Season 24, Episode 3 | 3 parts | First broadcast: 2–16 November 1987 | Writer: Malcolm Kohll | Director: Chris Clough
Cast
- Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor
- Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush
- Don Henderson as Gavrok
- Belinda Mayne as Delta
- Sara Griffiths as Ray
Summary
Winning a prize trip aboard a time-travelling tour bus, the Doctor and Mel find themselves bound for a 1950s Welsh holiday camp alongside a mismatched party of alien tourists, including Delta, the last queen of the nearly extinct Chimeron race, travelling incognito with her precious egg. When a treacherous fellow passenger betrays Delta’s location to the genocidal mercenary Gavrok and his Bannermen, the Doctor, Mel, and camp worker Ray must protect Delta and her newly hatched heir from total annihilation.
Interesting Facts
- This was the first regular three-part, 25-minute-episode serial of the classic series since Season 2’s Planet of Giants, establishing the show’s new standard story lengths.
- The 1950s British holiday camp setting was inspired by producer John Nathan-Turner’s own memories and offered an unusually lighthearted, nostalgic backdrop for a Doctor Who adventure.
- Character Ray, created as a potential new companion for the Doctor, was ultimately not carried forward, with Ace instead taking on that role in the next story.
- The serial blends 1950s rock and roll music and period atmosphere with science-fiction elements in a way that was distinctive for the series at the time.
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