523 The Horns of Nimon: Part Two

EPISODE: The Horns of Nimon: Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 523
STORY NUMBER: 108
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 29 December 1979
WRITER: Anthony Read
DIRECTOR: Kenny McBain
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 8.8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Myths & Legends: The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of the Nimon

"The great pact nears it's completion! The Nimon be praised! Skonnos shall rise and conquer!"

The Pilot puts Romana in the hold with the Anethian sacrifices. The Doctor puts the Tardis into a spin allowing the Asteroid to knock it out of the pull of the black hole. The Nimon reminds Soldeed of his agreement to provide the required tribute and speaks once again of the Great Journey of Life. Soldeed plans to attack Aneth, thinking they have rescued the children. Teka tells Romana that Seth will destroy the Nimon. Skonnos detects the missing ship and prepares for the ceremony to mark the fulfilment of their pact. Soldeed is angry that two of the hymetusite crystals are missing, used by Romana to power the ship but the pilot claims responsibility. Soldeed sends both the Pilot & Romana into the power complex with the Anethians and the hymetusite to face the Nimon. The Doctor makes makeshift repairs to the Tardis and sets course for Skonnos. The Pilot wanders the maze of the Power Complex, briefly catching sight of the Anethians but he, and Romana & the Anethians find the walls are shifting around them. The Doctor sights the Power Complex from orbit, reminding him of something. Materialising on Skonnos the Doctor is immediately arrested. The Anethians find the husk of a body that decays at the touch, which Romana believes has had the life sucked out of it. The Doctor confronts Soldeed with the accusation that someone is building a black hole nearby. Soldeed claims not to have seen Romana but when Soldeed's general produces the Doctor's grativic anomaliser he knows she is nearby. Soldeed drives the Doctor into the Power Complex. Romana and the Anethians find the Nimon's larder where it keeps previous Anethian sacrifices in suspended animation. They are captured by the pilot, who summons the Nimon, who kills him then turns on Romana & the Anethians.....

Ah now we're talking proper mythology, with Romana and the Anethians wandering the Power Complex (Labyrinth) with the Nimon (Minotaur) in the centre. The shifting walls is a nice touch and very well done on screen.

There's some genuine horror too as the corpse falls to pieces on them!

I seem to recall a similar effect in The Claws of Axos being whited out for being too graphic!

Then there's the slow realisation that the Anethians are destined for the Nimon's larder when they discover their predecessors in cold storage!

I'll talk about the rest of the cast later, but really this story is dominated by one actor:

Lord Nimon? Lord Nimon? It is I, Soldeed!

Ladies and Gentlemen, playing Soldeed we have the late, great Graham Crowden!

At this point it his career he's probably best known for his theatre work, even though he'd been working on TV since the early 1950s! He had a memorable appearance as the Slade Prison Doctor in the Porridge Christmas Special "No Way Out", which gets an airing in our house every Christmas! He had been offered the role of the fourth Doctor when Jon Pertwee left the series but had turned it down, not be willing to commit to three years in a role.

Recognition would follow sometime after this story. First he was cast as Dr. Jock McCannon in A Very Peculiar Practice then Tom Ballard in Waiting for God, both of which have a fair few Doctor Who connections.

A Very Peculiar Practice stars (by then) former Doctor Who Peter Davison alongside David Troughton (Enemy of the World/War Games/Curse of Peladon/Midnight/son of Patrick Troughton. Also featured were Trevor Cooper (Revelation of the Daleks), Hugh Grant (Curse of Fatal Death), Geoffrey Beevers (Ambassadors of Death/Keeper of Traken/husband of Caroline John (Liz Shaw)), Chris Jury (Greatest Show in the Galaxy) and Tim Munro (Planet of the Daleks). Female lead in the first series is Amanda Hillwood, Morse's 2nd pathologist (we've had Frost and Barnaby's pathologists in recent episodes of Doctor Who) and is married to Max Headroom's Matt Frewer. If you haven't seen A Very Peculiar Practice then it's currently available on DVD (at long last!)

Waiting for God was a long running sitcom set in a retirement home. Amongst the regular cast are Daniel Hill (Shada), Andrew Tourell (Black Orchid) and Michael Bilton (The Massacre/Pyramids of Mars/The Deadly Assassin)

Which brings us nicely back to the accusations of comedy levelled frequently at this season. One of the worst examples occurs in this episode as the Doctor's repairs to the Tardis fail: the accompanying sound effect is taken straight from light entertainment's repertoire.

(The Doctor has a new arrangement of the equipment and wires linked into the time rotor.)
DOCTOR: Right, K9. Without our grativic anomaliser, this is the best we can do. Let's give it a try, shall we? Ah, come on, old girl.

