Mawdryn Undead

(Series 20, Episodes 9-12)

Summary: Mawdryn has returned…but who is he??  The Brig is back, telling some bare-faced lies and teaching maths for some reason.  Tegan’s all “nah mate with the brains poking out” whilst Nyssa and the Brig are a little more open-minded. However, it turns out Tegan was right to be so judgmental.  Turlough and his Talking Crystal do some anguished sleeping though it’s not clear why the Black Guardian picked Turlough to do his dirty work since he’s somewhat inefficient.

Watch it because: Blame it on the Blinovitch Limitation Effect!

Original Air Date: 1-9 February 1983.

Doctor: Peter Davison.

Companions: Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) & Vislor Turlough (Mark Strickson).

Writer: Peter Grimwade.

Director: Peter Moffatt.

Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Snakedance

(Series 20, Episodes 5-8)

Summary: So, it seems that we’re back in Tegan’s trippy dreams where the snake symbolism is off the charts. Awkwardly, a ceremony to celebrate the defeat of the Mara gets crashed by…the Mara.  Nyssa initiates stealth mode, people go gaga over broken pots, there’s some classic maniacal laughs and the Doctor has a stand-off with Tegan’s floaty head.

Watch it because: The snake on Tegan’s arm is truly a terror to behold.

Original Air Date: 18-26 January 1983.

Doctor: Peter Davison.

Companions: Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer: Christophe Bailey.

Director: Fiona Cumming.

Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Arc of Infinity

(Series 20, Episodes 1-4)

Summary: Meanwhile in Amsterdam…  Tegan searches for her cousin and Omega is back, trying to become human, with the aid of giant chicken.  He steals the Doctor’s form and a gardener’s overalls before turning crusty face.  The Doctor utilises all the advanced technology at his disposal and finds where he needs to be by using the phone book.  And who's that familiar face?

Watch it because: Time Lords – nice collars, not much due process.

Original Air Date:3-12 January 1983.

Doctor:Peter Davison.

Companions:Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer:Johnny Byrne.

Director:Ron Jones.

Producer:John Nathan-Turner.

Time-Flight

(Series 19, Episodes 23-26)

Summary: After a perfunctory spot of mourning, the Doctor finally gets Tegan home and now she wants to leave again.  Concorde travels back to the dawn of time and the Master pops up again, this time with a dodgy accent.  (I’ll confess, my phone deleted my notes for these episodes but these are the main impressions it left in my memory.)

Watch it because: Concorde nostalgia.

Original Air Date: 22-30 March 1982.

Doctor: Peter Davison.

Companions: Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer: Peter Grimwade.

Director: Ron Jones.

Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Earthshock

(Series 19, Episodes 19-22)

Summary: We open with Adric performing a classic teenage tantrum-and-sulk before the TARDIS appears in some creepy caverns where the Doctor gets accused of murdering archaeologists and then defuses a bomb sent by the Cybermen, who are seeking to destroy the Earth for…reasons.  The action then transfers onboard a freighter on course to crash into the Earth that’s been hijacked by Cybermen who show a little more emotion than one would expect from a race who champion the emotionless way.  Adric finds a way to divert the ship but he’s just a little too late. I always did wonder what had happened to the dinosaurs…

Watch it because: “Now I’ll never know if I was right.”

Original Air Date:8-16 March 1982.

Doctor:Peter Davison.

Companions:Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer:Eric Saward.

Director:Peter Grimwade.

Producer:John Nathan-Turner.

Black Orchid

(Series 19, Episodes 17-18)

Summary: Nyssa gets a double, the Doctor plays cricket and there’s an Indian in the cupboard.  An aristocratic family hide a secret in the attic as Agatha Christie meets the Phantom of the Opera.  People are very blasé about bodies in cupboards and it seems any old random policeman can get a lift in the TARDIS these days.  A word of advice - don’t get between Adric and a buffet.

Watch it because: Who doesn’t love a costume party?

Original Air Date:1-2 March 1982.

Doctor:Peter Davison.

Companions:Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer:Terence Dudley.

Director:Ron Jones.

Producer:John Nathan-Turner.

The Visitation

(Series 19, Episodes 13-16)

Summary: Tegan is inexplicably still really huffy about not being at Heathrow and Adric bucks stereotypes by tripping and spraining his ankle as the gang meet a gravelly-voiced thespian turned highwayman in 17^th Century England where the peasants are being controlled by androids in bejewelled suits.  Rather worryingly, the Doctor’s response to an attempted beheading by an android brandishing a scythe is “not again.”  And it seems that not only is the Doctor responsible for inspiring Nero to burn Rome but may have accidentally started the Great Fire of London.  What a pyromaniac.

Watch it because: “Why not smile and let me go?”

Original Air Date: 15-23 February 1982.

Doctor: Peter Davison.

Companions: Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding).

Writer: Eric Saward.

Director: Peter Moffatt.

Producer: John Nathan-Turner.