Inferno (Doctor Who)

054 – Inferno
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor, the Brigadier and Liz confront Professor Stahlman.
Cast
Doctor Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor)
Companion Caroline John (Liz Shaw)
Others Nicholas Courtney — Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart/Brigade-Leader Lethbridge-Stewart John Levene — Sergeant Benton/Platoon Under-Leader Benton, Primord Benton Olaf Pooley — Professor Stahlman/Director Stahlman Christopher Benjamin — Sir Keith Gold Sheila Dunn — Petra Williams/Dr. Petra Williams Derek Newark — Greg Sutton Ian Fairbairn — Bromley Walter Randall — Harry Slocum Derek Ware — Private Wyatt David Simeon — Private Latimer Roy Scammell — RSF Sentry Keith James — Patterson Dave Carter, Pat Gorman, Walter Henry, Philip Ryan, Peter Thompson — Primords
Production
Directed by	Douglas Camfield Barry Letts (episodes 3-7, uncredited)
Written by	Don Houghton
Script editor	Terrance Dicks
Produced by	Barry Letts
Incidental music composer
Production code	DDD
Series	Season 7
Length	7 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	9 May 1970
Date ended	20 June 1970
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Ambassadors of Death Terror of the Autons

Inferno

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Nick Spender
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	89
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	18 October 1984
ISBN

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 from 9 May to 20 June 1970. The serial remains the last time a Doctor Who story was transmitted in seven episodes. This serial was also the last regular appearance of Caroline John in the role of Liz Shaw.

"The Inferno" is the nickname given to a drilling project financed by the British government, at Eastchester in England, which is intended to penetrate the Earth's crust in order to tap pockets of Stahlman's Gas: a new energy source discovered by Professor Stahlman, the originator of the project, which he believes will provide boundless amounts of cheap energy. Stahlman is ill-tempered, and obsessive about any interference with his work. Sir Keith Gold, the project director, is concerned about this and tells Petra Williams, Stahlman's assistant, that he is calling in an oil drilling expert, Greg Sutton, to consult on safety issues. UNIT is overseeing security at the project. The Third Doctor is also present, using surplus power from the project's nuclear reactor in experiments on the TARDIS console, hoping to reactivate it and end the exile on Earth imposed on him by the Time Lords (in The War Games the previous year).

Harry Slocum, a maintenance engineer, encounters a toxic green slime seeping out of the drilling pipe, which mutates him into a subhuman primordial creature (termed a Primord), and kills several technicians and a soldier. This green substance also injures Stahlman's hand. Meanwhile, whilst operating the TARDIS console, the Doctor vanishes before the eyes of the Brigadier and Liz. He arrives in a parallel world, in which Great Britain is a Republic under a Fascist regime, the British Royal Family having been executed during the Second World War. The Inferno project also exists there, although progress on it is several hours more advanced. The project is run as a scientific labour camp, under the auspices of Director Stahlmann, Professor Stahlman's counterpart. The Doctor, captured and under interrogation by the Republican Security Force, encounters alternative versions of his friends - "Brigade Leader" Lethbridge-Stewart, "Section Leader" Elizabeth Shaw, and "Platoon Under Leader" Benton. In this universe, Sir Keith Gold has recently died in a car accident. The Doctor tries to convince his friends' counterparts that he is from another universe, but they believe he is a spy, trying to feign insanity. The Doctor escapes his cell and tries to stop the drilling, but is discovered.