Story #29 "The Tenth Planet"

Season

4

Writer

Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis

Book/CD

 X

Episodes

4

Director

Derek Martinus

Vid

 X

Story code

DD

Producer

Innes Lloyd

DVD

X

Episode Details

Episode

DR MM:SS

TX dd/mm/yy

RPT TX dd/mm/yy

In BBC Archive

1

23:08

08/10/1966

Y

2

23:15

15/10/1966

Y

4

24:02

29/10/1966

N

Cast Details

Regular Cast

William Hartnell (First Doctor) , Micheal Craze (Ben Jackson) / Anneke Wills (Polly)

Guest Cast

Robert Beatty (General Cutler) / Dudley Jones (Dyson) / David Dodimead (Barclay) / Alan White (Schultz) / Earl Cameron (Williams) / Shane Shelton (Tito) / John Brandon (American Sergeant) / Steve Plytas (Wigner) / Christopher Matthews (Radar Technician) / Reg Whitehead (Krail / Jarl) / Harry Brooks (Talon / Krang) / Gregg Palmer (Shav / Gern) / Ellen Cullen (Geneva Technician) / Glenn Beck (T.V. Announcer) / Roy Skelton (Cyberman Voice) / Peter Hawkins (Cyberman Voice) / Christopher Dunham (R/T Technician) /Cullen Angelo (Terry Cutler)

Synopsis

At a tracking station on the South Pole, radars pick up signals from a new planet heading into orbit, which drains the energy from a space shuttle, and then starts to do the same to the Earth. Its inhabitants are revealed to be the Cybermen, who need the energy to carry out their plan to turn humans into their own kind. A first invasion force is defeated, and after the Doctor manages to overcome a second, Mondas (Earth's long-lost twin world) is blown up. The experience seems to age the Doctor, and on returning to the TARDIS, Ben and Polly can only watch as he collapses and starts to regenerate...

1. First appearance of the Cybermen
2. This is the first regeneration (though the term is never used until 1974 in Planet Of The Spiders), from William Hartnell's Doctor into Patrick Troughton's Doctor.
3. Episode 4 is missing from the BBC archives. Only several short clips of footage exist, among which are the regeneration sequence itself; the sequence exists through being used on a contemporary entertainment news programme to discuss the transition to the new Doctor.
4. William Hartnell left Doctor Who due to bad health, but upon leaving had said "If there is one man in England, who can replace me as the Doctor, it's Patrick Troughton!" Troughton took over the role of the Doctor when Hartnell regenerated into Troughton. Hartnell returned in The Three Doctors in 1973 to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, but died two years later.
5. The Doctor does not appear in Episode 3, as William Hartnell was unwell during the week when it was recorded.
6. Special "computer tape"-style opening and closing title graphics were created for this story by graphic designer Bernard Lodge.
7. This is the only story to give Cybermen characters individual names (Krang, Jarl, etc). After this, Cybermen were only ever named by rank (Cyberleader, Cybercontroller, etc).
8. At the time of the serial's original broadcast, as well as the timeframe of the serial (1986), Pluto was still considered a planet and therefore the story title and dialogue referring to Mondas as the solar system's tenth planet was correct. In 2006, Pluto lost its planetary status, which would make Mondas officially the ninth planet, not the tenth. Note: By the newly-adopted criteria which excludes Pluto, Mondas would technically not be considered a planet either.
9. In Episode 4, the Doctor is credited as "Doctor Who" instead of the usual "Dr. Who".
   
   Order the Tenth Planet CD via our BBC Audio Page
   Order the Lost in Time DVD via our BBC DVDs page