Season 14, Episode 6 | 6 parts | First broadcast: 26 February – 2 April 1977 | Writer: Robert Holmes | Director: David Maloney
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Louise Jameson as Leela
- Michael Spice as Weng-Chiang / Magnus Greel
- John Bennett as Li H’sen Chang
- Christopher Benjamin as Henry Gordon Jago
Summary
Arriving in the fog-bound streets of Victorian London, the Doctor and Leela investigate a spate of disappearances linked to a Chinese theatre magician and his sinister ventriloquist-dummy accomplice, uncovering a fugitive war criminal from the far future hiding behind the guise of the god Weng-Chiang. As the decaying Magnus Greel searches for a means to restore his ravaged body by draining the life force of young women, the Doctor teams up with the theatre’s flamboyant owner and a Scotland Yard pathologist to stop him before a giant rat loose in the sewers and Greel’s twisted schemes claim more victims.
Interesting Facts
- The double act of theatre owner Henry Gordon Jago and pathologist Professor Litefoot proved so popular that they were later spun off into their own long-running series of Big Finish audio dramas decades later.
- The story draws heavily and openly on Victorian melodrama, Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu-style pulp fiction, giving it a distinctly literary pastiche quality.
- Its giant sewer rat prop was widely mocked at the time for its unconvincing appearance, one of the few effects blemishes on an otherwise celebrated production.
- It is frequently ranked as one of the very best serials of the entire classic series, closing out Philip Hinchcliffe’s tenure as producer on a high note before the show’s tone shifted under his successor.
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