UK, 2 October 1976-23 October 1976
4 episodes, average 25m
videotape, colour, 4:3
mono, English
Previous Serial: The Masque of Mandragora (1976)
Next Serial: The Deadly Assassin (1976)
Series: Doctor Who (1963-1989) – series 14, episodes 5-8
A British television science fiction serial directed by Lennie Mayne from scripts by Bob Baker and Dave Martin. It was the last story to feature companion Sarah Jane Smith until The Five Doctors (1983) though she appeared in the failed pilot K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend (1981) and would eventually star in her own series The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011) after making an appearance in the revived series.
Premise
Sarah Jane finds the fossilised hand of a dead alien whose evil essence lives on in a ring on the hand. The essence takes possession of Sarah Jane and begins to revive the form of the alien named Eldrad.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Lennie Mayne [parts 1-4]
© BBC 1976 [parts 1-4]
BBC [parts 1-4]
Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe [parts 1-4]
Production Unit Manager: Chris D’Oyly-John [parts 1-4]
[Written] By: Bob Baker and Dave Martin [parts 1-4]
Script Editor: Robert Holmes [parts 1-4]
Lighting: Derek Slee [parts 1-4]
Film Cameraman: Max Samett [parts 1-4]
Film Editor: Christopher Rowlands [parts 1-4]
Title Music by: Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop [parts 1-4]
Title Music Arranged by: Delia Derbyshire *
Incidental Music by: Dudley Simpson [parts 1-4]
Sound: Brian Hiles [parts 1-4]
Film Recordist: Graham Bedwell [parts 1-4]
Special Sound: Dick Mills [parts 1-4]
Costume Designer: Barbara Lane [parts 1-4]
Make-Up Artist: Judy Neame [parts 1-4]
Visual Effects Designer: Colin Mapson [parts 1-4]
Title Sequence by: Bernard Lodge [parts 1-4]
Designer: Christine Ruscoe [parts 1-4]
Production Assistant: Marion McDougall [parts 1-4]
Assistant Floor Manager: Terry Winders *
Fight Arranger: Max Faulkner [part 2]
Cast
Part One
Tom Baker (Doctor Who)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Rex Robinson (Dr Carter)
Renu Setna (intern)
David Purcell (Tom Abbott)
Roy Pattison (Zazzka)
Roy Skelton (King Rokon)
Robin Hargrave (guard)
Part Two
Tom Baker (Doctor Who)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Glyn Houston (Professor [Owen] Watson)
Rex Robinson (Dr Carter)
Roy Boyd (Driscoll)
Frances Pidgeon (Miss Jackson)
John Cannon (Elgin)
Part Three
Tom Baker (Doctor Who)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Glyn Houston (Professor [Owen] Watson)
Judith Paris (Eldrad)
Part Three
Tom Baker (Doctor Who)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Judith Paris (Eldrad)
Stephen Thorne (Kastrian Eldrad)
Roy Skelton (King Rokon)
Uncredited
Roy Skelton [computer voice]
Libby Ritchie [hospital nurse]
John Delieu, Derek Suthern [path lab technicians]
Max Faulkner [double for Dr Carter]
Michael Dewlid, Barry Summerford [security guards]
David Cleeve, Keith Simmons [radiation suit men]
Julia Burnett, Bruce Guest, Mark Holmes, Rosemary Jollisse, Kenneth Thomas [control room technicians]
Douglas Auchterlonie, Margaret Pilleaud, Roger Salter, Lionel Sansby, Sonia Stratton [complex personnel]
Peter Roy [frozen operator (Technic Obarl)]
Peter Bush, Carl Edwards, Alan Evans, Brian Gear, Tim Hooper, Bruce Hubble, David Hyde, Colin Jaggard, Simon Jones, Robert Lee, Paul Nicholson, Bob Peters, Ken Taylor, John Telfer, Robert Tucker, Michael Wadsworth, Roy Wadsworth [extras]
Links
Extracts included in
The Lively Arts: Whose Dr. Who (1977)
References
Books
- Doctor Who: The Television Companion by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker pp.308-311 – credits, synopsis, review
