The Doctor is reluctant to land on Frontios, as he does not wish to intervene in a moment of hisorical crisis - the colonists are still struggling to establish themselves and their continued existence hangs in the balance.

But the TARDIS is forced down by what appears to be a meteorite storm, and crash-lands, leaving the Doctor and his companions marooned on the hope-forsaken planet ...
 

The TARDIS has brought the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough to the picture-postcard English village of Little Hodcombe. Tegan has come to visit her grandfather -well-known local historian Andrew Verney - but he seems to be missing. The residents of Little Hodcombe, led by the obsessive Sir George Hutchinson, are playing a vicious war game - an exact recreation of a battle of the English Civil War fought there in 1643.

As each of the TARDIS crew witnesses a terrifying apparition from the past, the Doctor realises that he faces a far greater menace than the unstable Hutchinson. An ancient and alien force for evil is at work - one which will glory in the slaughter of them all...

Originally transmitted 19th - 20th January 1984 Produced by John Nathan-Turner Directed by Michael Owen Morris

As a strange force takes hold of the TARDIS, the doctor and his friends find themselves grounded on the inhospitable planet of Frontios, where the last survivors of the human race scratch out a desperate existence far away from their long-dead homeworld.

The colonists are gripped by fear and paranoia as the planet is battered by attacks from space and they watch as the bodies of their dead are sucked into the ground. But the Doctor only appreciates the true gravity of the situation when he finds out that the TARDIS has been destroyed...

Originally transmitted 26th January - 3rd February 1984 Produced by John Nathan-Turner. Directed by Ron Jones

Running time: 148 mins approx
Cover Illustration: Colin Howard
 

US Cover