Season 2, Episode 1 | 3 parts | First broadcast: 31 October – 14 November 1964 | Writer: Louis Marks | Director: Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield
Cast
- William Hartnell as the Doctor
- Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman
- William Russell as Ian Chesterton
- Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright
Summary
A fault during dematerialisation causes the TARDIS doors to open too early, and the travellers arrive back on present-day Earth shrunk to about an inch tall. Trapped in an ordinary English back garden that is now a landscape of monstrous scale, the miniaturised group discovers a scientist has been murdered to cover up a dangerously flawed insecticide, and they must find a way to expose the crime and restore themselves to normal size.
Interesting Facts
- This serial opened Season 2 and was originally written and shot as four episodes, but was tightened into three for pacing, with the trimmed material later restored on home video release.
- It was the first Doctor Who story to tackle an ordinary, present-day setting reframed entirely through a science-fiction lens, rather than history or an alien world.
- Its miniaturisation effects relied on oversized specially built props, including a giant matchbox, telephone, and insect specimens.
- All three broadcast episodes survive in the BBC archive.
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