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Synopsis

The Sea Devils

Arrested after the events at Devil’s End, the Master has been incarcerated at a top-security prison on a remote island off the south coast of England.

When The Doctor and Jo Grant pay a visit to their old enemy, they find him a reformed character. But can the spate of mysterious shipping accidents and garbled reports of sea monsters in the local area really be a coincidence?

The Doctor soon finds himself pitted against the Sea Devils, an ancient race of reptiles intent on eliminating Mankind and reclaiming the Earth for themselves…

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Nine
Production Code:	LLL
Story Number:	62
Episode Numbers:	312 - 317
Number of Episodes:	6
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"The Sea Silurians"
Production Dates:	October - December 1971
Broadcast Started:	26 February 1972
Broadcast Finished:	01 April 1972
Colour Status:	Colour and B&W
Studio:	BBC Television Centre (TC1 and TC8)
Location:	Portsmouth: Fraser Gunnery Range and HMS St George. Isle of Wight: Whitecliff Bay, Bembridge Harbour, Norris Castle (East Cowes), Red Cliff (Sandown), Bembridge Sailing Club and Priory Bay. Others: No Man's Land Sea Fort (The Solent), HMS Reclaim.

Writer:

Malcolm Hulke

Director:

Michael Briant

Producer:

Barry Letts

Script Editor:

Terrance Dicks

Editor:

Martyn Day

Production Assistant:

Colin Dudley

Assistant Floor Manager:

John Bradburn

Designer:

Tony Snoaden

Costume Designer:

Maggie Fletcher

Make-Up Designer:

Sylvia James

Cameraman:

Peter Sargent

Lighting:

Mike Jefferies

Visual Effects:

Peter Day

Fights Arranged By:

Derek Ware

Incidental Music:

Malcolm Clarke

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Brian Hodgson

Studio Sounds:

Colin Dixon and Tony Millier

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer

Title Music:

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

Stunts/Action By:

HAVOC

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)

Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Katy Manning (Jo Grant) Guest Cast: Roger Delgado (The Master) Additional Cast: Edwin Richfield (Captain Hart), Clive Morton (Trenchard), Royston Tickner (Robbins), Neil Seiler (Radio Operator), Declan Mulholland (Clark), Hugh Futcher (Hickman), June Murphy (3rd Officer Jane Blythe), Alec Wallis (Ldg. Telegraphist Bowman), Brian Justice (Castle Guard Wilson), Terry Walsh (Castle Guard Barclay), Pat Gorman (Sea Devil), Eric Mason (C.P.O. Smedley), Donald Sumpter (Commander Ridgeway), David Griffin (Lt. Commander Mitchell), Christopher Wray (Ldg. Seaman Lovell), Stanley McGeagh (Castle Guard Drew), Colin Bell (C.P.O. Summers), Brian Vaughan (Lt. Commander Watts), Rex Rowland (A/B Girton), Martin Boddey (Walker), Norman Atkyns (Rear Admiral), Peter Forbes-Robertson (Chief Sea Devil), John Caesar (C.P.O. Myers)Setting: Earth (1970s) Villains: Sea Devils and The Master

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
312	Episode 1	26 February 1972	24'40"	6.4	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
313	Episode 2	04 March 1972	24'30"	9.7	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
314	Episode 3	11 March 1972	24'05"	8.3	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
315	Episode 4	18 March 1972	24'21"	7.8	PAL 2" colour videotape and 16mm B&W telerecording
316	Episode 5	25 March 1972	24'53"	8.3	PAL colour conversion, PAL D3 colour restoration and 16mm B&W telerecording
317	Episode 6	01 April 1972	24'24"	8.5	PAL 2" colour videotape and 16mm B&W telerecording

Total Duration

2 Hours 27 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

8.2

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	74.94% (Position = 40 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2003)	600 Points (Position = 24 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	77.22% (Position = 50 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	77.45% (Position = 60 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 8 out of 24

Archives

All six episodes exist in colour. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 as PAL conversions of NTSC 2" colour videotape, episodes 4 and 6 on PAL 2" colour videotape and episode 5 as a severally scratched PAL2" colour videotape, a PAL conversion from an NTSC 2" colour videotape and a D3 restoration (the current broadcast master). Also held are the original 16mm Black and White film telerecordings.

Notes

This story featured a great deal of action courtesy both the stunt organisation HAVOC and the British Royal Navy. The Royal Navy waived royalty fees on the use of stock footage and clips instead relying on the positive publicity generated by the show. Many sailors also volunteered to help with the filming, so that most of the extras during the sequence at the Naval Base were actual service personnel, except in some of the stunts.

This story introduces the aquatic cousins of the Silurians, the Sea Devils. The Silurians first appear in the 1970 story "Doctor Who and the Silurians", and both later returned in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Warriors of the Deep". Both the Sea Devils and the Silurians also appear in the Virgin Books' The New Adventures story "Blood Heat".