DOCTOR: That's very odd. Wouldn't you say that was odd, K9?
K9: Odd not computable, master.

While trying to find out if the mineral Hymetusite had a classical origin to it's name (I didn't find anything) I discovered that the sound effect used here has a name! It's called Major Bloodnok's Stomach which was first used in an episode of The Goon Show!

Not many of the extras for this story are listed on IMDB, with just a couple of the Skonnan Guards getting a mention. The Doctor Who Appreciation Society Production File supplies the rest of the names:

Peter Roy was a Greek Soldier in The Myth Makers, an English Soldier in The Highlanders, an Airport Police Sergeant & Chauffeur in The Faceless Ones, a UNIT & Bunker Man in The Invasion, a Security Guard in The Seeds of Death, a Passenger/Plague Victim/Passersby/Ambulance Man/Policeman in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a Policeman in Mind of Evil, Technic Obarl in Hand of Fear, a Guard in The Face of Evil, a Guard in The Sun Makers, a Galifreyan Guard in The Invasion of Time, a Gracht Guard & one of Zadek's Guards in The Androids of Tara and a Guard in The Armageddon Factor He returns as a Policeman in Logopolis, an Ambulance Man in Castrovalva, a Man in the Cave Crowd in Snakedance and a Van Driver in Resurrection of the Daleks. Like many extras at this time he has Blake's 7 form too appearing as a Citizen / Prisoner in The Way Back & Space Fall, an Alta Guard in Redemption, an Albian Rebel in Countdown and a Federation Trooper / Rebel in Rumours of Death. He was in Doomwatch as a man in Project Sahara and Flood. In the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy he plays the Limousine Chauffeur in episode 2. He's got a notable role in the James Bond film Thunderball where he played British Secret Agent 006. He has a less obvious appearance in Return of the Jedi as Major Olander Brit but that hasn't stopped the character from getting a Wookipedia page!

Jim Delaney had previously been a English Soldier in The Highlanders, a Confederate Soldier & Resistance Man in The War Games, a UNIT Soldier & Plague Victim in The Silurians, a Passerby in Mind of Evil, a Presidential Guard in Frontier in Space, a Time Lord in Deadly Assassin, a Coven Members in Image of the Fendahl and a Noble in Androids of Tara He returns as a Logopolitan in Logopolis, a Time Lord in Trial of Time Lord: Mysterious Planet & Mindwarp and a Crimson Time Lord in Trial of Time Lord: Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe. In Adam Adamant Lives! he's a TA Soldier / RA Major in D for Destruction. In Yes Minister he's the Permanent Secretary in The Compassionate Society and in the 1989 Batman film he's the Election Ceremony Patron.

Making his return to Doctor Who is Joe Santo who was a Resistance Men in The War Games, a UNIT Soldier in The Ambassadors of Death and the Exit guard in the Mutants He later plays a Tharil in Warrior's Gate and an Alphan Servant in Trial of a Timelord: Mindwarp. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in The Islanders, In the Dark, High Mountain & Enquiry, Moonbase 3 as José in View of a Dead Planet, Blake's 7 as a Scavenger in Deliverance and Fawlty Towers as the Laundry Van Driver's Mate in The Kipper and the Corpse.

Paul Barton was previously a UNIT Soldier and a Silurian in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a Roundhead in The Time Monster, a Courtier in The Masque of Mandragora, a guard in Face of Evil, Marn’s Attendant in The Sunmakers and a Skonnos Guard in The Horns of Nimon. He returns as a Citizen/Unbeliever in Planet of Fire and a Walk on in Remembrance of the Daleks. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in Hear No Evil, Invasion and No Room for Error and appears in Moonbase 3 as a Technician in View of a Dead Planet.

Derek Suthern He first appeared as a Path Lab Technician in The Hand of Fear returning as a Mentiad in Pirate Planet, a Gracht Guard & Zadek Guard in The Androids of Tara, a Mute in The Armageddon Factor, a Guard in The Creature from the Pit, and a Mandrel in Nightmare of Eden. He would have made a fourth consecutive appearance this season as a Krarg in Shada if that hadn't have been cancelled. That also deprives him of appearances in five consecutive Doctor Who stories as he returns as an Argolin Guide in The Leisure Hive, the first story of the next season. At the end of that season he plays PC Davis in Logopolis part one followed by a Cricketer in Black Orchid, a Policeman in Time-Flight, and a Man in Market in Snakedance. In Blake's 7 he was a Federation Trooper in The Way Back, a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Federation Trooper in Trial & Countdown, a Customer / Gambler in Gambit, a Hommik Warrior in Power and a Space Princess Guard / Passenger in Gold. He appears in the Roger Moore James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me as an Atlantis Guard and is in Fawlty Towers as a Hotel Guest in both The Germans and The Psychiatrist.

