The Deadly Assassin (TV story)
Synopsis
The Doctor arrives on Gallifrey, where he is accused of the assassination of the Time Lord President. Investigating with the aid of Co-ordinator Engin and Castellan Spandrell, he discovers that this is part of a plot hatched by his old adversary the Master.
Having used up all twelve of his regenerations, the Master is now a wizened husk. He is seeking to control the presidency in order to obtain the official regalia, the Sash and Rod of Rassilon, which are really keys to the Eye of Harmony, the source of all the Time Lords' power.
The Doctor links his mind to the Amplified Panatropic Computer Net, containing the accumulated wisdom of the Time Lords, in the hope of tracking the Master down. In the virtual reality of the Matrix, he finds himself in a life-or-death struggle with a hooded opponent. The Doctor proves the stronger and his opponent is revealed as Chancellor Goth, the leading presidential candidate, whom the Master has been using as a puppet. Following his defeat, Goth dies.
The Master meanwhile seizes the Sash and Rod of Rassilon and starts to access the Eye of Harmony, located beneath the floor of the Panopticon meeting hall, in the hope of drawing off enough energy to enable himself to regenerate. The Doctor manages to stop him before Gallifrey is destroyed, and the Master falls down one of the fissures that have opened up in the floor.
The Doctor then departs in the TARDIS, unaware that the Master has survived his fall and escaped to fight another day.
Plot
"Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history…"
Whilst at the controls of the TARDIS, the Doctor has a premonition of the assassination of the President of the Time Lords within the Panopticon on Gallifrey. And the assassin appears to be...the Doctor himself. Shocked, he staggers around the console room and collapses to the floor.
Cast
- The Doctor - Tom Baker
- The Master - Peter Pratt
- Cardinal Borusa - Angus Mackay
- Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda
- Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall
- Commander Hilred - Derek Seaton
- Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters
- Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty
- Gold Usher - Maurice Quick
- Solis - Peter Mayock
- The President - Llewellyn Rees
- Time Lord - John Dawson
- Time Lord - Michael Bilton
- Computer Voice - Helen Blatch
Crew
- Assistant Floor Manager - Linda Graeme
- Costumes - James Acheson, Joan Ellacott
- Designer - Roger Murray-Leach
- Fight Arranger - Terry Walsh
- Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton
- Film Editor - Ian McKendrick
- Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
- Make-Up - Jean Williams
- Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe
- Production Assistant - Nicholas John
- Production Unit Manager - Chris D'Oyly-John
- Script Editor - Robert Holmes
- Special Sounds - Dick Mills
- Studio Lighting - Brian Clemett
- Studio Sound - Clive Gifford
- Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
- Title Music - Ron Grainer
- Visual Effects - Len Hutton, Peter Day
References
- The Doctor's TARDIS is a type 40 protected by a 'double curtain trimonic barrier' which requires a cypher indent key.
- Goth met the Master on Tersurus.
- The number of regenerations (12) is established here.
Gallifrey
- The Doctor invokes Article 17 of the Constitution.
- References are made to The Book of the Old Time and the Old Times.
- Shabogans are hooligans on Gallifrey.
Gallifreyan artefacts
- The APC Net is part of (or possibly separate from) The Matrix.
- The Eye of Harmony sits below the Citadel on Gallifrey, Rassilon was one of the creators of it.
Gallifreyan Chapters
- Prydonians the 'notoriously devious' sect to whom the Doctor belongs, colour coded scarlet and orange).
- Arcalians wear green.
- Patrexes wear heliotrope
Story Notes
- Bernard Horsfall previously played Guilliver in The Mind Robber, one of the Time Lords in The War Games and a Thal Taron in Planet of the Daleks.
- Roger Murray-Leach reused his symbol from Revenge of the Cybermen as the Seal of Rassilon.
- Mary Whitehouse complained particularly about the end of Part 3, with the Doctor being drowned, so much so the BBC edited their master tape (the episode was preserved in international copies).
- The story had a working title of The Dangerous Assassin.
Ratings
- Part 1 - 11.8 million viewers
- Part 2 - 12.1 million viewers
- Part 3 - 13.0 million viewers
- Part 4 - 11.8 million viewers
Myths
to be added
Location Filming
to be added
Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added
Continuity
- The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, and Castrovalva follow the Master's continuing quest for a new body, whilst The Five Doctors continues on this idea.
- Gallifrey is not seen on screen again until Arc of Infinity.
- Last of the Gaderene and Legacy of the Daleks explains how the Master became how he appears.
- Goth's brother Rath appears in Blood Harvest.
- Engin reappears in The Eight Doctors.
- The Sound of Drums recalls some artistic elements of this story.
DVD and Video Releases
The cliffhanger to Episode 3 — where Goth holds the Doctor's head underwater, drowning him — came in for heavy criticism, particularly from television decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse. She often cited it in interviews as one of the most frightening scenes in Doctor Who, her reasoning being that children would not know if the Doctor survived until the following week and that they would have this strong image in their minds during all that time. Upon future showings of this story, the freeze-frame at the end of this episode was cut, so as to make it less frightening for younger viewers. The VHS video release of the story restored the clip, albeit with a reduction in picture quality. This story was released in March 1989 in edited omnibus format in the US only. It was released in episodic format in the UK in October 1991. It was also re-released & remastered for the W H Smith exclusive Time Lord Collection in 2002 with a better quality freeze frame cliffhanger for Episode 3.
Target Novelisations
- Novelised as “Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin” by Terrance Dicks.
External Links
- Outpost Gallifrey The Deadly Assassin page
- The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of The Deadly Assassin
- BBC The Deadly Assassin page
- A Brief History of Time (Travel) Guide to The Deadly Assassin
