Tag: Captain Mike Yates

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Classic Season 08 Doctor Who

Terror of the Autons

Doctor WhoAs the Doctor begins investigating the theft of the last remaining Nestene energy sphere (left behind in the previous Auton invasion) and the disappearance of a radio astronomer, a Time Lord appears and warns him that the Master – the Doctor’s arch rival Time Lord – has come to Earth. The Doctor deduces that the Master’s plan is to reawaken the Nestene Consciousness, giving it the opportunity to invade Earth once more. The Master has already set up production of the lethal plastic Autons at a nearby plastic factory – and knows exactly how he wants to rid the universe of the human race…and the Doctor.

Season 8 Regular Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Roger Delgado (The Master), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart)

written by Robert Holmes
directed by Barry Letts
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), John Baskcomb (Rossini), Dave Carter (Museum Attendant), Christopher Burgess (Professor Phillips), Andrew Staine (Goodge), Frank Mills (Radiotelescope Director), David Garth (Time Lord), Michael Wisher (Rex Farrel), Harry Towb (McDermott), Barbara Leake (Mrs. Farrel), Stephen Jack (Rex Farrel Sr.), Roy Stewart (Strong Man), Terry Walsh, Pat Gorman (Autons), Haydn Jones (Auton voice), Dermot Tuohy (Brownrose), Norman Stanley (Telephone Man)

Broadcast from January 2 through January 23, 1971

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 08 Doctor Who

The Mind of Evil

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Jo pay a visit to Stangmoor Prison to witness a test of a revolutionary new device that promises to reform criminals permanently by entirely extracting the evil impulses from their brains. But in this case, the test subject – a hardened convict named Barnham – is not only relieved of the darkness in his mind, but most of his mind’s contents as well, rendering him mentally childlike. Not long afterward, Professor Kettering, checking the machine to find out why it overreacted so harshly, dies mysteriously. The Doctor becomes increasingly suspicious and decides to close off the room and check the Keller device himself…only to realize – too late – that it’s an alien life form that feeds on fear, that his arch enemy is behind its presence on Earth, and that the device is only a small part of a much larger plan to plunge the world into chaos.

written by Don Houghton
directed by Timothy Combe
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Eric Mason (Green), Roy Purcell (Powers), Raymond Westwell (Governor), Simon Lack (Professor Kettering), Michael Sheard (Dr. Summers), Bill Matthews, Barry Wade, Dave Carter, Martin Gordon, Leslie Weekes, Tony Jenkins, Les Conrad, Les Clark, Gordon Stothard, Richard Atherton (Officers), Neil McCarthy (Barnham), Clive Scott (Linwood), Fernanda Marlowe (Corporal Bell), Pik-Sen Lim (Chin Lee), Kristopher Kum (Fu Peng), Haydn Jones (Vosper), William Marlowe (Mailer), Tommy Duggan (Alcott), David Calderisi (Charlie), Patrick Godfrey (Cosworth), Johnny Barrs (Fuller), Matthew Walters (Prisoner), Paul Blomley (Police Superintendent), Maureen Race (Student), Nick Hobbs (American aide), Billy Horrigan (UNIT corporal), Peter Roy (Policeman), Michael Ely (UNIT chauffeur), Francise Williams (African delegate/Master’s chauffeur), Laurence Harrington (Voices), Paul Tann (Chinese aide), Jim Delaney (Passer-by), Charles Saynor (Commissionaire), Basil Tang (Chinese chauffeur), Richard Atherton (Police Inspector)

Broadcast from January 30 through March 6, 1971

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 08 Doctor Who

The Claws of Axos

Doctor WhoFreak weather conditions mark the arrival of an unidentified flying object which lands near a power station. The Doctor, Jo and UNIT enter the ship, with an officious bureaucrat named Chinn in tow, finding that the ship’s organic nature is closely tied to its inhabitants, the Axons. Though they can appear in humanoid form, the Axons’ true shape is an amorphous blob of tentacles – and they have a passenger on board: the Master. The Axons strike up a bargain with Chinn for Britain to serve as the worldwide distribution hub for Axonite, a miraculous substance the Axons are only too happy to provide freely as a gift of peace in all good faith. The Doctor discovers, only too late, that Axonite is a Trojan horse from space – and it will allow the Axons to feed on Earth’s resources until the planet is drained.