David Glen had been a Tourist in Louvre & a Plain-clothes Detective in Louvre in City of Death. In Blake's 7 he was a Laboratory Technician in Seek-Locate-Destroy, Frell, the Technician at Autopsy in Killer, a Crimo in Hostage, a Servalan's Bodyguard in Star One and a Federation Medic in Children of Auron.

Norman Bradley is on his Doctor Who debut and returns as a Young Scientist in Shada, a Holiday Maker in Leisure Hive, a Cyberman in Earthshock and a Guard in The Five Doctors

Terry Gurry was in Douglas Camfield's Beau Geste as a Corporal and By the Sword Divided a Lt. Truscott in Ring of Fire and Not Peace, But a Sword.

Finally I can't find Edmund Thomas in anything I've seen.

This is the last episode of Doctor Who shown in the 1970s.

522 The Horns of Nimon: Part One

EPISODE: The Horns of Nimon: Part One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 522
STORY NUMBER: 108
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 22 December 1979
WRITER: Anthony Read
DIRECTOR: Kenny McBain
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Myths & Legends: The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of the Nimon

"We are the bearers of Aneth's tribute to the Nimon!"

An ageing Skonnan battlecruiser travels from Aneth to Skonnos carrying the last payment of tribute. The crew overload the systems trying to make the journey quicker and are dragged off course, killing the pilot. The Doctor is modifying the Tardis' systems, with vital systems disconnected, when K-9 detects that the Tardis is moving and accelerating. They sight the Skonnan space ship where the surviving co-pilot attempts to contact Skonnan control. On Skonnos the Skonnan leader Soldeed returns from having spoken with the Nimon with promises of greatness. The Tardis collides with the Skonnan space ship with the Doctor extruding a forcefield from the doors enabling them to board the ship where they find the radioactive hymetusite, and then the Anethian children locked in a room. They tell the Doctor they are the bearers of the tribute from Aneth. The Doctor wonders if someone is artificially creating the black hole he believes they have encountered. The remaining pilot finds the Doctor & Romana taking them to the bridge. Skonnos detects that the ship has vanished and Soldeed goes to inform the Nimon. The Doctor uses the grativic anomaliser from the Tardis to help the ailing ship, but as the Doctor returns to the Tardis the pilot, eager to get back to Skonnos with his cargo of sacrifices, activates the ship's drive leaving the Tardis behind and taking Romana with them. On Skonnos Soldeed meets with the Nimon, a massive bull headed creature. An asteroid hurtles towards the Tardis threatening it's safety.....

Doctor and Romana help stricken spacecraft. Except this is just the hook to get them involved in the story. If you haven't figures it out by the end of the episode the appearance of the bull headed Nimon should give you a big clue: we're doing Theseus & The Minotaur!

SETH: Who are you?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm the Doctor. This is Romana. Who are you?
SETH: Seth.
TEKA: He is Prince of Aneth.
DOCTOR: Aneth! That's a charming place.
SETH: You've been to Aneth?
DOCTOR: Yes, but not yet.
SETH: Oh.
TEKA: Where are we now?
DOCTOR: Nowhere.
ROMANA: Where were you going?
SETH: Skonnos.
DOCTOR: Skonnos?
SETH: We are the bearers of Aneth's tribute to the Nimon.
DOCTOR: What?
TEKA: We are the bearers of Aneth's tribute to the Nimon.
DOCTOR: No, that's all right. I heard what you said. I was just thinking what a curious thing to be.
SETH: We were on our way to Skonnos when something went wrong with the ship.

This is Anthony Read's first solo script for Doctor Who, having previously been one part of the first Doctor Who incarnation of "David Agnew".

However in his former role as the show's Script Editor Read commissioned Underworld which plays with the myth of Jason & The Argonauts, so he's returning to similar territory here. And like Underworld, many of the names in this story have mythical origins:

Nimon	-	Minotaur
Seth	-	Theseus
Aneth	-	Athens
Skonnos	-	Konossos
Soldeed	-	Daedalus, architect of the Labyrinth

However the name Teka, Seth's female companion, doesn't seem to have a mythical origin. The heroine of the Minotaur story is King Minos' daughter Ariadna so it's not taken from there. While Doctor Who magazine 429 draws our attention to the similar sounding Attica, which is the region of Greece where Athens is found, it's worth pointing out that Teka is an anagram of Kate and thus probably based on a relative of one of the production team.

