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The Stones of Blood

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Synopsis

Assembling The Key to Time

The Doctor, Romana and K9 continue their search for the six disguised segments that make up the powerful Key to Time.

The TARDIS lands on Earth close to the Nine Travellers, an ancient stone circle. Professor Amelia Rumford and her associate Vivien Fay, who are studying the stones, explain that every time the circle has been surveyed, the number of stones has changed. Also interested in the circle are a group of druids - dedicated followers of the Cailleach, the Celtic goddess of war, death and magic - who are prepared to perform human sacrifice to satisfy her demands for blood.

The Doctor soon learns that there is more to the Nine Travellers, the Cailleach and the druids than meets the eye. How can the stones apparently move around the countryside? And why has the area around the circle always been owned by a woman?

After Romana discovers the true identity of the evil Cailleach, The Doctor finds that he must travel into hyperspace to solve the mystery of the Nine Travellers and save his companion from the blood-hungry alien life-forms known as the Ogri...

Source: BBC VHS Video

General Information

Season:	Sixteen
Production Code:	5C
Story Number:	100
Episode Numbers:	488 - 491
Number of Episodes:	4
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"The Nine Maidens" and "The Stones of Time"
Production Dates:	June - July 1978
Broadcast Started:	28 October 1978
Broadcast Finished:	18 November 1978
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Television Centre (TC3)
Location:	Reed College and Brewery Row (Little Compton, Warwickshire), The King's Men, Rollright Stones; Little Rollright Quarry and Manor Farm (Little Rollright, Oxfordshire)

Writer:

David Fisher

Director:

Darrol Blake

Producer:

Graham Williams

Script Editor:

Anthony Read

Editor:

Malcolm Banthorpe

Production Assistant:

Carolyn Montagu

Production Unit Manager:

John Nathan-Turner

Assistant Floor Managers:

Carol Scott and Nigel Taylor

Designer:

John Stout

Costume Designer:

Rupert Jarvis

Make-Up Designer:

Ann Briggs

Cameramen:

Mike Windsor (Outside Broadcast) and Trevor Wimlett (Outside Broadcast)

Lighting:

Warwick Fielding

Visual Effects:

Mat Irvine

Incidental Music:

Dudley Simpson

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Liz Parker

Studio Sounds:

Richard Chubb

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Mary Tamm (Romana 1) and John Leeson (voice only) (K9 Mk II) Additional Cast: Beatrix Lehmann (Professor Amelia Rumford), Susan Engel (Vivien Fay/Cessair of Diplos), Nicholas McArdle (De Vries), Elaine Ives-Cameron (Martha), Gerald Cross (Megara Voice), David McAlister (Megara Voice), James Murray (Camper), Shirin Taylor (Camper)Setting: The Nine Travellers, Boscombe Moor, near Boscawen, Damnonium, Cornwall (circa 1978). Villain:Cessair of Diplos

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
488	Part 1	28 October 1978	24'20"	8.6	PAL 2" colour videotape
489	Part 2	04 November 1978	23'53"	6.6	PAL 2" colour videotape
490	Part 3	11 November 1978	24'27"	9.3	PAL 2" colour videotape
491	Part 4	18 November 1978	23'07"	7.6	PAL 2" colour videotape

Total Duration

1 Hour 36 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

8.0

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	73.07% (Position = 51 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	73.96% (Position = 67 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	75.85% (Position = 74 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 13 out of 41

Archives

All four episodes exist as PAL 2" colour videotapes. Episode Two also exists as a 71-edit with minor alterations from the transmitted version.

Notes

This story was written by David Fisher, who also wrote "The Androids of Tara", the subsequent story, and is the third of six linked stories that comprise the whole of Season Sixteen, known collectively as The Key to Time.

"The Stones of Blood" has the accolade as being the 100th Doctor Who story.

As well as being the 100th story the fifteenth anniversary of the programme took place on 23 November 1978, five days after the broadcast of episode four.

To celebrate these two landmark events it was initially planned to include a scene involving The Doctor, Romana and K9 having a party in the TARDIS to celebrate The Doctor’s 751st birthday. It was to feature Romana and K9 surprising The Doctor with a cake and a new, identical scarf. This new scene was written by David Fisher, expanded by Darrol Blake, rehearsed but not recorded as Producer Graham Williams felt it was too self-congratulatory. Darrol Blake had already ordered a cake, and this was eventually eaten by the cast and crew.

