Planet of Giants is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The serial was first broadcast on BBC1 in three weekly parts from 31 October to 14 November 1964.
Despite indications of a malfunction in the TARDIS, its fault locator shows nothing is wrong and that it is safe to go outside. The First Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) consequently explore the vicinity, finding the remains of giant earthworm and ant, which appear to have died instantaneously.
The travellers realise they have returned to Earth but have shrunk to the height of an inch. Ian investigates the interior of a discarded matchbox when it is picked up by a government scientist called Farrow (Frank Crawshaw), who is visiting a callous industrialist named Forester (Alan Tilvern) to tell him that his application for a new insecticide called DN6 has been rejected as it is far too deadly to all forms of insect life.
News of this appraisal prompts Forester to fatally shoot Farrow. The Doctor, Barbara, and Susan hear the gunshot and head for the house to find Ian unhurt near Farrow’s corpse.
Forester’s aide, Smithers (Reginald Barratt), arrives but does not report the murder for fear of undermining the DN6 project to which he has dedicated his life. Ian and Barbara hide inside Farrow’s briefcase to avoid being stepped on by Forester and Smithers, and get separated from the Doctor and Susan after the briefcase is brought inside the house.
The Doctor and Susan climb up a drain pipe to find them. Forester alters Farrow’s report to give support to the DN6 licence application and, disguising his voice as Farrow’s, makes a supportive phone call to the ministry to the same effect. This is overheard by the local telephone operator Hilda Rowse (Rosemary Johnson) and her policeman husband Bert (Fred Ferris), who suspect something is wrong.
Within the house, Ian and Barbara encounter a giant fly, which is killed instantly when it contacts sample seeds that had been sprayed with DN6. Barbara had handled one of these seeds and begins to feel unwell. The Doctor, realising the toxic nature of DN6 and the probable contamination of Barbara, proposes they alert someone by hoisting up the giant telephone receiver, but they cannot make themselves heard.
At the telephone exchange, the engaged signal makes Hilda and Bert increasingly concerned. Bert heads off to the house to investigate. The Doctor and his companions decide to attract attention by starting a fire, succeeding in manoeuvring an aerosol can into the flames of the Bunsen burner gas outlet.
This coincides with Smithers discovering the true virulence of DN6 and demanding Forester cease his licence application. In the lab, the makeshift bomb explodes in Forester’s face as PC Rowse arrives. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor succeeds in returning the craft and crew to normal size, a process which cures Barbara of her infection by DN6.
- Episode 01: Planet of Giants
- Episode 02: Dangerous Journey
- Episode 03: Crisis
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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link
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Step aboard the TARDIS and journey across the universe with every incarnation of The Doctor in this series of unofficial Doctor Who episode companions.
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