The third season of Doctor Who: Adventures was initially commissioned for a run of twenty episodes, unlike the previous two’s ten episode run, however, Mal Young decided to split the series, broadcast wise into two “official” series, making the original twenty episodes, Series 3 and Series 4. Despite this, both series were produced as one by the production team, with the production codes for Series 4 even continuing from ‘311’ to ‘320’.
Creatively, Phil Ford was keen, now the show was established, to experiment with the show. He partnered with executives at BBC Bitesize to use the show as a platform to cover elements of history and science which was on the school curriculum, so that the show could even be used as a teaching resource in the classroom. This saw the first move away Ford’s initial rules for the series, with the decision being made to begin producing a few pure historicals, for the purpose. In addition, Ford also partnered with the National Autistic Society, the leading charity for autism, to produce a very special episode of the series, which would talk about autism, in an effort to help children with the condition feel more seen and to help other children understand the condition more. The executives at CBBC were very keen for the show to use its platform to explore stories such as these, which effort childrens’ lives.
While the first two series had stuck to the same core group of writers, Ford opened the doors for the third and fourth series to a wider pool for writers, many of whom had never written for Doctor Who before.
Most of the team who worked on the first two series remained onboard, with little changes occurring. On screen, the same look and feel remained for the programme.
THE INVADERS
Series 3, Episode 1
Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Barry J. Kelly
TX Date – 17 January 2022
The first story of the season, saw, like the first season, a big launch for the show. The episode was set back in 1978 Earth, and featuring Sergeant Benton and UNIT, as well as the Master (played by Murray Melvin).
The episode saw a new race of aliens, called the Revoc, team with the Master to launch and invasion of Earth. The Revoc’s concept is where the story moved into more creative territory, as we find out that the Revoc are, what could be considered, cousins of humanity, as they claim they originate from the same common ancestor, who by some extraterrestrial force were removed from Earth, millions of years ago, and evolved on another world. Now, like humanity on earth, their population has reached breaking point, they want to expand back onto their original planet… However, they only reason they learnt of their true history and Earth’s existence was because the Master went to their planet and told them all.
The invasion begins, UNIT fight the Revoc off. The Doctor, Erin and Kyle deal with the Master – they all manage to save the day, and they fly off to more adventures in the TARDIS… except, in the final scene, the Doctor poses the question to Erin and Kyle: “Who moved the Revoc from Earth in the first place?” And the episode ends there…
PATRIOT
Series 3, Episode 2
Written by Ash Darby
Directed by Ken Bentley
TX Date – 24 January 2022
Patriot was the first of Doctor Who: Adventures’ newly found pure historicals, made in consolation with BBC Bitesize. This episode focused upon the arrest of British first world war nurse, Edith Cavell, who had given pioneering help to both sides throughout the first year of the war, and was eventually executed by the Germans in October 1915. The episode sees the Doctor, Erin and Kyle come into the story at the beginning of August, just a couple of days before Edith’s arrest. It begins by showing who Edith is and her actions, and as the story evolves, Edith is betrayed and arrested. The Doctor and her companions get involved in all of this, as Erin tries especially hard to plead for mercy from the courts which doesn’t work in the end.
Throughout, the usual Doctor Who “you can’t change history” mantra runs through, but even the Doctor is tempted here, as we see the trio, for a time, during the period between Edith’s arrest and execution, working with the allies in order to try and ensure Edith’s freedom. This doesn’t work in the end, and we focus in on Edith, just before she was shot as she speaks her famous last words: “Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” We then cut to the Doctor, Erin and Kyle four years later at Edith’s burial in the UK, as they mourn a hero.
WONDERLAND
Series 3, Episode 3
Written by Alan Barnes
Directed by Helen Goldwyn
TX Date – 31 January 2022
Adventures fall quickly back into standard Doctor Who fare for the third episode of the season, as the good old story, of the Doctor and companions landing on a planet where everything is perfect and they are treated as distinguished guests, is rolled out again – but something evil is brewing underneath…
The first half plays out very much as a cross between episodes like The Velvet Web, The Macra Terror or even Adventures’ very own Orphan 55 from Series 1. The three travellers are welcomed into the care of the planet, Gressus, but the Doctor is suspicious of something weird happening, because of, well, past experience. Anyway, she goes to explore and uncover whatever it is happening this time, but Kyle disagrees with her and thinks that they should give the Gressusians the benefit of the doubt. An argument ensues and Kyle goes off on his own to try and prove the Doctor and Erin wrong.