The role of Vivien was originally offered to Honor Blackman, who declined the part as she felt Beatrix Lehmann had all the best material. Susan Engel was finally hired for the part. Honor Blackman would later appear in the 1986 Sixth Doctor story "Terror of the Vervoids" - the third story in The Trial of a Time Lord season.

The White Guardian’s dialogue, in the first episode, was provided by Gerald Cross (who was already playing one of the Megara) in order to avoid having to rehire Cyril Luckham, who had portrayed The White Guardian in "The Ribos Operation". Gerald Cross though was not credited on screen.

The director assigned to this story was Darrol Blake. This though would be his only Doctor Who assignment. His other credits included The Tomorrow People, Doomwatch and Coronation Street. Durring recording Darrol Blake elected to make a significant change to David Fisher’s conception of the Ogri, which the writer had envisioned as rocky-skinned humanoids who looked like regular stones only when stationary. To save costs, Darrol Blake elected to have the Ogri appear as large blocks throughout, although elements of David Fisher's original idea - such as the large footprint found by The Doctor and Romana - remained in the script.

Another change Darrol Blake made to David Fisher’s script was the way that the Ogri killed their victims. Initially, they were to simply crush people, but this was replaced by their ability to absorb blood. The scene with the two campers was written at a late stage to illustrate this. The Megara were also altered; rather than floating lights, David Fisher had depicted them as flying metal orbs, but Darrol Blake felt that this was too similar to some elements of the recently released feature film Star Wars.

David Fisher drew heavily upon British mythology for the names he used in his story. Vivian Fey who turns out to be Cessair of Diplos (aka the Cailleach) and her past alias, Lady Morgana Montcalm, recalled Morgan le Fay, King Arthur's sorceress half-sister. The word ‘Cailleach’ itself was a Gaelic term meaning ‘old woman’, and was associated with numerous entities in Celtic mythology. Dr Thomas Borlase was homage to two celebrated historians, Thomas Price and William Borlase. The Megara, on the other hand, were named for Megaera, one of the Furies (also called the Erinyes or Eumenides) of Greco-Roman mythology; these were goddesses who persecuted those they perceived as guilty of a terrible crime. Two names were modified during scripting: Leonard De Vries was originally called Charles, while the ‘Nine Maidens’ became the ‘Nine Travellers’.

The exteriors of this story were filmed on location at the Rollright Stones, a real megalithic site in Oxfordshire. An actual legend of the site states that it is impossible to count the stones. As the story ends, The Doctor notes that the number of stones in the circle has changed (due to the removal of three Ogri and the addition of Cessair's imprisoned form) and suggests Doctor Rumford write a monograph about it. In 2007, Mary Tamm returned to the site to tape a feature for the DVD release of this story in which she interviewed local historians about the site.

Exteriors in this story were videotaped rather than filmed, which is something that occurred only rarely prior to 1986. According to comments on the 2007 DVD release, Director Darrol Blake made the decision to use only one medium because of a dislike over the discontinuity created by the constant switch between filmed exteriors and videotaped interiors.

This was the one of only two stories between "Frontier in Space" and the end of the show's initial run not to have the special sounds created by Dick Mills. Due to Dick Mills suffering a brief illness, Elizabeth Parker provided the sound effects instead.

The events of this story occur immediately after (or very soon after) the conclusion of "The Pirate Planet". Romana is still wearing her outfit from the preceding story at the start of the story and it is suggested that they have just obtained the second segment.

For the benefit of Romana (and presumably new viewers), The Doctor recaps his mission briefing from The White Guardian following the reception of a mysterious warning regarding The Black Guardian.

This sequence also includes The Doctor revealing to Romana that it was The White Guardian in disguise, rather than the President of the Time Lords, who sent them on their mission.

Romana gives the TARDIS wardrobe a workout in this story, being seen in three distinct outfits during the story (if you include her costume held over from "The Pirate Planet").

It is implied that Cessair of Diplos is an agent of The Black Guardian. Aside from the evidence of a warning given by The White Guardian at the beginning of Part One, there is also the fact that Cessair knows what the segment of the Key is and tells The Doctor in the closing stages of Part Four that if he lets the Megara turn her into stone, he will never find what he is looking for.

The Doctor is heard to mention a Galactic Federation that appointed a justice machine, which, finding the Federation to be in contempt of court blew up the entire galaxy.

So as to establish the Megara’s spacecraft as a prison ship, it was decided to feature old Doctor Who monsters amongst the deceased convicts. In the event, only a Wirrn (from "The Ark in Space") and the ‘skeleton’ of a Kraal android (from "The Android Invasion") was seen, although permission had been obtained to feature a Sea Devil (from "The Sea Devils") but shots of the Sea Devil were lost at the editing stage.

