Doctor Who: The Time Monster (1972)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 20 May 1972 - 24 June 1972
Number of Episodes: 6
Average Episode Running Times: 25 mins
Format: colour
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC
Producer: Barry Letts

SCRIPT
Script: Robert Sloman, Barry Letts (uncredited)
Story Editor: Terrance Dicks

DIRECTION
Director: Paul Bernard

PHOTOGRAPHY
Studio Lighting: Derek Hobday
Film Camera: Peter Hamilton

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Martyn Day

MUSIC
Title Music: Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Title Music Arranged By: Delia Derbyshire
Incidental Music: Dudley Simpson

SOUND
Studio Sound: Tony Millier
Special Sounds: Dick Mills

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Joan Barrett
Costumes: Barbara Lane

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Michealjohn Harris, Peter Pegrum

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Tim Gleeson

MISCELLANEOUS
Production Assistant: Marion McDougall
Assistant Floor Manager: Rosemary Hester

CAST

Episode 1
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)
John Levene (Sergeant Benton)
Wanda Moore (Dr Ruth Ingram)
Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde)
John Wyse (Dr Percival)
Neville Barber (Dr Cook)
Barry Ashton (Proctor)
Terry Walsh (window cleaner)

Episode 2
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)
John Levene (Sergeant Benton)
Wanda Moore (Dr Ruth Ingram)
Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde)
John Wyse (Dr Percival)
Neville Barber (Dr Cook)
Barry Ashton (Proctor)
Donald Eccles (Krasis)
Aidan Murphy (Hippias)
Keith Dalton (Neophite)

Episode 3
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)
John Levene (Sergeant Benton)
Wanda Moore (Dr Ruth Ingram)
Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde)
John Wyse (Dr Percival)
Donald Eccles (Krasis)
Aidan Murphy (Hippias)
Simon Legree (UNIT sergeant)
Marc Boyle (Kronos)
George Cormack (Dalios)
Gregory Powell (knight)
Dave Carter (roundhead officer)

Episode 4
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)
John Levene (Sergeant Benton)
Wanda Moore (Dr Ruth Ingram)
Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde)
Donald Eccles (Krasis)
Simon Legree (UNIT sergeant)
Marc Boyle (Kronos)
George Lee (farmworker)

Episode 5
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
Donald Eccles (Krasis)
Aidan Murphy (Hippias)
George Cormack (Dalios)
Ingrid Pitt (Galleia)
Derek Murcott (Crito)
Susan Penhaligon (Lakis)
Michael Walker (Miseus)
Melville Jones (guard)

Episode 6
Jon Pertwee (Dr Who)
Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Roger Delgado (The Master)
Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart)
John Levene (Sergeant Benton)
Wanda Moore (Dr Ruth Ingram)
Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde)
Donald Eccles (Krasis)
Aidan Murphy (Hippias)
Marc Boyle (Kronos)
George Cormack (Dalios)
Ingrid Pitt (Galleia)
Derek Murcott (Crito)
Susan Penhaligon (Lakis)
Michael Walker (Miseus)
Melville Jones (guard)
Dave Prowse (minotaur)
Ingrid Bower (face of Kronos)

UNCREDITED CAST
Darren Plant (baby Benton)
Richard Eden, Laurie Goode, Nick Hobbs, Christopher Holmes, Jonas Kerr, Geoffrey Morgan
(guards)
Andrew Dempsey, Jamie Griffiths, Jeremy Higgins, Marc Landers (trumpeters / guards)
Yinka Abebiyi, George Gregney, Peter Johnson, Francis Williams (sedan carriers)
Edmund Bailey, Wilfred Boyle, Colin Cunningham, Reg Lloyd, Peter Penny, Bill Whitehead (elders)
Yvonne Ashley, Alison Daumler, Susan Patrice (serving girls)
Terry Walsh (double for the Minotaur)
Derek Allen, Bernard Barnsley, Stuart Barry, Paul Barton, Bob Blaine, Geoff Brighty, Les Conrad, Michael Deacon, Sylvia De La Mare, Ian Elliott, Brian Gilmar, Anthony Hennessey, Nick Hobbs, Eric Kent, Richard Kirk, James Muir, Valentino Musetti, R Rickford, Mike Stephens, Reg Turner, Constance Williams, Nigel Winder (extras)

PLOT SUMMARY

Posing as Professor Thascales, The Master builds a device called TOMTIT (Transmission of Matter Through Interstitial Time) and uses it to try to gain control over Kronos, a creature that lives outside time. He uses timeslips created by TOMTIT to attack UNIT and flees back in time to Atlantis in search of the Crystal of Kronos. The Doctor and Jo give chase, hoping to prevent The Master from destroying Atlantis and capturing Kronos.

The Doctor's second trip to Atlantis is a tedious bore, with too little plot for the six episode format. Poorly plotted with no real plot as such, it tries to make up the lack of narrative oomph with some ludicrous pseudo-science and muddled character motivation. The final two episodes, set in Atlantis, are the best but there's an awful lot of tat to struggle through before you get that far.

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC Video

1972
March
29: UK - studio recording begins at Ealing Studios, Stage 2
31: UK - studio recording pauses at Ealing Studios, Stage 2

April
3: UK - studio recording begins and ends (one day shoot) at Ealing Studios, Stage 2
4: UK - location filming begins
7: UK - location filming ends
25: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC3
26: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC3

May
9: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC4
10: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC4
20: UK - episode 1 television broadcast (on BBC1)
23: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC3
24: UK - studio recording at BBC Television Centre, studio TC3
27: UK - episode 2 television broadcast (on BBC1)

June
3: UK - episode 3 television broadcast (on BBC1)
10: UK - episode 4 television broadcast (on BBC1)
17: UK - episode 5 television broadcast (on BBC1)
24: UK - episode 6 television broadcast (on BBC1)

2002
March
24: UK - omnibus edition television broadcast (on UK Gold)

MAGAZINES

Five Hundred Eyes no.5 (Summer 1990) (UK)
review (by Jonathan Burt)

Oracle vol.3 no.9 (May 1981) (UK)
review (by J. Jeremy Bentham)

BOOKS

Doctor Who: The Handbook: The Third Doctor pp.111-115
credits, synopsis, review (by David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen James Walker)

Doctor Who: The Television Companion pp.229-233
credits, synopsis, review (by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker)

KEYWORDS

aliens; time travel; atlantis; monsters

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009