The Seeds of Doom

085 – The Seeds of Doom
Doctor Who serial
Infected by an alien seed, Winlett is transformed into a Krynoid.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Others Tony Beckley — Harrison Chase Kenneth Gilbert — Richard Dunbar Michael Barrington — Sir Colin Thackeray Sylvia Coleridge — Amelia Ducat John Challis — Scorby Mark Jones — Arnold Keeler/Krynoid Voice Seymour Green — Hargreaves Michael McStay — Derek Moberley Hubert Rees — John Stevenson John Gleeson — Charles Winlett Ian Fairbairn — Doctor Chester John Acheson — Major Beresford Ray Barron — Sergeant Henderson Alan Chuntz — Chauffeur David Masterman — Guard Leader Harry Fielder — Guard
Production
Directed by	Douglas Camfield
Written by	Robert Banks Stewart
Script editor	Robert Holmes
Produced by	Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Geoffrey Burgon
Production code	4L
Series	Season 13
Length	6 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	31 January – 6 March 1976
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Brain of Morbius The Masque of Mandragora
List of Doctor Who serials

Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom

Author	Philip Hinchcliffe
Cover artist	Chris Achilleos
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	55
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	17 February 1977
ISBN

The Seeds of Doom is the sixth and final serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 31 January to 6 March 1976.

In Antarctica, British scientists Charles Winlett and Derek Moberley discover a pod buried in the permafrost and take it back to their camp. John Stevenson, the base botanist, identifies it as vegetable-based and estimates it has been buried in the ice for twenty thousand years.

In London, Richard Dunbar of the World Ecology Bureau shows the Doctor photographs of the pod at the urging of his superior, Sir Colin Thackeray. The Doctor believes it to be extraterrestrial. He tells Dunbar to tell the expedition not to touch it until he arrives.

Back at the base, Stevenson discovers that the pod is growing larger and he believes it is absorbing ultraviolet radiation. In England, Dunbar visits the estate of millionaire Harrison Chase, who considers it his mission to protect the plant life of Mother Earth. Dunbar gives Chase the location of the pod. Chase sends his men, Scorby and Keeler, to retrieve the pod.

At the base, the pod opens and stings Winlett. When Stevenson and Moberley find him, Winlett's face is covered with green hives. The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the base, and find that Winlett's face and body are rapidly becoming covered with green fungus. Outside the base, the Doctor uncovers another pod and notes that they travel in pairs. Winlett's blood is found to contain no blood platelets, but instead has schizophytes – microscopic organisms akin to plant bacteria. The Doctor tells Sarah that Winlett is turning into a Krynoid, a galactic weed that settles on planets and eats the animal life. Scorby and Keeler arrive, claiming that their private plane got lost.