - BBC Video BBCV5242

Notes: The video was released in unedited episodic format. 1994

• 

  1985 Release (BBCV2014)

• 

  1985 UK VHS cover

• 

  1994 UK VHS cover ("complete and unedited")

• 

  1985 Japanese VHS cover

• 

  1985 Norwegian VHS cover

• 

  1986 Finnish VHS cover

• 

  1986 Swedish VHS cover

• 

  1988 US release

• 

  1998 US VHS release

• 

  1985 AUS VHS release

Audio releases

Excerpts from Dudley Simpson's score, arranged by Heathcliff Blair, were released by Silva Screen in the early 1990s on their compilation CD Pyramids of Mars: Classic Music from the Tom Baker Era (FILMCD 134)

• 

  CD release

External links

• Pyramids of Mars at the BBC's official site
• Pyramids of Mars at RadioTimes
• Pyramids of Mars at BroaDWcast
• Pyramids of Mars at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Pyramids of Mars at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• Pyramids of Mars at The Locations Guide
• The Tardis Library: Book release information for Pyramids of Mars