Because the earlier story "Doctor Who and the Silurians" had resulted in many letters from scientists and geologists, who argued that it was impossible for a reptilian lifeform to have existed in the Silurian era, The Doctor is heard to state, in this story, that the name ‘Silurians’ is incorrect, and they instead date from the Eocene period and so should more properly be called ‘Eocenes’. Unfortunately, it has been claimed that this too is an unlikely candidate for the creatures' own era.

During this story, the term ‘Sea Devil’ is used only by humans, although Silurians and Sea Devils are heard to use this term in "Warriors of the Deep".

Unlike their land-based species, the Sea Devils do not have a biological heat weapon, but instead have hand-held devices. It is hinted that there are colonies of perhaps millions of the creatures throughout the world.

Keep an eye out for the scene, in the first episode, where Jo Grant and The Doctor climb up a ladder to get into a sea fortress. As the ladder proved too slippery for Katy Manning stuntman Stuart Fell did the shot dressed as Jo.

The Master is seen imprisoned in a high-security island establishment, having been finally caught at the conclusion of the story "The Dæmons" – the last story of Season Eight.

Whilst imprisoned, The Master is seen to watch (and claims complete misinterpretation of) the children's television show The Clangers. The episode used was "The Rock Collector" which was first shown six months earlier. This scene was repeated in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords" where The Master is seen watching The Teletubbies. In this later story The Master is also heard to mention fighting the Sea Devils.

The Doctor is heard to use the oft-quoted phrase, 'I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow' (the first and only occasion he does during the Third Doctor era). 'Reversing the polarity' became a standard piece of Doctor techno-babble used throughout many of his subsequent regenerations.

In this story The Doctor is heard to claim to have been a close personal friend of Admiral Lord Nelson.

In episode two, Director Michael Briant himself provided the voice of the radio DJ.

Because of this story's location filming requirements it was allocated the second slot in the production run so as to allow filming in October - rather than December or January which would have been the case if this story had been filmed in the correct order. However, to enable the alternating between stories set on Earth and those set on other worlds it was transmitted third in the season. This was the first time in the show’s history that stories were produced out of transmission order.

The story was mainly filmed around Portsmouth – namely: Fraser Gunnery Range, No Man's Land Fort in the Solent and various locations on the Isle of Wight. Footage was also shot onboard HMS Reclaim - a deep diving and submarine rescue vessel used by the Royal Navy from 1948 until her decommissioning and breaking up in 1982.

No Man's Land Fort is one of three sea defence forts in the Solent built in the 1860s off the coast in anticipation of a feared French invasion which never came to pass. Abandoned at the time of the story's filming, it has since become a hotel resort.

The footage of the submarine was created by purchasing a submarine model kit and then altering the propeller to make it look more advanced. In doing so visual effects man Peter Day had accidentally included design features to the model that strongly resembled an actual a top-secret prototype submarine being developed by the Ministry of Defence at the time. After broadcast producer Barry Letts received a visit from two Ministry of Defence officials, who were concerned that the footage was of the prototype.

This is not the first story that the Ministry of Defence had been involved in. During Season Eight, Producer Barry Letts had been successful in securing the involvement of the Royal Air Force for "The Mind of Evil".

This is the last instance of Derek Ware's stunt organisation HAVOC being contracted to perform a story's stunt work.

To offset the expenses involved with the location filming, Director Michael Briant opted not to hire regular Doctor Who incidental music composer Dudley Simpson, but instead have the score created in-house by a member of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. John Baker was originally assigned to this story but after he fell ill, the duties were allocated to Malcolm Clarke, whose unusual electronic score would prove to be one of the story's most remembered element. The music was presented as a suite on the 1983 LP "Doctor Who - The Music", and was released in full on the 2000 compilation album "Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 2: New Beginnings 1970-1980". Parts of the incidental music, as well as a line of dialogue, were sampled by Orbital on their track "Doctor Look Out".

The story was repeated on BBC One as a 90 minute omnibus over Christmas in 1972. This was shown three days before the broadcast of the first episode of "The Three Doctors" – the first story for Season Ten. This omnibus was repeated again in August 1973. It also had an unscheduled repeat, in place of a cancelled cricket match, in May 1974.

Sadly in the late 1970’s it was discovered that only the first three episodes had survived in colour and episode five was in a very bad state. Thankfully the black and white telerecordings, that had been made for overseas sales, had been kept and in the early 1980s NTSC transfers of all six episodes were returned from broadcasters in Canada. This enabled the missing episodes from this story to be converted back to the original PAL format.

