The Doctor arrives on the planet Necros, whose chief industry is funeral services, to pay his final respects to an old friend. But Necros isn’t what it used to be. It’s now run by The Great Healer – in reality, Davros, creator of the malevolent Daleks – who is using Necros as cover for his experiments to convert human beings into mindless Dalek operators. The head of the funeral industry, Kara, has hired an assassin to dispose of Davros, but her hired gun quickly realizes that he’s being paid to act as cannon fodder. The Doctor discovers that his arrival has been anticipated, but he doesn’t suspect that the Daleks are involved until he falls into their clutches.
written by Eric Saward
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Roger LimbCast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Terry Molloy (Davros), Eleanor Bron (Kara), Clive Swift (Jobel), Alexei Sayle (DJ), Jenny Tomasin (Tasambeker), William Gaunt (Orcini), John Ogwen (Bostock), Stephen Flynn (Grigory), Bridget Lynch-Blosse (Natasha), Trevor Cooper (Takis), Colin Spaull (Lilt), Hugh Walters (Vogel), Alec Linstead (head of Stengos), Ken Barker (Mutant), Royce Mills, Roy Skelton (Dalek voices), Penelope Lee (Computer voice), John Scott Martin, Cy Town, Tony Starr, Toby Byrne (Daleks)
Broadcast from March 23 through 30, 1985
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
Review: Somehow, this episode is remembered fondly, mainly because it was stylishly directed and some of the guest stars (namely William Gaunt and The Young Ones’ Alexei Sayle) turned in good performances. But at least an equal number of guest stars were just dreadful – Terry Molloy once again presented us with an overbaked rendition of Davros, Eleanor Bron hammed it up a bit much, and Jenny Tomasin hammed it up a good deal more. As with Attack Of The Cybermen, there are several concurrently running plotlines which barely have anything to do with each other. It’s an elegantly directed mish-mash, but still a mish-mash.