The Mind of Evil (TV story)
Synopsis
The Doctor and Jo visit Stangmoor Prison for a demonstration of the Keller Machine - a device claimed to be capable of extracting negative emotions from hardened criminals.
The Doctor's scepticism seems valid when a prisoner called Barnham collapses whilst undergoing the treatment.
The Brigadier is meanwhile in charge of security at a World Peace Conference, where documents go missing and the Chinese delegate dies in mysterious circumstances. Captain Yates is away on another mission, transporting a banned Thunderbolt missile across country to be destroyed. The Doctor joins the Brigadier at the conference and they foil an attempt by the Chinese delegate's aide, Captain Chin Lee, to kill the American delegate. Lee is under the hypnotic control of the Master - otherwise known as Professor Emil Keller.
The Master uses the evil impulses stored within the Keller Machine - actually the container for an alien mind parasite - to cause unrest at Stangmoor. He then enlists the convicts' aid to hijack the Thunderbolt missile, planning to use it to blow up the peace conference and start World War Three.
Shielded by Barnham, now immune to the effects of the parasite, the Doctor transports the Keller Machine to a nearby airfield where the missile is being held.
Using the Machine to keep the Master occupied, he reconnects the missile's auto-destruct circuit and gets clear just before the Brigadier triggers it. The parasite is presumed destroyed in the resulting explosion, but the Master escapes in a van, running Barnham down in the process.
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
- Jo Grant - Katy Manning
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
- The Master - Roger Delgado
- Sergeant Benton - John Levene
- Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
- Corporal Bell - Fernanda Marlowe
- Professor Kettering - Simon Lack
- Captain Chin Lee - Pik-Sen Lim
- Dr. Summers - Michael Sheard
- Prison Governor - Raymond Westwell
- Barnham - Neil McCarthy
- Linwood - Clive Scott
- Chief Prison Officer Powers - Roy Purcell
- Senior Prison Officer Green - Eric Mason
- Mailer - William Marlowe
- Vosper - Hayden Jones
- Fu Peng - Kristopher Kum
- Charlie - Tommy Duggan
- Senator Alcott - David Calderisi
- Major Cosworth - Patrick Godfrey
- Fuller - Johnny Barrs
- Prison Officers - Bill Matthews, Barry Wade, Dave Carter, Martin Gordon
- Main Gate Prisoner - Matthew Walters
Crew
- Action / Stuntwork - HAVOC
- Assistant Floor Manager - Sue Hedden
- Costumes - Bobi Bartlett
- Designer - Ray London
- Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton, Max Samett
- Film Editor - Howard Billingham
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Make-Up - Jan Harrison
- Producer - Barry Letts
- Production Assistant - John Griffiths
- Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
- Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
- Studio Lighting - Eric Monk
- Studio Sound - Chick Anthony
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Jim Ward
References
- When the Doctor is attacked by the Keller Machine he sees a War Machine, a Cyberman, a Dalek, Zarbi, a Sensorite, Koquillion, Slaar and a Silurian.
- The Doctor can speak Mandarin and went on the Long March with Mao Tse-Tung and seems sympathetic towards him. He relives some of the fear that he felt when facing his many adversaries and his experience of seeing a world destroyed by flames. (This may well refer to Project Inferno.)
- The Master's innermost fear appears as a giant, malignant version of the Doctor, filled with mocking laughter.
- The Doctor says he once shared a cell in the Tower of London with Sir Walter Raleigh ("a very strange chap... Kept going on about this new vegetable he'd discovered").
Story Notes
- This story had the working titles of; The Pandora Machine, Man Hours, The Pandora Box, The Pandora's Box.
- This is the first occurrence of subtitles on screen in Doctor Who, the only other time is in DW: The Curse of Fenric.
Ratings
- Episode 1 - 6.1 million viewers
- Episode 2 - 8.8 million viewers
- Episode 3 - 7.5 million viewers
- Episode 4 - 7.4 million viewers
- Episode 5 - 7.6 million viewers
- Episode 6 - 7.3 million viewers
Myths
- The Doctor makes a comment in episode one that suggests he supports capital punishment. (His comment is ironic and suggests precisely the opposite.)
Filming Locations
- Location filming took place in Dover Castle, Dover, Kent.
- Alland Grange, Manston, Kent
- Pineham Road, Pineham, Kent
- Cornwall Gardens Walk, London
- Cornwall Gardens, London
- Archer's Court Road, Whitfield, Kent
- RAF Swingate, Dover, Kent
- Commonwealth Institute, Kensington, London
- BBC Television Centre (Studio 3 & 6), Shepherd's Bush, London
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added
Continuity
- The Doctor alludes to Inferno "I saw an entire world consumed by fire".
- The Master's greatest fear (of the Doctor looming over him) becomes real in Last of the Time Lords.
- UNIT runs the second World Peace Conference in Day of the Daleks.
DVD, Video and Other Releases
to be added
Target Novelisations
- The Mind of Evil was novelised as The Mind of Evil by Terrance Dicks in 1985 by Target Books.
External Links
- Official BBC Episode Guide for The Mind of Evil
- Outpost Gallifrey Episode Guide: The Mind of Evil
- Doctor Who Reference Guide: Detailed Synopsis - The Mind of Evil
- A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to The Mind of Evil
- The Locations Guide to Doctor Who - The Mind of Evil
