Women of Victorian London fall prey to
an unknown menace, while monstrous terrors lurk in the sewers under
the city. Chinese gangs scurry in the dank fog, and a sinister stage
magician seeks to serve his mysterious master. The Doctor and Leela
arrive, only to find themselves plunged into a series of macabre
horrors. -- from the DVD release, 2003 Often considered the pinnacle of Philip-Hinchcliffe-produced Doctor Who, this was a clear contender for release in the early days of VHS, and took the form of a lavish 2-disc set for DVD. Episode timings on DVD: 24'45", 24'30", 21'58", 24'32", 24'50", 23'30" Episode timings on PasB: 24'43", 24'28", 21'56", 24'30", 25'44". 23'46" |
VHS releases
01/04/1987: Aus - PolyGram - BBC20272 [reissued 1/4/1992, deleted 21/12/1994]
??/??/1988: US - Playhouse - 5094
??/07/1988: NZ - PolyGram - BBC20272
4/11/1988: UK - BBC Enterprises - BBC4187
??/?/1999: US - CBS/Fox - 5094 [renumbered by WHV in 2000 to E1153]
The UK release followed after the Australian one (hence having a different
cover), and was a compilation edition with a number of cuts to the fight
sequences in the first episode. It was never released uncut on a UK VHS.
The US 1999 release was part of the 'Gateway Collection' - low-cost Tom Baker
stories released at the same time. Pyramids of Mars, The Stones of Blood
and City of Death were also included.
DVD releases
DVD Bonus features
Commentary With Louise Jameson, Christopher Benjamin, John Bennett, David Maloney (Director) and Philip Hinchcliffe (Producer) - recorded 5/1/2003 in Dubbing Theatre 3 at TVC. |
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Information Text By Martin Wiggins. |
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Behind The Scenes (25'15") A compilation of footage from a Shibadan recording of the studio taping. Archive Consultant: Jan Vincent-Rudzki (C) BBC Worldwide 2003 Blue Peter Theatre (25'59") A compilation made up of this, this, this and this. Philip Hinchcliffe Interview Trails and Continuity |
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Tardis-Cam No 6 (1'42") The last of the TARDIS-Cam features that had originally premiered on BBCi. 3D Modelling & Animation: Nick Sainton-Clark Digital Compositing: Ian Simpson Audio Design: Mark Ayres For BBC Fictionlab Editor: Jamie Cason Commissioning Editor: Martin Trickey Producer: James Goss Executive Producer: Richard Fell www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho (C) BBC Fictionlab 2003. |
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Photo Gallery ('3'22") 39 colour and b/w photos. |
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Howard Da Silva Episode Intros The American Region One release of this story also features a featurette on Howard Da Silva, the actor who provided introductory narration to the episodes themselves during their initial run in the States. |
Restoration Notes
Jonathan Wood performed a regrading and deblobbing, leaving Mark Ayres to remaster the soundtrack. The prints were in good enough quality that only minor work was required all round.Classifications
14/10/1988 - Passed as 'U' by the BBFC for the UK, following 10 seconds of
cuts
17/01/2003 - Continuity featurette, and a 39' Easter Egg, passed as 'U' by the
BBFC for the UK. Remainder of bonuses passed as 'PG'
27/03/2003 - Passed as 'PG' by the BBFC for the UK
09/04/2003 - One episode passed as 'G' by the OFLC for Aus/NZ
16/04/2003 - Passed as 'PG' (for 'Low Level Violence') by the OFLC for Aus/NZ