The Doctor finally lands the TARDIS at Heathrow – in the 1600s, long before air travel – and immediately becomes the object of hostility from the locals, who fear for their lives since a falling star heralded the coming of a new and virulent plague. They befriend a rogue named Richard Mace, who is helpful as a guide, but is almost useless as a protector when they find an android lurking in an abandoned house. Tegan is stunned and Adric is taken prisoner, while the Doctor, Nyssa and Mace escape. Tegan and Adric are interrogated by a hideously wounded Terrileptil creature, the master of the android, and self-declared destroyer of mankind.
written by Eric Saward
directed by Peter Moffatt
music by Paddy KingslandGuest Cast: Michael Robbins (Richard Mace), Michael Melia, David Summer, Michael Leader (Terileptils), Peter Van Dissel (Android), James Charlton (Miller), John Savident (Squire John), Anthony Calf (Charles), John Baker (Ralph), Valerie Fyfer (Elizabeth), Richard Hampton (Villager), Neil West (Poacher), Eric Dodson (Headman), Jeff Wayne (Scytheman)
Broadcast from February 15 through 23, 1982
LogBook entry & review by Earl Green
Review: Lodged in between Kinda and Earthshock, two vastly superior stories, The Visitation – future script editor Eric Saward’s first contribution to Doctor Who – comes across as average at best. Peter Davison grows ever more assured in the lead role, and spends much of this four-parter with Michael Robbins as the lovable rogue Richard Mace (though, truth be told, Mace isn’t that lovable). The Doctor does, however, suffer from the script, which shows him leaving two of his companions to fend for themselves against a deadly alien menace – an action very unlike the Doctor in any of his regenerations.
The Visitation is a simple story with a fair amount of action, but it’s a story that would’ve been much better if told in two or three episodes as opposed to meandering through four half-hours.