Season 11, Episode 4 | 6 parts | First broadcast: 23 March – 27 April 1974 | Writer: Brian Hayles | Director: Lennie Mayne
Cast
- Jon Pertwee as the Doctor
- Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
- Nina Thomas as Queen Thalira
- Frank Gatliff as Ortron
Summary
Returning to Peladon fifty years after his first visit, the Doctor finds the planet’s miners in open revolt against Federation officials and the young Queen Thalira, with the sacred beast Aggedor once again apparently on a killing spree. As sabotage and unrest threaten to plunge Peladon into full-scale rebellion, the Doctor uncovers Ice Warriors covertly working to seize the planet’s valuable mineral resources for a rival power.
Interesting Facts
- This is a direct sequel to The Curse of Peladon, one of the few Pertwee-era stories to revisit an earlier serial’s setting and characters.
- Unlike its predecessor’s sympathetic portrayal, this story restores the Ice Warriors to a villainous role, subverting audience expectations built up two seasons earlier.
- Its plot, centred on a miners’ strike and industrial unrest, closely mirrored real-world industrial disputes then affecting Britain.
- At six episodes, it was one of the longer stories of the era, allowing an unusually detailed exploration of Peladon’s court politics.
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