Or has it? For very soon the Doctor found himself pursued by the soldiers of Ancient Rome; and then he and his companions were reliving the American Civil War of 1863. And was this really Earth, or just a mock-up created by the War Lords?

As Doctor Who solves the mystery, he has to admit he is faced with an evil of such magnitude that he cannot combat it on his own - he has to call for the help of his own people, the Time Lords.

So, for the first time, it is revealed who is Doctor Who - a maverick Time Lord who 'borrowed' the TARDIS without permission. By appealing to the Time Lords he gives away his position in Time and Space. Thus comes about the Trial of Doctor Who ...
 

Mud. Barbed wire. The smell of death. The year is 1917 and the TARDIS has materialised on the Western Front during the First World War. 

Or has it? Escaping from execution by firing squad, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe meet charioteers from Ancient Rome, Georgian Redcoats, and Confederates from the American Civil War. 

Someone - someone as knowledgeable as the Doctor himself - has created a simalcrum of Earth, and has gathered soldiers from every era of the planet's bloody history. And that someone is playing war games. 

This adventure was first broadcast on television in 1969. It marked the end of Patrick Troughton's tenure of the role of the Doctor, and it revealed for the first time something of the Doctor's past and of his fellow Time Lords. This novelization, first published in 1979 is by Malcolm Hulke, one of the writers of the original television script. 

Doctor Who - The War Games is avilable on BBC video, and will be broadcast on BSB television during 1990. 
 

Inheriting the mantle of Doctor Who from William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton confronted some of the Doctor's deadliest enemies in the galaxy, but for his last action-packed adventure he returns to earth in the midst of time zones crossing wars in mankind's history. Going out in a blaze of glory, Troughton faces capture not by Yeti or Cybermen or Ice Warriors, but by his own people ... the omnipotent Time Lords!

When the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on Earth they find themselves caught up in the terrifying events of World War 1, but new and unexpected horrors await them as they cross landscapes full of enemies and time zones confouded by centuries of wars. At the centreof the mystery stand the Aliens who have capturedsoldiers from different periods of Earth's historyand brainwashed them into fighting each other. When the Doctor learns of the terrible purpose of the War Games he has one chance to defeat the Aliens and end the games ........ but to take it means risking recapture by his own people, the all-powerful Time Lords who are waiting to bring him to trial and who are capable of ending his very existance ....

Running time: 243 mins approx.

Produced by Derrick Sherwin
Directed by David Maloney
Original unedited black and white recordings.

First transmitted April 19th - June 21st 1969