We don’t see Kyle for a while after this. However, we do spend time with the Doctor and Erin investigating and noticing a lot of strange behaviour going on, coming to the conclusion that the Gressusians seem to be serving some sort of extraterrestrial force, which may have imprisoned them. The Doctor even suggests it could be the same force who were behind the situation with the Revoc. The two of them break into the central headquarters on the planet, and in a creepy lab at the bottom of the building, they find Kyle hooked up into some machine. They quickly get Kyle out, but Kyle protests telling them that they’ve really got the Gressusians wrong, and that they should hook themselves into the machine. The Doctor and Erin try to tell Kyle he’s been brainwashed and refuse to do so. So, Kyle explains to them that the Gressusians are a race of therapists, who take in those who come for help, and then use virtual reality technology to confront others with their demons. Kyle says that the Gressusians thought they knew and that’s what they came for. The Doctor looks a bit dumfounded and says “We are their patients? I mistook their generosity for malice.”
Just then, a Gressusian appears from behind the Doctor, and says that it sounds like she has a lot of demons to confront, and asks whether she’d like to step into an alcove and use the machine. The Doctor is uncertain, but decides to do so.
What follows is a 5-minute sequence, which moves into a completely different style of CG animation, but with the Doctor’s 2D look remaining, where the Doctor falls into the virtual reality. In front of her appears a trippy sequence, showing abstract representations of traumatic events in the Doctor’s past. It begins by showing a representation of Cerrel’s death from Doctor Who: Genesis, and then moving (as his face dissolves into a howlaround effect) into Katarina’s death from The Traitors, Sara Kingdom’s death from Destruction of Time, Adric’s death from Earthshock, Peri’s death from Mindwarp, Katie’s death from Transit, Henrick’s death from The Prisoner of Time, Bernice’s from Hatred of the Daleks, Lou’s from The Time of the Daleks, Sandra’s from Doctor Who: The Movie, Lizzie’s from Mad World, Chris’ from Doctor Who: Endgame and Zenla’s from Remnants. Throughout all of this, sound clips from monsters and villains play and they haunt the Doctor again and again… then the Master (Murray Melvin) appears laughing, telling the Doctor there’s more to come. The Doctor looks horrified and scared, as a glimpse (only for a second) of Pete, Sally…. and Sara Kingdom (again?) appears. The Doctor then falls through the howlaround as she begins to cry, and 3D monsters begin to close in on her, as the Master keeps laughing… and then she is pulled out of it. The Gressusian says the Doctor must face her guilt before she can move past it… not just forget it. The Doctor grabs Erin and Kyle and says they are going.
Later in the TARDIS, the Doctor stands by the console, and Kyle comes up behind her. He tells the Doctor it’s okay, and she should talk about it. The Doctor reluctantly nods, and the Doctor and Kyle sit down and begin talking. We cut to a shot of the TARDIS flying slowly through the vortex, and fade out, as the episode ends.
The episode could be seen as a turning point in the show, where it decides to move into a more complex and, for want of a better word, darker style of storytelling. It was also originally intended to be the penultimate episode of Series 4, but it was moved here by Kate Krenz, as she felt it’d be better suited here, and give the series a bit more momentum. The reference to Sara Kingdom dying again, was added after this decision was made, to tease the upcoming main series.
THE GREAT EXPERIMENT
Series 3, Episode 4
Written by Sarah Dollard
Directed by Barry J. Kelly
TX Date – 7 February 2022
We return to 1978 for the fourth episode, once again to visit Danielle and Roger. However, when the trio get to their front door, they realise that Danielle and Roger aren’t there, and the car’s gone. Erin jokes that they’ve probably gone on holiday, and that they should pop in the TARDIS and come back a week later. They do this, but they come back to the same sight. They then return a month later, and the same thing is there. Turning around, on a lamppost, Erin spots a poster showing, not just, Danielle and Roger as “missing” but Erin too.
As the trio walk down the street, they get extremely funny looks, as everyone sees Erin. They make their way to Kyle’s house, whereby we meet Kyle’s dad, Ray Harrison, again. He is surprised to see Kyle, remarking that he hadn’t seen him since the wedding. He also says that Erin’s supposed to be dead, alongside her parents. They try and get information off Ray about Danielle and Roger’s disappearance, but all he knows is that about 6 weeks ago, they just vanished, and that the police think they drove off… never to return.
