Nightmare of Eden

Nightmare of Eden is the fourth serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 24 November to 15 December 1979.

The Doctor discovers the crew are being menaced by clawed monsters called Mandrels, who in turn have a mysterious connection to a drug known as Vraxoin.

With the ships separated and the drug runners caught, the Doctor and friends slip away back to the TARDIS with the Eden project.

It was the final Doctor Who serial written by Bob Baker, who worked on it alone, rather than with his usual writing partner Dave Martin.

[3] Alan Bromly is credited with directing this story, but he quit partway through filming as a result of a vehement dispute with Tom Baker.

However, the majority of critics were more scathing and many of them saw the Mandrels as being thoroughly unconvincing (particularly the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, which described them as "cute rejects from The Muppet Show").

Braxton noted that the sets were "perfectly decent, for the most part" but thought the Mandrels were "the least frightening monster the show ever produced."

The review concluded by stating "Overall, this sobering, sideways take on Paradise Lost deserves respect, in conception and narrative if not always in the finished product.