Season 10, Episode 1 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 30 December 1972 – 20 January 1973 | Writer: Bob Baker and Dave Martin | Director: Lennie Mayne
Cast
- Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor
- Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor
- William Hartnell as the First Doctor
- Katy Manning as Jo Grant
Summary
Made to mark the show’s tenth anniversary, this serial finds the Time Lords facing a mysterious antimatter threat from a renegade scientist named Omega, so powerful that they are forced to break their own laws and pool the energy of three incarnations of the Doctor to fight it. As the Third and Second Doctors journey into Omega’s antimatter universe, they must persuade the tragic, forgotten figure to relinquish his power before Time Lord civilisation itself is destroyed.
Interesting Facts
- This is the first “multi-Doctor” story in the series’ history, bringing together three actors who had played the role, a format the show would revisit for later anniversary specials.
- William Hartnell’s declining health limited him to filmed inserts from a static position rather than full participation in the story.
- The serial ends with the Time Lords lifting the Doctor’s exile on Earth and restoring his knowledge of time travel, a major turning point for the remainder of the era.
- Omega, the story’s tragic antagonist, would return in later Doctor Who serials as one of the mythology’s most significant Time Lord figures.
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