Season 12, Episode 2 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 25 January – 15 February 1975 | Writer: Robert Holmes | Director: Rodney Bennett
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
- Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
- Kenton Moore as Noah
- Wendy Williams as Vira
Summary
The TARDIS materialises aboard Nerva Station, a vast orbital ark where the last survivors of humanity lie in suspended animation awaiting the end of a solar catastrophe on Earth far below. The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry discover the cryogenic systems have been sabotaged and that a parasitic alien insect race, the Wirrn, has infiltrated the station, absorbing human hosts and threatening to wipe out humanity’s last hope of survival. As station officer Noah is gradually consumed and transformed by the Wirrn, the Doctor must find a way to save the sleeping colonists before the creatures complete their invasion.
Interesting Facts
- Writer Robert Holmes largely rewrote an earlier draft from a different author at very short notice, effectively making this his own work under a tight deadline.
- The story was famously singled out by incoming showrunner Russell T Davies decades later as one of his favourite Doctor Who serials of all time.
- Budget constraints meant the Wirrn costumes were partly created from bubble wrap and green washing-up gloves, effects that drew ridicule at the time but became a fond production anecdote.
- It marks the effective beginning of the “gothic horror” tone that would define much of the Tom Baker era under incoming producer Philip Hinchcliffe.
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