The Masque of Mandragora

086 – The Masque of Mandragora
Doctor Who serial
The Brethren of Demnos commune with the Mandragora Helix
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Others Jon Laurimore — Count Federico Gareth Armstrong — Giuliano Tim Pigott-Smith — Marco Norman Jones — Hieronymous Robert James — High Priest Brian Ellis — Brother Antony Carrick — Rossini Pat Gorman — Soldier Jay Neill, Peter Walshe — Pikemen James Appleby, John Clamp — Guards Peter Tuddenham — Voice Peggy Dixon, Jack Edwards, Alistair Fullarton, Michael Reid, Kathy Wolff — Dancers Stuart Fell — Entertainer
Production
Directed by	Rodney Bennett
Written by	Louis Marks
Script editor	Robert Holmes
Produced by	Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	4M
Series	Season 14
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	4–25 September 1976
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Seeds of Doom The Hand of Fear
List of Doctor Who serials

Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora

Author	Philip Hinchcliffe
Cover artist	Mike Little
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	42
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	8 December 1977
ISBN

The Masque of Mandragora is the first serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 4 September to 25 September 1976.

The Fourth Doctor shows Sarah some of the TARDIS interior, and they come across the secondary console room. Activating the viewscreen, the Doctor sees a swirl of living energy in the time vortex — the Mandragora Helix, which starts to draw them in. The intelligence within the Helix psychically attacks them as the Doctor tries to pilot the TARDIS through it. The ship ends up inside the Helix, and the Doctor and Sarah duck behind the TARDIS as a fragment of glowing Helix energy flies by. They escape in the TARDIS, not knowing that the fragment has entered with them.

In 15th century San Martino in Italy, a peasant revolt is violently put down by Count Federico and his men, led by Captain Rossini. In a palace, Federico's brother, the Duke of San Martino, lies dying, attended to by his son Giuliano and Giuliano's companion Marco. The Duke's death had been foretold by Hieronymous, the court astrologer, but Giuliano, a man of science, does not believe in such superstition. In fact, Hieronymous is working for Federico, and the horoscope's prediction of the Duke's death was helped along by poison. Hieronymous tells the Count that he feels his powers are growing, but all Federico wants is for the astrologer to foretell Giuliano's death next, and he will take care of the rest.

The TARDIS materialises in a field near San Martino, and when the Doctor and Sarah exit, the energy fragment flies out of the TARDIS, unseen. Sarah wanders off and is kidnapped by a group of men in hooded robes. The Doctor tries to rescue her but is knocked out, and when he awakes he witnesses the energy fragment fly towards and kill a peasant. Searching for Sarah, the Doctor is confronted by the Count's men and arrested.

At the court, the Doctor tries to tell Federico that the energy fragment could spell the end of the world. The Count at first thinks the Doctor is a seer, like Hieronymous, but when the astrologer quizzes the Doctor, it becomes clear that the Doctor does not believe in any of it. Federico orders the Doctor to be executed as a spy. Meanwhile, Sarah is brought before a priest and told that she is the foretold sacrifice to Demnos, the Roman god of moonlight and solstice. Back at the palace courtyard, the Doctor is led to the executioner.