 This story is considered by many fans to be one of the best of the Fourth Doctor’s era.
The onscreen credit for this story states the writer as being ‘Stephen Harris’. This is a pseudonym for Robert Holmes and Lewis Griefer. However, "Pyramids of Mars" was originally written by Lewis Greifer, but the submitted scripts were considered unworkable. As Lewis Greifer was unavailable to do the required rewrites, the scripts were completely rewritten by Script Editor Robert Holmes. The only things used from Lewis Greifer’s original scripts were the title and the setting. Therefore Lewis Greifer requested the removal of his name from this story as it no longer bore a resemblance to what he had written. Hence the use of the pseudonym.
The frustrating series of events that led to Robert Holmes having to write a completely new version of "Pyramids of Mars" prompted Producer Philip Hinchcliffe to secure from Head of Serials, Graeme McDonald, a special dispensation for Robert Holmes to write up to two Doctor Who stories per season. This was highly unusual, given the disapproval with which the BBC viewed script editors writing for their own stories.
This story features a guest appearance by Michael Sheard. He revealed on the DVD release for this story that he was cast by director Paddy Russell without any audition, purely on the recommendation of production assistant Peter Grimwade.
George Tovey, who played Ernie Clements, was the father of Roberta Tovey, who appeared as Susan, Doctor Who’s granddaughter, in the 1960's Amicus Doctor Who films Doctor Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, staring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who.
Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh, also provided Sutekh's voice in Part Two and Horus's voice in Part Four, both uncredited. He would go on to provide the voice of The Beast in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit". He also provided the voice of Governor Rossitor in the Big Finish Productions audio stories "Arrangements for War" and "Thicker Than Water", alongside the Sixth Doctor.
The exterior scenes were shot on the Stargroves estate, East End in Hampshire, which was owned by Mick Jagger (lead singer of the Rolling Stones) at the time. The same location would be used again during the filming of "Image of the Fendahl". Mick Jagger however, was not the only famous person to have lived at Stargrove; by curious coincidence, the estate had previously been owned by Lord Carneveron, the archaeologist who led the dig which ultimately unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamun.
"Pyramids of Mars" was scheduled to be the first story of Doctor Who's thirteenth recording block, and given the production code Serial 4G. Initially, it was also envisioned as the first adventure to air as part of Season Thirteen, but these plans changed when the BBC decided to bring forward the broadcast of the new season to autumn 1975 rather than early 1976. With "Terror of the Zygons" now being held over from the twelfth production block to begin Season Thirteen, consideration was given to pushing "Pyramids of Mars" as far back as fourth. Ultimately, it was decided to swap it in the running order with "Planet of Evil", the next story to be made, to avoid beginning the season with two Earthbound stories.
All the stories from this season were tributes to classic horror and science fiction films. This story has an obvious tribute to, and was influenced by the original ‘Mummy’ films produced by Universal Studios during the 1930s and 40s, which in turn were partly inspired by the legends about the supposed ‘King Tut's Curse’.
This is one of several stories produced during the 1970s which suggested powerful aliens having influenced the technical development and mythologies of early humans. Others include the 1971 Third Doctor story "The Dæmons" and the Fourth Doctor stories: "Image of the Fendahl" and "City of Death".
Although the name of Sutekh's race is pronounced ‘Osiran’ throughout this story, the scripts and publicity material spell it as ‘Osirian’ in some places and as ‘Osiran’ in others. Many fans have used the ‘Osirian’ spelling, as do some reference works such as The Discontinuity Guide (written by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping and published in 1995), the Battles in Time collectable card game and the Virgin Book’s Missing Adventures novel "The Sands of Time" (written by Justin Richards and published in May 1996). Another member of the Osirian race also appears in the Fifth Doctor Big Finish Productions audio story "The Bride of Peladon" released in January 2008.
The Doctor notes that the Osirians had ‘dome-shaped heads, and cerebrums like spiral staircases’. However, the unmasked form of Sutekh seen at the end of this story (resembling the Set animal) does not have a domed head.
The Osirans were led by Horus and his brother Sutekh (also known as the 'Typhonian Beast'), who destroyed the home planet of Phaester/Osiris and left a trail of havoc across half the galaxy (variations of Sutekh's name including Set, Satan and Sadok are reviled on many worlds). He was captured on earth by Horus and ‘the 740 gods named on the tomb of Thuthmosis III’ and was imprisoned for 7000 years.
When asked directly by Sarah, The Doctor admits that not even the Time Lords would be able to stop Sutekh if he were to be freed.
Sutekh is aware of the Time Lords by reputation. The Doctor tells Sutekh that the TARDIS is isomorphic (can only be operated by him). As Sutekh would see through this if it were a lie, The Doctor must therefore be talking about a safety feature that can be switched on or off.
The new TARDIS console, which actually debuted in the preceding story "Planet of Evil" even though it was built for this story, does not appear again until "The Invisible Enemy". Owing to the cost of setting up the TARDIS Console Room for the filming of only a handful of scenes, a new console set was designed for the following season.
