Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin

Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin (1976), starring Tom Baker, Peter Pratt

Synopsis of Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin

Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin – Gallifrey. Planet of the Time Lords. The Fourth Doctor has finally come home, but not by choice. Summoned by a vision from the Matrix, he is drawn into a web of political intrigue and assassination. Nothing is quite what it seems, and in the shadows lurks his oldest and deadliest enemy.

Part 1

The Doctor returns to Gallifrey and races to prevent a tragedy. But someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Will he be too late?

The Master: Predictable as ever, Doctor. 

Commander Hilred: [looking at the TARDIS] If I didn’t know better, Castellan, I’d swear it was a Type 40.
Castellan Spandrell: It is.
Commander Hilred: But that’s impossible. There are no Type 40s in service. They’re out of commission, obsolete.
The Doctor: [Inside, watching them on the scanner screen] Obsolete? Twaddle! Take no notice, my dear old thing. [pats the TARDIS console]

Part 2

The Time Lord president has been assassinated.  The Doctor is the prime suspect! He must be tried and executed before the election of the new President. And the Doctor’s about to be executed, unless he can think of something …

Commander Hilred: You will confess, Doctor.
Doctor Who: All right. All right, I’ll confess.
Commander Hilred: Very sensible.
Doctor Who: I confess you’re a bigger idiot than I thought you were.

Part 3

The Doctor enters the virtual world of the Matrix, hoping to track down the actual murderer.  The Master, naturally enough.

The Master: We have him now, but beware. The Doctor is never more dangerous than when the odds are against him.

Part 4

The Master makes his final bid to release the devastating power of the Time Lords. And save his own life.

Doctor Who: The Master’s consumed with hatred. It’s his one great weakness.
The Master: Weakness, Doctor? Hate is strength!
Doctor Who: Not in your case. You’d delay an execution to pull the wings off a fly.

Cast

• Tom Baker (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Genesis of the Daleks) … Doctor Who. The Fourth Doctor, in a life and death struggle with the Master. Framed for murder, he risks death in the Matrix. To both prove his innocence and capture the master.
• Llewellyn Rees … The President. Lord President of Gallifrey, assassinated. Seemingly by The Doctor.
• Bernard Horsfall … Chancellor Goth
• George Pravda … Castellan Spandrell
• Angus MacKay … Cardinal Borusa
• Peter Pratt … The Master. The Doctor’s evil opposite. He’s dying – his body is literally a decaying corpse. And his plan involves acquiring the great relics of the Time Lords to extend his life …
• Hugh Walters … Commentator Runcible
• Erik Chitty … Co-Ordinator Engin
• Derek Seaton … Commander Hilred
• Maurice Quick … Gold Usher
• John Dawson … Time Lord
• Michael Bilton … Time Lord