The Doctor, despite Erin clearly being distressed, claps her hands together and she says they better get to work finding them. They enter the TARDIS and the Doctor plugs Erin in as she says she’ll track Erin’s genetic signature. They end up finding Danielle and Roger, plugged into a complex 1970s vintage looking machine in a warehouse. It’s not long before they get answers as a very stereotypical mad scientist appears, Dr. van Striten, who says that everyone in this room is part of his great experiment.
The typical plot ensures with the Doctor and her companions being captured, forced to become part of it and then break out, and close down the whole experiment. Dr. van Striten’s plan itself is to use the mental power of hundreds of everyday people to make one single person, himself (who else?) into a super person. Obviously, this is all defeated with ease, and Benton cameos arrested van Striten at the end.
MATCHSTALK MEN
Series 3, Episode 5
Written by Tim Foley
Directed by Ken Bentley
TX Date – 14 February 2022
This episode sees the TARDIS find itself back in time, as the Doctor, Erin and Kyle arrive in 1930s Salford, where they meet legendary painter, L.S. Lowry.
They initially arrive outside one of the factories, where the Doctor even remarks it looks like something out of a Lowry painting, before Erin jokingly sings a bit of Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs, a pop song from her time about Lowry. However, as they look around the factory, the Doctor soon notices somethings up as she sees the factory workers looking as those their devoid of life… little more than machines. They try to talk to one of the workers, but he doesn’t even acknowledge their existence. At the end of this scene, to the Doctor’s shock and delight, they bump into Lowry himself, outside the factory gates. The Doctor briefly gives some context to how amazing Lowry is, to which Lowry acts very humble… Erin interjects however, telling Lowry there’s something wrong with the factory workers. However, Lowry simply replies with “I know”.
Basically, the Yarra are back, and they are inhabiting the life force of the factory workers, which in turn takes away the life and character that Lowry used as inspiration for his pictures. The Doctor and the team manage to banish the Yarra from the bodies, and make sure that Lowry’s paintings remain with the true insight into industrial life as history dictates. In addition, Lowry joins the Doctor, Erin and Kyle, on this adventure, as he wants his muse to come back, as much as the Doctor wants history on course.
THE LAYER BEFORE
Series 3, Episode 6
Written by Ed Hime
Directed by Helen Goodwyn
TX Date – 21 February 2022
This episode takes us to an unknown alien planet in the far future. It’s a ravaged world, almost inhospitable, but that’s where the TARDIS lands, however, the TARDIS vanishes and strands the Doctor, Erin and Kyle there. They walk around to explore, but find little, until they stumble upon a huge spaceship, next to a cordoned off site, with hundreds of aliens all around. They soon find out that they’re trespassing on an archaeological dig, but things become more complicated when the archaeologists dig up a toaster… and Erin and Kyle recognise it. The archaeologists have no idea what it is and Erin explains to them. The Doctor tells her to keep quiet but it’s no good. The Doctor has to explain to the archaeologists that their time travellers and recognise a similar technology from the past of another planet… however, on closer inspection the Doctor sees a “Made in China” inscription on the toaster. She remains silent for a moment, and keeps it to herself. As the day goes on the archaeologists dig up a laptop and an iron…
Erin and Kyle speak to the Doctor, asking about it and the Doctor admits that she thinks this is Earth, or Orphan 55 or Ravalox, as it comes to be known in its future. Erin asks whether they should be worried about Dregs, but the Doctor says that she doesn’t think they’re in that particular time period yet, or in Russia. She mentions that they’re probably in England, somewhere. The three discuss what to do, and the Doctor says the priority is just finding the TARDIS and leaving the archaeologists to it. However, just as the Doctor says that, the archaeologists dig up… a Police Box. The TARDIS.
What ensues is a big battle for the Doctor to get custody of the TARDIS really, with the lead archaeologist which ends up turning nasty, as the archaeologists manage to grow spikes out their head and basically turn into stereotypical monsters and attack the TARDIS crew. They use some of the household Earth objects to fight off the archaeologists, which they eventually win before managing to get inside the TARDIS and dematerialise it.