written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Michael Ferguson
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Peter Bathurst (Chinn), Michael Walker, David G. March (Radar Operators), Paul Grist (Bill Filer), Fernanda Marlowe (Corporal Bell), Derek Ware (Pigbin Josh), Donald Hewlett (Sir George Hardiman), David Saville (Winser), Bernard Holley (Axon man / voice of Axos), Kenneth Benda (Minister), Tim Piggott-Smith (Harker), Nick Hobbs (Driver), Royston Farrell (Technician), Patricia Gordino (Axon woman), Debbie Lee London (Axon girl), Roger Minnice, Geoff Righty, Steve King, David Aldridge (Humanoid Axons), Gloria Walker (Secretary/Nurse), Clinton Morris (Corporal), Peter Holmes, Steve Smart, Marc Boyle (Axon monsters)

Original title: The Vampire From Space

Broadcast from March 13 through April 3, 1971

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 08 Doctor Who

The Daemons

Doctor WhoA live television broadcast from an archaeological dig at Devil’s End – which Dr. Reeves plans to excavate at midnight – draws the interest of the villagers and of U.N.I.T., though the Doctor is unconvinced that there is any supernatural significance to these events until a local woman, claiming to be a white witch, interrupts the broadcast to protest the dig. Miss Hawthorne believes that the dig could unearth the devil himself. The Doctor and Jo rush to Devil’s End, arriving just as Dr. Reeves opens the barrow – and brings it crashing down on everyone inside. When the Doctor recovers, all hell has quite literally broken loose in the village, thanks to the new vicar – the Master in disguise – who is calling upon the powers of what most people could only describe as the devil.

written by Guy Leopold (a.k.a. Barry Letts & Robert Sloman)
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Damaris Hayman (Miss Hawthrone), Eric Hillyard (Dr. Reeves), David Simeon (Alastair Fergus), James Snell (Harry), Robin Wentworth (Professor Horner), Rollo Gamble (Winstanley), Don McKillop (Bert), John Croft (Tom Girton), Christopher Wray (Groom), Jon Joyce (Garvin), Gerald Taylor (Baker’s man), Stanley Mason (Bok), Alec Linstead (Osgood), John Owens (Thorpe), Stephen Thorne (Azal), Matthew Corbett (Jones), Robin Squire (TV cameraman), Patrick Milner (Corporal)

Broadcast from May 22 through June 19, 1971

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

Day Of The Daleks Part 1

Doctor WhoSir Reginald Styles, a diplomat whose efforts could keep the world away from the brink of war in the coming days, claims to have seen a ghost stalking Auderly House, his country mansion. U.N.I.T. troops search the nearby grounds and find a lone man in combat fatigues, carrying a weapon of a futuristic design and a crude time travel device. The Doctor and Jo spend a night in Auderly House, unaware that three others with similar clothes and weapons are watching the house. When one of them enters the house and accosts the Doctor in the morning, he’s horrified to learn that the Doctor has repaired his comrade’s time travel device.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Louis Marks
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Doctor WhoCast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Jean McFarlane (Miss Paget), Wilfrid Carter (Sir Reginald Styles), Tim Condren (Guerilla), John Scott Martin (Chief Dalek), Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline (Dalek voices), Aubrey Woods (Controller), Deborah Brayshaw (Technician), Gypsie Kemp (Radio Operator), Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston (Shura), Scott Fredericks (Boaz), Valentine Palmer (Monia), Andrew Carr (Guard), Peter Hill (Manager), George Raistrick (Guard), Alex MacIntosh (TV Reporter), Rick Lester, Maurice Bush, Frank Menzies, Bruce Wells, Geoffrey Todd, David Joyce (Ogrons), Ricky Newby, Murphy Grumbar (Daleks)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

Day Of The Daleks Part 2

Doctor WhoJo and the Doctor are taken hostage at the house by three soldiers armed with the same 22nd-century weapons seen in the hands of their missing counterpart. They claim they’re on a mission to kill Styles – a man who, in their history, failed to prevent a world war that left Earth vulnerable to domination by the Daleks. As the Doctor tries to tip the Brigadier off to what’s happening, Jo frees herself and threatens to destroy one of the time travel devices, but accidentally transports herself into Earth’s future, allowing the Daleks’ human and Ogron lackeys to follow her back to when and where Jo originated.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Louis Marks
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Doctor WhoCast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Jean McFarlane (Miss Paget), Wilfrid Carter (Sir Reginald Styles), Tim Condren (Guerilla), John Scott Martin (Chief Dalek), Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline (Dalek voices), Aubrey Woods (Controller), Deborah Brayshaw (Technician), Gypsie Kemp (Radio Operator), Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston (Shura), Scott Fredericks (Boaz), Valentine Palmer (Monia), Andrew Carr (Guard), Peter Hill (Manager), George Raistrick (Guard), Alex MacIntosh (TV Reporter), Rick Lester, Maurice Bush, Frank Menzies, Bruce Wells, Geoffrey Todd, David Joyce (Ogrons), Ricky Newby, Murphy Grumbar (Daleks)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

