4S. The Talons of Weng-Chiang

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

448. Part One                      26.02.77   6.30pm - 6.55pm  11.2M/16th/---
449. Part Two                      05.03.77   6.35pm - 7.00pm   9.8M/28th/---
450. Part Three                    12.03.77   6.30pm - 6.55pm  10.2M/22nd/---
451. Part Four                     19.03.77   6.30pm - 6.55pm  11.4M/21st/60%
452. Part Five                     26.03.77   6.30pm - 6.55pm  10.1M/ 8th/---
453. Part Six                      02.04.77   6.30pm - 6.55pm   9.3M/32nd/58%

HENRY GORDON JAGO: Christopher Benjamin; PROFESSOR GEORGE LITEFOOT: Trevor Baxter; MR SIN (THE PEKING HOMONCULUS): Deep Roy: LI H'SEN CHANG: John Bennett (1-5); CASEY: Chris Gannon (1-4); HO: Vincent Wong (1,5,6 - uncredited for 1); SGT KYLE: David McKail (1-2); PC QUICK: Conrad Asquith (1-2); LEE: Tony Then (1); JOSEPH BULLER: Alan Butler (1); COOLIE: John Wu (1); GHOUL: Patsy Smart (1); WENG-CHIANG (MAGNUS GREEL): Michael Spice (2-6); TERESA HART: Judith Lloyd (3); CLEANER: Vaune Craig-Raymond (3); SINGER (LOTTIE RANDALL): Penny Lister (4). UNCREDITED: GIANT RAT: Stuart Fell (1-4); CONDUCTOR: Dudley Simpson (1,4); DOUBLE FOR THE DOCTOR: Terry Walsh (3); YOUNG GIRLS: Debbie Cumming (5-6), Helen Simnet (5-6); COOLIES: Jimmy Ang (5-6), Dennis Chinn (1,5,6), Sabu Kimura (5-6), Arnold Lee (5-6), Fred Leown (1,5,6); EXTRAS (all 1) Marie Anthony, Lisa Bergmayer, John Cannon, Chris Carrington, Jean Channon, David J Graham, Charles Adey Gray, James Haswell, Bill Hughes, James Lloyd, Mary Maxtead, Ronald Musgrove, Bernard Price, Tony Randall, Richard Sheekey, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Williams, Hentley Young; STUNTMEN: Alan Chuntz (1), Max faulkner (1,2,4), Stuart Fell (4,6)

STORY:

The Doctor and Leela visit Earth at the end of the nineteenth century. A series of murders have been committed by a Chinese Tong of the Black Scorpian led by Weng-Chiang.

The Doctor makes friends with a police pathologist, Professor George Litefoot. A hair sample taken from one of the dead bodies appears to have come from a giant rat. Investigations by the Doctor in the sewer show there are indeed giant rats.

The trail leads to the Palace Theatre where the Doctor finds Li H'Sen Chang, who has been procuring young women for his master, Weng-Chiang. Weng-Chiang is in fact Magnus Greel, a war criminal from the 51st century. The journey back through time had weakened his mollecular structure and he needed the life-force of the young women to stay alive.

Greel had returned to London to obtain his time cabinet which was in the possession of Litefoot. Using The Peking Homonculus to infiltrate Litefoot's house and retrieve the Time Cabinet. The Doctor manages to trap Greel, who falls back into the life-force extration machine and disintergrates.

STUDIOS: Television Centre Studio 1

LOCATIONS: The Royal Theatre, Northampton; St. Crispin's Hospital, Northampton;

WORKING TITLE: The Talons of Greel

NOVELISATION: The Talons of Weng-Chiang Terrance Dicks

VIDEO: The Talons of Weng-Chiang