566 Four to Doomsday Part Three

EPISODE: Four to Doomsday Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 566
STORY NUMBER: 119
TRANSMITTED: Monday 25 January 1982
WRITER: Terence Dudley
DIRECTOR: John Black
SCRIPT EDITOR: Antony Root
PRODUCER: John Nathan-Turner
RATINGS: 8.9 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday

Nyssa & Adric are taken to Monarch where Adric, taken in by the leader, co-operates but Nyssa resists. Adric is sent to ask the Doctor to admit Monarch to the Tardis while Nyssa is taken away to be turned into one of Monarch's robots. Tegan is appalled by what's happening on the ship and wants to leave but the Doctor gets her to remain in the quarters while Bygon shows him the bits of the ship Monarch has kept hidden. She argues with Adric, seeking the Doctor, and accidentally knock him out before fleeing to the Tardis to try to get it leave, eventually succeeding. The Doctor is show the mobilliary where the poison is kept and Nyssa is being converted. They free her but Persuasion apprehends them, removing Byron's control circuit and sentencing the Doctor to death at the hands of the Greek gladiators.

What I remember most about this episode from when I was younger: I was ill and missed it. It basically fills in the story a bit and pushes Tegan over the edge.

Shall we have some more comparisons with the The Black Hole? (see episode 2 for all the ones we've already found)

Crewmember of visiting ship sent for conversion and saved: Kate McCrae/Nyssa
Crewmember of visiting ship attempting escape in their vessel: Harry Booth/Tegan
Crewmember of visiting ship siding with being in charge of large ship: Alex Durrant/Adric
Crewmember of large ship siding with visitors: Old Bob/Byron
Commanding officer of large ship wanting to do something insane: Reinhardt believing he can travel through black hole/Monarch wanting to go faster than light believing he'll go back in time and meet himself as God.

None of the guest cast have previous Doctor Who form but several are quite well known. Philip Locke playing Bygon was the assassin Vargas in the James Bond film Thunderball while Burt Kwouk, playing Lin Futu, should need no introduction at all. He also appeared in James Bond films, in his case the original Casino Royale, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. On the big screen he's most famous as Cato in the Pink Panther while contemporary BBC viewers would have seen him in Tenko with former Doctor Who companion Louise Jameson. In recent years he was the narrator of the spoof Japanese betting show Banzai.

Playing Monarch is Stratford Johns, an actor well known for role as Inspector Barlow in Z-Cars which he reprised in Softly, Softly and several spin offs from that. Paul Shelley, playing Persuasion, has a long television career to his name including an appearance in Blake's 7:Countdown as Major Provine. He's the brother of Francis Matthews, the voice of Captain Scarlet. Annie Lambert, here playing Enlightenment, has also had a long career in television which includes a recurring, but unnamed, role in Space 1999.