HEART AND MIND
Series 3, Episode 7
Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
TX Date – 28 February 2022
We begin by seeing Earth as normal, a busy city, everything buzzing around and then suddenly… about 2/3rds of people vanish. And then we cut to some other cities, around the globe, and again the same thing.
After the titles, the TARDIS lands on Earth to find a notably more empty 21st Century London. They do some investigating and ask around. We meet a 15-year old boy called Josh, who says that about a month ago, 76.2% of the planet, indiscriminately, just vanished. The Doctor tries to piece together why this happened, and kind of gets nowhere. They explore the world a month after and we see that governments are now being led by their only surviving ministers, and much the same with the big companies. The world is a lot smaller suddenly, with some even proclaiming this to be an eschatological event predicted within religion.
However, more answers seem to appear when a group of aliens teleport down to the planet. They go up to the Doctor, Erin, Kyle and Josh and speak to Josh… but we hear nothing. Kyle asks if he’s the only one but Erin says she can’t hear anything either. However, Josh can and repeats what the alien is saying to him “something about unwanted elements”. We then cross into Josh’s POV and we hear the alien speaking, telling Josh that the people are trespassers and not welcome on the planet. The Doctor has remained steadily silent throughout this, not speaking… but we soon cotton onto the fact that she can hear what the alien is saying too. Erin and Kyle are then zapped away by the alien, before the alien leaves. The Doctor, left only with Josh, discusses what happened, with neither of them understanding why 23.8% of the planet remained, including her, while the rest, along with now, Erin and Kyle, have gone.
Josh introduces the Doctor to some of his friends and they all try to work out what is so special about the 23.8%. They brainstorm together and figure out that it’s about the amount of neurodiverse people on Earth, however, one of Josh’s friends points out that he himself isn’t autistic, but the Doctor tries to clarify that neurodiversity doesn’t just been autism and that it’s a wide spectrum of diversity. What the Doctor tries to figure out is why the aliens have taken everyone but the neurodiverse population.
The Doctor calls a meeting with the aliens and she asks them why they’ve done this, and they say that they are “the silenced” and they weren’t given a voice by their own species and they came to Earth to give their “silenced” a voice. The Doctor tries to explain that they need to return the rest of Earth’s population, or she’ll be forced to “call in backup”. The Silenced try to calm the Doctor, saying what they are doing is purely kind, getting rid of the ignorant. However, they are interrupted by Josh and his mates, who say that while neurotypical people can be ignorant and can leave them without a voice, this is as much of an ignorant generalisation as their attacking. The Silenced try to explain their point of view, but Josh and his mates just close their eyes and shut their mouths and think. An energy comes out of their heads which hits back at the Silenced. The Doctor sees this and moves to the front of the group, joining them. Eventually, the Silenced are repelled and leave Earth. And then… everyone pops back into existence and Earth becomes full again. Erin and Kyle reappear and the Doctor gives them a big hug.
Later, in the TARDIS, after the Doctor has explained everything to Erin and Kyle, Kyle says that she was left because she’s an alien and not human. The Doctor remains silent and then catches herself and says simply “I don’t think so”. Erin and Kyle shyly smile and hug the Doctor.
THE PRINTER
Series 3, Episode 8
Written by Toni Graphia
Directed by Ken Bentley
TX Date – 7 March 2022
This episode sees the TARDIS arrive in 1476 London whereby the Doctor is manipulated into buying a copy of The Canterbury Tales by a market trader. This leads the Doctor on a tangent about Chaucer and some story about meeting him and inspiring one of his works, which both Erin and Kyle slyly roll their eyes at, however, while looking through the book, the Doctor notices something wrong. She sees an almost organic flicker in the typeface.
This leads the Doctor into investigation mode, and she takes a visit to the publisher of the book and comes face to face with… William Caxton. The Doctor instantly recognises him, which worries her extremely. She monologues to everyone about how William Caxton was the man who brought the printing press to England, and that her copy of the Canterbury Tales must be one of the first copies ever printed… which is why, she says, what she saw was all the more troubling.
Caxton is initially very confused by the Doctor’s manner, but when the Doctor explains to him in simpler terms that she thinks there is a hostile force using his printer, Caxton finds it in his moral duty to help.