Day Of The Daleks Part 3

Doctor WhoTrying to follow the escaped future guerillas, the Doctor finds them – just moments before they are cornered by a Dalek that has traveled through time to 20th century Earth. The guerillas activate their time travel device, transporting themselves and to Doctor to their native time and place: 22nd century Earth under totalitarian Dalek control. The Doctor parts ways with his would-be captors because he wants to find Jo; the Doctor is captures by the Ogrons, ape-like sevant thugs controlled by the Daleks. He is saved by the Controller, in whose company Jo has been staying, but when the Doctor doesn’t show due respect to the Daleks’ human lackey, he is handed over to them for interrogation.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Louis Marks
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Doctor WhoCast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Jean McFarlane (Miss Paget), Wilfrid Carter (Sir Reginald Styles), Tim Condren (Guerilla), John Scott Martin (Chief Dalek), Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline (Dalek voices), Aubrey Woods (Controller), Deborah Brayshaw (Technician), Gypsie Kemp (Radio Operator), Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston (Shura), Scott Fredericks (Boaz), Valentine Palmer (Monia), Andrew Carr (Guard), Peter Hill (Manager), George Raistrick (Guard), Alex MacIntosh (TV Reporter), Rick Lester, Maurice Bush, Frank Menzies, Bruce Wells, Geoffrey Todd, David Joyce (Ogrons), Ricky Newby, Murphy Grumbar (Daleks)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

Day Of The Daleks Part 4

Doctor WhoThe Controller convinces the Daleks to let him pressure the Doctor into revealing more about the human resistance, but this simply gives the Doctor and Jo an opportunity to escape and compare notes with their guerilla resistance fighters. In the 20th century, the Brigadier is left with no choice but to prepare Auderly House for Sir Reginald Styles’ imminent peace conference, unaware that one of the future guerillas is hiding in the basement with an explosive charge, attempting to avert Earth’s dark future by assassinating Styles, whose role in creating the future has been misinterpreted badly: it is Styles’ death that leads to a third World War, leaving future Earth vulnerable to the Daleks.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Louis Marks
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Doctor WhoCast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Jean McFarlane (Miss Paget), Wilfrid Carter (Sir Reginald Styles), Tim Condren (Guerilla), John Scott Martin (Chief Dalek), Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline (Dalek voices), Aubrey Woods (Controller), Deborah Brayshaw (Technician), Gypsie Kemp (Radio Operator), Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston (Shura), Scott Fredericks (Boaz), Valentine Palmer (Monia), Andrew Carr (Guard), Peter Hill (Manager), George Raistrick (Guard), Alex MacIntosh (TV Reporter), Rick Lester, Maurice Bush, Frank Menzies, Bruce Wells, Geoffrey Todd, David Joyce (Ogrons), Ricky Newby, Murphy Grumbar (Daleks)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Time Monster

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is disturbed by a recent series of dreams whose imagery has included the destruction of the world and the laughing face of the Master. But with no concrete basis for these visions, he ignores them and accompanies Jo as UNIT’s observers to the demonstration of the new TOM-TIT device – standing for Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time. But things go wrong from the start, especially when the Doctor sees that the TOM-TIT research program is actually being run by the Master. The Master demonstrates a mere fraction of TOM-TIT’s potential by snatching soldiers and artillery from World Wars I & II and launching them at UNIT troops. But the Doctor realizes that TOM-TIT’s true power is still largely untapped. The Master plans to capture a Chronovore – a creature which lives outside of the dimension of time and feeds upon temporal energy – harness its power for his continual conquests. The Doctor pursues the Master through time and the lost continent of Atlantis to prevent the Chronovore’s incredible powers from falling into the Master’s hands…but the only way to stop that from happening may be mutual destruction for both Time Lords.

written by Robert Sloman
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Roger Delgado (The Master), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Wanda Moore (Dr. Ingram), Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde), John Wyse (Dr. Percival), Terry Walsh (Window cleaner), Neville Barber (Dr. Cook), Barry Ashton (Proctor), Donald Eccles (Krasis), Keith Dalton (Neophite), Aidan Murphy (Hippias), Marc Boyle (Kronos), George Cormack (Dalios), Gregory Powell (Knight), Simon Legree (Sergeant), Dave Carter (Officer), George Lee (Farmworker), Ingrid Pitt (Galleia), Susan Penhaligon (Lakis), Michael Walker (Miseus), Derek Murcott (Crito), Dave Prowse, Terry Walsh (Minotaur), Melville Jones (Guard), Ingrid Bower (face of Kronos)

