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episode guide

pyramids of mars

story 82 : season 13 : serial 4G : 4 episodes

Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Director: Paddy Russell
Writer: Stephen Harris
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Designer: Christine Roscoe

cast information

Tom Baker (Doctor Who); Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith); Bernard Archard (Marcus Scarman); Michael Sheard (Laurence Scarman); Gabriel Woolf (Sutekh); Peter Copley (Dr. Warlock); Peter Mayock (Namin); Michael Bilton (Collins); Vik Tablian (Ahmed); Nick Burnell (Mummy); Melvyn Bedford (Mummy); Kevin Selway (Mummy); George Tovey (Ernie Clements);

crew information

Paul Braithwaite (Assistant Floor Manager); Barbara Kidd (Costumes); John McGlashan (Film Cameraman); M A C Adams (Film Editor); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Jean Steward (Make-Up); Peter Grimwade (Production Assistant); George Gallacio (Production Unit Manager); Janet Radenkovic (Production Unit Manager); Dick Mills (Special Sounds); Ron Koplick (Studio Lighting); Brian Hiles (Studio Sound); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement); Ron Grainer (Title Music); Ian Scoones (Visual Effects);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Part One 25 October 1975 at 17:45 25'22" 10.5mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
2 Part Two 1 November 1975 at 17:45 23'53" 11.3mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
3 Part Three 8 November 1975 at 17:45 24'32" 9.4mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
4 Part Four 15 November 1975 at 17:45 24'52" 11.7mil 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 (this tape suffers from a minor tracking fault)
  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 Pyramids of Mars
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 050 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1976 Published by Allan Wingate Ltd, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
16 December 1976 Published by Wyndham Publications, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
ISBN: 0 426 11666 6
1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
ISBN: 0 426 11666 6
1982 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Andrew Skilleter
ISBN: 0 426 11666 6
21 March 1993 Published by Virgin Publishing Ltd, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Alister Pearson
ISBN: 0 426 11666 6

plot synopsis

The TARDIS finally returns to the UNIT Headquarters, but it's 1911, and the Doctor and Sarah are in the old priory that the building was later built over. Lawrence Scarman and his associate, Doctor Warlock, are protesting to Namin, an uncivil Egyptian, over his apparent take-over of the priory in the absence of its owner, Lawrence's brother, Marcus Scarman. Namin worships the evil God, Sutekh, whom he manages to summon and then is promptly killed for his trouble. Sutekh uses the body of Marcus Scarman, captured when he broke into his tomb in Egypt, as the creature is actually an Osirian who was imprisoned in the tomb by his own race. Capturing the Doctor, Sutekh forces him to take the TARDIS to Mars, where a series of traps have to be solved to free him from his prison. Unfortunately, if he does escape, it will mean the end of the universe

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