Season 23, Episode 2 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 4–25 October 1986 | Writer: Philip Martin | Director: Ron Jones
Cast
- Colin Baker as the Doctor
- Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown
- Michael Jayston as the Valeyard
- Brian Blessed as King Yrcanos
- Nabil Shaban as Sil
Summary
As the second piece of evidence in the Doctor’s trial, the court examines a mission to the planet Thoros Beta, where the devious trader Sil is assisting in illegal brain-transplant experiments conducted by a renegade scientist. Alongside the boisterous warrior king Yrcanos, the Doctor and Peri become entangled in the scheme, culminating in Peri’s mind being overwritten and her apparent death, an outcome the manipulated trial evidence leaves shrouded in ambiguity.
Interesting Facts
- This story marks companion Peri Brown’s departure from the series, in an unusually dark and ambiguous exit that leaves her fate genuinely uncertain within the narrative.
- Nabil Shaban reprises his popular role as Sil from Vengeance on Varos, expanding on the character’s homeworld and schemes.
- Brian Blessed’s booming performance as the warrior king Yrcanos became one of the story’s most memorable elements.
- The trial framework casts doubt on the reliability of the events shown, since the evidence is later revealed to have been tampered with by the Matrix itself.
No Responses