Vicki and Steven in the TARDIS

The Doctor and Vicki are surprised to find Steven Taylor aboard the TARDIS. He explains that while in a disorientated state on Mechanus, he stumbled aboard the TARDIS where he then stowed away. The Doctor and Vicki though are grateful he survived the collapse of the Mechanoid city and so help nurse him back to health.

The TARDIS then arrives at a remote spot on the Northumbrian coast in the year 1066. The Doctor, Vicki and Steven exit the TARDIS and start to explore. Steven though is very sceptical of Vicki's explanation that the TARDIS is a time machine. He takes some convincing that the TARDIS can travel in both space and time despite finding a Viking helmet but The Doctor assures her that they will soon show him the truth of the matter.

As The Doctor goes off to find a path up the cliff, Steven and Vicki remain on the beach with the TARDIS. Steven though soon becomes bored with waiting and so persuades Vicki to accompany him in finding there own way up the cliff. When they reach the top there is, however, no sign of The Doctor.

The Time Travellers Discover a Viking Helmet

The Doctor has in fact come across a Saxon village where he is befriended by a woman called Edith. From her he learns of the recent arrival of some monks the nearby monastery – even though only one of them has actually been seen. The Doctor is curious and so decides to visit the monastery. There he is surprised to discover that one of his own people The Meddling Monk, who travels from place to place in his time machine endeavouring to 'improve' things, is there. The Meddling Monk tricks The Doctor who finds himself locked up in a cell.

Meanwhile Steven and Vicki have spent the night in a wood. Steven is still convinced that they have not travelled in time – despite Vicki trying to convince him otherwise. This however, is not helped when they are astounded to find a modern wristwatch.

The Meddling Monk

Vicki though has something else to worry about. Because when they try to return to the TARDIS they discover that the tide has come in and so they can no longer see the time machine. Vicki deduces that it must have been washed away. But she is even more alarmed when Steven offers another possible outcome – The Doctor had returned and moved it. The reason for her alarm is she knows that The Doctor can not operate it correctly and so they could now be marooned in the past.

Of course The Doctor is safe, and has in fact escaped, from his confinement. More so he learns of The Meddling Monk’s plans to use advanced technology so as to wipe out the Viking fleet and thus allow King Harold to face the forces of William of Normandy with a fresh army at the Battle of Hastings.

Steven and Vicki also find themselves at the monastery, and even though The Meddling Monk tells them he has not seen The Doctor, Steven is convinced he is not telling the truth. They manage to enter the monastery and they discover that The Meddling Monk also has a TARDIS disguised as a stone tomb.

Vicki and Steven

Appalled at such frivolous interference to engineer events so as to reverse the outcome of the Battle of Hastings, The Doctor is determined to stop The Meddling Monk. He is soon reunited with his companions and together they all soon come into conflict with Viking raiders who are on a reconnaissance mission prior to a planned invasion of England.

With the help of his companions, and the residents of the Saxon village, The Doctor finally succeeds in thwarting The Meddling Monk's plans by removing the dimensional control from The Meddling Monk's TARDIS, reducing its interior to miniature proportions, so leaving him stranded in 1066 with an angry band of Saxons nearby.

The tide having gone out, The Doctor and his friends are free to leave in the TARDIS, and journey onward to the stars.