DOCTOR: Hello, who's that?
COPILOT: The pilot.
DOCTOR: Ah.
COPILOT: He's dead.
DOCTOR: What?
COPILOT: He crashed the ship.
DOCTOR: But the ship hasn't crashed.
COPILOT: Well, it went out of control. At least the cargo is safe.
ROMANA: He means the hymetusite.
COPILOT: I mean the sacrifices.
ROMANA: Sacrifices?
COPILOT: The Anethians. I have to get them safely to Skonnos, whatever happens. They are our payment in the great contract.
DOCTOR: I don't like the sound of that.
COPILOT: It doesn't matter what you like the sound of.

The deceased pilot of the battlecruiser was played by Bob Hornery who goes on to appear in Sapphire & Steel Adventure 4, The Man Without a Face, as Shape.

The surviving Co-Pilot is played by Malcolm Terris who was Etnin in The Dominators.

I'd never noticed before but after the Pilot dies the Co-Pilot nicks his hat with the larger crest!

Oh look, there's the triangle/hexagon patterned walls again! They're all over the place in this story:

It's not 100% clear in the episode but the insinuation is that neither The Doctor or the Skonnans expected there to be a Black Hole here:

DOCTOR: Yes. Sargasso Sea in space. Romana?
ROMANA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Suppose, just suppose, someone were beginning to create a black hole.
ROMANA: What?
DOCTOR: Artificially, I mean.
ROMANA: Can it be done?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Fix gravity beam, attract matter to one point in space, and when there's enough it starts to collapse to a singularity. But who'd want to do that?

We will return to this point later....

521 Nightmare of Eden: Part Four

EPISODE: Nightmare of Eden: Part Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 521
STORY NUMBER: 107
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 15 December 1979
WRITER: Bob Baker
DIRECTOR: Alan Bromly
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 9.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Nightmare of Eden

"You! You're smuggling the Vrax!"

The ships successfully separate. Dymond requests permission to leave but Fisk demands he stays. Della tells Romana about the last day on Eden when Stott disappeared in a Mandrell attack. Romana tells her that Stott is alive. The Doctor finds himself aboard the Hecate with some advanced laser equipment connected to a CET Machine. He interrogates the Hecate's computers and finds data on the profits of the Eden project, then hides in the Hecate's shuttle as Dymond flies it over to the Empress. Tryst attempts to incriminate the Doctor to customs officer Fisk. K-9 detects the Doctor's arrival and he is reunited with K-9, Romana & Della. Della is seen with the Doctor and arrested by the ship's guards. The Doctor deduces that Tryst intends to transmit the Vraxoin, inside the Eden projection to Dymond on the Empress. Della escapes when her guard is attacked by a Mandrell and finds Tryst. Fisk arrests the Doctor but Stott arrives incriminating Tryst & Dymond. Della confronts Tryst about the Vraxoin smuggling, and escapes when a Mandrell attacks but is wounded. The Mandrells are driven back into the projection and secured. The Eden projection is transferred to the Hecate but the Doctor uses K-9 and scans the Hecate into the CET machine allowing the customs officers to arrest Tryst & Dymond. Tryst pleads for clemency but the Doctor dismisses him. Della & Stott are reunited and the Doctor take Tryst's collection of projection crystals to return the samples within to where they came.

You know what? That wasn't bad at all. A bit more running about and a big K-9 episode with quite a bit of him shooting Mandrells which I'd have enjoyed it if I'd have seen it at the time

Unfortunately K-9 does unintentionally spoil a scene where he, the Doctor & Romana are creeping around: the Doctor "Shhhs" them and all you can hear is K-9's motor making a dreadful racket!

You get to see a lot more of the Mandrells this episode too but they spend far too little time rampaging and far too long being herded like sheep back to the CET machine which leads to this dreadful piece of dialogue as the Doctor lures them inside and disappears off screen:

DOCTOR: Ah. Oh gosh, oh lord, oh Doctor! Steady, steady. This way. Not that way! This. Oh! Oh! Oh, my fingers, my arms, my legs! Ah! My everything! Argh!

I'm sensing a bit of Tom improvising in rehearsals there.

But given that the ending is a clever resolution, but a clever resolution quite clearly sign posted earlier in the story.

DOCTOR: All I did was increase the range of this machine and brought them back. Matter transmutation, you see. And because the projection's still unstable, all you have to do is pluck them out.
FISK: You heard him. Pluck them out.

