Search Out Space (TV story)

Search Out Space was a special crossover episode between Search Out Science, a children's education programme, and Doctor Who that aired on BBC Two in 1990. It was written by Lambros Atteshlis and Berry-Anne Billingsley and also directed by the latter.

Sylvester McCoy reprised his role as Seventh Doctor thus this story served as an extension of his time as the incumbent Doctor. Sophie Aldred also reprised her role as Ace. John Leeson provided the voice of K9 for the first time since The Five Doctors. Notably this was the first on screen story since Survival and thus the first on screen story released during the "wilderness years"

Despite an apparently fourth-wall-breaking setup, the story would contextualise this as the Doctor taking part on an in-universe quiz show. It was further placed in regular Doctor Who continuity by the short story Storm in a Tikka. The latter links it to Dimensions in Time, also aired during McCoy's time as the incumbent Doctor, which had the TARDIS team of Ace and K9 also.

The story also marks the final on screen usage of the Keff McCulloch Doctor Who theme used since Time and the Rani in 1987.

Synopsis
The Doctor, Ace, K9 and Cedric are taking part in a game show to see who can win The Ultimate Challenge - the biggest gameshow in the universe.

The contestants are forced to answer fairly basic questions about space, with severe punishments if they get it wrong.

Plot
The Doctor runs on stepping stones lying in space and runs across them. He then jumps onto his hovering platform. The Doctor tells his audience they've been selected to take part in The Ultimate Challenge. The Doctor acts as host. He then announces the fellow challengers which are his companion Ace, from Earth, Cedric from Quirk and former companion K9 said to be renowned for his superior powers of logic.

The Doctor then presents the first question to Cedric. He has thirty seconds to answer. What shape is the Earth? The Doctor tells the audience if they want to join in they can watch Cedric try and guess. Cedric materialises on a picnic table outside an Earth pub. He says he’s not from this planet, but thinks he knows the answer. Beside him on the table are three models of Earth in different sizes. Those sizes being round, flat and square. He then wants some more evidence before he makes his guess.

Just above Cedric. In the sky the TARDIS materialises. K9 claims to be up there in space, despite not being in space. From a computer room in the TARDIS K9 flies the ship and sends Cedric a clue. Cedric is sent a picture of the Earth, but sadly the picture doesn’t help him determine if it’s a sphere or a circle.

Ace, in a tree, then aids the audience and Cedric with a clue as she stares into the distance with paper rolled to be a telescope ish thing. She says if someone stranded on a desert island saw a ship on the horizon would they see the ship itself or the top of the mast first. The paper then teleports from Ace’s hand into Cedric’s. Cedric then unrolls the paper to see a drawing of the horizon with a boat present. He says it’s as he thought. The Doctor then says he’s got all the clues can he solve the challenge. Cedric then pulls out a cylindrical shaped Earth say it’s that size. This is followed by a wrong answer buzzer sound. He realises he's wrong and doesn't understand why. The Doctor says it's a perfect challenge for his audience to figure why Cedric was wrong.

The Doctor then hurries things along as he floats in the Earth's orbit. He then challenges everyone to answer what makes day and night. Cedric is then in a tunnel experiment room flashing a torch at a model of the Earth while repeating "day time" and "night time" then address the audience as ladies, gentlemen and aliens. He then spins the Earth model. The Doctor gets dizzy watching Cedric spin the model. He then asks the other challengers to provide a clue. Ace says to think about how the Sun moves during the day. K9 says to think about how the stars move at night. As a map of the stars appears the Doctor asks the audience if they can solve the challenge. The Ultimate Challenge then cuts to a commercial break.

The first commercial break features an advert for a travel agents. The shop window is full of notices. An astronaut, a human and a wolf type creature point to a spinning shelf of postcards in the advert. We then get a voiceover by Cedric in an American accent who advertises holidays on Mercury. Ace says from their they ship the holidaymakers to Venus. Cedric then mentions a trip to rocky Mars. Ace then mentions a trip to Jupiter. Cedric follows with a mention of Saturn.

