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the robots of death

story 90 : season 14 : serial 4R : 4 episodes

Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Director: Michael E Briant
Writer: Chris Boucher
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Designer: Kenneth Sharp

cast information

Tom Baker (Doctor Who); Louise Jameson (Leela); Russell Hunter (Commander Uvanov); Pamela Salem (Toos); David Bailie (Dask); David Collings (Poul); Brian Croucher (Borg); Tania Rogers (Zilda); Tariq Yunis (Cass); Rob Edwards (Chub); Gregory de Polnay (D.84); Miles Fothergill (S.V.7); Mark Blackwell Baker (Robot); John Bleasdale (Robot); Mark Cooper (Robot); Peter Langtry (Robot); Jeremy Ranchev (Robot); Richard Seager (Robot);

crew information

David Tilley (Assistant Floor Manager); Elizabeth Waller (Costumes); Peter Chapman (Film Cameraman); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Ann Briggs (Make-Up); Peter Grimwade (Production Assistant); Chris D'Oyly-John (Production Unit Manager); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Duncan Brown (Studio Lighting); Tony Millier (Studio Sound); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Richard Conway (Visual Effects);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 29 January 1977 at 18:20 24'06" 12.8mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
2 Part Two 5 February 1977 at 18:20 24'15" 12.4mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 12 February 1977 at 18:20 23'51" 13.1mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 19 February 1977 at 18:20 23'42" 12.6mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
  1. Part One
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  2. Part Two
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  3. Part Three
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  4. Part Four
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the Robots of Death
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 053 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
24 May 1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
ISBN: 0 426 20061 6
17 February 1994 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 20061 6

plot synopsis

The decadent crew of the vast sandminer, ploughing across an alien wasteland mining for minerals, are served by a series of robots, with varying degrees of intelligence; the Dums are basic labourers, the Vocs have a certain amount of intelligence, while the Super-Vocs actually co-ordinate the whole mining operation. As the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor and Leela become immediate suspects for the murders that are taking place amongst the crew. None of them will believe the Doctor's theory that some of the robots have been reprogrammed to kill their masters, or the possibility that it's one of the crew that's doing it

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