TRYST: Doctor! Doctor, I didn't want to be involved in all this. Tell them. Tell them that I only did it for the sake of funding my research. You understand all this. You're a scientist.
DOCTOR: Go away.
TRYST: What?
DOCTOR: Go away.

And the Doctor's complete dismissal of Tryst is fabulous!

There's a lot of similarity between the CET machine here and the Scope in the superb Carnival of Monsters. There the Doctor does something clever with the Tardis to return the specimens home, here the solution is a lot less clear but looks like journeys to each planet to manually release them.

I've liked Nightmare of Eden far more than I expected to. Like it's predecessor, Creature from the Pit, there's some clever ideas going on but here they reach the screen a bit more successfully albeit not 100% successfully. There's a few down points, notably Lewis Fiander's accent as Tryst and the Mandrells themselves. They don't look *too* bad but then you think of previous marauding monsters, the Axons in particular spring to mind, and you start to think that maybe they aren't that much cop. It's certainly not obvious that the production was fraught, with tensions developing between lead actor & director to such a point that Alan Bromly walked away from the production and the final day's filming was completed by producer Graham Williams.

Bromly never worked on Doctor Who again, but there again after this season only one director and 3 writers with prior experience of the program will be back! So this too is a last appearance for Bob Baker who would go on to write for the Wallace & Gromit films.

Nightmare of Eden was novelised by Terrence Dicks and released in August 1980. It was released on video in 1999 and but was released on DVD on 2nd April 2011.

520 Nightmare of Eden: Part Three

EPISODE: Nightmare of Eden: Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 520
STORY NUMBER: 107
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 08 December 1979
WRITER: Bob Baker
DIRECTOR: Alan Bromly
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 9.6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Nightmare of Eden

"It wouldn't have mattered much, since you're going to die anyway. Trafficking in drugs is punishable by death on Azure!"

Romana & The Doctor hide inside the Eden projection, accessible because of the lack of a key component in Tryst's CET Machine that restricts access to and from the projection. They confront one of the creatures seen on the ship and are saved by Stott, the missing member of Tryst's expedition who has been hiding in the recording. He is a major in the space corp tracking the drugs. Stored in the CET machine the Vraxoin is undetectable. Stott knows the source is somewhere in Eden but can't find it. They escape to the power unit where they meet K-9 who tells them he has seen five of the monsters which Stott calls Mandrells. The Mandrells run amok in the ship to the drugged Rigg's amusement. Tryst tries to persuade Fisk to tranquillise the Mandrells but Fisk orders them killed. The Doctor dispatches his friends on vital tasks while he remains in the power room. While alone he is attacked by a Mandrell. The Mandrell strikes a circuit bank and is electrocuted, reducing it to a pile of Vraxoin, revealing that they are the source of the drug to the Doctor. Romana tells Rigg that the Doctor is about to separate the ship but he, now addicted, demands Vraxoin from her and attacks her, preventing her from activating the power. She is saved by Fisk who tries to arrest her, threatening to shoot if she touches the controls. At the appointed time she activates the drive system and the ships begin to separate but the Doctor, fleeing the power room, fades away.....

There's a lot of running around manically in this episode, but the plot does move on with this missing member of the expedition being revealed and the Doctor putting his plan into action to separate the ships. The end of the episode, as the Doctor fades away, is rather odd as it's just not clear what's going on, but is a better use of the new video effects than the previous week.

Some of the cast of this story are known to us from previous Doctor Who tales: Geoffrey Hinsliff, playing customs officer Fisk, was Jack Tyler in Image of the Fendahl. He'd been in UFO Confetti Check A-O.K. as the Hotel Clerk and I, Claudius as Rufrius in Fool's Luck but is best known for playing Don Brennan in Coronation Street.

Playing Fisk's partner Costa is Peter Craze, the brother of Michael Craze, who played former companion Ben Jackson. He has two previous Doctor Who's to his name, playing Dako in The Space Museum and Du Pont in The War Games as well as a pair of Blake's 7s: he was in Seek Locate Destroy as Prell and Sand as Servalan's Assistant. He was also in The Professionals episode Heroes as the Security Man.

Playing Stott is Barry Andrews who was in the Roger Moore James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me as a HMS Ranger Crewman.

A number of actors play the Mandrels, who have generally been obscured, partially seen or only shown in darkness. You'd almost think someone wasn't happy with the costume.....