Broadcast from May 20 through June 24, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 10 Doctor Who

The Green Death

Doctor WhoProblems at a Welsh mining operation draw the attention of UNIT. The Brigadier is frustrated by the usual lack of cooperation from the mining company, Global Chemicals, but the Doctor is more interested in the rash of mysterious deaths among Global’s miners. He goes down into the mine himself to learn more about the glowing green ooze that has killed almost every miner who has touched it, and discovers a horrifying sight – giant maggots, mutated to a grotesque size by Global’s waste chemicals, are secreting the deadly substance and may even be growing hostile enough to attack humans. Despite this revelation (and the well-meaning interference of local environmental protesters), however, Global Chemicals’ chairman refuses to shut down the mines – and it soon becomes evident that someone else is in charge of the operation, someone or something whose sinister motives may include allowing the poisonous insect larvae to reach the surface and hatch into equally deadly giant insects.

Download this episodewritten by Robert Sloman
directed by Michael Briant
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Stewart Bevan (Professor Clifford Jones), Jerome Willis (Stevens), John Scott Martin (Hughes), Ben Howard (Hinks), Tony Adams (Elgin), Mostyn Evans (Dai Evans), Ray Handy (Milkman), Talfryn Thomas (Dave), Roy Evans (Bert), John Dearth (voice of BOSS), John Rolfe (Fell), Terry Walsh, Billy Horrigan, Brian Justice, Alan Chuntz (Guards), Mitzi McKenzie (Nancy), Jean Burgess (Cleaner), Roy Skelton (James), Richard Beale (Minister of Ecology)

Broadcast from May 19 through June 23, 1973

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 11 Doctor Who

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith return from their medieval adventure, but when they arrive in modern-day London, the streets are bare, the people are nowhere to be seen, and dinosaurs stalk the streets. Like everyone else, the Brigadier and UNIT have gone underground, hiding from the enormous reptiles while they try to figure out what suddenly brought them to the present day. The Doctor and Sarah soon discover that it’s the product of an illegal time experiment designed to restore Earth to simpler, less polluted, less corrupt times – and it has come about thanks to a startling betrayal by one of the Brigadier’s most trusted officers.

written by Malcolm Hulke
directed by Paddy Russell
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Noel Johnson (Charles Grover), Peter Miles (Professor Whitaker), Martin Jarvis (Butler), Pat Gorman (UNIT Corporal), James Marcus (Peasant), Ben Aris (Shears), John Caesar (Soldier), Gordon Reid (Phillips), George Bryson (Ogden), Terry Walsh (Looter), John Bennett (General Finch), Martin Taylor (Corporal Norton), Dave Carter (Duffy), Terence Wilton (Mark), Brian Badcoe (Adam), Carmen Silvera (Ruth), Colin Bell (Bryson), Timothy Craven (Robinson), Trevor Lawrence (Lodge)

Broadcast from January 12 through February 16, 1974

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 11 Doctor Who

Planet of the Spiders

Doctor WhoPast events catch up with the Doctor in an unexpected way. A race of evil giant spiders on Metebelis 3 is looking for one of their planet’s perfect blue crystals to complete a crystal “web” that will broadcast the will of their leader, the Great One (not Jackie Gleason), across the entire universe. But the Doctor stole that crystal during a previous visit without realizing its significance, and his actions have drawn unwanted attention to Earth. The spiders use a monastery in the English countryside as their gateway to Earth, taking over the minds of a criminally-minded man named Lupton whose meditations have failed to turn him into a better person. In the end, the Doctor is obliged to return the crystal to prevent Earth from being overrun by the spiders – but the personal cost will be very high.

written by Robert Sloman
directed by Barry Letts
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), John Dearth (Lupton), Terence Lodge (Moss), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Carl Forgione (Land), Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-Je), John Kane (Tommy), Pat Gorman (Soldier), Chubby Oates (Policeman), Terry Walsh (Man with boat), Michael Pinder (Hopkins), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider voices), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Joanna Monro (Rega), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Jenny Laird (Neska), Walter Randall (Captain), Max Faulkner (Second Captain), Maureen Morris (Great One), George Cormack (K’anpo)