The Doctor takes everyone back to the TARDIS, where we get the usual scene of Caxton being amazed by it, and the Doctor analyses the book. It comes back as completely fine however, but as they are about to leave, the TARDIS picks up something else… a trace of a single tachyon. This confirms the Doctor’s worse suspicion, and then turns to Erin. She lays out all the evidence to Erin, and then says that tachyons are usually present when crossing from one dimensional plane to another, asking her to tell everyone what she thinks is going on. Suddenly Erin goes… “ohhhh” and then Kyle interjects saying “It’s the Boneless”. Erin laughs at gently hits him, annoyed that Kyle interrupted. Caxton tells the two it’s no laughing matter and that they must solve the quandary as a matter of importance.
We then get a bit of a runaround as the Boneless begin to break out of the book, and several others of Caxton’s works, before the Doctor manages to lure them back into the printer and with a bit of technobabble banish them back into their dimension. She then adjusts the molecular framework of Caxton’s printer to prevent the Boneless breaking through again. Caxton thanks the Doctor and says he is indebted to her. The Doctor just advises Caxton, with a chuckle, to check his work before publishing, saying it may cause a couple of misunderstandings…
The trio go into the TARDIS and it departs, shocking Caxton once again, as the end credits roll.
THE MARAUDERS
Series 3, Episode 9
Written by Sasha Hails
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
TX Date – 14 March 2022
This episode is pretty standard fare, far more than most of the series. We find the Doctor, Erin and Kyle upon a derelict spaceship, and there’s a group of Marauders stripping it for parts. Initially, the Doctor, Erin and Kyle are against them and try stop it, especially when the Doctor learns they want the parts for (undisclosed) illegal reasons.
However, some time into this, a Temorturian is found within the engine of the ship… doing its own marauding, and then the TARDIS team and the Marauders join forces to defeat it.
It’s a very simple episode.
ENEMIES OF EARTH
Series 3, Episode 10
Written by Lou Morgan
Directed by Barry J. Kelly
TX Date – 21 March 2022
The episode begins with a pre-titles sequence where we see several spaceships (though only in silhouette) coming into a planet’s atmosphere. These ships suddenly stop moving and a beam of light emerges from them. Then we cut to a card which says “Millions of years later” and we see the TARDIS land in 2022 London, amongst the hustle and bustle of modern life.
The actual story sees the Doctor, Erin and Kyle exploring 2022, with a quick joke about social distancing thrown in (and the franchise’s first explicit reference to the pandemic). What then ensues, is that the Doctor has sudden moment of disconnect as it seems something is trying to telepathically link with her. She goes back to the TARDIS, confused, leaving Erin and Kyle behind and then follows the telepathic trail in the TARDIS.
The Doctor soon arrives on a rather Earth like, but Earth in several thousands of years, planet. It, however, is half utopian and half deeply dystopian, massively overcrowded, to the point it begins to, very easily, overwhelm the Doctor. Everything person there is very clearly… a Revoc.
The Doctor finds herself arriving at a scientific laboratory where she finds one of the Revoc she met in Episode 1, Sar-Dur. He tells the Doctor that he summoned her there because he found a very interesting piece of evidence… the Doctor instantly, gains focus, and looks at it, a small piece of rock, and becomes very worried.
The Doctor and Sar-Dur go back to the TARDIS, and they place the rock in the console, as the TARDIS begins to follow it’s trace. The Doctor asks Sar-Dur if he’s familiar with the substance, and Sar-Dur says he isn’t, but he knows that it’s from the race that moved them across the cosmos. The Doctor says that she does know the substance and she “wishes she hadn’t”.
The TARDIS arrives on an asteroid, and the Doctor and Sar-Dur exit, looking out… onto a giant fleet of spaceships… Dalek Spaceships. The Doctor says that they have the answer now, before a Dalek corners them on the asteroid and captures them as it’s prisoner.
Inside the Dalek control room, the Doctor and Sar-Dur enter, to meet the Supreme Dalek. Sar-Dur questions the Supreme Dalek on why they moved the Revoc, but it doesn’t answer to him and only to the Doctor. The Doctor asks the same thing, to which the Supreme Dalek says “to remove the impurities”. The Doctor doesn’t understand this but she doesn’t have time to, as she suddenly arrives back in the TARDIS, without Sur-Dur, and with Erin and Kyle next to her. The Doctor tells them everything, and they all think what happened was very odd.
The Doctor, Erin and Kyle then tentatively set the TARDIS into flight as the Doctor looks very worried indeed.
The episode finally ends with the Supreme Dalek saying “The plan is working”.
WIDWWA 