Season 20, Episode 7 | 1 special (90 min) | First broadcast: 25 November 1983 | Writer: Terrance Dicks | Director: Peter Moffatt
Cast
- Peter Davison as the Doctor
- Richard Hurndall as the First Doctor
- Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor
- Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor
- Anthony Ainley as the Master
Summary
Plucked from their own timelines by a mysterious force, the first four incarnations of the Doctor, alongside a host of former companions, are drawn into the forbidding Death Zone on Gallifrey to compete in an ancient game orchestrated by the renegade Time Lord president Borusa. As the Doctors and their companions navigate the Zone’s deadly trials, including Daleks, Cybermen, and a lone Yeti, the Fifth Doctor must uncover who is truly behind the game and why, before Borusa’s own forbidden quest for immortality claims them all.
Interesting Facts
- This 90-minute special was produced to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary, reuniting past Doctors and companions.
- Richard Hurndall stepped in to play the First Doctor after original actor William Hartnell’s death in 1975, while Tom Baker declined to return as the Fourth Doctor, represented instead through unused footage from Shada.
- Colin Baker, later cast as the Sixth Doctor, had already appeared earlier that season in Arc of Infinity, making this the second time he appeared in the series before taking on the title role.
- Though usually grouped with Season 20, the special aired more than eight months after the season’s regular run concluded, to coincide with the actual November anniversary date.
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