''Doctor Who and the Pescatons'' (commonly shortened to ''The Pescatons'') is an

audio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

in two episodes based on the long-running British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. It is written by

Victor Pemberton Victor Francis Pemberton (10 October 1931 – 13 August 2017) was a British writer and television producer. His scriptwriting work included BBC radio plays, and television scripts for the BBC and ITV, including ''Doctor Who'', ''The Slide'', ...

, and stars

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...

as the

Fourth Doctor The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the ...

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series ''Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside ...

Sarah Jane Smith Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running BBC Television science fiction on television, science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' and two of Doctor Who spin-offs, its spin-offs. Sarah Jane is a dogged in ...

and Bill Mitchell as Zor.

Plot

Part 1

The Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive on a beach by the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

at night, and discover a metallic seaweed there. The Doctor consults with Professor Emerson, who says that three expeditions to recover a recent meteorite from the bottom of the estuary have all vanished. The Doctor goes diving and is attacked by something that wraps itself around him, but then lets him go. The meteorite is really a wrecked spaceship buried under the estuary. The Doctor believes it is a Pescaton ship. The Pescatons are carcharhinidae, or deep water sharks. The experts scoff at this, until one comes out of the Thames and makes its way to

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...

in search of

salt water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

. The Doctor confronts it in the Aquarium, where it dies and disintegrates. That night, more meteorites land in the Thames.

Part 2

London is invaded. The Doctor recalls his visit to planet Pesca, where he fell down a chasm into a cavern and met Zor, the Pescaton leader. Zor said he would use the Doctor to find a new home; Pesca was drying out and falling towards its sun. Zor used his hypnotic powers on the Doctor, who fought back and escaped. Back in London, Sarah Jane finds an abandoned baby while the military shoot rounds at the invading Pescatons with no effect. The Doctor distracts a Pescaton by singing " Hello, Dolly!" and doing a dance so that Sarah Jane can get away with the child. Finally the Pescatons fall back to the salt water, except for one trapped in a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

tunnel. The Doctor and Sarah Jane search for it, and the Doctor plays a piccolo to calm his nerves. The Pescaton retreats at the sound. Professor Emerson helps the Doctor build a high frequency sound trap inside a sewer, and Zor is lured there to be destroyed as the planet Pesca disintegrates in its orbit. Without Zor to control it, the Pescaton invasion ends.

Releases

''Doctor Who and the Pescatons'' was released on LP and cassette by

Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...

(a division of

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

) in July 1976, re-released on CD in 1991 by Silva Screen Records, and re-released again by BBC Audio on CD on 3 January 2005. The 2005 CD release includes the complete original programme on disc one, and a new interview with Elisabeth Sladen recorded on 21 May 2004 on disc two. It was re-released as an LP – this time on coloured vinyl and as part of a two-album ''Doctor Who'' release – by

Demon Records Demon Music Group (DMG) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-issuing recordings as compilations on physical media (CDs and vinyl) via supermarkets and specialist stores. History DM ...

on 22 April 2017 for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

In print

''Doctor Who and the Pescatons'' was novelised in 1991 by Victor Pemberton as ''Doctor Who – The Pescatons'' and published by

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...

. Although not the final Target release (that would come in 1994 with ''

The Paradise of Death ''The Paradise of Death'' is a 5-part BBC radio drama, based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', and starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. Production and broadcast history This was the second radio seria ...

''), this was the final new release in Target's traditional format which had been in place since 1973; subsequent new releases would be longer and in a differently presented book format.

References

External links

Target novelisation

*
On Target — ''The Pescatons''
{{Authority control 1976 audio plays 1991 British novels 1991 science fiction novels Doctor Who audio plays novelised by Victor Pemberton Fourth Doctor audio plays Pescatons