It is revealed that the third segment has powers of transmutation, transformation and the establishing of hyperspacial and temporal coordinates.

According to Romana hyperspace is a ‘theoretical absurdity’.

It is revealed that the Type 40 TARDIS is fitted with molecular stabilisers. Also after an attack by an Ogri K9’s circuits are regenerated by connecting this stabiliser to his circuit frequency modulator.

The first episode cliff-hanger called for a scene in which Cessair, disguised as The Doctor, pushed Romana off the cliff. Tom Baker however, objected to this scene, as he felt it would be very upsetting to children. Instead the scene was filmed so that you never actually see who pushed Romana.

Look out for the scene where The Doctor and Amelia are first chased by the Ogri as two crew-members are quite clearly visible in the doorway manipulating the creature. One appears in the right side of the doorway just after the Ogri enters, the other can be glimpsed behind the Ogri itself, pushing it forward. In addition, in part four a boom mike can be seen at the top of the screen while Romana is searching Cessair’s cabin.

The Ogri are from the planet Ogros. The Doctor is also heard referring to the Ogri as ‘Gog’ and ‘Magog’, and also links their name to the word ogre.

Despite there only meant to be three Ogri after one is seen falling off a cliff later in the story there are still three.

Modified Ogri appear in Virgin Book’s The New Adventures story "Legacy" written by Gary Russell.

Creatures made of stone are also seen in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Blink" and the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" in the form of Weeping Angels.

During his appeal, The Doctor refers to Romana by her full name, Romanadvoratrelundar, for the first time, although he subsequently shortens this to ‘Miss Voratrelundar’.

In this story The Doctor is heard stating that he has met Albert Einstein.

When The Doctor says, ‘Nobody home except us druids’, he is referencing the popular Louis Jordan song Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens. The Ninth Doctor also later quotes the title in the 2005 story, "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances".

At one point, Amelia is heard saying ‘I’m an archaeologist, not an engineer’. This is very similar to Doctor McCoy’s popular ‘I’m a doctor, not an ….’ catchphrase in Star Trek.

This story was released on VHS in May 1995. This release contained an extended cut of episode two, which featured a longer exchange between de Vries and his mistress before they were attacked by the Ogri. This scene had been removed from the UK broadcast of the story because of concerns about its presentation of adults consumed by terror. The scene is contained in full in the deleted scenes package on the later DVD release, which contains the episode as televised.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first Doctor Who story to be written by David Fisher.

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Darrol Blake.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The last Doctor Who story to be directed by Darrol Blake.

The Plot

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

Hide Text

The Doctor and Romana

The third segment of The Key to Time is traced to present-day Earth, but The Doctor, Romana and K9 find that while the tracer has led them to present-day England and the Nine Travellers, a circle of standing stones on Boscombe Moor in Damnonium, the third segment is nowhere to be found.

Instead they meet up with elderly archaeologist Professor Amelia Rumford and her assistant Vivien Fay, who are surveying the site, and learn that the circle appears to have had a variable number of stones through the years.

Alerted to the activities of a local druidic sect, The Doctor encounters the group who are led by a man named Leonard de Vries who is supposedly the leader of the British Institute for Druidic Studies (BIDS) which worships at the circle. The Doctor decides to visit Leonard de Vries, but whilst at his, Boscombe Hall, he is knocked unconscious and narrowly avoids becoming the Druids’ next sacrifice when he is subsequently saved by Professor Rumford.

Romana and K9
Romana and K9

Strange things are occurring at the stone circle which Romana is about to find out when led by the sound of The Doctor's voice calling her, arrives at the edge of a nearby cliff. Realising the danger she has placed herself in she backs away as an unseen presence, apparently The Doctor, advances menacingly towards her forcing her to fall over the edge of the cliff. When the real Doctor saves her she is somewhat confused, but the newly arrived K9 calms her by assuring Romana it is indeed The Doctor. They deduce that what Romana witnessed was a projected doppelganger conjured up by Leonard de Vries. The Doctor decides to speak again with Leonard de Vries only to find that he has been killed by one of the stones from the circle, in truth a life form from the planet Ogros in Tau Ceti called an Ogri, a life form that lives on blood.

