Roger Delgado (The Master), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Damaris Hayman (Miss Hawthorne), Don McKillop (Bert the Landlord), Rollo Gamble (Winstanley) [1-3], Robin Wentworth (Prof. Horner) [1], David Simeon (Alastair Fergus) [1], James Snell (Harry) [1-2], John Joyce (Garvin) [1-2], Eric Hillyard (Dr. Reeves) [1-3], Jon Croft (Tom Girton) [1-3], Christopher Wray (PC Groom) [1-2], Gerald Taylor (Baker’s Man) [2], Stanley Mason (Bok) [2-3, 5], Alec Linstead (Sgt. Osgood) [3-5], John Owens (Thorpe) [3-5], Stephen Thorne (Azal) [4-5], The Headington Quarry Men (Morris Dancers) [4], Matthew Corbett (Jones) [5].
CREW
Written by
Guy Leopold
Directed by
Christopher Barry
Produced by
Barry Letts
RATINGS
1
“Episode One”
25:05
22 May 1971
9.2m
2
“Episode Two”
24: 20
29 May 1971
8.0m
3
“Episode Three”
24: 27
5 June 1971
8.1m
4
“Episode Four”
24: 20
12 June 1971
8.1m
5
“Episode Five”
24:04
19 June 1971
8.3m
SYPNOSIS
For 200 years the secret of Devil’s End village has lain dormant, as the burial mound, the so-called Devil’s Hump, has remained sealed. Until now, at midnight on April 30th on the greatest occult festival of the year, as Professor Horner prepares to break it open. But just what evil treasures lie buried there? Will the local white witch’s warnings of doom and destruction be fulfilled? Who or what is the mighty Azal? But even more disturbing for The Doctor and Jo, just how is the Reverend Magister, alias the infamous Master, involved in the mystery?
NOTES
The Stone of Sacrifice is likely to be The Master’s TARDIS because at the end of The Face of the Enemy, he sends his TARDIS to the crypt in Devil’s End.
When he goes to collect it in The Eight Doctors, the stone is revealed to be his TARDIS..
The shot of the exploding helicopter is actually a scene taken from James Bond film From Russia With Love.
The Master’s summoning phrases for Azal is ‘Mary had a little lamb’ backwards.
‘Guy Leopold’ (the writer), is a pen name for Robert Sloman and Barry Letts.
This story had the working title, The Demons.
The area under the church is always referred to as ‘the cavern’ and never ‘the crypt’. This was a BBC requirement to avoid the risk of causing offence to viewers with religious sensibilities. Similarly, much to director Christopher Barry’s amazement, no mention of God was permitted to be made in the story’s dialogue, in case this was considered to be blasphemeous &ndash, although references to the Devil were acceptable.
The Doctor calls himself “the Great Wizard Quiquaeqoud”. Qui, quae and quod are, respectively, the masculine, feminine and neuter forms of the Latin word for “who”.
Despite a request made by Barry Letts whilst he was still producer for the 625 line PAL Colour Videotapes of the story to be preserved in the BBC Archives as an example of 1970s Doctor Who, for some unknown reason only Episode Four was kept. The 625 line PAL Colour Videotapes of Episodes One, Two.
Guy Leopold is pen name of Robert Sloman and Barry Letts
Three and Five were either erased for reuse, junked or lost, with only 16mm Black & White Film telerecordings made foroverseas sale being retained.
In the DVD featurette Terrance Dicks: Fact & Fiction (included on the DVD of Horror of Fang Rock), Dicks confesses that he originally cut out the famous “Chap with the wings, five rounds rapid” line, but it was reinstated at Letts’ request.
It was believed by a number of viewers that the model of the church blown up for the final episode (a replica of an actual church) was in fact real. Calls were received by the BBC deploring the destruction of the church.
