Season 2, Episode 8 | 6 parts | First broadcast: 22 May – 26 June 1965 | Writer: Terry Nation | Director: Richard Martin
Cast
- William Hartnell as the Doctor
- William Russell as Ian Chesterton
- Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright
- Maureen O’Brien as Vicki
- Peter Purves as Steven Taylor
Summary
Using a captured time machine of their own, the Daleks pursue the TARDIS across time and space, from the sands of Aridius to the Empire State Building, the Mary Celeste, and a haunted house on Earth, in a relentless bid to finally destroy the Doctor. The chase climaxes on the jungle planet Mechanus, where Ian and Barbara make a fateful decision about their future, and the Doctor gains a new companion in stranded astronaut Steven Taylor.
Interesting Facts
- This serial marks the departure of original companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who use a stolen Dalek time machine to return home to 1960s London at the story’s end.
- It introduces Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, though he first appears only briefly before formally joining the TARDIS crew in the following story.
- The serial features a comic robot double of the Doctor built by the Daleks, an early example of the show’s use of humour within a Dalek story.
- Its penultimate episode is pointedly titled “The Death of Doctor Who,” playing on the Daleks’ repeated failure to kill him.
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