37-503: Mawdryn Undead is the third serial of the 20th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . It was originally broadcast in four twice weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 to 9 February 1983. The serial is set in an English boarding school and a spaceship above the Earth in 1977 and 1983. In the serial, the scientist Mawdryn ( David Collings ), whose people on board
74-508: A lone Yeti appear briefly in " The Five Doctors ". The Master (Doctor Who) is the main villain in ‘’ The King’s Demons ’’ and also appears in The Five Doctors. To commemorate the twentieth season, the stories in this season involve the return of characters or villains seen in previous seasons. This season was broadcast twice weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on BBC1. It includes The Black Guardian Trilogy , consisting of
111-549: A return in Mawdryn Undead , Terminus and Enlightenment . The Castellan, played by Paul Jerricho , appears in Arc of Infinity and reprises the role in " The Five Doctors ". Additional companions Jamie McCrimmon ( Frazer Hines ), Zoe Heriot ( Wendy Padbury ), Liz Shaw ( Caroline John ) and Mike Yates ( Richard Franklin ) make cameos throughout the special. David Banks makes his second of four appearances in
148-1048: A season in the mid-1970s, before the return of Lethbridge-Stewart was eventually decided upon. David Collings, who played Mawdryn, also appeared in the Fourth Doctor serials Revenge of the Cybermen (1975) as Vorus and The Robots of Death (1977) as Poul, and would himself play an alternate Doctor in Big Finish Productions ' Doctor Who Unbound audio play, Full Fathom Five . Angus MacKay previously played Borusa in The Deadly Assassin (1976). John Nathan-Turner felt that Mark Strickson's blond hair didn't stand out well enough from Peter Davison's blond hair. He initially asked Strickson to shave his head, but when Strickson declined, Turner decided that Strickson's hair should be dyed red. A novelisation of this serial, written by Peter Grimwade ,
185-402: A successful war-themed weekly, Mills was asked in 1975 to develop a rival title for IPC. Based in the girls' comics department to avoid the attention of the staff of the boys' department, Mills, along with Wagner and Gerry Finley-Day , worked in secret to create Battle Picture Weekly . Battle' s stories were more violent and its characters more working class than IPC's traditional fare, and it
222-576: A super-powered government agent drawn by John Higgins , and Defoe , a 17th-century zombie hunter drawn by Leigh Gallagher , began in 2000 AD prog 1540. Mills has formed Repeat Offenders with artist Clint Langley and Jeremy Davis "to develop graphic novel concepts with big-screen potential" and the first project is a graphic novel called American Reaper , serialised in the Judge Dredd Megazine (2011–2015). It has been optioned by Trudie Styler 's Xingu Films and Mills has written
259-535: A violent, anarchic tone, perhaps as a reaction against the politically worthy Crisis , and a creator-owned ideal. Many of the stories were created by Mills and co-writer Tony Skinner , including Accident Man , an assassin who makes his hits look like accidents. Toxic! lasted less than a year, but gave a start to talents such as Duke Mighten and Martin Emond . He has had little success in American comics, with
296-446: A year before being withdrawn in the face of media protests. It was briefly revived in neutered form before being merged into Battle . His next creation was the science fiction-themed weekly 2000 AD , launched in 1977. As with Battle and Action he developed most of the early series before handing them over to other writers. He took over the development of Judge Dredd when creator John Wagner temporarily walked out, and wrote many of
333-550: The Fourth Doctor but declined. Past companions Elisabeth Sladen ( Sarah Jane Smith ), Nicholas Courtney ( Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ), Carole Ann Ford ( Susan Foreman ) return for the 20th Anniversary special, whilst Courtney also makes an appearance in Mawdryn Undead . Anthony Ainley returns as the Master in The King's Demons and " The Five Doctors ". The Black Guardian , played by Valentine Dyall , also makes
370-515: The audiobook version himself. (The title is the catchphrase of the villain in his series Nemesis the Warlock .) In 2018 the film Accident Man was released, based on his comic strip for Toxic! In 2019 Mills announced that he would publish a new all-ages science fiction anthology comic called Spacewarp , to be released in 2020, and that the artists would retain the copyright on their work. In 2021 he published another volume of memoirs with
407-607: The 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather of British comics". His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd . Mills started his career as a sub-editor for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd , where he met Wagner. In 1971 both left to go freelance , and were soon writing scripts for IPC 's girls' and humour comics. After D.C. Thomson launched Warlord ,
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#1732802185514444-627: The 1980s and was produced by Big Finish as " The Song of Megaptera ". In 2023, a 1980 Fourth Doctor comic he penned (with artist Dave Gibbons) for Doctor Who Magazine was adapted into the Fourteenth Doctor special "The Star Beast." In 2017 he wrote, with Kevin O'Neill, and published two novels, Serial Killer and Goodnight, John-Boy , part of a planned series of four books. Also in that year, he published his memoirs, Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History in print and as an e-book. Mills also narrated