Eventually, Ace deduces that there is no answer to one of the questions. The Doctor says this is the right answer, and bizarrely produces an ice cream as if by magic.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Ace - Sophie Aldred
 * Cedric - Stephen Johnson
 * K9's voice - John Leeson

Crew
The BBC wishes to thank Jodrell Bank Science Centre, London Underground, The Danish Kitchen, Ealing Avalon Travel, Ealing
 * Cameraman - Mike Dauncey
 * Assistant cameraman - Paul Cox
 * Sound - Dave Brinnicombe
 * Lights - John Collins
 * Visual effects - Matt Irvine
 * Videotape editor - Dave Austin
 * Assistant floor manager - Crispin Avon
 * Production assistant - Eve Lucas
 * Unit manager - Valerie Booth
 * Researcher - Teresa Griffiths
 * Assistant producer - Peter Findley
 * Producer - Lambros Atteshlis
 * Series producer - Robin Mudge
 * Director - Berry-Anne Billingsley
 * Writers - Lambros Atteshlis, Berry-Anne Billingsley

Uncredited crew

 * Photos - Mike Tucker

The TARDIS

 * The Doctor has a model of his TARDIS in his TARDIS computer room.
 * K9 can control the TARDIS from a large computer aboard the Doctor's TARDIS.

K9

 * K9 is renowned for his superior powers of logic.
 * K9 can pilot the TARDIS alone.

Cedric

 * Cedric is the most intelligent inhabitant of the planet Quirk.
 * Cedric wears a silver space suit with red helmet.

Earth

 * Ace references desert islands and the horizon.
 * Ace explains that the Earth is shaped like a sphere.

The Solar System

 * Mercury is baking hot and the planet closest to the Sun.
 * Venus is full of smog, fog and acid rain.
 * Mars is next to Earth and is rocky.
 * Jupiter is a gassy planet eleven times bigger than Earth.
 * Saturn is a gassy planet with rings.

Other

 * The Ultimate Challenge is the biggest game show in the universe.
 * The Doctor presents an advert for a travel agents.
 * The travel agents has an advert that reads "there's so-ho-ho much more at Holimarine Holiday Parks".
 * The travel agents has postcards of London including St Paul's Cathedral and Big Ben.
 * The Doctor meets a polar bear.
 * The Doctor refuses to explain the key to the universe and instead shows an ice cream.

Story notes

 * The story uses Delia Derbyshire's second theme as the opening theme, but closes on the Keff McCulloch theme that was used for the entirety of the Seventh Doctor era prior.
 * The K9 and Company theme tune plays when K9 visits an observatory.
 * The story was broadcast on Wednesday 21 November 1990 at 10:15.
 * The story was listed in Radio Times issue 3492 with the caption “Join Doctor Who (Sylvester McCoy) to find out why the moon appears to change shape, and what makes summer hot”.
 * The story features the Doctor on a fictional show called The Ultimate Challenge that he is the host of and Ace, K9 and Cedric are the challengers of. It would cut to in-universe commercial breaks where the Doctor and his team would sometimes portray different roles. It's important to note these aren't different characters portrayed by the cast, but play acting by the fictional characters.
 * The story features a brief cartoon scene with various aliens depicted most notably a Dalek is present.
 * Search Out Space is one of many Doctor Who on screen stories from the 1990s with Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. The others being 3-D Week, Dimensions in Time, The Movie, Destiny of the Doctors, and The Disney Club.
 * This would be the penultimate televised story with Ace as the incumbent companion with the final being Dimensions in Time.
 * The Seventh Doctor wore his Season 26 attire with the brown jacket in this story. He also carried a modified version of his umbrella with white dots so the umbrella shows up against the starry background.
 * Alan Barnes wrote a feature on the story in DWM 583. A previously unreleased photograph of Sylvester McCoy in the blue screen was also published.

Continuity

 * The Doctor and his companions were invited to appear on a quiz show PROSE: Storm in a Tikka, which bridges this story with the events of Dimensions in Time.
 * A postcard of St Paul's Cathedral is in the travel agent. (TV: The Invasion)
 * Ace visits Jodrell Bank Observatory. (TV: Logopolis, Spyfall)
 * Cedric would later travel with a moustachioed incarnation of the Doctor. (PROSE: The Blue Angel)

Home media releases
Search Out Space was included as an extra on the DVD of Survival, but was absent on the blu-ray The Collection boxset of Season 26.