Frontios

Frontios is the third serial of the 21st season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 January to 3 February 1984.

The planet is being attacked by meteor showers orchestrated by an unknown enemy responsible for the disappearance of several prominent colonists, including the colony's leader, Captain Revere.

Needing better light in the medical facility, the Doctor sends Tegan and Turlough to fetch equipment from the TARDIS.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough discover that the culprits are the Gravis and his Tractators, giant insects with incredible powers over gravity.

Turlough briefly undergoes a nervous breakdown because the Tractators once attempted to invade his home world long ago; his mind contains a deep, horrific "race memory" of the event.

After depositing the now-dormant Gravis on the uninhabited planet of Kolkokron and returning to Frontios, the Doctor gives Plantagenet the hat stand as a farewell token and asks that his own involvement in the affair not be mentioned to anyone, especially the Time Lords.

The designer assigned to the serial, Barrie Dobbins died before production (later revealed as suicide) and was replaced by David Buckingham.

Soon after this, another shock came to the production when actor Peter Arne, who had been hired to play Mr Range, was murdered on 1 August 1983.

[5] Other actors of note featured in Frontios included Peter Gilmore (as Brazen), who had found fame during the 1970s in the lead role of The Onedin Line.

Jeff Rawle had also found fame in the 1970s as the lead in Billy Liar and later starred in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Mona Lisa's Revenge.

It was during rehearsals for this story that Colin Baker was announced as the new actor, as Peter Davison had by this time decided to leave the show.

Frontios was filmed in two three-day recording blocks in the BBC Television Centre's Studio 6 from 24 August to 9 September 1983.