Season 6, Episode 2 | 5 parts | First broadcast: 14 September – 12 October 1968 | Writer: Peter Ling | Director: David Maloney
Cast
- Patrick Troughton as the Doctor
- Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon
- Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot
- Bernard Horsfall as Gulliver
Summary
Fleeing an erupting volcano, the Doctor takes the TARDIS out of normal reality altogether using an untested emergency unit, and the crew find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Fiction. Populated by characters drawn from myth and literature, including Rapunzel, Lemuel Gulliver and Medusa, the strange realm is controlled by an unseen Master who is determined to trap the travellers there permanently.
Interesting Facts
- This serial was hastily commissioned as a four-part filler after the previous story overran, expanding to five episodes when an extra one was needed; its surreal, low-budget “white void” opening episode is now celebrated as one of the era’s most inventive.
- Frazer Hines fell ill partway through production, leading to the unique storytelling device of Jamie’s face being temporarily altered and played by another actor within the story itself.
- It is one of the few classic-era stories with no traditional science-fiction or historical setting, instead unfolding entirely within a world of fiction and imagination.
- The character of the Master of the Land of Fiction is voiced by an uncredited actor and never definitively named on screen.
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