Full Circle (Doctor Who)

111 – Full Circle
Doctor Who serial
A Marshman emerges from underwater.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Lalla Ward (Romana) Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) John Leeson (Voice of K-9 Mk. II)
Others Leonard Maguire — Draith James Bree — Nefred Alan Rowe — Garif George Baker — Login Tony Calvin — Dexeter Richard Willis — Varsh June Page — Keara Bernard Padden — Tylos Andrew Forbes — Omril Adrian Gibbs — Rysik Barney Lawrence — Marshman Norman Bacon — Marshchild
Production
Directed by	Peter Grimwade
Written by	Andrew Smith
Script editor	Christopher H. Bidmead
Produced by	John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s)	Barry Letts
Incidental music composer	Paddy Kingsland
Production code	5R
Series	Season 18
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	25 October – 15 November 1980
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Meglos State of Decay

Full Circle

Author	Andrew Smith
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	26
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	16 September 1982
ISBN

Full Circle is the third serial of the 18th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1980. The serial is the first of three loosely connected serials known as the E-Space trilogy and introduces Matthew Waterhouse as the Doctor's newest companion, Adric.

En route to Gallifrey to return Romana to the High Council of Time Lords, the TARDIS passes through a strange phenomenon and ends up in an alternative universe called E-Space. Neither the Doctor nor Romana herself can calculate why the TARDIS scanner shows images of their planet when they have arrived in a verdant forest. It later emerges they have journeyed to this pocket universe through a rare space/time phenomenon known as a Charged Vacuum Emboitment.

Nearby is a small but sustainable civilisation of humanoids who live between a river and a grounded spaceship called the Starliner. They came to the planet, Alzarius, from Terradon and much of the focus of society is on repairing their craft to make it navigable once more. It is an oligarchy ruled by three self-selecting senior colonists known as Deciders, who ensure the smooth running and order of their adopted world and lay particular store on technical ability. One of the brightest of the younger generation of colonists is Adric, who bears a Badge of Mathematical Excellence in recognition of his computational skills. However, his brother Varsh has rejected the regimented society of the Starliner and leads a band of rebels called Outlers, who steal harvested riverfruit and other foods to survive.

All is not well in the colony. Strange eggs have started to appear in the riverfruit, and this is interpreted by First Decider Draith using the System File of the Starliner as an omen of Mistfall, a strange periodic change to the planet during which the natural balance of society is threatened. Soon Mistfall begins, and the colonists move into the Starliner to protect themselves. Adric attempts to steal some riverfruit to prove himself to his brother; Draith gives chase to his young protégé but falls and lands in the river – only to be dragged beneath the waves by a strange force. His last words are aimed at the chief scientists of the colony: "Tell Dexeter we've come full circle!" Adric heads into the forest in panic, finding the TARDIS. The Doctor and Romana take him in and tend to his leg wound, which recovers remarkably quickly. The Doctor heads off to investigate the planet, while Adric attracts Varsh and the other Outlers to the protection of the TARDIS.