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the ambassadors of death

story 53 : season 7 : serial CCC : 7 episodes

Producer: Barry Letts
Director: Michael Ferguson
Writer: David Whitaker
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Designer: David Myerscough-Jones

cast information

Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who); Caroline John (Liz Shaw); Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart); John Levene (Sergeant Benton); Ronald Allen (Ralph Cornish); Robert Cawdron (Taltalian); John Abineri (General Carrington); Ric Felgate (Van Lyden); Michael Wisher (John Wakefield); Cheryl Molineaux (Miss Rutherford); Ray Armstrong (Grey); Robert Robertson (Collinson); Dallas Cavell (Quinlan); Bernard Martin (Control Room Assistant); Joanna Ross (Control Room Assistant); Carl Conway (Control Room Assistant); Juan Moreno (Dobson); James Haswell (Corporal Champion); Derek Ware (Unit Sergeant); William Dysart (Reegan); Cyril Shaps (Lennox); Gordon Sterne (Heldorf); Steve Peters (Astronauts); Neville Simons (Astronauts); Ric Felgate (Astronauts); Max Faulkner (Unit Soldier); John Lord (Masters); Tony Harwood (Flynn); James Clayton (Private Parker); Roy Scammell (Technician); Peter Noel Cook (Alien Space Captain); Peter Halliday (Alien Voices); Steve Peters (Lefee); Neville Simons (Michaels); Geoffrey Beevers (Private Johnson);

crew information

Margot Heyhoe (Assistant Floor Manager); Christine Rawlins (Costumes); A A Englander (Film Cameraman); Tony Leggo (Film Cameraman); Don Goddard (Film Editor); Chris Wimble (Film Editor); Marion Richards (Make-Up); Teresa Wright (Make-Up); Nicholas John (Production Assistant); Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds); Ralph Walton (Studio Lighting); Geoff Shaw (Studio Lighting); Dave Sydenham (Studio Lighting); Gordon Mackie (Studio Sound); Brian Hiles (Studio Sound); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Peter Day (Visual Effects); Ian Scoones (Visual Effects); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Episode 1 21 March 1970 at 17:15 24'15" 7.1mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour)
2 Episode 2 28 March 1970 at 17:15 24'39" 7.6mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour
3 Episode 3 4 April 1970 at 17:20 24'38" 8.0mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour
4 Episode 4 11 April 1970 at 17:15 24'37" 9.3mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour
5 Episode 5 18 April 1970 at 17:15 24'17" 7.1mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour)
PAL D3 colour restoration
6 Episode 6 25 April 1970 at 17:15 24'31" 6.9mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour)
PAL D3 colour restoration
7 Episode 7 2 May 1970 at 17:15 24'32" 5.4mil 16mm b/w telerecording
NTSC U-Matic (colour
  1. Episode 1
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)
  2. Episode 2
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)
  3. Episode 3
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)
  4. Episode 4
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)
  5. Episode 5
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording
    » New tape made using the telerecording and NTSC colour source
  6. Episode 6
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)
    » New tape made using the telerecording and NTSC colour source
  7. Episode 7
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
    » Copy of Domestic USA recording (w/ colour problems)

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who -- The Ambassadors of Death
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 121 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1987 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Tony Masero
ISBN: 0 491 03712 0
1 October 1987 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Tony Masero
ISBN: 0 426 20305 4
21 March 1991 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 20305 4

plot synopsis

Space Control are deeply worried about the fact that there has been radio silence from the Mars Probe Seven ship since it started the return journey to Earth seven months earlier. A recovery ship makes contact, but its radio also goes dead. The Doctor discovers that there are signals, but they're being rerouted to a warehouse, and the UNIT troops storm it. The Recovery Seven lands, and General Carrington's men kidnap all three astronauts on board. They are in reality aliens, who have replaced the Earth astronauts, and Carrington plans to discredit them and bring in a policy that all aliens should be destroyed. The Doctor travels to the aliens' ship, finds the humans are safe, and manages to negotiate a peaceful swap with the aliens to get the crew back, but Carrington has other ideas

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