Season 3, Episode 8 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 28 May – 18 June 1966 | Writer: Ian Stuart Black | Director: Christopher Barry
Cast
- William Hartnell as the Doctor
- Peter Purves as Steven Taylor
- Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet
- Frederick Jaeger as Jano
Summary
The TARDIS arrives on a distant planet in the far future, where the sophisticated, seemingly utopian city of the Elders is sustained by a horrifying secret: the life-force of the primitive “Savages” who live outside its walls is being drained to sustain the Elders’ advanced civilisation. Appalled by the exploitation once he discovers the truth, the Doctor works to expose the Elders’ crimes and broker a new, more just society between the two peoples.
Interesting Facts
- This story marks the departure of Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, who remains behind to help lead and unite the Elders and the Savages as their new ruler.
- Its plot, in which an advanced society secretly parasitizes an oppressed underclass to sustain itself, is one of the more overtly political allegories of the Hartnell era.
- No episodes of this serial are known to survive in the BBC archive, though it received an animated recreation for later release.
- It was among the final scripts developed under script editor Donald Tosh before Gerry Davis took over the role.
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