Mike Ferras

 was a worker on the Cimmeria IV mining base. He and his fellow workers, Orllensa and Haliard, were responsible for setting up and activating a series of mini-suns in orbit around Cimmeria IV in preparation for planetary mining. Ferras and Haliard spent much of their spare time playing draughts. Haliard was almost always the winner. Ferras and Haliard often taunted Orllensa, but underneath was a healthy respect for her, her work and her position.

When the EPU array to power the suns was activated, an unknown force threw the system out of alignment. Orllensa had just enough time to send a distress call before the base was plunged into blackness. That same unknown force then burned out the eyes of everyone on the base.

Soon after, the Eighth Doctor and Charley arrived in the company of ROSM, a rescue ship. Sensing that there were aliens at work, ROSM assaulted them, but the same particles that blacked out the base disabled ROSM. The Doctor worked with Ferras and the others to realign and activate the EPUs to bring light back.

The Doctor got the array working just as the aliens revealed themselves as Cimmerian healers who were removing the light to hide from their persecutors, the Solarians. They regretted the misunderstanding and healed Ferras and the others, restoring their vision. (AUDIO: Embrace the Darkness)

Behind the scenes

 * Lee Moone's official website (Archive) (and others) list the character's name as Mike Ferris, but there is no direct evidence this is correct.