This story again was repeated in full on BBC2 in 1992 representing the Pertwee years as part of a series of repeats of stories from all seven Doctors. This repeat included the NTSC copy of episode five due to the PAL copy having a nasty scratch on it. This story was then released on VHS in September 1995. Strangely the NTSC version of episode five was again used, despite the fact work had been done a year or so previously to remove the scratch from the PAL version.

A novelisation of this story, written by Malcolm Hulke, was published by Target Books in October 1974 and was originally to be titled "The Sea Monsters". There are, as usual with Malcolm Hulke’s adaptations, many added sections – including an ironic death for Trenchard as he makes a last stand against the Sea Devils and forgets to take the safety catch off his pistol, as well as a subsequent scene where The Doctor, Jo and Captain Hart discover Trenchard's body and, when Jo and Captain Hart are not looking, The Doctor secretly resets the gun so that no-one will ever know Trenchard died a failure. Also, The Master makes reference to his alliance with the Ogrons in the later story "Frontier in Space" (also written by Malcolm Hulke). This novelisation was the very first cover to feature a companion (Katy Manning as Jo Grant in this case).

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first appearance of the Sea Devils.

The first use of the often-quoted phrase 'I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow'.

The first time in the show’s history that a story was produced out of transmission order.

This story is the first to be novelised where its cover features a companion.

Malcolm Clarke's first involvement in the show providing the incidental music.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

Sylvia James' last involvement in the show as Makeup Artist.

The Plot

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

Hide Text

The Doctor and a Sea Devil

The Doctor and Jo Grant decide to visit The Master, who is being held prisoner, after being captured by UNIT, in a converted castle situated on an offshore island. They find him fit and well and apparently resigned to life under lock and key. However, as soon as The Doctor and Jo leave it is revealed that Colonel Trenchard, the governor of the prison, is in fact working for The Master to some unknown end.

While at the prison The Doctor and Jo learn from Colonel Trenchard about the recent sinking of some ships in the area and the boatman, who ferried them out to the island, mentions it as well. The Doctor therefore decides to investigate a charred lifeboat which was found and then taken to HMS Seaspite, a nearby naval base. There Captain John Hart, and his secretary, 3rd Officer Jane Blythe, are also concerned about the sinkings. They then spot, from the office window, The Doctor looking at the charred lifeboat. He is arrested and taken to see Captain Hart but it is not until Jo arrives with the UNIT passes that Captain Hart believes that The Doctor genuinely wants to help solve the mystery of the sinkings.

Separately The Doctor and The Master both arrive at the conclusion that an abandoned sea fort, which is mid-way between the final locations of the sunken ships, may hold a clue to what is happening. The Doctor and Jo make their way to the sea fort where they find one of the caretaker workmen dead, and the other insanely raving about sea monsters. Also on the fort is a humanoid lizard-like creature which destroys their boat by setting fire to it from below the water. The Doctor then sees the creature and manages to scare it off with an electric shock. With their boat destroyed, and with it their only means of returning to dry land, The Doctor uses an adapted transistor radio to signal for assistance. This arrives in the form of an air-sea rescue helicopter which winches them off of the fort.

The Master
The Master

Back at Captain Hart's office The Doctor reveals that he believes these creatures to be aquatic relatives of the Silurians he met earlier under Wenley Moor in Derbyshire. While discussing things Jo sees, from the office window, The Master dressed as a Naval Officer. Colonel Trenchard has brought The Master to the naval base to obtain some electronic spares. This prompts The Doctor and Jo to return to the prison where they discover that all is not as it should be. Because all the telephones are apparently dead, Jo leaves to find some way of alerting UNIT. After a short confrontation The Doctor finds himself locked up. The Master then reveals that he intends to help the reptiles to rule the Earth once more.

Rescue for The Doctor comes from Jo who uses the distraction caused by Captain Hart's arrival at the prison to free The Doctor. They then both follow The Master and Trenchard to a nearby beach. There, The Master uses a calling device, that he has built using the stolen equipment, to summon a reptile from the sea which then chases after The Doctor and Jo. They manage to escape though a minefield with The Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to detonate some of the mines so frightening the reptile back into the sea.

The Doctor and Jo Grant
The Doctor and Jo Grant

Meanwhile a submarine, that has been sent to inspect the sea bed at the base of the fort, starts to experience problems when its engines fail forcing the submarine to sink to the sea bed. It is then attacked and boarded by the reptiles who take the submarine to their base.

The Doctor and Jo try and warn Captain Hart about the reptiles but he dose not believe them. Even so he agrees to help by arranging for The Doctor to be taken to HMS Reclaim, a diving vessel that lowers him to the sea bed, near the fort, in a diving bell. However, when the diving bell is returned to the surface they find The Doctor missing.

In the reptiles’ base, The Doctor tries to persuade their leader to seek peace with the humans. The Master, who is also present after being rescued from the prison, warns that the humans intend to kill them all and wants The Doctor killed. Just as The Doctor is winning the argument, the Royal Navy begins dropping depth charges and the reptile leader has The Doctor taken to the cells. The Doctor though escapes and on locating the submarine crew they all escape in the submarine.

