JJ. The Macra Terror

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

153. Episode 1                     11.03.67   5.50pm - 6.15pm   8.0M/37th/50%
154. Episode 2                     18.03.67   5.50pm - 6.15pm   7.9M/42nd/48%
155. Episode 3                     25.03.67   5.50pm - 6.15pm   8.5M/45th/52%
156. Episode 4                     01.04.67   5.50pm - 6.15pm   8.4M/39th/49%

PILOT: Peter Jeffrey; OLA: Gertan Klauber; CONTROLLER: Graham Leaman; MACRA OPERATOR: Robert Jewell; MEDOK: Terence Lodge (1-3); CONTROL VOICE: Denis Goacher (1-3); BROADCAST VOICE: Richard Beale (1-3); SUNAA: Jane Enshawe (1,4); CHICKI: Sandra Bryant (1); DRUM MAJORETTE: Maureen Lane (1,4); ALVIS: Anthony Garnder (1); BARNEY: Graham Armitage (1): QUESTA: Ian Fairbairn (1); OFFICIAL: John Harvey (3-4) GUARDS: (all 4) John Caeser, Steve Emerson, Danny Rae; CHEERLEADERS: (all 4) Ralph Carrigan, Roger Jerome, Terry Wright. UNCREDITED: PILOT'S SECRETARY: Linda Reynolds; SCIENTIST: Paul Phillips; GIRL: Nina Huby; BAND: Fiona Frazer, Avril Gaynor, Maris Hendrick, Janice Hoy, Jill Paris, Amanda Scott; DANCERS: Joe Finlay, Maureen Hillman, Sheelah McGrath, Ted Merwood, Judy Nichols, Anthony Rayner; CITIZENS: Bill Beesley, Deryn Fisher, George Gibbs, Edwina King, Leonard Kingston, Maureen Morris, Leslie Pitt; MINE WORKERS: Walter Henry, Maureen Hillman, Leonard Kingston, Sheelah McGrath, Judy Nichols, Anthony Rayner, Tony Starr, Alan Troy

STORY:

The TARDIS materialises on a planet where the Earth colony is run more like a holiday camp. The Doctor learns from a man named Medok that at night the colony is being infiltrated.

The Doctor finds that the infiltrators are in fact the Macra who have taken over the human colonists and are using them to mine gas that is necessary to their survival.

The Doctor is imprisioned, and Ben falls under the influence of the Macra. It is left to Jamie and Polly to free the others before they sucumb to the Macra.

Under the guidance of the Doctor Ben destroys the gas pumping equipment, destroying the Macra and freeing the colonists.

STUDIOS: Lime Grove Studio D, Ealing Television Film Studios

LOCATIONS: Brighton Rubbish Tip, East Sussex; Dunstable

WORKING TITLE: The Spidermen

NOTES: This story was the first to use a new title sequence, again by an uncredited Bernard Lodge

NOVELISATON: The Macra Terror Ian Stuart Black