Season 13, Episode 1 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 30 August – 20 September 1975 | Writer: Robert Banks Stewart | Director: Douglas Camfield
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
- Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
- Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- John Woodnutt as the Duke of Forgill / Broton
Summary
Summoned to the Scottish Highlands by UNIT to investigate the destruction of North Sea oil rigs, the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry uncover a hidden colony of shapeshifting Zygon aliens using the legendary Loch Ness Monster, a cybernetically controlled creature called the Skarasen, as their weapon. Led by the ruthless Broton, who has taken the form of a local landowner, the Zygons plan to use the Skarasen and stolen oil technology to reshape Earth’s climate for their own colonisation after their homeworld was destroyed. The Doctor must expose the Zygons’ shapeshifting infiltrators before Broton can complete his plan for global sabotage.
Interesting Facts
- This is Ian Marter’s final regular serial as Harry Sullivan, though he would return in later guest appearances.
- The Zygons, despite appearing only once more in the classic series, became one of the show’s most enduringly popular monster designs, later returning prominently in the revived series.
- It is the last Doctor Who serial to feature Nicholas Courtney’s Brigadier as a regular UNIT character for several years, as the production moved away from Earth-based UNIT stories after this point.
- Director Douglas Camfield deliberately built the story around classic gothic and folk-horror imagery, drawing on Scottish highland atmosphere and cryptid legend.
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