Didoan
The Didoans (also known as Dido people) were a peaceful humanoid race native to Dido.
Culture
The Didoans were a very peaceful race, as their small population made any violence a threat to their survival. They had ceremonial clothes resembling an insectoid creature which they wore on special occasions. These clothes consisted of a headdress with antennae, eyestalks, mandibles, and spikes around the neck; black robes; clawed gloves with spiked wrists; and clawed shoes with spikes around the ankles.
History
When the spaceship UK-201 crashed on the planet in 2493, the Didoans met with the surviving passengers, but were killed along with them in an explosion engineered by Bennett to cover up a murder he had earlier committed aboard the ship. At least two Didoans survived, and when they confronted Bennett, he backed away in fear and fell from a rock ledge to his death.
After the First Doctor's TARDIS left Dido, the Didoans wrecked the spaceship's communications system so the approaching Earth rescue ship would never find the planet. (TV: "The Rescue")
Behind the scenes
- The Rescue doesn't give us a clear, one-word demonym for "a being from the planet Dido". The name Dido people is what the First Doctor directly called them in "Desperate Measures". The Time-Travellers' Guide refers to them as Didoi. In The Crash of the UK-201, they are referred to as Didoans.
- The appearance of the two Didoans in "Desperate Measures" is never explained.
- The two Didoans were played by John Stuart and Colin Hughes, who remained uncredited both on-screen and in Radio Times. (DWM 325)
