4B. The Sontaran Experiment

  • Script Editor: Robert Holmes;
  • Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin;
  • Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe;
  • Director: Rodney Bennett;
  • Designer: Roger Murray-Leach;
  • Incidental Music: Dudley Simpson;
  • Fight Arranger: Terry Walsh (2);

Programme Description

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah trans-mat down from the Nerva beacon and arrive on Earth in the far future. So much time had passed since the solar flares that Earth has returned to a graceful state with no buildings or animals.

On the planet there is also the crew of a crashed spaceship who were slowly being killed. The killer was a Sontaran who was conducting experiments on humans to see the viability of an invasion.

Sarah was also captured and the experiment was to test her fear threshold. The Doctor challenged the Sontaran to a duel, as is the Sontaran custom.

The Sontaran, not used to Earth's gravity, quickly tired, and returned to his ship to re-energise. Harry had been told by the Doctor how to sabotage the Sontaran energy unit, and instead of re-energising the energy fed off the Sontaran.

Regular Cast

  • Sarah Jane Smith: Elisabeth Sladen;

Guest Cast

  • Harry Sullivan: Ian Marter;
  • Field Major Styre: Kevin Lindsay;
  • Krans: Glyn Jones;
  • Erak: Peter Walshe;
  • Vural: Donald Douglas;
  • Roth: Peter Rutherford;
  • Zake: Terry Walsh (1);
  • Marshal: Kevin Lindsay (2);
  • Prisoner: Brian Ellis (2);

  • UNCREDITED CAST:
  • Double for the Doctor: Terry Walsh;
  • Double for Harry: Terry Walsh (1);
  • Double for Styre: Stuart Fell (1);

Transmissions

ChannelEpisodeTitleDateViewersPosition
BBC 1 390 Part One Sat 22 Feb 1975 2217:30 - 17:55 11.0M 18th
BBC 1 391 Part Two Sat 1 Mar 1975 117:30 - 17:55 10.5M 17th

Repeat Transmissions

ChannelTitleDateViewersPosition
BBC 1 Edited Compilation Wed 9 Jul 1975 18:25 - 19:15 8.2M 25th

Locations

  • Hound Tor, Nr. Manaton, Devon;

Studios

This programme has not been filmed in a studio or the studios are not known

Bloopers and Mistakes

You can see a car in the background of one scene, and there's a farm cottage visible in the background at one point.

Watch when the Doctor is fighting with Styre: in the long shots he's standing up straight, but in the close-ups, he's crouched over.

Notes and Trivia

Glyn Jones, who here plays Krans, also wrote the novelisation of the Space Museum.

Working Titles

The Destructors
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