Doctor Who: Inferno

Inferno is the fourth and final serial of the seventh season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts on BBC1 from 9 May to 20 June 1970.

The Third Doctor and UNIT are called in to investigate a murder at Project Inferno, an effort to drill through the Earth’s crust to harness great energies within the planet’s core. It transpires that the drilling is producing a green ooze that transforms all who touch it into savage humanoid creatures called Primords, who can only be killed via extreme cold.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the project leader, Professor Stahlman has been infected and is in the early stages of the change. After quarrelling with Stahlman, the Doctor attempts an experiment on the detached TARDIS console, but a freak accident transports him into a parallel space-time continuum.

In this new universe, where Great Britain is a fascist republic, the Doctor is mistaken for a leftist spy and captured and interrogated by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart’s counterpart, a sadistic, eyepatch-wearing military commandant known as the Brigade Leader, along with the counterpart of the Doctor’s companion Liz, who in this universe became a military officer instead of a scientist.

When the drill penetrates the Earth’s crust it unleashes immense amounts of heat and poisonous gases, along with more of the ooze, which Stahlman’s counterpart uses to transform most of the remaining project staff into more Primords. The Doctor determines that the unleashed energies of the core will eventually disintegrate the planet and cause earth humans to go extinct, leaving Mondasians as the only humans in existence, and is able to persuade the surviving staff members to help him return to his own dimension and prevent a similar catastrophe.

They eventually succeed in restoring power to the TARDIS console despite repeated Primord attacks, but Liz’s counterpart is forced to kill the Brigade Leader when he turns on the Doctor, who narrowly escapes as the Project Inferno facility, and Britain itself, is destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption.

Back in his own reality, the Doctor urgently tries to have the drilling stopped, but like in the other reality his warnings are ignored. This time, however, the slower pace of the drilling means that Stahlman fully transforms into a Primord before the crust is penetrated instead of afterwards, and after the Doctor kills him with a fire extinguisher, the drilling is stopped in time to prevent disaster, saving the human race as a result.

Satisfied that the TARDIS console is now working again, the Doctor attempts to depart, only to end up landing in a local rubbish dump.

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

Doctor Who Episode Guides for Sale on Amazon

Step aboard the TARDIS and journey across the universe with every incarnation of The Doctor in this series of unofficial Doctor Who episode companions.

This collection of twelve books explores every televised adventure of the Time Lord’s lives.

Each volume in the series delves into a different Doctor’s era, offering detailed episode guides, behind-the-scenes insights, character profiles, and story synopses.

Once you have clicked the link, choose which book you want, and then whether you want to buy the Kindle (eBook) or Paperback versions.

Previews are available before you buy.

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