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episode guide

the talons of weng-chiang

story 91 : season 14 : serial 4S : 6 episodes

Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Director: David Maloney
Writer: Robert Holmes
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Designer: Roger Murray-Leach

cast information

Tom Baker (Doctor Who); Louise Jameson (Leela); John Bennett (Li H'sen Chang); Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago); Trevor Baxter (Professor Litefoot); Deep Roy (Mr. Sin); Michael Spice (Weng-Chiang); Chris Gannon (Casey); David McKail (Sergeant Kyle); Conrad Asquith (P.C. Quick); Alan Butler (Buller); Patsy Smart (Ghoul); Tony Then (Lee); John Wu (Coolie); Judith Lloyd (Teresa); Vaune Craig-Raymond (Cleaner); Penny Lister (Singer); Vincent Wong (Ho);

crew information

Linda Graeme (Assistant Floor Manager); John Bloomfield (Costumes); Stuart Fell (Fight Arranger); Fred Hamilton (Film Cameraman); David Lee (Film Editor); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Heather Stewart (Make-Up); Ros Anderson (Production Assistant); Chris D'Oyly-John (Production Unit Manager); John Nathan-Turner (Production Unit Manager); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Mike Jefferies (Studio Lighting); Clive Gifford (Studio Sound); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Michealjohn Harris (Visual Effects);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 26 February 1977 at 18:30 24'44" 11.3mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
2 Part Two 5 March 1977 at 18:35 24'26" 9.8mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 12 March 1977 at 18:30 21'56" 10.2mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 19 March 1977 at 18:30 24'30" 11.4mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
5 Part Five 26 March 1977 at 18:30 24'49" 10.1mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
6 Part Six 2 April 1977 at 18:30 23'26" 9.3mil 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
  5. Part Five
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
  6. Part Six
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 061 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1977 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Jeff Cummins
15 November 1977 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Jeff Cummins
ISBN: 0 426 11973 8
September 1979 Published by Pinnacle Books, USA in paperback
With cover artwork by: David Mann
ISBN: 0 523 40638 X
17 March 1994 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 11973 8

plot synopsis

In Victorian England, the Doctor starts to investigate the background to a number of disappearances by young girls and a murder. Working with a pathologist, Professor Lightfoot, and a theatre manager, Henry Jago, they discover that the oriental magician Li H'sen Chang is part of a tong cult worshipping the ancient God, Weng-Chiang. Magnus Greel, a war criminal from the future, who was terribly mutated by the Journey he made into the past in a primitive time machine, is posing as the God and he is behind the disappearing girls, whose life-force he drains to keep him alive, The Doctor has to stop him from endangering countless lives as he tries to get back to the future....

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