The King's Demons
| 128 – The King's Demons | |||||
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| Doctor Who serial | |||||
The Doctor and Kamelion
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| Cast | |||||
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Others
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | Tony Virgo | ||||
| Written by | Terence Dudley | ||||
| Script editor | Eric Saward | ||||
| Produced by | John Nathan-Turner | ||||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||||
| Incidental music composer | Jonathan Gibbs | ||||
| Production code | 6J | ||||
| Series | Season 20 | ||||
| Length | 2 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||||
| Originally broadcast | 15 March–16 March 1983 | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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| Author | Terence Dudley |
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| Cover artist | David McAllister |
| Series |
Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
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Release number
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108 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
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Publication date
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February 1986 (Hardback) 10 July 1986 (Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
The King's Demons is the sixth and final serial of the 20th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in two daily parts on 15–16 March 1983. This serial introduced Kamelion, voiced by Gerald Flood, as a companion.
In 1215, the Court of King John of England is at the castle of Sir Ranulf Fitzwilliam to extort more taxes, and when the lord refuses to pay the King insults him. To defend his honour his son Hugh takes on the King’s champion, Sir Gilles Estram, in a joust. The latter wins easily, though the joust is disturbed by the arrival of the TARDIS. The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough are greeted as demons and welcomed by the King.
Having established the date, the Doctor concludes the King is not himself - in fact, he is not the King at all, as he is actually in London taking the Crusader’s Oath. Sir Geoffrey de Lacy, the cousin of Sir Ranulf, arrives at the castle and confirms he knows the King is in London. Sir Gilles is about to torture him as a liar during a royal banquet when the Doctor intervenes. It seems the King's champion is not who he claims to be, either: Sir Gilles sheds his disguise and reveals himself to be the Doctor’s nemesis, the Master. He flees in his own TARDIS, which had been disguised as an iron maiden.
The King knights the Doctor as his new champion, and he is given run of the castle. After a series of mishaps, including the death of Sir Geoffrey at the Master’s hands, the Doctor confronts the King and the Master and discovers the truth. The monarch is really Kamelion, a war weapon found by the Master on Xeriphas, which can be mentally controlled and used to adopt disguises and personas. Disguised as King John, the Master intends that Kamelion will behave so appallingly so as to provoke a rebellion and topple the real King from his throne, thus robbing the world of Magna Carta, the foundation of parliamentary democracy. It is a small plan on the Master’s usual scale, but nevertheless particularly poisonous to the normal progress of Earth society.
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Wikipedia