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The Web Planet

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Synopsis

A Zarbi

'Somewhere, somehow we are being slowly dragged down…' When The Doctor and his friends stray from their astral plane and the TARDIS materialises in eerie alien surroundings, a mysterious force prevents them from leaving. Is it a natural phenomenon or some malevolent intelligence?

Uncanny occurences are followed by encounters with the deadly Zarbi and their unknown leader, to whom the travellers fall prey. With their allies, the Menoptra, the travellers must discover how to immobilise the Zarbi, save the Menoptra from massacre and rid the planet of this powerful and horrifying evil.

As a growing web building begins to envelop the planet, imprisoning the travellers in its mesh, The Doctor must consult all of his wisdom to escape its hypnotic power. But what is at the centre of the web and from where does it draw its power?

General Information

Season:

Two

Production Code:

Story Number:

Episode Numbers:

58 - 63

Number of Episodes:

Percentage of Episodes Held:

100%

Alternative Titles:

"The Zarbi"

Working Titles:

"Centre of Terror" (episode 6)

Production Dates:

January - February 1965

Broadcast Started:

13 February 1965

Broadcast Finished:

20 March 1965

Colour Status:

B&W

Studio:

Ealing Television Film Studios and Riverside (Studio 1)

Location:

None

Writer:

Bill Strutton

Director:

Richard Martin

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Story Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Editor:

Gitta Zadek

Production Assistant:

Norman Stewart

Assistant Floor Managers:

Elisabeth Dunbar and Gillian Chardet

Designer:

John Wood

Costume Designer:

Daphne Dare

Make-Up Designer:

Sonia Markham

Cameraman:

Peter Hamilton

Lighting:

Ralph Walton

Incidental Music:

From Stock

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Brian Hodgson

Studio Sounds:

Ray Angel

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Insect Movement By:

Roslyn de Winter

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

William Hartnell (The First Doctor)

Number of Companions:

The Companions:

Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright), William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Maureen O'Brien (Vicki)

Guest Cast:

Martin Jarvis (Hilio)

Additional Cast:

The Zarbi:
Robert Jewell, Jack Pitt, Gerald Taylor, Hugh Lund, Kevin Manser, John Scott Martin (Zarbi Operators), Catherine Fleming (Animus Voice)

The Menoptra:
Roslyn de Winter (Vrestin), Arne Gordon (Hrostar), Arthur Blake (Hrhoonda), Jolyon Booth (Prapillus), Jocelyn Birdsall (Hlynia)

The Optera:
Ian Thompson (Hetra), Barbara Joss (Nemini)

Setting:

Planet Vortis

Villains:

The Animus and The Zarbi

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
58	The Web Planet	13 February 1965	23'57"	13.5	16mm telerecording
59	The Zarbi	20 February 1965	23'20"	12.5	16mm telerecording
60	Escape to Danger	27 February 1965	22'52"	12.5	16mm telerecording
61	Crater of Needles	06 March 1965	25'50"	13.0	16mm telerecording
62	Invasion	13 March 1965	26'04"	12.0	16mm telerecording
63	The Centre	20 March 1965	24'32"	11.5	16mm telerecording

Total Duration

2 Hours 27 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

12.5

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	55.41% (Position = 143 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	54.69% (Position = 178 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	56.33% (Position = 219 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 29 out of 29

Archives

All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.

Notes

This story was originally titled "The Webbed Planet". It is also known as "The Zarbi" due to the title that was used for the Target book release for this story.

The sixth chapter of the Target novelisation of this story is titled "Centre of Terror". This was the working title for episode six.

This is the first and only story in which all the characters, other than the regulars, are entirely non-humanoid.

The Menoptra captain Hilio is played by well-known actor Martin Jarvis in an early television role. He would later return to Doctor Who as Butler in the 1974 Third Doctor story "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and as the Governor of Varos in the 1984 Sixth Doctor story "Vengeance on Varos".

Noted choreographer Rosalyn de Winter was hired to create the distinctive movements and stilted speech of the Menoptra. She was so successful that the production team asked her to take on the role of the Menoptra Vrestin.

The Venom Grubs are also referred to in the Ninth Doctor story "Boom Town".

The costumes for all of the varied alien races were created by Daphne Dare.

Jacqueline Hill (who plays Barbara Wright ) is not credited in "Escape to Danger" as she does not appear in this episode as she was on holiday during the week when this episode was recorded.

The first episode of this story was watched by 13.5 million viewers, the highest number for any episode of Doctor Who in the 1960s.