Broadcast from May 4 through June 8, 1974

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 20 Doctor Who

The Five Doctors

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find themselves in no immediate danger for once, until the Doctor suffers from repeated, severe pain, claiming that his past is being altered in a way that could endanger him in the present. Somewhere on Gallifrey, long-abandoned machinery from the earliest days of the Time Lords is reactivated and its powers are brought to bear on each of the Doctor’s first four incarnations, snatching each of them from their own timeline and depositing them in Gallifrey’s infamous Death Zone, where the tomb of Time Lord founding father Rassilon stands. The fourth Doctor is trapped in the time vortex and never makes it to Gallifrey. As the various personae of the Doctor join forces, along with many companions, they find themselves fighting a variety of old adversaries – and one new antagonist – for the future of Gallifrey itself.

Order the DVDwritten by Terrance Dicks
directed by Peter Moffatt
music by Peter Howell

Guest Cast: Richard Hurndall (The First Doctor), Patrick Troughton (The Second Doctor), Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), John Leeson (voice of K9), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Frazer Hines (Jamie), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Anthony Ainley (The Master), Philip Latham (Lord President Borusa), Dinah Sheridan (Chancellor Flavia), Paul Jerricho (Castellan), Richard Mathews (Rassilon), David Savile (Colonel Crichton), Ray Float (Sergeant), Roy Skelton (Dalek voice), John Scott Martin (Dalek), Stephen Meredith (Technician), David Banks (CyberLeader), Mark Hardy (Cyber Lieutenant), William Kenton (Cyber Scout), Stuart Blake (Commander)

Appearing in footage from The Dalek Invasion Of Earth: William Hartnell (The First Doctor)

Appearing in footage from Shada: Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana)

Broadcast November 23, 1983 (US) / November 25, 1983 (UK)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Series Specials Doctor Who

Dimensions In Time

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Ace find themselves in London’s East End (instead of their intended destination, the Great Wall of China). Soon they find themselves switching identities, as the Doctor flits from one incarnation to another and his companions constantly change. Behind it all is The Rani, who hopes to trap the Doctor so he can never interfere in her plans again…

written by John Nathan-Turner & David Roden
directed by Stuart McDonald
music by Keff McCulloch

Cast: Jon Pertwee (The Doctor), Tom Baker (The Doctor), Peter Davison (The Doctor), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Kate O’Mara (The Rani), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Louise Jameson (Leela), Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Ross Kemp (Grant Mitchell), Bonnie Langford (Mel), John Leeson (K-9), Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell), Philip Newman (Kiv), Mike Reid (Frank), Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Pam St. Clement (Pat Butcher), Nicola Stapleton (Mandy), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale), Deepak Verma (Sanjay), Lalla Ward (Romana II), Deborah Watling (Victoria Waterfield), Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale)

Broadcast November 26 & 27, 1993

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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4th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Hornets’ Nest Part 1: The Stuff Of Nightmares

Doctor Who and the Stuff Of NightmaresChristmas, 2009: retired UNIT Captain Mike Yates spots a classified ad seeking a retired Army captain with experience in dealing with alien threats. With an uneasy feeling that the ad was written specifically to catch his attention, Mike responds, visiting an isolated country cottage called the Nest. Here he finds a stern housekeeper, Mrs. Wibbsey, and the Doctor. The house is filled to the brim with examples of the art of taxidermy, but Mike is startled to learn that the dead animals return to life at night, ready to kill. Demanding an explanation from the Doctor, he learns that some force has reanimated the creatures to use them as pawns for a sinister plan. The Doctor, at great personal risk, has isolated all of the dead creatures in his cottage, using the TARDIS’ dimensional stabilizer to surround the house with a force field and using his own psychic abilities to keep the undead animals docile. But this has also trapped the mind behind the evil plan – a hive-mind swarm of alien hornets – near the house with him. And now Yates is trapped there as well…

Order this CDwritten by Paul Magrs
directed by Kate Thomas
music by Simon Power

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Susan Jameson (Mrs. Wibbsey), Daniel Hill (Percy Noggins)

Notes: Early plans for the Hornets’ Nest stories apparently called for the team of the fourth Doctor and the retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, a part that Nicholas Courtney had reprised just a year prior to this story’s release in The Sarah Jane Adventures and in a short bonus featurette, “Liberty Hall”, filmed for the 2009 DVD release of Mawdryn Undead. Before production began, however, Courtney suffered a mild stroke in early 2009, and though he made a recovery, he was unavailable to reprise the role of the Brigadier for either Hornets’ Nest or for Sarah Jane Adventures (in which there were plans for him to become a recurring guest character). He died in February 2011.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green