Pyramids of Mars

082 – Pyramids of Mars
Doctor Who serial
"Kneel before the might of Sutekh!"
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Others Gabriel Woolf — Sutekh Bernard Archard — Marcus Scarman Michael Sheard — Laurence Scarman Peter Copley — Dr Warlock Michael Bilton — Collins George Tovey — Ernie Clements Peter Mayock — Namin Vic Tablian — Ahmed Nick Burnell, Melvyn Bedford, Kevin Selway — Mummies
Production
Directed by	Paddy Russell
Written by	"Stephen Harris" (Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer)
Script editor	Robert Holmes
Produced by	Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	4G
Series	Season 13
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	25 October – 15 November 1975
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Planet of Evil The Android Invasion

Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Chris Achilleos
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	50
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	16 December 1976
ISBN

Pyramids of Mars is the third serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975. Inspired by Gothic horror films, the story features an extraterrestrial antagonist, Sutekh the Destroyer, who was said to have influenced ancient Egyptian mythology. The serial is noted for the performance of Gabriel Woolf as the voice of Sutekh, an actor who returned to Doctor Who in a similar role in 2006.

In Egypt in 1911, Marcus Scarman excavates a pyramid and finds the door to the burial chamber is inscribed with the Eye of Horus. Scarman's Egyptian assistants panic and flee, leaving the Professor to enter the chamber alone. As he holds a light up to see the tomb, he is blasted by a green ray.

The TARDIS is forced out of its flight path as Sarah sees an apparition of a jackal-like face in the console room. The Doctor lands the TARDIS in the Scarman family home in England, which is filled with Egyptian artefacts. Discovered by the butler, they are told that the house has been taken over by a mysterious Egyptian by the name of Ibrahim Namin. In another part of the priory, Namin is confronted by Dr. Warlock, a friend of Professor Scarman. Namin sends a robot disguised to look like an Egyptian mummy after them. The three make their way to a hunting lodge used by Laurence Scarman, Professor Scarman's brother. Laurence is an amateur scientist whose marconiscope has intercepted a signal from Mars. The Doctor decodes the signal as "Beware Sutekh". Sarah recognises the name of Sutekh as an alternative name of the god Set in ancient Egyptian mythology. The Doctor explains that Sutekh is in fact the last of a powerful alien race called the Osirians. He was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus, and was finally defeated on Earth.