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the war games

story 50 : season 6 : serial ZZ : 10 episodes

Producer: Derrick Sherwin
Director: David Maloney
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Writer: Terrance Dicks
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Designer: Roger Cheveley

cast information

Patrick Troughton (Dr. Who); Frazer Hines (Jamie MacCrimmon); Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot); Edward Brayshaw (The War Chief); Philip Madoc (The War Lord); James Bree (The Security Chief); Bernard Horsfall (Time Lord); Trevor Martin (Time Lord); Clyde Pollitt (Time Lord); Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer Buckingham); David Savile (Lieutenant Carstairs); Noel Coleman (General Smythe); Hubert Rees (Captain Ransom); Esmond Webb (Sgt. Major Burns); Terence Bayler (Major Barrington); Brian Forster (Sergeant Willis); John Livesey (German soldier); Bernard Davies (German soldier); Tony McEwan (Redcoat); Richard Steele (Commandant Gorton); Peter Stanton (Military Chauffeur); Pat Gorman (Military Policeman); David Valla (Lieut. Crane); Gregg Palmer (Lieut. Lucke); David Garfield (von Weich); Bill Hutchinson (Sgt. Thompson); Terry Adams (Corporal Riley); Leslie Schofield (Leroy); Vernon Dobtcheff (Scientist); Rudolph Walker (Harper); John Atterbury (Alien Guard); Michael Lynch (Spencer); Graham Weston (Russell); Charles Pemberton (Alien Technician); David Troughton (Moor); Peter Craze (Du Pont); Michael Napier-Brown (Arturo Villar); Stephen Hubay (Petrov); Clare Jenkins (Tanya); John Levene (Yeti); Freddie Wilson (Quark); Tony Harwood (Ice Warrior); Roy Pearce (Cyberman); Robert Jewell (Dalek);

crew information

Marion McDougall (Assistant Floor Manager); Caroline Walmsley (Assistant Floor Manager); Nicholas Bullen (Costumes); Peter Diamond (Fight Arranger); Arthur Howell (Fight Arranger); Alan Jonas (Film Cameraman); Chris Hayden (Film Editor); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Sylvia James (Make-Up); Edwina Verner (Production Assistant); Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds); Howard King (Studio Lighting); John Staple (Studio Sound); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Michealjohn Harris (Visual Effects); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Episode One 19 April 1969 at 17:15 25'00" 5.5mil 16mm telerecording
2 Episode Two 26 April 1969 at 17:15 25'00" 6.3mil 16mm telerecording
3 Episode Three 3 May 1969 at 17:15 24'30" 5.1mil 16mm telerecording
4 Episode Four 10 May 1969 at 17:15 23'30" 5.7mil 16mm telerecording
5 Episode Five 17 May 1969 at 17:15 24'37" 5.1mil 16mm telerecording
6 Episode Six 24 May 1969 at 17:15 22'53" 4.2mil 16mm telerecording
7 Episode Seven 31 May 1969 at 17:15 22'28" 4.9mil 16mm telerecording
8 Episode Eight 7 June 1969 at 17:15 24'37" 3.5mil 16mm telerecording
9 Episode Nine 14 June 1969 at 17:15 24'34" 4.1mil 16mm telerecording
10 Episode Ten 21 June 1969 at 17:15 24'23" 5.0mil 16mm telerecording
  1. Episode One
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978
  2. Episode Two
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  3. Episode Three
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978
  4. Episode Four
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978
  5. Episode Five
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  6. Episode Six
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978
  7. Episode Seven
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978
  8. Episode Eight
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  9. Episode Nine
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  10. Episode Ten
    » Recovered from BFI c.1978

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the War Games
Written by: Malcolm Hulke
Number 070 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
25 September 1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
ISBN: 0 426 20082 9
15 February 1990 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 20082 9

plot synopsis

Materialising in No Man's Land during the First World War, the TARDIS crew are captured and General Smythe insists that they are executed, but the Doctor and his companions manage to escape. Moving through a strange area of mist, they suddenly find themselves entering Roman times. The Doctor uncovers the fact that they are in the middle of a vast war game being played out by aliens, using captured soldiers from various periods in Earth's history. The whole thing is masterminded by a renegade from the Doctor's own race, known as the War Chief, who answers to the War Lord. When he arrives, the Doctor realises he can't win, and calls for help from his people, the Time Lords, but tries to get away from the planet before they arrive. There is no escape, and they force his TARDIS to land back on his home planet, where he is put on trial for 'interference', the greatest crime a Time Lord can commit. Jamie and Zoe are returned to their own times, with their memories wiped of all bar their first adventure with the Doctor, who is exiled to earth, with a forced regeneration

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