Doctor Who Logo 'The Deadly Assassin'
(4 Parts)
Story Code '4P'

by Robert Holmes
The Doctor

Whilst returning to his home planet of Gallifrey following a telepathic summons from the Time Lords, the Doctor sees a vision of the assassination of the Time Lord president. Arriving in the TARDIS, he is pursued by Chancellery guards, but manages to avoid capture by hiding in a balcony in the Panopticon, during the presidential inauguration. After witnessing the assassination that he foresaw, the Doctor is then accused of the murder. To escape execution, he uses a legal loophole to propose himself as a candidate for the presidency, and investigates the murder with the aid of Co-ordinator Engin and Castellan Spandrell. The Doctor discovers that the assassination is actually part of a plot masterminded by his old nemesis, the Master, who has now used up all of his twelve regenerations, and is nothing but a desiccated husk. The Master is seeking to gain control of the presidency in order to obtain the official regalia, the Sash and rod of Rassilon, artefacts that are in reality keys to the Eye of Harmony, the source of the Time Lords' power; it was he who summoned the Doctor, in order to frame him for the assassination. In the hope of tracking down the Master, the Doctor links his mind to the Amplified Panatropic Computer Net, otherwise known as the Matrix, a virtual world that contains the accumulated wisdom of his people. Inside the Matrix, the Doctor is pursued by a hooded opponent who is out to kill him. The Doctor eventually overcomes his opponent, who is revealed to be Chancellor Goth, the leading presidential candidate, and who is aiding the Master in his plans. This defeat costs Goth his life, after which the Master seizes the Rod and Sash, using them to access the Eye of Harmony, located beneath the floor of the Panopticon. As the meeting hall breaks into chaos, the Master attempts to draw off enough energy to boost his body to regenerate, but the Doctor is able to prevent him before Gallifrey is destroyed, and instead the Master falls into a fissure opened in the destruction. The Doctor leaves in the TARDIS, unaware that the Master has managed to escape in his TARDIS...

Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Llewellyn Rees (The President), Bernard Horsfall (Chancellor Goth), George Pravda (Castellan Spandrell), Angus McKay (Cardinal Borusa), Peter Pratt (The Master), Hugh Walters (Commentator Runcible), Erik Chitty (Co-ordinator Engin), Derek Seaton (Commander Hilred), Maurice Quick (Gold Usher); John Dawson, Michael Bilton (Time Lords); Peter Mayock (Solis), Helen Blatch (Voice)

Produced by Philip Hinchcliffe
Directed by David Maloney


TX:
Part 1 - 30th October, 1976 @ 6.10pm - 6.35pm
Part 2 - 6th November, 1976 @ 6.05pm - 6.30pm
Part 3 - 13th November, 1976 @ 6.05pm - 6.30pm
Part 4 - 20th November, 1976 @ 6.05pm - 6.30pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor

*This is the only television story to feature the Doctor without a companion

*Working title: 'The Dangerous Assassin'