THE TENTH PLANET

This page looks at the William Hartnell story, "The Tenth Planet".

The Doctor regenerates. Original photo © BBC

The Story The TARDIS materialises at the South Pole, next to a Space Tracking station. The scientists there are having problems bringing back a space capsule from orbit. Another planet has arrived in the Solar System and is heading for Earth. The base is invaded by Cybermen from the new planet, Mondas. They want to drain the energy from Earth for Mondas. Ben manages to defeat the Cybermen with radiation but the Doctor collapses in the TARDIS and begins to change.......

The Production This was William Hartnell's last story and the first to feature the Cybermen. At the end of the story, the Doctor regenerates for the first time and becomes Patrick Troughton.

Availability Episode four of this story is missing. The story, with a reconstructed episode four, was released on BBC Video, BBCV 6874.