State of Decay

112 – State of Decay
Doctor Who serial
Zargo, Aukon and Camilla, prepare to sacrifice Romana.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Lalla Ward (Romana) Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) John Leeson (Voice of K-9 Mk. II)
Others William Lindsay — Zargo Rachel Davies — Camilla Emrys James — Aukon Clinton Greyn — Ivo Rhoda Lewis — Marta Dean Allen — Karl Thane Bettany — Tarak Iain Rattray — Habris Arthur Hewlett — Kalmar Stacy Davies — Veros Stuart Fell — Roga Stuart Blake — Zoldaz
Production
Directed by	Peter Moffatt
Written by	Terrance Dicks
Script editor	Christopher H. Bidmead
Produced by	John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s)	Barry Letts
Incidental music composer	Paddy Kingsland
Production code	5P
Series	Season 18
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	22 November – 13 December 1980
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Full Circle Warriors' Gate

Doctor Who and the State of Decay

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	58
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	September 1981 (Hardback) 14 January 1982 (Paperback)
ISBN

State of Decay is the fourth serial of the 18th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1980. The serial was the second of three loosely connected serials known as the E-Space trilogy. Adric becomes a companion to the Fourth Doctor in this story having stowed away in the TARDIS at the end of the previous serial, Full Circle.

After the events of Full Circle, the Doctor, Romana, K-9, and their newest companion/stowaway, Adric, arrive on a planet with a feudal society. The villagers live under the thrall of three lords—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon—who dwell in a shadowy Tower, and experience a yearly ritual called "the Selection," in which a sample of young villagers are taken to the tower, never to be seen again. This selection process is enforced by a thuggish band of guards led by Habris.

The Doctor and Romana discover evidence of technology considerably more advanced than the mediaeval level of development of the planet, and wonder what happened to cause the planet to devolve to its current rustic condition—to be in a "state of decay." Romana suggests that there is a powerful force holding the inhabitants back. As the two head out of the village they are seized by cloaked figures. Meanwhile, Adric comes to the village and is caught by the owners of the feeding house. Adric is discovered and captured by Lord Aukon, who sees him as an alien and worthy of becoming one of the 'chosen ones'.

The cloaked figures, members of a resistance movement, convey the Doctor and Romana to a secret base filled with forbidden technology. Kalmar is a scientist—a heretical role in their society—and is very grateful for the Doctor's help in repairing a computer which proceeds to reveal the names and faces of the original chief officers of the spaceship Hydrax—who look exactly like the Lords of the Tower.