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episode guide

the caves of androzani

story 136 : season 21 : serial 6R : 4 episodes

Producer: John Nathan-Turner
Director: Graeme Harper
Writer: Robert Holmes
Script Editor: Eric Saward
Designer: John Hurst

cast information

Peter Davison (The Doctor); Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown); Colin Baker (The Doctor); Christopher Gable (Sharaz Jek); John Normington (Morgus); Robert Glenister (Salateen); Maurice Ro+ves (Stotz); Martin Cochrane (Chellak); Roy Holder (Krelper); Barbara Kinghorn (Timmin); David Neal (President); Ian Staples (Soldier); Anthony Ainley (The Master); Matthew Waterhouse (Adric); Sarah Sutton (Nyssa); Janet Fielding (Tegan); Mark Strickson (Turlough); Gerald Flood (Voice of Kamelion);

crew information

Sue Hedden (Assistant Floor Manager); Andrew Rose (Costumes); John Walker (Film Cameraman); Roger Guertin (Film Editor); Roger Limb (Incidental Music); John Nethercot (Make-Up); Shirley Stallard (Make-Up); Juley Harding (Production Assistant); June Collins (Production Associate); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Don Babbage (Studio Lighting); Scott Talbott (Studio Sound); Peter Howell (Theme Arrangement); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Jim Francis (Visual Effects); Stuart Brisdon (Visual Effects);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 8 March 1984 at 18:40 24'33" 6.9mil PAL 1 inch colour videotape
2 Part Two 9 March 1984 at 18:40 25'00" 6.6mil PAL 1 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 15 March 1984 at 18:40 24'36" 7.8mil PAL 1 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 16 March 1984 at 18:40 25'37" 7.8mil PAL 1 inch colour videotape
  1. Part One
    » Always held by the FVTL
  2. Part Two
    » Always held by the FVTL
  3. Part Three
    » Always held by the FVTL
  4. Part Four
    » Always held by the FVTL

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who -- The Caves of Androzani
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 092 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1985 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
ISBN: 0 491 03483 0
14 March 1985 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
ISBN: 0 426 19959 6
21 May 1992 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
ISBN: 0 426 19959 6

plot synopsis

On the planet Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Peri become caught up in the conflict between the disfigured arms dealer-cum renegade, Sharaz Jek, and his nemesis, Morgus, whom he longs to be able to destroy. They both fight for control of the supplies of a drug called Spectrox, which reduces the aging process and prolongs life. As the battle between the two factions rages, Jek becomes infatuated with Peri, who contracts Spectrox toxaemia, and slowly starts to die. The Doctor, who also has the disease, races to get the milk of the queen bat from the lower depths of the cave system, the only known cure for it, but as he gets Peri back to the TARDIS, with both Jek and Morgus dead in the aftermath of a final confrontation, there is only enough of the antidote for her. As she recovers, she watches in amazement as the body of the fifth Doctor dies from the disease, and he starts to regenerate....

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