The Web of Fear (TV story)

"Whether you think it foolish or not, we are going to rescue that craft..."

- Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart

The Web of Fear was the fifth story of Season 5 of Doctor Who. The story featured the first appearance of future Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicholas Courtney, although UNIT would not be conceived until his next appearance in The Invasion.

Synopsis
The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a web-like substance in space. It then arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti. The time travellers learn that this crisis was precipitated when Professor Travers, whom they first met in the Himalayas some forty years earlier, accidentally caused one of the Yeti to be reactivated, opening the way for the Intelligence to make another invasion attempt.

The travellers work alongside army forces - led initially by Captain Knight and then by Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart - as they battle against the alien menace, hampered by the fact that one of their number has fallen under the Intelligence's influence and is a traitor in their midst.

The Intelligence's ultimate aim is to drain the Doctor's mind. The Doctor manages to sabotage the device with which it intends to achieve this, so that he can drain the Intelligence's mind instead, but he is 'rescued' by his friends before he can bring his plan to fruition.

The Intelligence is repelled into space, and the Doctor and his friends leave the army to clear up the mess.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
 * Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
 * Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling
 * Professor Edward Travers - Jack Watling
 * Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Anne Travers - Tina Packer
 * Julius Silverstein - Frederick Schrecker
 * Corporal Lane - Rod Beacham
 * Corporal Blake - Richardson Morgan
 * Captain Knight - Ralph Watson
 * Harold Chorley - Jon Rollason
 * Staff Sgt. Arnold - Jack Woolgar
 * Craftsman Weams - Stephen Whittaker
 * Soldier - Bernard G. High
 * Yeti - John Levene, John Lord, Gordon Stothard, Colin Warman, Jeremy King, Roger Jacombs
 * Soldier - Joseph O'Connell
 * Driver Evans - Derek Pollitt

Crew

 * Assistant Floor Manager - Roselyn Parker
 * Costumes - Martin Baugh
 * Designer - David Myerscough-Jones
 * Fight Arranger - Derek Ware
 * Film Cameraman - Alan Jonas
 * Film Cameraman - Jimmy Court
 * Film Editor - Philip Barnikel
 * Film Editor - Colin Hobson
 * Make-Up - Sylvia James
 * Producer - Peter Bryant
 * Production Assistant - Gareth Gwenlan
 * Script Editor - Derrick Sherwin
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Studio Lighting - Clive Leighton
 * Studio Sound - Ray Angel
 * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer
 * Visual Effects - Ron Oates

Story Notes

 * First appearance of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart played by Nicholas Courtney.
 * The surviving episode 1 was rebroadcast on BBC Four on 26th June 2004 as part of a night about cult television of the 1960s. Other programmes that night included a documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and an episode of Verity Lambert's series Adam Adamant Lives.
 * Episode one was also rebroadcast on BBC Four as part of the BBC's London Underground night on 18th March 2007.
 * To promote this story, a specially shot trailer featuring the Doctor in the London Underground talking about the upcoming Yeti adventure was featured at the end of Episode 6 of The Enemy of the World. Although considered lost, along with Episode 6, the audio survives and formed the basis of a fan-made computer animated recreation of the trailer which has circulated on YouTube.
 * Professor Travers is once again portrayed by Deborah Watling's father, Jack Watling.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 7.2 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 6.8 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 7.0 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.4 million viewers
 * Episode 5 - 8.0 million viewers
 * Episode 6 - 8.3 million viewers

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Old Brewer's Yard, Shelton Street, London
 * Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London
 * BBC Television Centre (Puppet Theatre)
 * Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
 * Lime Grove Studios (Studio D), Lime Grove, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Where do all the other robot Yeti come from? Surely Travers could not have brought them all back from Tibet. If think we assume that they were built from scratch under instruction from the Great Intelligence, by the first Yeti or the possessed Arnold, then why bother to disguise them as Yeti at all? Surely they were only originally made to look like Yeti to exploit the folklore of Tibet for purposes of cover, but in 1960's London that would be almost totally redundant. They were built following a basic simple design, and to create fear in order to once again allow them to operate with minimal human interference.


 * When talking about underground trains the Doctor tells Victoria they came a little after her time but she is from 1866 and an underground train line opened in 1863. He was mistaken, it must be difficult remembering all of human history.


 * The Yeti changes shape in the museum scene (not intentional, surely?). It certainly seems to be intentional, with a deliberate cross fade between the Yeti's two forms.


 * When Jamie and the others are looking at the scanner in the first episode, Frazer Hines rests his hand on the console but withdraws it quickly as if he's burnt it. (The TARDIS console contains a lot of energy, it could very well have been hot at that point.)


 * The 'explosion' at the end of episode one happens several times. It only appears that way. The secondary glowing is merely a side effect of the web absorbing the energy of the blast. (This is confirmed in episode two, when dialogue describes another absorbed explosion as "pulsating".)

Continuity

 * This directly follows on from DW: The Enemy of the World.
 * This is a sequel to DW: The Abominable Snowmen, which also featured Yeti, the Great Intelligence, and Professor Travers.
 * The Yeti appear again in DW: The Five Doctors and MA: Downtime.
 * Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart appears again in DW: The Invasion as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The events of this story are said in the latter serial to have been the catalyst behind the creation of UNIT.
 * DW: Remembrance of the Daleks makes reference to the events in this story.
 * MA: Who Killed Kennedy makes reference to this story, revealing the government's cover story was that there had been a major nerve gas leak.
 * The Doctor and companions go to London in search of Professor Travers in DW:The Invasion, only to find that he has gone to America.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DW: The Enemy of the World
 * This story occurs before ST: Father Figure

DVD, Video and Other Releases
DVD Release

The surviving episode (Episode 1) was released as part of the Lost in Time set.

Released:
 * Region 2 1st November 2005


 * PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1353


 * Region 4 2nd December 2005
 * Region 1 2nd November 2005


 * NTSC - Warner Video E2082 (Troughton 2 disc set) / E2083 (Box set)

Video Releases

The surviving episode (Episode 1) was released alongside The Faceless Ones Episode 1 and 3 and the remaining episodes of The Reign of Terror as part of a two cassette release entitled Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror.

Released:
 * UK November 2003


 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV7335


 * US October 2003


 * NTSC - Warner Video E1853

Notes: The US release was also located in The End of the Universe Collection.


 * Editing of surviving episodes for VHS and DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Web of Fear


 * Novelised as Doctor Who and the Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks in 1976.