James Muir who had previously been a UNIT Soldier in The Time Monster, a UNIT Soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, a Muto in Genesis of the Daleks, a UNIT Soldier in Terror of the Zygons, a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora, a Death Attendant in The Sun Makers, a Technician in The Pirate Planet, a Druid in The Stones of Blood and a Louvre Detective in City of Death. He then would have been the Man Fishing and a Krarg in Shada, after which he was seen as a Foamasi in The Leisure Hive, a Gaztak in Meglos, a Tharil in Warriors' Gate, the Police Driver in Black Orchid, a Policeman in Time Flight and an RAF Driver in Rememberance of the Daleks. He'd been in Blake's 7 as a Federation Trooper in Seek-Locate-Destroy, a Phibian in Orac, a Rebel in Pressure Point, a Monster in Dawn of the Gods, a Link in Rescue, a Helot in Traitor, a Pirate Guard in Assassin & a Federation Trooper in Blake. He was the Vl'Hurg Leader i episode 4 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and was a technician in Moonbase 3: Castor and Pollux. He was in The Professionals as a Police Man in Stakeout

Derek Suthern first appeared as a Path Lab Technician in The Hand of Fear returning as a Mentiad in Pirate Planet, a Gracht Guard & Zadek Guard in The Androids of Tara, a Mute in The Armageddon Factor and a Guard in The Creature from the Pit. He's in the enxt story as a Skonnan Guard in The Horns of Nimon and would have made a fourth appearance this season as a Krarg in Shada if that hadn't have been cancelled. That also deprives him of appearances in five consecutive Doctor Who stoies as he then plays a Argolin Guide in The Leisure Hive, the first story of the next season. He returns at the end of that season as PC Davis in Logopolis part one followed by a Cricketer in Black Orchid, a Policeman in Time-Flight, and a Man in Market in Snakedance. In Blake's 7 he was a Federation Trooper in The Way Back, a Scavenger in Deliverance, a Federation Trooper in Trial & Countdown, a Customer / Gambler in Gambit, a Hommik Warrior in Power and a Space Princess Guard / Passenger in Gold. He appears in the Roger Moore James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me as an Atantis Guard and is in Fawlty Towers as a Hotel Guest in both The Germans and

Robert Goodman is on his Doctor Who debut here! He'll be back as a Citizen in Full Circle, a Gallifreyan in Arc of Infinity, a Buccaneer Guard/Wrack Deck Crew/Striker Deck Crew in Enlightenment, a Colonist in Frontios, a Crewmember in Resurrection of the Daleks and a Crew member/Loader / Hyperion III Officer in The Trial of a Time Lord as well as playing Reg in the new series episode Listen. He also was in The Spy Who Loved Me as a Stromberg's Guard, has an episode of one of my childhood favourites Pipkins on his CV where he plays a Dustman in The Sink, is in the Yes Minister episode Jobs for the as Robert the Waiter, A Fish Called Wanda as a Street thug and the new series of Doctor Who as Reg in Listen.

David Korff returns as a Foamasi in The Leisure Hive.

This is, as far as I can tell Jan Murzynowski's only Doctor Who appearance. He was also in Blake's 7 as a Customer / Gambler in Gambit and a Goth Guard in The Keeper, The Tomorrow People as a KGB Man in The Dirtiest Business: A Spy Is Born and The Dirtiest Business: A Spy Dies and the 1979 Quatermass as a Russian Astronaut in What Lies Beneath.

Playing a Passenger/Wounded Passenger is Billy Gray who had been a Bandit in Creature from the Pit. He returns as a Logopolitan in Logopolis. In Blake's 7 he's Customer / Gambler in Gambit.

Onto the non credited passengers. We found Jean Channon last episode courtesy of IMDB but the DWAS Production File lists a few more:

Derek Hunt had been an Atlantean Guard in Underwater Menace, a British Soldier in No Man's Land, British Soldier in The War Games, a Regular Soldier in Spearhead from Space, a Unit Soldier in the Silurians, a Technician in Inferno, a UNIT Man in Day of the Daleks, a Prison Guard in Frontier in Space, a Guard in Planet of Spiders, an Android Mechanic & Android Soldier in Android Invasion, a Bi-Al Member in Invisible Enemy, and a Technician/Guard/Citizen in The Ribos Operation He returns as James the Footman in Black Orchid, a Worthy in Snakedance, a Guard in Planet of Fire and a Time Lord in all 14 episodes of Trial of a Timelord: we know he's an Orange Time Lord in Terror of the Vervoids & The Ultimate Foe so assume he's wearing the same colours the whole story.

Audrey Searle had been Airport Personnel in Plane (Chameleons) in The Faceless Ones.

Judy Rodger was a Golden Age Women in The Invasion of the Dinosaurs. and a Nurse in The Armageddon Factor. She returns as a Middle-aged Lady in Mawdryn Undead. In Fawlty Towers she's Sybil's Friend in The Builders.

