EEE. Terror of the Autons
Writer: Robert Holmes
Director: Barry Letts
Designer: Ian Watson
Incidental Music by: Dudley Simpson
Action by: Havoc (3-4)
Circus Scenes Courtesy of: Roberts Brothers
TRANSMISSION DETAILS:
279. Episode One 02.01.1971 5.15pm - 5.40pm 7.3M/78th
280. Episode Two 09.01.1971 5.15pm - 5.40pm 8.0M/71st
281. Episode Three 16.01.1971 5.15pm - 5.40pm 8.1M/58th
282. Episode Four 23.01.1971 5.15pm - 5.40pm 8.4M/59th
CAST:
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: Richard Franklin; THE MASTER: Roger Delgado; REX FARREL:
Michael Wisher; LUIGI ROSSINNI (LEW RUSSELL): John Baskomb (1-2); PROFESSOR GEORGE
PHILIPS: Christopher Burgess (1-2); JAMES McDERMOT: Harry Towb (1-2); TIME LORD:
David Garth (1); RADIO TELESCOPE DIRECTOR: Frank Mills (1); ALBERT GOODGE: Andrew
Staines (1); MUSEUM ATTENDANT: Dave Carter (1); MARY FARREL: Barbara Leake (2-3);
JOHN FARREL: Stephen Jack (2); TOBY: Roy Stewart (2); AUTON LEADER: Pat Gorman
(3-4); AUTON VOICE: Hadyn Jones (3-4); BROWNROSE: Dermot Tuohy (3) TELEPHONE
MECHANIC: Norman Stanley (3); POLICEMAN: Bill McGuirk (3 - credited but does not
appear); AUTON POLICEMAN: Terry Walsh (3). UNCREDITED: AUTON DOLL: Tommy Reynolds
(2-3); AUTONS: Bob Blaine, Les Clark, Ian Eliott, Nick Hobbs, Tom O'Leary, Charles Pickless,
Mike Stevens; SOLDIER: Les Conrad (3); EXTRAS: Eve Aubrey, Mike Austin, Max Diamond,
Duke Dupree, Brian Gough, Stuart Harwood, Gordon Howes, Sylvia Lane, Mario, Jack Murray, Gregory
Powell, Sheila Power, Bobby Roberts, Mac Russell, Steve Sullivan, E Turner, Edward Vaughn, Paul
Warren; STUNTMEN: Marc Boyle, Alan Chuntz, Stuart Fell, Brian Gilmanm, Stan Hollingsworth,
Bill Horrigan, Dinny Powell, Roy Scammell, Mike Stevens, Roy Street, Derek Ware, Terry Walsh
STORY:
One of the Doctor's own people has arrived on Earth, and he immediately enlists, by the use of
hypnosis, the help of a circus owner to steal the dormant Nestene energy pod. He reactivates it by
using a radar telescope.
U.N.I.T. are called in by the scientists at the radar telescope centre when they discover one of
their colleagues is missing. The Doctor goes up to the radar controls, and is warned by a fellow
Time-Lord that the Master is visiting Earth, and that he has left a trap.
The Master manages to hypnotise the owner of a plastics factory and starts an Auton factory. The
Master hands out a lot of plastic daffodils. The Doctor finds that they are activated by a radio
signal, and only just manages to prevent Jo from being suffocated.
The Doctor steals the Master's dematerialisation circuit from his TARDIS, but finds it will not
work in his own. The Doctor convinces the Master that the Nestenes would not accept him as their
leader, and together they use the radar telescope to fling the Nestene Consciousness into space.
The Master tries to escape, but he is also stranded on Earth like the Doctor.
BLOOPERS:
Episode 1: That whole scene where the Auton is knocked down the cliff wasn't meant to happen.
Stuart Fell (the stuntman) had it planned so that the car would stop short, and he'd take a few
steps down the hill. The car stopped too late and he goes flying down the hill at breakneck speed
(though he wasn't hurt). That explains why the camera keeps switching angles, because none of the
cameramen were expecting it!
Episode 1: When the Master hypnotises Jo in Farrell's office, he asks her who went to the
radio telescope. Jo replies "Myself, the Brigadier and the Doctor". So what happened to Mike Yates?
STUDIOS:
Television Centre Studio 6, Television Centre Studio 8
LOCATIONS:
Robert Brothers Circus, Edmonton; Hodgmore Wood, Bucks; Black Park Cottage, Fulmer, Bucks;
Dunstable, Bedfordshire
WORKING TITLE:
The Spray of Death
NOTES:
This story carries no producer credit
The story now exists in a UK transmittable colour format, obtained using the same method as for
Doctor Who and the Silurians
The audience appreciation figure was not used extenseively during the 70s, so none are available
for all of seasons eight, nine and ten
NOVELISATION:
Terror of the Autons
Terrance Dicks
VIDEO:
Terror of the Autons