481-578: The Brigadier starts regaining some memories. In 1977, Nyssa and Tegan leave the TARDIS and find a horribly disfigured man in the transmat capsule, who claims to be the Doctor in the midst of a regeneration . They seek out help from the younger Brigadier, and the "Doctor" urges all three to return with him to the starliner via the TARDIS. In 1983, the Doctor detects the TARDIS' movement, and he, Turlough, and
518-530: The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa find the TARDIS stuck in the warp ellipse of a starliner trapped in time. Materialising aboard, they find a transmat device with separate endpoints to Earth in 1977 and 1983 is creating the interference. Turlough arrives from the 1983 transmat, feigning lack of comprehension of the situation. The Doctor instructs Nyssa and Tegan to stay aboard the TARDIS while he returns with Turlough to 1983 to fix that transmat point, hoping it will allow
555-485: The Doctor, accompanied by Tegan Jovanka ( Janet Fielding ). While Nyssa ( Sarah Sutton ) leaves halfway through the season in Terminus , Mark Strickson arrives as new companion Vislor Turlough in Mawdryn Undead . In the penultimate serial of the season, the shape-shifting android Kamelion (voiced by Gerald Flood ) is invited aboard the TARDIS after the Doctor frees him from the Master. Kamelion accepts, though
592-575: The Doctor, and it introduces Turlough as a regular character. Nicholas Courtney is reintroduced as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart , who was last seen in the series in the 1975 serial Terror of the Zygons . In 1983, Vislor Turlough , a stranded alien posing as a human student, is given an offer by the Black Guardian for passage off Earth if he should kill the Fifth Doctor . Meanwhile,
629-695: The Doctor. The younger Brigadier passes out from shock, and the Doctor suspects this was the trauma that caused him to lose his memory. The TARDIS crew return the Brigadiers to their proper times, and the Doctor accepts Turlough's request to join his crew, unaware of the Black Guardian's influence. Mawdryn Undead was a replacement for an earlier script, The Song of the Space Whale , by Pat Mills . That script fell through when Mills and script editor Eric Saward could not agree on certain elements of
666-522: The French market, one of his life's goals, with Sha , created with French artist Olivier Ledroit . He continues to write Sláine , Bill Savage , Black Siddha and ABC Warriors for 2000 AD , and also the Franco-Belgian comic Requiem Vampire Knight , with art by Olivier Ledroit , and its spin-off Claudia Chevalier Vampire , with art by Franck Tacito . Two new series, Greysuit ,
703-453: The TARDIS to escape. Instead, the TARDIS materialises in 1977 at Turlough's school. Coincidentally the Doctor's old friend from UNIT , retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart , is now a maths teacher at the school and is surprised to learn some trauma in the past has made him lose the memories of the last few years; as a result, he does not remember the Doctor at all. However, as the Doctor talks about Tegan, about himself and his former companions,
740-555: The Time Vortex, and quickly returns to the ship. The Doctor agrees to give up his regenerations and prepares to transfer this energy, with the Brigadier at the machine controls. Meanwhile, the Brigadier from 1977, having been left alone, bursts in upon them. The two Brigadiers reach out to touch, and the flash of energy occurs just at the right moment before the Doctor gives up his regenerations, ending Mawdryn's and his colleagues' lives as requested, restoring Nyssa and Tegan, and saving
777-586: The Warlock . Artist Kevin O'Neill was involved in the creation of all three. Another strand of his 2000 AD work was Sláine , a barbarian fantasy based on Celtic mythology and neo-paganism , which he co-created with his then wife Angela Kincaid (with whom he also created the children's series of books, The Butterfly Children ). Mills also had a hand in IPC's line of comics aimed at girls , such as Chiller (a horror comic), Misty (supernatural stories) and Jinty (science fiction). In 1986 he edited
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#1732802185514814-520: The character itself would only be seen again in Season 21 's antepenultimate serial, Planet of Fire . Past Doctors return for the 20th Anniversary special, with Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee appearing as the Second Doctor and Third Doctor . The First Doctor returns, played by Richard Hurndall as original actor William Hartnell died in 1975. Tom Baker was asked to return to play
851-446: The early stories, establishing the character and his world, before Wagner returned. In 1978 IPC launched Starlord , a short-lived companion title for 2000 AD . Mills contributed Ro-Busters , a series about a robot disaster squad, which moved to 2000 AD when Starlord was cancelled. Ro-Busters was the beginning of a mini-universe of interrelated stories Mills was to create for 2000 AD , including ABC Warriors and Nemesis
888-491: The exception of Metalzoic and Marshal Law , published by DC and Epic comics respectively in the late 1980s, both drawn by O'Neill. Mills' Toxic strips Accident Man and Brats Bizarre were reprinted as their own US-format titles (by Dark Horse Comics and Epic, respectively) and Mills wrote Punisher 2099 for Marvel, Zombie World for Dark Horse, and Death Race 2020 (reuniting Mills with Kevin O'Neill) for Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics . In 1995, he broke into
925-492: The liner who were trying to discover the Time Lord secret of regeneration. Their experiments failed, and he and his fellow scientists have become immortal in this painful state and seek to die, but the Doctor determines the only way to do so is to give up his remaining regenerations. He attempts to leave with his companions, but finds that Nyssa and Tegan suffer the same affliction as Mawdryn, ageing and de-ageing rapidly once in
