A Biography of the Doctor

The Third Doctor

Season Nine

"I thought the TARDIS was working again?"
" What gave you that idea?"

- Jo and the Doctor in Day of the Daleks

This season appears to cover the third year of the Third Doctor's exile. In this section we have avoided putting dates on the UNIT stories, for our take on the dates for UNIT stories, see the UNIT Dating article and the History of the Whoniverse.

Honest Living
(More Short Trips)

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart )
Placement Rating: 3 - Within a range of stories

The Doctor and Jo are working late when an intruder breaks into the lab to steal some of the Doctor's equipment. The intruder, Tuala, takes the circuits she is after and kidnaps Jo. The Doctor is unable to rescue Jo but does discover that Tuala and her uncle Krashen come from the future he had recently destroyed (Day of the Daleks). They have been changing history, keeping people alive in return for vast sums of money. The Doctor realises that the paradoxes Krashen has been creating must be stopped. He eventually tracks him and tries to reason with him. Krashen activates his time machine and sends them back to a time where Jo and Tuala could easily meet themselves. The Doctor finishes tinkering with the device just in time. Krashen and Tuala are removed from existence and those they had saved disappear.

Duration: 2 days
Location: London, December (paage 101), UNIT year 3.

Notes: The TARDIS is not yet working. Day of the Daleks is recent, but the peace conference is over.

Face of the Enemy

(Third Doctor , )
Placement Rating: 4 - Between consecutive stories

Jo arrives at UNIT to meet Mike Yates for a trip to the cinema. Being early, she visits the Doctor's laboratory. The Doctor claims that he has repaired the TARDIS and offers to take Jo on a trip, claiming that they will be able to return instantly.

Location: UNIT HQ

Notes: Immediately before The Curse of Peladon.

The Curse of Peladon

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant )
Placement Rating: 5 - Part of ongoing series
Follows on from Face of the Enemy (prologue)

The Doctor appears to have got the TARDIS working and takes a trip with Jo. The TARDIS lands on Peladon, a planet that is considering joining the Galactic Federation. The Doctor is mistaken for one of the delegates who are to decide whether Peladon can be allowed to join. The Doctor is accused of sacrilege and sentenced to a fight to the death. Following this, the Doctor exposes the Arcturan delegate and a faction of the Pels as responsible for a number of incidents aimed at sabotaging negotiations. The Doctor then leaves as the real Earth delegate arrives.

Duration: 4 days
Location: Peladon,

Notes: This is a mission for fort the Time Lords. It is not clear why they send the Doctor on this mission. I speculate that the Doctor's intervention prevents a civil war in the Federation which would then allow the Daleks to conquer it with ease.

Face of the Enemy

Placement Rating: 4 - Between consecutive stories
Follows on from The Curse of Peladon

A few days after the TARDIS leaves there is a strange plane crash and the body of the pilot almost exactly matches a junior minister's. UNIT is called in and the Brigadier drafts Ian Chesterton from the Air Force as a temporary Scientific Advisor. When UNIT call on the minister in question they discover that he has been murdered. The following day, the Master escapes from Aylesbury Detention Centre. He arrives at UNIT HQ to give himself up in return for protective custody. He helps UNIT build a device to track the duplicates, who are using some kind of time travel technology. Meanwhile, Barbara Chesterton is kidnapped from UNIT HQ and apparently killed in a car crash.

The Master and Ian manage to track some temporal disturbances to the Naval base at Faslane, which seems to be the centre of the infiltrators' activities. UNIT staff travel to the base, where they meet Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan. Sullivan helps them find out where on the base the infiltrators have been hiding. The Brigadier, Ian, and the Master travel to the Inferno universe, where they rescue Barbara and disable the infiltrators' ability to travel between worlds. They then stop the infiltrators from getting away in a nuclear submarine and recapture the Master.
The Doctor and Jo return to Earth two weeks (Earth time) after they left and the Brigadier doesn't tell them what has happened since they left.

Duration: 7 days
Location: London, Aldbury, and the [tv]Inferno[/tv[ universe. November.

Notes: Concurrent with The Curse of Peladon. In the parallel universe it's been five years since Inferno, but it can't have been that long in the "real" one. The Master has yet to be transferred to Fortress Island. UNIT HQ is a stately home at Denham.

The Sea Devils

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant )
Placement Rating: 5 - Part of ongoing series

The Doctor and Jo visit the Master, who is being held on an island prison. He appears to be safely under lock and key but has actually hypnotised his guards. After their visit the Doctor and Jo decide to investigate some recent sinkings of ships in the area. Both the Doctor and the Master deduce that the sinkings are due to aquatic Earth Reptiles. Both Time Lords end up in the Earth Reptiles' undersea base. The Doctor argues that the two species (humans and Earth Reptiles) can make peace, whilst the Master argues that humanity should be destroyed. Human depth charges cause the Earth Reptiles to side with the Master. The Master then attempts to help revive the Earth Reptiles but the Doctor is able to prevent this. In the confusion the Master escapes.

