The Doctor and Dodo Arrive in London

The TARDIS lands in London, near the Post Office Tower, in 1966. The Doctor is unsettled by a sensation of strange, evil emanations from the building. The Doctor decides to visit the newly completed tower – there he and Dodo meet Professor Brett, who demonstrates his revolutionary new computer, WOTAN - an advanced problem-solving computer that thinks for itself.

But little does anyone suspect, WOTAN has become sentient and is using its abilities to take hypnotic control over its creators. It transpires that WOTAN has concluded that mankind cannot develop the world any further and so considers that humans are inferior to machines. Its mission therefore is not to serve mankind, but rather to eradicate it, so that artificial life can become the new dominant form of life on Earth.

While The Doctor attends a Royal Scientific Club meeting about WOTAN, lead by civil servant Sir Charles Summer, Dodo goes with Polly Wright, Brett's secretary, to the local Inferno nightclub, where they meet Ben Jackson - an Able Seaman in the Merchant Navy.

Dodo Outside the TARDIS

After Dodo becomes possessed by WOTAN, The Doctor learns of the 12 War Machines - heavily-armed, self-contained mobile computers - with WOTAN is having constructed, around the capital, so that he can use to take over the world. With WOTAN's hypnotic control over Dodo broken she is sent to stay with Sir Charles Summer's wife in the country to recover.

Then when Polly fails to show up to a luncheon with Ben, The Doctor sends the him to investigate the area around the nightclub, after reading about the death of a tramp in the newspaper, not realising that one of the War Machines is being built in a warehouse in Covent Garden, close to the Inferno nightclub.

The Post Office Tower

When Ben discovers the fully assembled War Machine in the warehouse he finds himself detected by the Machine, and caught by the now hypnotised Polly. Ben is spared because WOTAN requires slave labour to construct his War Machines. While working with the others, Ben learns that the 12 War Machines are to attack at noon the next day. Ben eventually manages to escape, despite being seen, but not stopped, by Polly, and alerts The Doctor and Sir Charles Summer of what he has discovered.

Under Sir Charles' instruction, an army taskforce investigates the warehouse, but their weapons are no match to those of the War Machine which emerges from the warehouse. However, as it had not been completely programmed The Doctor is able to deactivate it. Soon after, there are reports of another War Machine - taking to the streets, having gone rogue while it was being tested.

Again with the help of the army, The Doctor traps the rogue War Machine in an electromagnetic forcefield - paralysing it - and re-programmes it to destroy WOTAN. Ben has just enough time to get to the Post Office Tower and rescue Polly before the re-programmed War Machine enters and attacks WOTAN. Once WOTAN is destroyed all the people it had hypnotised return to normal.

Dodo and Polly

With the crisis over The Doctor returns to the TARDIS to await the return of Dodo. Instead Ben and Polly arrive and they explain to The Doctor that Dodo has decided to stay in London. The Doctor thanks them and heads into the police box. Of course Ben and Polly do not realise that this is the TARDIS and that The Doctor is about to leave Earth.

As they walk away Ben and Polly suddenly realise that they still have Dodo’s key and so they rush back and enter the police box, with the intent to return it to The Doctor. But just as they enter the TARDIS dematerialises and so find themselves whisked off into time and space…