The Stones of Blood

100 – The Stones of Blood
Doctor Who serial
The Doctor and Romana look for a segment of the Key to Time in a Stone circle
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Mary Tamm (Romana) John Leeson (Voice of K-9 Mk. II)
Others Beatrix Lehmann — Professor Rumford Susan Engel — Vivien Fay Nicholas McArdle — De Vries Elaine Ives-Cameron — Martha James Murray, Shirin Taylor — Campers David McAlister, Gerald Cross — Megara Voices
Production
Directed by	Darrol Blake
Written by	David Fisher
Script editor	Anthony Read
Produced by	Graham Williams
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5C
Series	Season 16
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	28 October – 18 November 1978
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Pirate Planet The Androids of Tara
List of Doctor Who serials

Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	59
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	20 March 1980
ISBN

The Stones of Blood is the third serial of the 16th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 October to 18 November 1978. Part 4 was broadcast during the week of the show's fifteenth anniversary. It forms part of the Key to Time story arc.

The Doctor and Romana are about to embark in search of the third segment of the Key to Time when an aural warning tells them to "Beware the Black Guardian." They venture outside to find themselves near the Nine Travellers, a group of standing stones in Boscombe Moor, Cornwall. Also interested in the location is aged archaeologist, Professor Emilia Rumford, who is surveying the stones along with her friend, Vivien Fay.

Alerted to the activities of a local druidic sect, the Doctor heads off to meet its implied leader, de Vries, who lives in a large property nearby, Boscombe Hall, built on the site of the Convent of the Sisters of St Gudula. Inside, de Vries and another woman, Martha, are incanting to the Cailleach, the Druidic goddess of war and magic. The Doctor interrupts and de Vries knocks him out, aiming to sacrifice him to the Cailleach, but are disturbed by Professor Rumford, who helps the Doctor get free.

At the same time Romana is wandering by the cliff edge when an apparition of the Doctor confronts her and she nearly falls over the edge. When the real Doctor saves her she is somewhat confused, but the newly arrived K-9 assures her that it is indeed the Doctor – and he is convinced of the existence of a projected doppelganger. He determines that de Vries can answer some questions, and sets off for Boscombe Hall. On arrival he finds de Vries and Martha crushed to death and the place under attack by a pair of mobile giant stones like those from the Moor. The Doctor and K-9 repel the attack, though the robot is badly damaged and needs repair work in the TARDIS. The Doctor works out that the stones are aliens, dependent on globulin and needing blood to survive. Hiding in the cellar, the Doctor and Emilia discover portraits of three of the previous owners of the Hall - all of whom share the face of Vivien Fay.