Duration: 4 days
Location: HMS Foxglove; Fortress Island. Autumn.

The Eight Doctors
(Third Doctor)

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton )
Placement Rating: 4 - Between consecutive stories
Follows on from The Sea Devils

The Doctor gets the Brigadier to set up roadblocks to find the Master. The Master gets through one by means of hypnotism. The report reaches the Doctor, who realises that he must be going to Devil's End. He arrives just before the Master was due to leave. The intervention of Miss Hawthorne, the local white witch, produces some kind of telekinetic effect as the Master disappears in his TARDIS.

The Doctor returns to his lab and meets his eighth self, who is searching for his memories. His future self tells him that he will end this incarnation no longer exiled and in a noble cause. Then the Master arrives, but the presence of the eighth Doctor confuses him and he retreats. The two Doctors then leave, but the Third Doctor almost tries to steal the eighth Doctor's TARDIS. He decides not to and returns to his work at UNIT.

Duration: 1 day.
Location: Portsmouth, Devil's End. UNIT HQ, UNIT Year 3.

Notes: Immediately after The Sea Devils. The events of THe Daemons are described as "recent" on page 85.


(Third Doctor , Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton, Mike Yates )
Placement Rating: 3 - Within a range of stories

Late at night the Doctor is experimenting on the dematerialisation circuit when he is interrupted by the Brigadier. The circuit leaps into the air and the sensor probes connected to it are flash manically and urgently - filling him with instant dread.

The next day the Doctor and Jo set off for Princetown, Dartmoor, where the sensor leads them. They watch a Punk band play and see the audience murder three prison officers and a policeman. Two days later they see the band's second performance, when 3 fox-hunters are murdered. Throughout both performances the sensor is highly active. Jo and the audience have been entranced by the Band, so the Doctor leaves her with a group of fans and returns to UNIT HQ. He attempts to isolate the source of the signals he has been receiving and asks the Brigadier to send an undercover UNIT operative to the convoy that's now following the band to keep an eye on Jo.

Five days later the Doctor is still working on the problem, the Brigadier assigns Mike Yates to check on Jo, and the Prime Minister - under pressure from tabloids and the opposition - orders that UNIT replace the police in shadowing the convoy.

Some time later the Doctor tracks down a second signal to a gruesome book in a library in the village of Cirbury. He then goes to investigate the trailer in which the band are hidden and finds himself stuck in a hellish world of the imagination. He discovers something of the history of the instigator - a being calling itself the Ragman. He eventually finds a way out, just as events reach their peak. As the Brigadier battles some of the convoy at Stonehenge the Doctor manages to defeat the Ragman - releasing everyone from its spell.

Duration: About six weeks.
Location: UNIT HQ, Dartmoor, Cirbury, Bristol, Princetown, Stonehenge, 7 May – 20 June, UNIT Year 3.

Notes: The Doctor is still stuck on Earth. Jo mentions Ogrons (Day of the Daleks). The Brigadier says it wouldn’t be the first time the Doctor has sneaked off as soon as his back was turned on page 14. This could be a reference to Colony in Soace or, more likely, to the Doctor's more extended absence in The Curse of Peladon / Face of the Enemy.

The Mutants

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant )
Placement Rating: 5 - Part of ongoing series

The Doctor is building a minimum inertial superdrive for Bessie when he receives a message capsule from the Time Lords. Realising that it is not for him, he takes a trip in the TARDIS. He and Jo arrive on a space station orbiting the planet Solos in the 30th Century. Solos is part of the Earth Empire, which is planning to let Solos become independent. Large numbers of native Solonians are mutating, and the humans are trying to kill the mutants.

The Doctor discovers that the message is for Ky, one of the Solonians, and it is written in ancient Solonian hierographs. The Solonians naturally mutate every 500 years and human experiments on Solos's atmosphere have interfered with the process. The Doctor manages to decontaminate Solos's atmosphere. The humans responsible for the damage are killed and the Doctor and Jo return to Earth in the TARDIS.

Duration: 3 days.
Location: Solos and its orbiting space station Skybase One. 30th Century.

Notes: It's never explained why the Time Lords send the Doctor to Solos.

Where the Heart Is
(Decalog 2)

(Third Doctor , Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Mike Yates )
Placement Rating: 3 - Within a range of stories

The Secret Vote Finance Committee decides that the UK branch of UNIT costs too much and that UNIT UK's activities can be carried out more cheaply by the Royal Marines. Meanwhile, the Doctor has been tracking a missing government minister. He discovers that the minister was killed by a Birastrop called Dantallion. Dantallion had been dissecting humans in order to treat other humans in the future. Although the Brigadier tries to pull strings to save UNIT, he is unsuccessful.

The Doctor decides to ask the Time Lords to let him pilot the TARDIS in a plan to save UNIT. He abducts Dantallion from the Marines and gets him to sign over his mansion to the Doctor, before letting him leave the planet. The provision of a rent-free headquarters for UNIT and the Marine's failure allow the Brigadier to successfully fight for the continuation of the UK branch of UNIT.

