 "Terror of the Autons" is a direct sequel to Jon Pertwee’s debut story "Spearhead From Space". It sees the return of the Nestene Consciousness and its plastic servants, the Autons.
This story opened Season Eight and introduced Katy Manning as the Third Doctor's new companion, Jo Grant - an intelligence trainee whose wiles and charm brought the show into the 1970's. The UNIT team is also joined by semi-regular character Captain Mike Yates, played by Richard Franklin. Captain Mike Yates was brought in as a possible love interest for Jo (which never materialised) and as a go-between for The Brigadier and his field personnel.
This story though is more renowned for being the first for fellow Time Lord and The Doctor’s arch-nemesis, The Master, as played by Roger Delgado. The Master would appear in every story of this season and sporadically in the next two seasons.
Harry Towb, who plays the unfortunate McDermott, had previously appeared in the Second Doctor story "The Seeds of Death", in which he also came to a sticky end.
Michael Wisher, the young Farrel, had also done uncredited voice work for "The Seeds of Death", and had previously appeared in the Third Doctor story "The Ambassadors of Death" and, later, in "Carnival of Monsters". He would go on to do various Dalek voices and become well known as the first actor to play the evil genius Davros in the Fourth Doctor story "Genesis of the Daleks".
Strong Man Roy Stewart previously appeared as another strong man in the Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
Although credited on-screen, Bill McGuirk (a Policeman), who was previously used by Barry Letts in "The Enemy of the World", does not actually appear; his entire contribution having been edited out prior to transmission.
Haydn Jones was originally contracted both to provide the Auton voices and to play the telephone engineer who turns out to be The Master in disguise, but the latter part was recast when Haydn Jones was given the more substantial one of Vosper in "The Mind of Evil".
This story is set in the fictional town of Tarminster. In the 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures story "The Mark of the Berserker", Sarah Jane Smith visits a hospital in the same town. The town is also mentioned on the Harold Saxon promotional website. It states that Lucy Saxon's father was Lord Cole of Tarminster.
In addition to his role as producer of Doctor Who, Letts was keen to direct the occasional story - a job which he had most recently undertaken on an emergency basis for part of "Inferno" at the end of the seventh recording block. Since "Terror of the Autons" came at the start of the new season, Letts decided to direct this story himself. However, he is not credited as such in the credits as BBC regulations at the time prevented any person from being credited for more than one production role.
In the closing credits for episodes three and four Jon Pertwee was credited as ‘Dr. Who’ rather than ‘Doctor Who’.
This story is the second time in the programme that a quarry stood in for an actual quarry (as compared with an alien planet or other environment), after the 1964 First Doctor story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". Quarries would further serve as actual quarries in "Terror of the Zygons" and "The Hand of Fear".
The dramatic scene at the start of episode three, where an Auton is hit with a car and tumbles off a cliff, was quite real. Dinny Powell was driving the vehicle in place of actor Richard Franklin, and stuntman Terry Walsh as the Auton fell further down the slope than intended, being injured in the mishap. He nevertheless got back to his feet in the same take as planned.
The Nestene energy unit in this story is blue, whereas in "Spearhead From Space" they were red.
The Master's TARDIS is disguised as a horsebox, and uses a Mark Two dematerialisation circuit, as opposed to The Doctor's Mark One (as revealed in "The Time Meddler"). These are non-compatible (unlike The Meddling Monk's and The Doctor's TARDIS circuits in "The Daleks' Master Plan", which are semi compatible).
This story sees the first appearance of The Master’s signature weapon, the Tissue Compression Eliminator - though the device itself was not named as such until the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Time-Flight".
The Master can hypnotise people silently, though a strong will can resist. He carries a volatiser (bomb) and grenades. He can create effective disguise masks, and fake security passes.
Certain scenes in the story, particularly the killer doll and the Auton policemen, caused controversy in the press as being too frightening for children. In an unconnected House of Lords debate about the effect of mass media on the public, the story was cited as an example of a programme that might be too 'scary' for younger children.
Like other early Third Doctor stories the original 625-line PAL colour videotapes of this story were wiped by the BBC for reuse, although they retained the 16mm Black and White film recordings. An original PAL colour clip of episode one, depicting The Doctor's first meeting with Jo Grant, still survives in its original 625-line format after being used in a 1973 edition of the news show Nationwide. However, all four episodes currently exist as PAL D3 colour restorations. These were created in 1993, by an unofficial Doctor Who restoration team. They used original NTSC U-matic dubs, that were sent abroad prior to the wiping of the colour videotapes, and the Black and White film telerecordings. The re-colourised version was then released, on VHS video in April 1993. In 1999, an improved restoration was prepared, by the Restoration Team, for a planned repeat on BBC Two. In the event, however, the run was abandoned before the story was shown.
The Nestene and the Autons were due to return in an ultimately cancelled story, "Yellow Fever and How to Cure It" during Season Twenty Three; the production was cancelled in the 1985 hiatus as Robert Holmes died before beginning work. The Autons did make a return thirty four years later, in the 2005 Ninth Doctor's introductory story, "Rose". The Autons also appear in two BBC The Past Doctors Stories novels; "Business Unusual" by Gary Russell and "Synthespians™" by Craig Hinton. They also return in the BBC Books The Tenth Doctor Stories novel "Autonomy".
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The Firsts:
The first story of Season Eight.
The introduction of new companion Jo Grant played by Katy Manning.
The introduction of semi-regular companion Captain Mike Yates played by Richard Franklin.
The first appearance in the show of The Master played by Roger Delgado.
The first appearance of The Master’s signature weapon, the Tissue Compression Eliminator.
Jan Harrison's first involvement in the show as Makeup Artist.
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(Position = 35 out of 159)
(Position = 51 out of 200)
