4L. The Seeds of Doom

TRANSMISSION DETAILS:

422. Part One                      31.01.76   6.00pm - 6.25pm  11.4M/16th/59%
423. Part Two                      07.02.76   5.30pm - 5.55pm  11.4M/30th/---
424. Part Three                    14.02.76   5.55pm - 6.20pm  10.3M/32nd/---
425. Part Four                     21.02.76   5.45pm - 6.10pm  11.1M/23rd/---
426. Part Five                     28.02.76   5.45pm - 6.10pm   9.9M/26th/---
427. Part Six                      06.03.76   5.45pm - 6.10pm  11.5M/15th/---

HARRISON CHASE: Tony Beckley; SCORBY: John Challis; SIR COLIN THACKERAY: Michael Barrington (1,3-6); ARNOLD KEELER: Mark Jones (1-4); HARGREAVES: Seymour Green (1-5); RICHARD DUNBAR: Kenneth Gilbert (1-4); JOHN STEVENSON: Hubert Rees (1-2); CHARLES WINLETT: John Gleeson (1); DEREK MOBERLEY: Michael McStay (1-2); AMELIA DUCAT: Sylvia Coleridge (3-5); GUARD LEADER: David Masterman (3-4); DR CHESTER: Ian Fairbairn (3); CHAUFFEUR: Alan Chuntz (3); GUARD: Harry Fielder (3-4 - uncredited for 3); KRYNOID VOICE: Mark Jones (4); MAJOR BERESFORD: John Acheson (5-6); SERGEANT HENDERSON: Ray Barron (5-6). UNCREDITED: GUARDS: Ian Elliott (3-4), Pat Gorman (3-5), Brian Nolan (3-5); MARINES: Ronald Gough (3), Patrick Milner (3); DOUBLE FOR THE DOCTOR: Terry Walsh (3-4); KRYNOID: Keith Ashley (4-6), Ronald Gough (4-6); SECRETARY: Keith Ashley (5); UNIT SOLDIERS: Peter Bailey, Rowland Geall, Patrcik Ginter, Tony Snell, Barry Summerford, Derek Wayland

STORY:

A strange pod is found in the Antarctic by an expedition party. The pod germinates and attacks one of the people. U.N.I.T. are called in to investigate, and the Doctor and Sarah travel to Antarctica. Also travelling to Antartica are some of Harrison Chase's men intent on stealing the pod.

The Doctor identifies the pod as a Krynoid pod, and tells everyone they always travel in pairs. Back in the permafrost the Doctor discovers a second pod. Chases's men steal the pod, and destroy the base, believing the Doctor, Sarah and remaining scientists to be inside.

Back in England the Doctor traces the pod to Chase, and finds that he is a man obsessed with plants, and believes that animals should give way. He takes Sarah's arm in the hope that she will be infected by the Krynoid, although the Doctor intervenes, and one of Chases's men, Keeler, becomes infected.

Rather than help, Chase stands by and waits for Keeler to become a Krynoid, which soon happens. The Krynoid then starts to influence other plants, and people withing a 1 mile radius start to die in accidents involving plants. Major Beresford orders the RAF to bomb the Krynoid, completely destroying it.

STUDIOS: Television Centre Studio 4, Television Centre Studio 8

LOCATIONS: Dorking Quarry, Surrey; Buckland, nr. Reigate, Surrey; Athelhampton House, Athelhampton, Dorset; Television Centre, London

NOTES: This is the final story to feature U.N.I.T. until the 1989 Sylvester McCoy story Battlefield

NOVELISATION: The Seeds of Doom Philip Hinchcliffe

VIDEO: The Seeds of Doom