Ann Garry Lee I can't find on IMDB but the DWAS production file shows her aappearing as a Lazar in Terminus. I think it's likely that she's the Ann Lee who plays Lucretia Borgia in Shada and a Kinda in Kinda In Doomwatch she was a Secretary in Friday's Child, a Woman in Spectre at the Feast, a Woman in Train and De-Train, a Woman in You Killed Toby Wren, a Woman in Flight Into Yesterday, a Nursing Sister in The Web of Fear, a Woman in The Inquest and a Laboratory Assistant in Cause of Death.

Pat Judge is making his Doctor Who debut. He returns as a Foster in The Keeper of Traken and a man with a metal detector in Resurrection of the Daleks. He also appears in Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. as a Captive and in the Dad's Army film he's a Townsman. In The Sweeney he was the Barman in Big Spender. He's in two Sean Connery James Bond film: Dr. No as Le Cercle Waiter and Thunderball as a Casino Patron. He's also in two Carry On Films: Carry On Jack as a Pirate and Carry On Cleo as a Senator.

Jenny Roberts returns as a Guide in The Leisure Hive, Jay Roberts returns as a Passenger in Time-Flight and Greg Marlowe returns as one of Striker’s Crew in Enlightenment while this is Madelaine Simpson's only Doctor Who appearance.

Now the Crewmen.....

There is a David Cole playing a crewman, but the problem here is we believe there are TWO Davd Coles who have worked on Doctor Who. There is a David Cole who played Billy Clanton in 1966's Gunfighters He was born on April 8, 1936 so, aged 45, is likely to have still been working at this time. During this period there's a supporting artist under this name playing a Crewman in Nightmare of Eden, a Student in Shada, a member of the Pangol Army in The Leisure Hive, a Savant in Meglos, a Citizen in Full Circle, a Kinda in Kinda, a Student in Arc of Infinty, a Schoolboy in Mawdryn Undead, a Mutant in Mawdryn Undead, One of Ranulf's Knights, a Spectator & a Beggar in King's Demons and a Trooper in The Awakening. Some of those could well be the David Cole from the Gunfghters but The Student in Arc of Infnity and Schoolboy in Mawdryn Undead would seem to require a much younger actor and indicate that there is a second one so who knows qute how these roles are split!

Terence Creasy returns as a Young Scientist in Shada and one of Lexa's Deons in Meglos. He was in Blake's 7 as a Kezarn Native in City at the Edge of the World and a Rebel in Rumours of Death. In Hi-de-Hi! he plays Yellowcoat Gary.

Simon Sutton returns as the lookout in Planet of Fire

Mark Kirby returns as Train Guard in Trial of a Timelord: Mysterious Planet. In Blake's 7 he was a Communications Technician / Firefighter in Killer and a Customer / Gambler in Gambit. In Fawlty Towers he's a Hotel Guest in Waldorf Salad.

Sebastian Stride and Eden Phillips also play Crewman but neither has appeared in anything else I recognise.

Onto the Medics:

Reg Turner had been a a UNIT Troop in The Time Monster, a Thal Guard in Genesis of the Daleks, a Technician in Pirate Planet, a Guard in the Armageddon Factor, and a Guard in the Creature from the Pit In Blake's 7 he was a Prisoner in The Way Back & Space Fall, a Federation Trooper in Weapon, Voice from the Past & The Harvest of Kairos and a Rebel in Rumours of Death. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in You Killed Toby Wren, The Inquest & The Logicians. In Monty Python's Flying Circus he was a Pantomime Animal in Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror.

Gary Dean was a Technician in The Ice Warriors, a Guard in The Enemy of the World, a UNIT Soldier in The Invasion, a German Soldier in The War Games, a Regular Army Soldier in Spearhead from Space, a UNIT Soldier in Doctor Who and the Silurians, an Earth Control Guard in The Mutants, a Lunar Guard in Frontier in Space, a Spiridon in Planet of the Daleks, a guard in Pirate Planet, and a Technician in The Armageddon Factor. He returns as a Passenger in Time-Flight & a Pallbearer in Rememberance of the Daleks. He was in Doomwatch as a Man in Project Sahara and Fawlty Towers as a Hotel Guest in Communication Problems.

519 Nightmare of Eden: Part Two

EPISODE: Nightmare of Eden: Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 519
STORY NUMBER: 107
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 01 December 1979
WRITER: Bob Baker
DIRECTOR: Alan Bromly
SCRIPT EDITOR: Douglas Adams
PRODUCER: Graham Williams
RATINGS: 9.6 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Nightmare of Eden

"You know what, Dymond? The Empress has eaten your ship. Ha ha! Eaten it!"

