The Wheel in Space

043 – The Wheel in Space
Doctor Who serial
Zoe being menaced by the Cybermen.
Cast
Doctor Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor)
Companions Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot)
Others Deborah Watling — Victoria Waterfield Michael Turner — Jarvis Bennett Anne Ridler — Dr Gemma Corwyn Eric Flynn — Leo Ryan Clare Jenkins — Tanya Lernov Kenneth Watson — Bill Duggan Kevork Malikyan — Kemel Rudkin Michael Goldie — Elton Laleham Derrick Gilbert — Armand Vallance Donald Sumpter — Enrico Casali Peter Laird — Chang James Mellor — Sean Flannigan Freddie Foote — Servo Robot Jerry Holmes, Gordon Stothard — Cybermen Peter Hawkins, Roy Skelton — Cybermen Voices
Production
Directed by	Tristan DeVere Cole
Written by	David Whitaker, from a story by Kit Pedler
Script editor	Derrick Sherwin
Produced by	Peter Bryant
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Brian Hodgson
Production code	SS
Series	Season 5
Length	6 episodes, 25 minutes each
Episode(s) missing	4 episodes (1, 2, 4 and 5)
Date started	27 April 1968
Date ended	1 June 1968
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Fury from the Deep The Dominators
List of Doctor Who serials

The Wheel in Space

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Ian Burgess
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	130
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	18 August 1988
ISBN

The Wheel in Space is the mostly missing seventh and final serial of the fifth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968. This serial is the first appearance of Wendy Padbury as companion Zoe Heriot. Only two of the six episodes are held in the BBC archives; four still remain missing.

The explosion of the mercury fluid link forces the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon to evacuate the TARDIS to avoid mercury fumes, and until the mercury can be replaced, the craft is marooned. They find themselves on a space vessel, deserted apart from a Servo-Robot. The robot detects the intruders and redirects the rocket from aimless wandering. The shock of a course change causes the Doctor to hit his head, concussing him. The robot also releases a group of egg-shaped white pods into space which direct themselves toward a nearby spaceship shaped like a giant wheel, attaching themselves to its exterior. When the robot becomes aggressive, Jamie destroys it, but the Doctor is very weak and collapses.

The Wheel is an Earth space station observing phenomena in deep space and is staffed with a small international crew. The crewmembers are concerned by the sudden drops in pressure, which, unbeknown to them, coincide with the pods attaching themselves to the exterior of the Wheel. Controller Jarvis Bennett is also worried that the Silver Carrier, a missing supply vessel eighty million miles off course, has suddenly turned up nearby and is not responding to radio contact. He decides to destroy it with the Wheel’s x-ray laser.

Jarvis is prevented from doing so when they hear a deafening burst of noise from the vessel. Jamie alerts them to his presence aboard the Carrier and he and the unconscious Doctor are rescued and taken aboard the Wheel. While the resident medic, Dr. Gemma Corwyn, sees to the Doctor, Jamie is given a guided tour by the parapsychology librarian, Zoe Heriot.