962-499: The older Brigadier also return to the starliner via the transmat. The Doctor regroups with his companions; realising two versions of the Brigadier are aboard, he instructs them all to keep the two separated, as, should they touch, it could release a potentially catastrophic energy discharge due to the Blinovitch limitation effect. The figure posing as the Doctor is forced to reveal himself as Mawdryn, one of several scientists aboard
999-581: The screenplay. He has also written two Doctor Who audio plays , " Dead London " (2008) and " The Scapegoat " (2009) for Big Finish Productions , featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller . The first audio play was released as the first part of the second season of the Eighth Doctor Adventures and the second as part of the third season. In 2010 Mills adapted a story that had been started by him and Wagner for Doctor Who in
1036-471: The serials Mawdryn Undead , Terminus and Enlightenment and involving the arrival of Turlough, the departure of Nyssa and a single guest appearance from Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart . Overall, these serials form a rough twelve-part epic. Although "The Five Doctors" was broadcast more than eight months after Part 2 of The King's Demons , which was the last regular story of the season, it is usually included as part of Season 20. The entire season (including
1073-406: The series' first two seasons from 1963 to 1965, to return for a guest appearance in this story; hence the school setting, as Chesterton was a science teacher, and the Brigadier's being issued with another TARDIS homing device. However, actor William Russell proved to be unavailable. Some consideration was given to using instead the character of Harry Sullivan , who was a regular in the programme for
1110-449: The ship have been afflicted by a mutation that constantly causes their bodies to renew themselves, seeks to die using the regenerative abilities of the alien time traveller the Fifth Doctor ( Peter Davison ) to stop this process and allow them to die. Mawdryn Undead is the first of three loosely connected serials in which the Black Guardian ( Valentine Dyall ) attempts to compel the alien Vislor Turlough ( Mark Strickson ) to kill
1147-509: The short-lived comic Diceman , which featured characters from 2000 AD, Mills wrote nearly every story. In 1988 he was involved in the launch of Crisis , a politically aware 2000 AD spin-off aimed at older readers. For it he wrote Third World War , drawn initially by Carlos Ezquerra . The title lasted until 1991 and launched the careers of talents such as Garth Ennis , John Smith and Sean Phillips . In 1991 Mills launched Toxic! , an independent colour newsstand weekly comic with
Mawdryn Undead - Misplaced Pages Continue
1184-721: The show in "The Five Doctors" as a Cyber-leader. Colin Baker , who was subsequently cast as the Sixth Doctor , made his first appearance in Doctor Who as Commander Maxil in the season's first serial, Arc of Infinity , becoming the first actor to appear in the programme prior to taking on the role of the Doctor. Returning villains for the season are Omega ( Arc of Infinity ), The Black Guardian ( Mawdryn Undead ), ( Terminus ), ( Enlightenment ), Cybermen ("The Five Doctors") and The Mara ( Snakedance ). A lone Dalek and
1221-417: The show's 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors") was broadcast from 3 January to 25 November. Transmission moved to Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except for the first episode of Arc of Infinity . All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated: Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner , revitalised British boys' comics in
1258-636: The story was released again in an upgraded format for Blu-ray, being included with the other stories from Season 20 in the Doctor Who - The Collection Box Set . Doctor Who (season 20) The twentieth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 January 1983 with the story Arc of Infinity , and ended 16 March 1983 with The King's Demons . A 20th Anniversary special, " The Five Doctors ", followed in November 1983. John Nathan-Turner produced this series, with Eric Saward script editing. Peter Davison continues as
1295-415: The story. Instead, Peter Grimwade quickly produced Mawdryn Undead to fill the gap in the production schedule. The Song of the Space Whale was later renamed The Song of Megaptera and made into an audio drama by Big Finish Productions for their Doctor Who The Lost Stories range. The original intent of the production team was for the character of Ian Chesterton , one of the original regulars from
1332-414: Was an immediate hit. Having made the comic ready for launch, Mills resigned as editor. He would later write the celebrated First World War series Charley's War , drawn by Joe Colquhoun , for the title. After launching Battle , Mills began developing a new boys' title, Action , launched in 1976. Action' s mix of violence and anti-authoritarianism proved controversial and the title lasted less than
1369-655: Was published by Target Books in August 1983. Mawdryn Undead was released on VHS in November 1992. It was released on DVD as part of the Black Guardian Trilogy on 10 August 2009 (Region 2), with a commentary by Peter Davison, Mark Strickson, Nicholas Courtney and Eric Saward and an option to view the story with new CGI effects. The serial was also released in issue 50 of the Doctor Who DVD Files , published 1 December 2010. In September 2023,
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