K-9 drives the monster back and reseals the hole. Rigg scans the ships for Vraxoin but finds none. Romana is found by Della. She gets a drink for her, but it gets spiked with Vraxoin and then consumed by Rigg. Romana tells the Doctor she thinks the creature escaped from the machine, which he considers to be unstable. Rigg starts to show the influence of the drug he has accidentally taken. The Doctor & Romana use the Tardis to try to separate the ships, but the Hecate cannot take the stress. The Doctor sees a masked figure flee from one of the matter interfaces and pursues him. The drugged Rigg accuses the Doctor & Romana of first drugs smuggling and then being a narcotics agent as Tryst plies him with drinks. Romana searches for the Doctor but finds on of the creatures and is saved by a mystery man who shoots it who the Doctor thinks is the man he was chasing. The Doctor removed a radiation device from the man linking him to the ship Tryst used. Tryst discusses with Della the possibility that their slain expedition member was the drug smuggler. Tryst then accuses Della of drug smuggling to the Doctor. In the Power Unit, K-9 encounters the monster. Azure custom officers Fisk & Costa come aboard and try to arrest the Doctor, who they detect minute traces of Vraxoin on. They flee to Tryst's room, activate the CET machine and enter the Eden projection.....

Again this episode moves at a nice pace, advancing the plot. There are clues there as to who the culprit is if you've not seen the show before. If you have it'll lodge in your brain and be absolutely obvious, removing much of the point of the serial. Essentially this is just an Agatha Christie style mystery just dressed up with spaceships & monsters. And not that many of the monsters so far!

The director Alan Bromly, who'd previously helmed 1974's The Time Warrior and produced the last two series of Out of the Unknown, gets some clever reuse of stair, lift lobby and passenger compartment sets in during this episode to suggest that there's more to the Empress than we think, which will ring bells with anyone who's been lost on seemingly identical levels and endless stairwells in the same building. Unfortunately it is absolutely obvious that it's the same set reused again and again, especially when the same trick is pulled with three different sets one after the other during the Doctor's pursuit of the mystery man, who's identity is unfortunately given away if you look at the end title acting credits!

The scenes shot in the matter interface use some nice video trickery to suggest what's going on, the first time I think this sort of effect has been used on Doctor Who. However the effect is somewhat spoilt by the large amounts of mist, distortion and general darkness in these scenes. Far better versions of the ghosting effect seen here will be used later, especially in next year's Warrior's Gate.

The scenes of the passengers here in their cabins remind me of scenes with ageing passengers trapped in a crashed space liner in the last episode of the second series of The Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy that Script Editor Douglas Adams would have been writing at about the time this story was made.

There's 4 credited passengers in this episode: Lionel Sansby was a UNIT Soldier in the Silurian and one of the Complex Personnel in Hand of Fear. He would have been seen later this season as a Krarg in Shada. Except, as we'll see, he wasn't. He returns as a Cricketer in Black Orchid, a Passenger in Time Flight, one of the Men in the Cave Croud in Snakedance, and as a Lazar in Terminus. In Blake's 7 he was a Federation Trooper in Seek-Locate-Destroy and in Doomwatch he was a Man in No Room for Error.

Annet Peters had been in Invasion of the Dinosaurs as an Operation Golden Age Woman, and The Pirate Planet as a Citizen. She returns as a guide in The Leisure Hive, and a Lazar in Terminus. and she's got a couple of decent sitcom appearances to her name as Mrs. Wareing in the Fawlty Towers episode A Touch of Class and as a Woman in Restaurant in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin episode Hippopotamus.

Peter Roberts was also in Reginald Perrin as a Youth in Communal Social Evenings which leaves just Maggie Petersen as the only credited Passenger I've not seen in anything else.

However IMDB has Jean Channon down as an Extra for all four parts of this story and given that we've not seen any women bar Della elsewhere she's likely to be a passenger too - The DWAS Production File confirms this assumption! She first appeared in Doctor Who as a Passser By in The Massacre: War of God, followed by a Passenger/Plague Victim/Passersby in the Silurians, Hilda, the Lotus Position Girl, in The Green Death, a Masquer in The Masque of Mandragora and a Passser By & Audience Member/Dancing Girl in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. She returns as a Castrovalvan Woman in Castrovalva, a Dinner Guest in Snakedance, a Lazar in Terminus and the Woman at the Telephone Kiosk in Survival , as well as appearing in Blake's 7: Warlord as a Zondawl Citizen

We'll attempt to trace all the other passengers listed in in the DWAS Production File, and there are a fair few, in time for next week!