Season 19, Episode 4 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 15–23 February 1982 | Writer: Eric Saward | Director: Peter Moffatt
Cast
- Peter Davison as the Doctor
- Matthew Waterhouse as Adric
- Sarah Sutton as Nyssa
- Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
- Michael Robbins as Richard Mace
Summary
Arriving in 17th-century England during the era of the Great Plague, the Doctor and his companions discover a crashed alien Terileptil and his android enforcers hiding out in a country manor, plotting to unleash an engineered, more virulent strain of plague upon humanity. Teaming up with a roguish actor turned highwayman, the Doctor must stop the scheme before it can devastate England, all while inadvertently becoming linked to the very origins of the Great Fire of London.
Interesting Facts
- The story offers a fictional, tongue-in-cheek explanation for the real historical start of the Great Fire of London in 1666.
- Its Terileptil android design and reptilian alien makeup were praised as some of the more sophisticated creature effects of the era.
- Guest actor Michael Robbins’s charismatic performance as the opportunistic actor-turned-highwayman Richard Mace became a fan favourite.
- Writer Eric Saward would go on to become the show’s script editor later that same season.
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