COMING as it did towards the end of Jon Pertwee’s tenure as the Third Doctor, this was the story that had the Doctor leaving earth for the first time since his exile by the Time Lords.

The Doctor is still trying to fix the TARDIS helped (and hindered) by Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning.

The Time Lords send the Doctor and Jo (who has just seen inside the TARDIS for the first time) to the planet Uxarieus in the 25th Century.

An earth colony on the planet is under threat by the ruthless Interplanetary Mining Corporation, who want to exploit the planet for it’s rich mineral deposits.

Nearby, guarded by alien priests, is hidden the ultimate Doomsday machine and The Master (Roger Delgado) is out to get it.

The Doctor, aided by the colonists – one of whom, Mary Ashe – is played by a pre-Corrie Helen Worth –must try to outwit the Corporation and The Master.

One of writer Malcolm Hulke’s best loved stories and of course, being Hulke, he has inserted some social comment into the screenplay; in this instance, the terror of the Corporations.

Newly remastered with some excellent extras, this six-part story still seems as fresh as it did when it was first broadcast in the spring of 1971.

There’s the usual ’making of’, along with some deleted scenes.

With it being a six-parter on a single disc, there isn’t as much room for extras as there would have been for a four-parter, but this doesn’t detract from their quality.

Release Date: 3rd October 2011.

Catalogue Number: BBCDVD3381.