Four to Doomsday

Whilst trying to return Tegan to Heathrow Airport, the Doctor instead lands the TARDIS on a seemingly deserted alien spacecraft, just four days away from its final destination - Earth.

The TARDIS crew discover that the ship isn't as empty as it first appears. On-board they find Chinese, Mayan, Greek and Aboriginal crew members - and the alien froglike Urbankans. The Urbankan leader, Monarch, invites the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric to continue the trip to Earth as his guests.

Monarch has returned to Earth every few thousand years throughout history, but now his intention is to stay for good. The Urbankans want to colonize Earth - but what plans does Monarch have for the future of mankind?

The more the Doctor learns of Monarch's grand scheme, the more unsettled Tegan and Nyssa become. But Adric thinks his friends have got the Urbankans all wrong. Who is the Doctor to trust...?

• "Four to Doomsday" is not the most memorable of the Davison adventures (in fact, its widely panned by fans).

• This story was actually the first one filmed and completed by Peter Davison and company.  There are two conflicting stories explaining this.  One explanation states that Davison's first story ("Castrovalva") was filmed later to give Davison time to acclimate to his character.  The second explanation says that the original opening story was shelved and "Castrovalva" inserted in its place.  To give the production crew more time to prepare, filming was pushed back making "Four to Doomsday" the first one to be taped. 

• An earlier working title for this story was "Day of Wrath."

• With the release of "Four to Doomsday," all of the stories starring Peter Davison as the Doctor are now available on VHS.

• Events at the end of this story lead directly into the next adventure, "Kinda."