Script Editor: Eric Saward; Produced by: John Nathan-Turner; Writer: Christopher H. Bidmead; Director: Ron Jones; Designer: David Buckingham; Incidental Music: Paddy Kingsland;
The TARDIS materialises in the far future, a period in time even the Doctor is unhappy about visiting as it is crucial it is left alone. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough find a struggling colony, lead by Plantagenet, is under attack from meteorite attacks. At the same time colonists are disappearing, literally sucked into the earth. The Doctor unwittingly helps the colonists, and ventures underground. Turlough recognises the creatures responsible, and also goes insane when he realises that the Tractators are involved. The Tractators have been burrowing underground, creating a network of almost perfectly smooth corridors, with the aim of turning Frontios into a form of space vehicle. Turlough recalls that the way to render Tractators harmless is to separate them from the Gravis. The Tractators have managed to get into, and break up, the TARDIS. The Doctor tricks the Gravis into reassembling and freeing the TARDIS and takes the Gravis to an uninhabited planet, rendering the Tractators harmless.
Tegan Jovanka: Janet Fielding; Vislor Turlough: Mark Strickson;
Chief Orderly Brazen: Peter Gilmore; Norna: Lesley Dunlop; Chief Science Officer Range: William Lucas; Plantagenet: Jeff Rawle; Cockerhill: Maurice O'Connell; Orderly: Richard Ashley (1); The Gravis: John Gillet (2-4); Tractators: (all 2-4) William Bowen, George Campbell, Heidi Khursandi, Michael Malcolm, Stephen Speed; Retrograde: Raymond Murtagh (3-4); Deputy: Alison Skilbeck (3);
Uncredited:
Paramedic: Judy Collins (1); Warnsmen: Jim Dowdall (1); Retrogrades: Terence Brook, Peter Creasey. Steve Emerson, Anthony Freeman, James Lyon, Mike Molloy; Captain Revere: John Beardsmore (1,3-4); Excavator Machine Operators: (all 3-4) Paul Andrew, Salo Gardner, Llewellyn Williams; Orderlies: Richard Ashley, Rodney Cardiff, Daniel D'Arcey, John Greening, Chris Holmes, Paul Lowther, Ian Marshall, Barry McKenna, Keith Norrish, Miles Ross, John Hamilton Russell, Richard Smythe; Paramedics: Kevin Goss, Linda Kent, Dominic Reyntiens; Patients: Rita Daniels, Barbie Denham, Alan Forbes, Michael Jeffries, Jay McGrath, Joe Phillips, Sue Somerset; Colonists: Terry Bradford, Peter Gates Fleming, Laurie Goode, Robert Goodman, Caroline Haigh, Judith Jeffrey, Fernanda Monast, Robert Peters, Monica Ramone, Penny Rigden;
| Ep. | Title | Date | Viewers | Position |
| 609. | Part One (BBC 1) |
Thur 26/01/1984 18:40 - 19:05 |
8.0M | 59th |
| 610. | Part Two (BBC 1) |
Fri 27/01/1984 18:40 - 19:05 |
5.8M | 115th |
| 611. | Part Three (BBC 1) |
Thur 02/02/1984 18:40 - 19:05 |
7.8M | 59th |
| 612. | Part Four (BBC 1) |
Fri 03/02/1984 18:40 - 19:05 |
5.6M | 112th |
This programme has not been repeated
Episode 1 & 2: When Plantaganet is shot at the end of episode 1 he clutches the right side of his chest. When we see him collapse in episode 2, he clutches his left side! Then, a few scenes later, when his shirt has been removed, we see that the wound on his chest is placed very centrally. Episode 2 & 3: In episode 2 Tegan is being chased by Brazen and some guards, so she heads for the surface. She locks the door by putting a rod through the two handles on the double doors. When the doors are being broken open in episode 3, the rod is on the top of the handles, not through them. Episode 4: In one scene aboard the still incomplete TARDIS, you can just see the central column of the console rise to its 'up' position on the left side of the screen. How could the column move if the controls were inoperative?
This programme has not been filmed on location or the locations are unknown
Television Centre Studio 6;
There is nothing to add about this programme
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