Doctor Who: The Mark of the Rani (1985)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 2 February 1985 - 9 February 1985
Number of Episodes: 2
Average Episode Running Times: 44 mins
Format: colour
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC
Executive Producer: Barry Letts
Producer: John Nathan-Turner

SCRIPT
Script: Pip and Jane Baker
Story Editor: Eric Saward

DIRECTION
Director: Sarah Hellings

PHOTOGRAPHY
Studio Lighting: Don Babbage
Film Cameraman: Keith Rowley

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Ray Wingrove

MUSIC
Title Music: Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Title Music Arranger: Peter Howell
Incidental Music: Jonathan Gibbs

SOUNDS
Studio Sound: Keith Bowden
Special Sounds: Dick Mills

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Catherine Davies
Costumes: Dinah Collin

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: David Barton

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Paul Trerise

MISCELLANEOUS
Production Associate: Sue Anstruther
Production Assistant: Carolyn Mawdsley
Assistant Floor Manager: Penny Williams

LOCATIONS
Locations: The Ironbridge Gorge Museum

STUNTS
Stunt Arranger: Bill Weston (uncredited)

CAST
Colin Baker (The Doctor)
Nicola Bryant (Peri)
Anthony Ainley (The Master
Kate O'Mara (The Rani)
Terence Alexander (Lord Ravensworth)
Peter Childs (Jack Ward)
Gary Lady (Luke Ward)
William Ilkley (Tim Bass)
Richard Steele (guard)
Hus Levent (Edwin Greed)
Kevin White (Sam Rudge)
Martyn Whitby (Drayman)
Sarah James (young woman)
Cordelia Ditton (older woman)
Gawn Grainger (George Stephenson)
Alan Talbot (Tom - uncredited)
Nigel Johnson (Josh)
Toby Byrne, Ian Durrant, Ernie Goodyear, Derek Holt, Nick Joseph, Leon Laurence, Raymond Martin, Don Parry (aggressors / miners)
Clive Cartwright, Neville Clarke, Terence Coton, Gordon Coulson, Tony Dell, Zophanie Vasquez Howard, Dave Lee Jay, Barry Jones, Ian McFarlane, Dave Mitty, Terry Pearson, John Poyner, Gordon Young (walk-ons)

PLOT SUMMARY

The greatest brains of the industrial revolution are gathered together The Master is attempting to kill them whilst The Rani, another renegade Time Lord is attempting to drain their brains of a fluid for the people of the planet she now rules.

A mess. The Master was added to the original idea so there are two Time Lord plots going on at the same time. Kate O'Mara is good as the Rani but is never established, as she was presumably intended, to be as a major adversary for The Doctor. The period setting is quite nice. There's a sub-plot about turning people into trees that may well be one of the worst ideas ever realised on the programme. The Rani's TARDIS central console looks great.

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC Video

1985
February
2: UK - Part One television broadcast (on BBC1)
9: UK - Part Two television broadcast (on BBC1)

Enter the Rani - working title

SEQUEL
Doctor Who: Time and the Rani (1987)

BOOKS

Doctor Who: The Television Companion pp.474-476
credits, synopsis, review (by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

aliens, time travel

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009