Season 5, Episode 6 | 6 parts | First broadcast: 16 March – 20 April 1968 | Writer: Victor Pemberton | Director: Hugh David
Cast
- Patrick Troughton as the Doctor
- Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon
- Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield
- John Abineri as Robson
Summary
The TARDIS lands near a North Sea gas refinery under threat from a strange seaweed-based organism that seeps through the rigs’ pipelines, seizing control of the minds of the crew it encounters. As panic spreads through the base, the Doctor and his companions race to identify and neutralise the parasite before it can take hold of the refinery, and beyond it, the mainland.
Interesting Facts
- This serial marks the first appearance of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, one of the character’s most enduring pieces of equipment.
- It is the final story for companion Victoria Waterfield, who, unsettled by the mounting violence of her travels, chooses to remain behind with a refinery family rather than continue in the TARDIS.
- No episodes of this serial survive in the BBC archive, making it the most recently complete story to be entirely missing; it has since received a full animated recreation.
- The parasite’s unsettling, hissing “foam” effect was achieved using shaving foam pumped through hidden tubing, an effective if low-budget solution.
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