This story was originally one of those believed lost in the BBC's early 1970s purge. However, edited negative film prints of all six episodes were recovered from Algeria in the late 1970s. The final episode had been amended so that the "Next Episode" caption referred to "The Space Museum" instead of "The Lion", as the next story "The Crusade" had not been sold to Arab countries. Unedited prints of all six episodes were finally discovered in Nigeria in 1985.

It was revealed in the Seventh Doctor The New Adventures novel "All-Consuming Fire" by Andy Lane that The Animus was actually a Great Old One, one of several supremely powerful creatures that escaped the destruction of the prior universe by shifting into a later universe.

The Second Doctor returned to Vortis in the Virgin Books' The Missing Adventures novel "Twilight of the Gods" by Christopher Bulis. The Fifth Doctor also visited Vortis in the Big Finish Productions audio story "Return to the Web Planet" by Daniel O'Mahoney.

The story was the second to be novelised by the publisher Frederick Muller. It was written by Bill Strutton, under the title "Doctor Who and the Zarbi", in 1965. This novel introduced the concept of the ‘Zarbi Supremo’, a vast Zarbi with a role similar to that of a queen bee. Much of the Vortis terms are removed and The Doctor is referred to throughout as ‘Dr Who’.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first Doctor Who story where other than the regulars all the characters are entirely non-humanoid.

The first time The Doctor would visit Vortis. He would return in the Missing Adventures novel "Twilight of the Gods" and again in the Big Finish audio "Return to the Web Planet".

The first Doctor Who story to be written by Bill Strutton.

The first involment in the show for Martin Jarvis.

John Wood's first involvement in the show as Designer.

The first Doctor Who story to have an individual episode watched by more than 13 million viewers. This being the first episode.

Story Images

Show Text

The Zarbi

The TARDIS Lands on Vortis

The Doctor

A Concerned Vicki

A Venom Grub

Optera

The Doctor Talking to the Animus

The Animus

A Menoptera

Barbara and the Menoptera

The Doctor and Vicki are Prisoners of the Zarbi

Quote of the Story

'Apart from rubbing our legs together like some sort of grasshopper, I doubt if we can get on speaking terms with them.'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	The Web Planet - Part 1 (Episodes 1-3)	September 1990	BBCV 4405	Alister Pearson	Double cassette release
VHS	The Web Planet - Part 1 (Episodes 4-6)	September 1990	BBCV 4406	Alister Pearson	Double cassette release The 'next episode' caption has been removed from "The Centre"
DVD	The Web Planet	September 2005	BBCDVD 1355	Photo-montage
LP	The Web Planet	December 2019		Photo-montage	Triple LP narrated by Maureen O’Brien (Vicki). 2 versions released - a standard version with pink discs and an Amazon Exclusive Edition of 500 with themed 'Animus Splatter' discs.
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 2 (Limited Edition)	December 2022	BBCBD 0479	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 9 specially restored stories
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 2 (Standard Edition)	December 2024	BBCBD 0609	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 9 specially restored stories

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	September 1965	Fredrick Muller	Bill Strutton	John Wood	Hardback
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	May 1973	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10129-4 (1st Edition Target Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	1975	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-11324-1 (2nd Edition Target Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	September 1975	Lion Books	Bill Strutton		Hardback
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	1982	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-11324-1 (3rd Edition Target Cover)
Novel	The Web Planet	January 1991	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Alister Pearson	Virgin new cover reprint. ISBN: 0-426-20356-9
CD	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	November 2005	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Chris Achilleos	Audio version of the Target Novel read by William Russell (Ian Chesterton). Part of the "Travels in Time and Space" box set.
Novel	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	May 2016	Target No. 73	Bill Strutton	Chris Achilleos	BBC Reprint. ISBN: 978-1-78594-035-4

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 13
Doctor Who Weekly	Issue 16 (Released: January 1980)
Doctor Who Weekly	Issue 17 (Released: February 1980)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 156 (Released: January 1990)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 157 (Released: February 1990)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 211 (Released: April 1994)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 212 (Released: May 1994)
Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive	Issue 213 (Released: June 1994)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 286 (Released: January 2000)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 287 (Released: February 2000)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 618 (Released: July 2025)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 619 (Released: August 2025)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The First Doctor

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Vicki

On Release

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack LP Cover

AUDIO

The Collection Season 2 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 2 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Fredrick Muller Book Cover

NOVEL

Original Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Second Edition Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Lion Book Cover

NOVEL

Third Edition Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted Virgin Book Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Reprinted BBC Book Cover

NOVEL

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 13

Doctor Who Weekly: Issue 16

Doctor Who Weekly: Issue 17

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 156

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 157

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 211

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 212

Doctor Who Magazine - Telesnap Archive: Issue 213

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 286

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 287

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 618

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 619

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
First Doctor

Season 2

References

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