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Mr Quill
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 The TARDIS brings The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria to the south coast of present-day Earth. Something nasty is lurking in the gas pipelines of the North Sea, and before long the nearby refinery is under attack.
Landing on a foam-covered beach, the travellers are at first mistaken for saboteurs.
A number of the refinery personnel have been behaving strangely, and the base chief,
Robson, is showing serious signs of stress. Meanwhile Maggie Harris, having been stung by a mysterious frond of sea vegetation, is menaced by the sinister engineers Oak and Quill.
As sentient foam and weed combine to frightening effect, it soon becomes clear that the danger emanates from beneath the sea. Can that really be a heartbeat coming from deep inside die refinery pipes? Will The Doctor and his friends be in time to prevent an entire take-over of Earth - and will they all escape with their lives?
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| | Source: BBC Audio | |
| Season: |
Five
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| Production
Code: |
RR |
| Story Number: |
42
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| Episode Numbers: | 198 - 203 |
| Number of
Episodes: |
6 | | Number of Incomplete/Missing Episodes: | 6 | | Percentage of Episodes Held: | 0% |
| Production
Dates: |
February - March 1968 |
| Broadcast Started: | 16 March 1968 | | Broadcast Finished: | 20 April 1968 |
| Colour Status: |
B&W |
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Studio: |
Ealing Television Film Studios, Lime Grove (Studio D) and BBC Television Centre (TC1) |
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Location: |
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Red Sands Sea Fort (Thames Estuary), Botony Bay (Kingsgate, Kent) and Denham Aerodrome (Denham, Buckinghamshire). |
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| Writer: | Victor Pemberton | | Director: | Hugh David | | Producer: | Peter Bryant | | Story Editor: | Derrick Sherwin | | Editor: | Colin Hobson | | Production Assistant: | Michael Briant | | Assistant Floor Manager: | Margot Hayhoe | | Designer: | Peter Kindred | | Costume Designer: | Martin Baugh | | Make-Up Designer: | Sylvia James | | Cameraman: | Ken Westbury | | Lighting: | Sam Neeter | | Visual Effects: | Len Hutton and Peter Day | | Incidental Music: | Dudley Simpson | | Special Sounds (SFX Editor): | Brian Hodgson | | Studio Sounds: | David Hughes | | Title Sequence: | Bernard Lodge | | Title Music: | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire |
| Number of
Doctors: |
1 | | The Doctor: |
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| Number of
Companions: |
2 | | The Companions: |
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| Additional Cast: |
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Victor Maddern (Robson), John Abineri (Van Lutyens), Roy Spencer (Harris), June Murphy (Maggie Harris), Graham Leaman (Price), Peter Ducrow (Guard), John Garvin (Carney), Hubert Rees (Chief Engineer), Richard Mayes (Chief Baxter), Bill Burridge (Quill), John Gill (Oak), Margaret John (Megan Jones), Brian Cullingford (Perkins) |
| | Setting: |
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Villain: | Seaweed Creature
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| No. |
Episodes |
Broadcast
(UK) |
Duration |
Viewers
(Millions) |
In
Archive |
| 198 | Episode 1 | 16 March 1968 | 24'54" | 8.2 | Missing | | 199 | Episode 2 | 23 March 1968 | 23'08" | 7.9 | Missing | | 200 | Episode 3 | 30 March 1968 | 20'29" | 7.7 | Missing | | 201 | Episode 4 | 06 April 1968 | 24'17" | 6.6 | Missing | | 202 | Episode 5 | 13 April 1968 | 23'40" | 5.9 | Missing | | 203 | Episode 6 | 20 April 1968 | 24'24" | 6.9 | Missing |
| Total Duration |
2 Hours 21 Minutes |
| Average Viewers
(Millions) |
7.2 |
| Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998) | 78.11%  (Position = 28 out of 159) | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2003) | 415 Points (Position = 38 out of 159) | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009) | 79.65%  (Position = 41 out of 200) | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014) | 76.50%  (Position = 69 out of 241) | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) | Position = 9 out of 21 |
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All six episodes are missing. Several short clips from episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 were recovered, in October 1996, from Australian censor cuts. A brief clip from episode 1 also exists, of the TARDIS landing in the water, as reused in "The War Games", along with silent 16mm colour location film. Telesnaps (off-air camera photographs) from this story also exist in the BBC Archives. |
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