Saturday, 30 October 1976

The Deadly Assassin

Premise: The Doctor is framed for the assassination of the retiring Time Lord president. But by nominating himself as a new candidate, he buys himself time to track down the real culprit.

Notes: This serial is the first serial to feature the Doctor without a companion. The cliffhanger at the end of episode three where the Doctor's head was held underwater was heavily criticized by Mary Whitehouse and was thus removed from all following transmissions but restored for VHS and DVD releases. She often said that it was one of the most frightening scenes in the series because of a strong image being left in children's mind until the next week when they find out whether he survived or not.

Verdict: A well crafted political thriller with the matrix scenes playing on the inner fears of human nature. Peter Pratt is great as the Master, oozing out villainy in every scene he's in. The Time Lords have never been portrayed as so cynical and more insight into their culture is always welcome 9/10

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