Vivien Fay turns out to be The Cailleach, an ancient being worshipped by the Druids, who has been on Earth for four thousand years. On discovering Romana at the stone circle Vivien Fay challenges Romana and aims a long staff at her. The staff emits pulses of energy and Romana vanishes. Romana discovers that she has not been shot but has been transported to a spaceship suspended in hyperspace at the same spatial coordinates as the stone circle.

Inside the Nine Travellers Stone Circle
Inside the Nine Travellers Stone Circle

After destroying one of the stones which is pursuing them, The Doctor and Professor Rumford reach the stone circle and, before disappearing, Vivien Fay tells them that Romana will be safe providing The Doctor stops interfering.

The Doctor calculates Romana and her captor must be in hyperspace, and builds a projecting device which he uses to transmit himself there. He arrives on the spaceship which he soon deduces to be a prison vessel. On searching the vessel he unwittingly releases two floating globes which have been trapped for centuries. They are Megara, justice machines - dispensing Galactic Law as judge, jury and executioner. They contend that as The Doctor broke the seals on their compartment he has transgressed the law and should be put him on trial.

During his trial The Doctor discovers that the Megara’s mission was to recapture and try Cessair of Diplos for murder and the theft of the Seal of Diplos. The Doctor’s trial does not go very well and the Megara, sentence him to death. However, when they attempt to carry out the sentence Vivien Fay, now with silver skin and wearing long, flowing robes, arrives on the spaceship accompanied by two Ogri to gloat. She triumphantly tells The Doctor and Romana that they are trapped in hyperspace forever as the spaceship hovers in the void of hyperspace.

Professor Amelia Rumford
Professor Amelia Rumford

The Doctor though tricks the Megara into knocking Miss Vivien Fay unconscious and when they read her mind to determine if she is injured, they discover that she is Cessair of Diplos - the alien criminal they were originally sent to put on trial.

She is charged with her crimes and the Megara sentence her to confinement for 1500 years and perpetual imprisonment by turning her into an additional stone in the circle on Earth. But before the sentence is carried out The Doctor manages to snatch her necklace - the Seal of Diplos – when he realises that it must be the third segment.

Evading further questioning by the Megara on the matter of his delayed execution, The Doctor, K9 and Romana return to the TARDIS. Back in the TARDIS, as Romana looks on, The Doctor uses the tracer to convert the Seal of Diplos into the third segment.

The Doctor Meets Vivien Fay

Calling the Cailleach at the Nine Travellers

Romana

The Doctor is Sacrificed

Romana Entering the Hyperspace Dimension

An Ogri Beast

The Cailleach (aka Vivien Fay) and Her Ogri Beasts

The Megara Pass Judgment on The Doctor

Quote of the Story

'If they should break through, run as if something very nasty were after you, because something very nasty will be after you.'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	The Tom Baker Years	September 1992	BBCV 4839	Photo	Clip only Introduced and commented on by Tom Baker Double cassette release
CD	30 Years at the Radiophonic Workshop	1993	BBC CD 871	Photo-montage	Sound effects
VHS	The Stones of Blood	April 1995	BBCV 5609	Colin Howard with spine art by Andrew Skilleter
DVD	The Stones of Blood	September 2007	BBCDVD 2335 (C)	Photo-montage	Part of the "Key to Time" limited edition box set (15,000)
DVD	The Stones of Blood	November 2009	BBCDVD 2335 (C)	Photo-montage	Part of the re-released "Key to Time" box set

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood	March 1980	Target No. 59	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	ISBN: 0-426-20099-3
CD	The Stones of Blood	May 2011	BBC Audio	David Fisher		Original audio novelisation written specially for audio and read by Susan Engel.
Novel	The Stones of Blood	July 2022	BBC Books	David Fisher		Target Collection. ISBN: 978-1-78594-794-0

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision)	Issue 34 (Released: October 1991)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 99 (Released: April 1985)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 361 (Released: October 2005)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 387 (Released: October 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive	1995 Summer Special (Released: 1995)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 67 (Released: July 2011)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Fourth Doctor

Romana 1

K9 Mk II

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Tom Baker Years VHS Video Cover

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Sound Effects CD Cover

AUDIO

VHS Video Cover

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DVD Cover

VIDEO

Re-released DVD Box Set

VIDEO

In Print

Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Original Audio CD Cover

BBC Books Target Collection Cover

NOVEL

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (In Vision): Issue 34

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 99

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 361

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 387

Doctor Who Magazine Special - Archive: 1995 Summer Special

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 67

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Fourth Doctor

Season 16 (The Key to Time)

References

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