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The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

151 – The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Doctor Who serial
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (Doctor Who), 1988.png
Ace and the Doctor at the Psychic Circus.
Cast
Others
Production
Directed by Alan Wareing
Written by Stephen Wyatt
Script editor Andrew Cartmel
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Executive producer(s) None
Incidental music composer Mark Ayres
Production code 7J
Series Season 25
Length 4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast 14 December 1988–4 January 1989
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
Silver Nemesis Battlefield
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Doctor Who The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.jpg
Author Stephen Wyatt
Cover artist Alister Pearson
Series Doctor Who book:
Target novelisations
Release number
144
Publisher Target Books
Publication date
21 December 1989
ISBN
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Greatest Show in the Galaxy (audio).gif
Soundtrack album by Mark Ayres
Released 1992
Genre Soundtrack
Length 76:21
Label Silva Screen
Mark Ayres chronology
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric
(1991)
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
(1992)
Doctor Who: Ghost Light
(1993)
Doctor Who soundtrack chronology
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric
(1991)
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
(1992)
Doctor Who: Ghost Light
(1993)

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is the fourth and final serial of the 25th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 December 1988 to 4 January 1989.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace respond to an invitation to visit the mysterious Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax, despite Ace’s fear of clowns and reluctance to go. Other travellers have arrived on the wasteland world too – the fannish Whizz Kid; the motorcycling maniac Nord; tiresome bore and intergalactic explorer Captain Cook and his young female companion Mags, whom the Captain curiously refers to as a "unique specimen".

But not all is pleasant at the Circus. The Chief Clown travels around the planet's surface in a hearse with his team of mechanical clowns, using some unusual kites to search for and recapture an errant robot repairman named Bellboy, and his companion, Flower Child, who are trying to escape the circus. While hiding on board a disused hippie bus, Flower Child is killed by something mysterious. It turns out to be a creepy robot conductor, which also attacks the Doctor, Captain, Ace and Mags when they discover the bus. The Doctor disables the killer robot, while Ace finds one of Flower Child’s earrings, and pins it to her jacket as a keepsake. They venture on to the circus tent itself, but Ace hesitates when she hears Mags screaming inside, as she witnesses Bellboy being punished. The Doctor, however, doesn't hear a thing, and persuades her to go in.

Inside, they meet Morgana, the Circus ticket seller and fortune teller, who offers to read the Doctor's fortune, and reveals the Hanged Man Tarot card. The Doctor and Ace both join the audience, noticing that the only other audience members are a small family of three – father, mother, daughter – who observe the central stage with stoic disdain. The Ringmaster soon appears and invites the Doctor to join the entertainment. He agrees and is taken backstage where Nord, the Captain and Mags are also being kept. It appears that audience members are expected to become part of the show. Nord is duped into performing first, and when his act fails to amuse, he is obliterated.

The Chief Clown meanwhile notices the earring pinned to Ace's jacket, and demands to know where she got it. Ace flees deeper into the Circus, and finds Bellboy strapped to a workbench. She hides as the Chief Clown comes in and lets him up to work, then questions him about what is really going on at the Circus. Bellboy sees Flower Child's earring pinned to Ace's jacket, and trusts her, but his memory seems to have been affected by his punishment, and he can only tell her that there used to be more people at the Circus, and then they all disappeared. Ace ventures back to the main entrance, where she sees Morgana and the Ringmaster arguing about the Circus. The Ringmaster does not seem to share Morgana's ethical qualms about the means used to fill the Circus. Their argument is interrupted by the arrival of Whizz Kid, who is ushered into the ring. He too is obliterated when he fails to please the family in the audience.


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