The TARDIS' relative continuum stabiliser is discussed. We also have references to a parallax coil, a cytronic particle accelerator, etheric impulses, a decadron crucible and 'triobiphysics'.
At the start of the story, when Sarah Jane Smith enters the TARDIS Console Room wearing a dress that she has just found in the wardrobe, The Doctor is heard referring to her as ‘Vicky’, The Doctor then notes that this dress belonged to Victoria. Although Sarah jokes about Prince Albert wearing the gown, The Doctor is in fact referring not to Queen Victoria but rather to his former companion Victoria Waterfield. Although Sarah is wearing an old dress of Victoria Waterfield's, it is not a costume which had previously been used in the show.
The Doctor claims he has lived ‘for something like 750 years’ and agrees with Sarah that this is middle aged. It is also revealed that The Doctor has a respiratory bypass system.
This story contains the classic line ‘Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel. One false move and you'll never know the time again’. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the loop.
Sarah is heard to say that the complex design of the eye of Horus ‘reminds me of the city of the Exxilons’. Even though she never set foot in the Exxilon’s city she did see some of walls outside of it in the 1974 Third Doctor story "Death to the Daleks.
The Doctor's babblings over a puzzle in the pyramid, involving seven stitches, binary figures and centimetres, are mere showing off over an ‘odd man out’ puzzle. It also contains a mathematical error: 120.3 (should be 20.3) cm multiply by the binary figure 10 zero zero.
The puzzle in which Sarah is imprisoned in a tube is a variation of the classic logic puzzle, Knights and Knaves.
This is one of several stories in which everyone who The Doctor and his companion meet are dead by the end of the story. The only character who does not die is Ahmed, who is not present for anything except the opening scene in Egypt.
It has been revealed that Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen improvised a number of moments in this story, most notably a scene in Part Four where The Doctor and Sarah start to walk out of their hiding place and then when they see a mummy, quickly dart back into it. Tom Baker has confirmed he based this scene on a Marx Brothers routine.
Several scenes were deleted from the final broadcast. A model shot of the TARDIS landing in the landscape of a barren, alternative 1980 Earth was to be used in Part Two, but director Paddy Russell decided viewers would feel more impact if the first scene of the new Earth was Sarah's reaction as the TARDIS doors opened. Three scenes of effects such as doors opening and The Doctor materializing from the sarcophagus were removed from the final edit of Part Four because Russell felt the mixes were not good enough. These scenes were included on the DVD, along with an alternate version of the poacher being hunted down in Part Two, and a full version of the Osirian rocket explosion.
At the end of this story The Doctor accidentally causes the fire that destroys the Old Priory, on which one of the UNIT HQ’s was later built. He is heard to say to Sarah ‘We don't want to be blamed... There was enough of that in 1666’. The Doctor is alluding to having been blamed for starting the 1666 Great Fire of London, which was shown to have been sparked by an exploding hand weapon in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation".
In an attempt to reconcile these two different accounts of how the fire started Big Finish Productions published "The Republican's Story", in the book "Short Trips 8: Repercussions", in which it is explained that The Doctor was at some point blamed for starting the fire even though he had not, and then much later (in his personal time stream) the events in "The Visitation" eventually reveal how it actually did start.
This story has the unfortunate distinction of contributing to one of the biggest and most widely discussed contradictions in The Doctor Who universe - the "UNIT dating controversy".
The story was repeated on BBC One as a 60-minute omnibus in November 1976. It was also repeated, in its episodic form, on BBC Two in 1994.
A novelisation of this story was written by Terrance Dicks and published by Target Books in December 1976. The novelisation contains a substantial prologue giving the history of Sutekh and the Osirians and features an epilogue in which a future Sarah researches the destruction of the Priory.
Sarah Jane Smith refers to her encounter with mummies in the scene with Rose Tyler, in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "School Reunion", where they are comparing the monsters they have encountered during their respective travels with The Doctor.
Gabriel Woolf reprised his role as Sutekh in the Faction Paradox audio dramas "Coming to Dust" (2005), "The Ship of a Billion Years" (2006), "Body Politic" (2008), "Words from Nine Divinities" (2008), "Ozymandias" (2009) and "The Judgment of Sutekh" (2009), from Magic Bullet Productions.
The Virgin Books’ Decalog short story "Scarab of Death" (written by Mark Stammers and published in March 1994) is set immediately after this story and has The Doctor and Sarah visiting the ruins of Phaester Osiris in the future.
The Virgin Book’s Missing Adventures novel "The Sands of Time" (written by Justin Richards and published in May 1996) is a direct sequel to "Pyramids of Mars".
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The Firsts:
The first (and only) appearance of Sutekh.
The first Doctor Who story to be written under the pseudonym of Stephen Harris.
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(Position = 4 out of 159)
(Position = 7 out of 200)
(Position = 8 out of 241)
