Mawdryn Undead

Earth 1983.  The mysterious Black Guardian hovers over the shoulder of English public schoolboy, Turlough, determined to enlist his aid in his deadly scheme-the assassination of the Doctor.  Meanwhile the TARDIS is trapped inside a huge space ship in perpetual orbit, a permanent resting place for the miserable Mawdryn and his 8 fellow scientists, all condemned to a state of perpetual regeneration.  Only the Doctor’s life force can free them, but at a deadly cost-the price of his powers of regeneration.  With Nyssa and Tegan stranded in the time zone of 1977, and the Black Guardian closing in, the Doctor must face a terrible dilemma…

• "Mawdryn Undead" is the third story of the 20th anniversary season of Doctor Who.  Each story within this season features the return of one of the Doctor's former adversaries.

• This adventure marks the return of the Black Guardian, last seen in the Key to Time finale "The Armageddon Factor."

• "Mawdryn Undead" begins a trilogy of adventures centering around the Black Guardian's attempts to destroy the Doctor as revenge for thwarting his plans to control the Key to Time.  The second story in the trilogy is "Terminus" while the final one is "Enlightenment."

• This story also sees the return of an old friend of the Doctor's, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.  The last appearance of the Brigadier was in the Tom Baker classic "Terror of the Zygons" some 8 years earlier.

• Originally, it was to have been Ian Chesterton (one of Doctor Who's original companions, and a school teacher to boot) who couldn't remember his days with the Doctor and who had stumbled onto Mawdryn earlier.  Unfortunately, actor William Russell was unavailable for the part.  It was then hoped to use the character of Harry Sullivan.  When Ian Marter proved unavailable as well the character of the Brigadier was inserted.

• A new companion joins the TARDIS crew by the end of this story, Turlough.  He is recruited by the Black Guardian to help kill the Doctor.

• David Collings (Mawdryn) makes his last of three memorable appearances in Doctor Who.  His first role was that of Vorus in "Revenge of the Cybermen" with Tom Baker.  He would return two years after that for the classic Tom Baker adventure "The Robots of Death."