Mawdryn Undead

Did You Know?

• David Collings, who played Mawdryn, later played an alternative Doctor in Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who Unbound audio play, Full Fathom Five.
• The serial introduced the UNIT dating continuity error, as noted by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker in The Television Companion.

Plot

In 1983, an alien named Vislor Turlough, who is disguised as a human student and stranded on Earth, receives a deal from the Black Guardian: safe passage away from Earth in exchange for murdering the Fifth Doctor. Around the same time, the Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa discover their TARDIS is caught in a warp ellipse created by a starliner trapped in a time loop. On the starliner, they find a transmat device linking to Earth in both 1977 and 1983, which is causing the problem. Turlough appears from the 1983 transmat, pretending not to understand what is happening. The Doctor sends Nyssa and Tegan to wait in the TARDIS while he and Turlough go back to 1983 to repair that transmat point, hoping this will let the TARDIS escape. Instead, the TARDIS lands in 1977 at Turlough’s school. There, the Doctor meets his old UNIT colleague Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, now a maths teacher, who has lost all memory of recent years due to past trauma and does not recognize the Doctor. As the Doctor talks about Tegan and his earlier companions, the Brigadier slowly starts to recall things. In 1977, Nyssa and Tegan exit the TARDIS and encounter a badly disfigured man in the transmat capsule who says he is the Doctor, mid-regeneration. They get help from the younger Brigadier, and the supposed Doctor insists they all go back to the starliner using the TARDIS. In 1983, the Doctor senses the TARDIS moving, so he, Turlough, and the older Brigadier return to the starliner via the transmat. Once reunited with his companions, the Doctor realizes there are two versions of the Brigadier on board. He warns everyone to keep them apart, because if they touch, the Blinovitch limitation effect could trigger a dangerous energy release.

Production

Mawdryn Undead replaced an earlier script, The Song of the Space Whale, by Pat Mills, which fell through when Mills and script editor Eric Saward could not agree on certain elements. Peter Grimwade quickly produced Mawdryn Undead to fill the gap. The Song of the Space Whale was later renamed The Song of Megaptera and made into an audio drama by Big Finish Productions for their Doctor Who The Lost Stories range. The production team originally intended for Ian Chesterton, a regular from the series' first two seasons, to return; hence the school setting and the Brigadier's TARDIS homing device. However, William Russell was unavailable. Consideration was given to using Harry Sullivan before the return of Lethbridge-Stewart was decided upon. David Collings, who played Mawdryn, had appeared in Revenge of the Cybermen and The Robots of Death, and later played an alternative Doctor in a Big Finish audio play. Angus MacKay previously played Borusa in The Deadly Assassin. John Nathan-Turner felt Mark Strickson's blond hair did not stand out from Peter Davison's, initially asking Strickson to shave his head; when Strickson declined, his hair was dyed red.

Broadcast and reception

Critics have praised "Mawdryn Undead" as one of the most ambitious stories Doctor Who ever tried, even though it created the UNIT dating continuity error. Despite the scripts being overloaded, the story works and remains enjoyable, which may be a credit to Peter Grimwade's writing. One guide noted the refreshing change of an adventure where no one wants to destroy the universe or take over Earth, though this makes the final episode a bit dull. A Radio Times reviewer gave it four out of five stars, calling Nicholas Courtney "pure gold," while being mixed on the makeup and finding Mark Strickson refreshing as Turlough. Another critic called it a good story and a solid start to the Black Guardian trilogy. It has been described as a busy serial that offers an interesting take on the curse of immortality.

Commercial releases

Peter Grimwade wrote the novelisation of this serial, which Target Books put out in August 1983. A VHS version came in November 1992, and it later appeared on DVD as part of the Black Guardian Trilogy on 10 August 2009 for Region 2, featuring a commentary track from Peter Davison, Mark Strickson, Nicholas Courtney, and Eric Saward, plus a choice to watch with new CGI effects. Issue 50 of the Doctor Who DVD Files, published 1 December 2010, also included the serial. An upgraded Blu-ray release arrived in September 2023, bundled with the other Season 20 stories in the Doctor Who - The Collection Box Set.