Location: England

Notes: The TARDIS still isn't working on page 99, so it's before The Three Doctors. The Doctor mentions his trip to Solos (The Mutants) on page 99. UNIT HQ moves from central London to a 16th Century Manor House.

The Time Monster

Placement Rating: 5 - Part of ongoing series

The Doctor builds a device to find the Master. Whilst working on this he has a dream involving the Master and, when Jo mentions Atlantis, he connects the two. He then detects a disturbance in the time field related to TOM-TIT, a device which the Brigadier is due to see a demonstration of.

The Doctor goes to the demonstration, and discovers that the Master is behind TOM-TIT. He also learns that TOM-TIT relies on the Kronos Crystal, which contained a trapped Chronovore named Kronos. To try and stop the Master the Doctor materialises his TARDIS inside the Master's. This causes the Master's TARDIS to also be inside the Doctor's. The Master separates the two, sending the Doctor into the vortex, although he survives.

The Master then travels back in time to Atlantis, and the Doctor and Jo follow him there. The Doctor decides to time ram the Master's TARDIS to stop the Master from using Kronos's power, but cannot as this would kill Jo (who the Master has captured). Jo is, however, able to make the decision for the Doctor. The time ram does not ultimately cause any damage because Kronos intervenes. The Doctor and Jo return home but the Master escapes.

Duration: 4 months.
Location: Wooton, September UNIT Year 3; Atlantis c.2000 BC.

Notes: The Doctor appears to have some control over the TARDIS by this point, though when Jo asks him if he's finally got it working he replies "not entirely".


Placement Rating: 3 - Within a range of stories

The Doctor and Jo take a holiday at a country house the Doctor owns. They discover Iris Wildthyme and her companion Tom visiting. Soon afterwards a railway carriage full of 18th century people materialises in a nearby field, marauding robot sheep, and the UNIT totally disappears. The Doctor and Iris discover that events are being orchestrated by aliens who have disguised themselves as fictional characters. Eventually, it is revealed that events have been orchestrated by a being Iris once asked to help set the Doctor free from his exile. The being, called Verdigris, had attempted to remove UNIT as it felt that the Doctor's work for UNIT was hindering his attempts at repairing the TARDIS.

Location: Earth, Thsis.

Notes: Clearly before The Three Doctors. There's a reference to The Sea Devils/

Day of the Daleks

Placement Rating: 5 - Part of ongoing series

The Doctor is experimenting with his dematerialisation circuit when he accidentally creates a freak effect where he and Jo meet themselves from later in their timestream. However, the Doctor is able to return things to normal fairly soon.

Sir Reginald Styles, a dipl;omat who is hostiug a world peace conference, is attacked by a guerilla. UNIT, who are provising security, investigate. Searching the grounds, they discover an injured guerilla, his weapon, and a black box. The Doctor discovers that the gun is an ultrasonic disintegrator and the box is a crude time machine. He starts fiddling with it, and the guerilla disappears, taken back to his own time.

When the guerillas next attack, the Doctor and Jo are captured and end up in the guerillas' future. In this future a bomb at the peace conference started a world-wide war. The Daleks travelled back in time to invade Earth a century early and had complete success. The guerillas travelled back in time to prevent the bomb by killing Styles. The Doctor makes them realise that the bomb was one of the rebels' own bombs. Returning to the present, he arranges for the delegates at the conference to be evacuated. He lures a force of Daleks and Ogrons into the peace conference venue and a guerilla, who had been stranded in this time blows up the building. This action destroys the future that had been created.

When the Doctor and Jo return to the UNIT lab, they encounter their earlier selves, as the earlier Doctor fiddles with his dematerialisation circuit.

Duration: 4 days
Location: Auderley House, 11th-14th September; UNIT Year 3

Notes: The reprise of the Doctor and Jo encountering their future selves is at the end of this story in both the camera script and the novelisation, but was never filmed.

Who Killed Kennedy
(chapters 21-24)

(Third Doctor , )
Placement Rating: 4 - Between consecutive stories
Follows on from Day of the Daleks

Reporter James Stevens has been investigating UNIT for a couple of years, believing it to be a very sinister organisation. Seeing the Brigadier on TV before the peace conference he rushes to the venue, arriving as the delegates are being evacuated. He is caught in the battle between UNIT and the Daleks and their Ogron servants. The Doctor saves him from death and the Brigadier explains UNIT's true nature. The Doctor is very interested in Stevens' experiences, and deduces that the Master is freer than expected. He asks Stevens to thwart the Master's plan to prevent the assassination of Kennedy, whilst he makes plans to investigate the Master's freedom.

Location: England,14th September UNIT year 3; Dallas, Texas 22nd November 1963.

Notes: Overlaps with the end of Day of the Daleks. It sets up the events of The Sea Devils.


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