Season 7, Episode 4 | 7 parts | First broadcast: 9 May – 20 June 1970 | Writer: Don Houghton | Director: Douglas Camfield (and Barry Letts, uncredited)
Cast
- Jon Pertwee as the Doctor
- Caroline John as Liz Shaw
- Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- Olaf Pooley as Professor Stahlman
Summary
At a drilling project seeking to tap a limitless new energy source deep within the Earth, the Doctor is accidentally flung into a parallel fascist Britain where the same project is on the verge of triggering a planet-destroying catastrophe. Having witnessed his parallel-world friends and colleagues turned into feral “Primords” by the mysterious green ooze released by the drill, the Doctor must return home and convince the stubborn Professor Stahlman to halt the project before history repeats itself.
Interesting Facts
- This is the first Doctor Who story to feature a parallel universe, a device the series would revisit many times in later decades.
- Several regular cast members played alternate, morally inverted versions of their characters in the parallel-world scenes, including a ruthless “Brigade Leader” version of the Brigadier.
- Director Douglas Camfield fell ill partway through production and was replaced by producer Barry Letts, who completed the serial uncredited.
- This was Caroline John’s final regular serial as Liz Shaw, who would be written out before the following season in favour of a less scientifically expert companion.
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