Doctor Who Logo 'The Stones of Blood'
(4 Parts)
Story Code '5C'

by David Fisher
The Doctor

Tracing the Fourth Segment of the Key to Time to present day Earth, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive near the Nine Maidens, a stone circle on Boscowan Moor. Here they meet elderly archaeologist professor Amelia Rumford and her assistant, Vivian Fay, who are surveying the megaliths, which appear to have had a varying number over the centuries. The Doctor pays a visit to Leonard de Vries, local leader of the British Institute of Druidic Studies, but on arrival at the manor house, he is knocked unconscious; de Vries and his followers take the Time Lord to the stone circle and prepare to sacrifice him to their god, but Professor Rumford and K-9 rescue him in the nick of time. Returning to the manor, the Doctor discovers that de Vries has been murdered by two of the stones – which are in fact Ogri, silicon-based life forms from the planet Ogros in Tau Ceti, which survive by absorbing blood from their victims. The Doctor and Professor Rumford learn that Miss Fay is actually the Calleach, a centuries-old alien worshipped as a god by the druids. Elsewhere, Miss Fay confronts Romana and transports her up to a spaceship situated directly over the stone circle, but situated in hyperspace. With K-9’s assistance, the Doctor creates a device to transport himself to the spaceship; having rejoined Romana, the Doctor discovers that the craft is an ancient prison ship, and that all the prisoners aboard are now dead. After the Doctor unwittingly releases the Megara, two justice machines that have been trapped for centuries, he finds himself put on trial for breaking the official seal to their compartment – if he is found guilty, the sentence will be death. Having chosen to defend himself, the Doctor learns that the Megara were transporting a criminal known as Cessair of Diplos for trial, her crimes being murder and the theft of an artefact known as the Seal of Diplos. Realising that Miss Fay is the fugitive, the Doctor knocks her out and then tricks the Megara into reading her mind; with the true criminal revealed, the Megara find Miss Fay guilty of her crimes. Having avoided his death sentence, the Doctor takes the Seal of Diplos – the Fourth Segment – from around Miss Fay’s neck, and looks on as the Megara turn her to stone in the circle back on Earth.

Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Mary Tamm (Romana), John Leeson (Voice of K9), Beatrix Lehmann (Professor Rumford), Susan Engel (Vivien Fay), Nicholas McArdle (De Vries), Elaine Ives-Cameron (Martha); David McAlister, Gerald Cross (Megara Voices); James Murray, Shirin Taylor (Campers)

Produced by Graham Williams
Directed by Darrol Blake


TX:
Part 1 - 28th October, 1978 @ 6.25pm - 6.50pm
Part 2 - 4th November, 1978 @ 6.20pm - 6.45pm
Part 3 - 11th November, 1978 @ 6.20pm - 6.45pm
Part 4 - 18th November, 1978 @6.20pm - 6.45pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, the First Romana, and K-9 MKII

*Part 3 of the 'Key to Time' story arc

*Working titles: 'The Nine Maidens' and 'The Stones of Time'