Face-To-Face
Face-To-Face

The reptiles want The Master to revive the rest of their people, but to do so The Master needs more electronic spares from the naval base. He arranges for the reptiles to attack the base and The Doctor and Jo are recaptured, along with Captain Hart. The Master wants The Doctor to help him revive the reptiles and The Doctor agrees to construct a sonar device to locate all of the reptiles’ bases. The Doctor manages to create a diversion and Jo and Captain Hart escape in a hovercraft. Captain Hart soon returns with reinforcements to defeat the reptiles. The Master escapes out to sea in a small jet-boat and The Doctor follows. They are both recaptured by the reptiles and returned to the underwater base.

The Master connects his device into the reptiles' power system, but The Doctor, unnoticed, is able to tamper with it so that when it is used it will cause a massive explosion. Their usefulness over the reptile leader has The Doctor and The Master locked up, but they escape from the cell and head for the surface where they are picked up by the hovercraft just as the reptiles' base explodes. However, when the hovercraft reaches a beach The Master manages to escape by feigning an illness and then hijacking the hovercraft and so gaining his freedom once again.

Jo Grant

The Sword Fight

The Master and Colonel Trenchard

The Doctor Escaping From Danger

A Sea Devil Rises from the Sea

Rising From the Deep

A Sea Devil

The Master and Two Sea Devils

Quote of the Story

'We will be the victors in the war against mankind!'

Sea Devil leader

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
LP	Doctor Who: The Music	1983	REC 462		Music score
Tape	Doctor Who: The Music	1983			Music score
CD	Doctor Who - Earthshock - Classic Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1	1992	FLMCD 709	Alister Pearson	Music score
CD	The Worlds of Doctor Who	1994	FLMCD 715	Photo-montage	Music score
VHS	The Sea Devils	September 1995	BBCV 5667	Colin Howard	Double cassette release
CD	Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume Two - New Beginnings 1970-1980	May 2005	WMSF 6024-2		Music and sound effects
CD	The Sea Devils	November 2006			Narrated by Katy Manning (Jo Grant) Double CD Release Released as part of the "Monsters of Earth" tin box set
CD	The Sea Devils	January 2008			Narrated by Katy Manning (Jo Grant) Double CD Release
DVD	The Sea Devils	January 2008	BBCDVD 2438(B)	Photo-montage	Part of the "Beneath the Surface" box set (BBCDVD 2438) along with "Doctor Who and the Silurians" and "Warriors of the Deep"
CD	The 50th Anniversary Collection	December 2013		Photo-montage	Original Television Soundtracks
CD	Classic TV Adventures - Collection One	April 2017		Photo-montage	Part of the "Classic TV Adventures Collection One" Box Set Narrated by Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 9 (Limited Edition)	March 2023	BBCBD 0566	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Doctor Who and the Sea Devils	October 1974	Target No. 54	Malcolm Hulke	Chris Achilleos	ISBN: 0-426-10516-8 (1st Edition Target Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Sea Devils	April 1979	Target No. 54	Malcolm Hulke	John Geary	ISBN: 0-426-11308-X (Reprinted Target Book Cover)
Novel	Doctor Who and the Sea Devils	1981	Target No. 54	Malcolm Hulke	John Geary	Hardback. ISBN: 0-491-02954-3
CD	Doctor Who and the Sea Devils	June 2012	Target No. 54	Malcolm Hulke	John Geary	Audio version of the Target Novel read by Geoffrey Beevers (The Master).

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 62
Doctor Who Monthly - Archive	Issue 70 (Released: November 1982)
Doctor Who Magazine - Nostalgia	Issue 133 (Released: February 1988)
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image	Issue 186 (Released: May 1992)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 192 (Released: October 1992)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 330 (Released: May 2003)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 465 (Released: November 2013)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 66 (Released: July 2011)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companion

The Third Doctor

Jo Grant

On Release

Audio LP - Doctor Who: The Music

AUDIO

Audio Tape - Doctor Who: The Music

AUDIO

Doctor Who - Earthshock CD Cover

AUDIO

Worlds of Doctor Who CD Cover

AUDIO

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

Audio - Volume 2: New Beginnings

AUDIO

Monsters of Earth CD Tin

AUDIO

Soundtrack CD Cover

AUDIO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

AUDIO

Classic TV Adventures Collection One CD Cover

AUDIO

The Collection Season 9 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Original Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Reprinted Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Hardback Book Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 62

Doctor Who Monthly - Archive: Issue 70

Doctor Who Magazine - Nostalgia: Issue 133

Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 186

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 192

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 330

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 465

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 66

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Third Doctor

Season 9

References

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