• Season 19, Story 4
• 4 episodes (run times and UK airdates shown below)
  1. (24:12) - Monday 15 February 1982
  2. (24:26) - Tuesday 16 February 1982
  3. (24:26) - Monday 22 February 1982
  4. (23:36) - Tuesday 23 February 1982
• Author - Eric Saward
• Producer - John Nathan-Turner
• Director - Peter Moffat

  MAIN CAST

• Peter Davison (The Doctor)
• Matthew Waterhouse (Adric)
• Sarah Sutton (Nyssa)
• Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka)

Anyone who bought the video release in the 1990s will probably remember how poor the picture quality was. Thankfully, the DVD is much better - the image is clearer and there is none of the horizontal streaking which bugged the video release. However, it is still not entirely perfect. The majority of scenes in the house and some of the scenes in the bakery are all marred by two verticals streaks, one at each side of the screen. As a result I would rank the picture quality at 80%

The sound quality is excellent.

In 17th century England a plague rages throughout the land. The TARDIS crew are set upon by a group of villagers, fearing that the strangers are plague carriers. The travellers are rescued by former actor, highwayman wannabe, Richard Mace. Mace has taken up residence in a nearby barn where the Doctor discovers evidence of alien technology. Giving the aliens the benefit of the doubt, the Doctor decides to find them and offer his assistance.

The aliens turn out to be fugitive Terileptils. They intend to make the Earth their world and the plague is one of their weapons in the conflict against humans. The Terileptils also want the Doctor's TARDIS as it will provide them with a means to enslave other races throughout time and space. Can the Doctor defeat the Terileptils and save Earth from a final visitation?