The Caves of Androzani is the sixth 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 8 to 16 March 1984.
In the serial, the Doctor becomes involved in a war for control of the life-prolonging substance "spectrox" on the planet Androzani Minor, which is being fought between the ruthless businessman Morgus (John Normington) and the android-builder Sharaz Jek (Christopher Gable).
[2] The TARDIS lands on Androzani Minor, and the Doctor and Peri explore the caves where they are captured by General Chellak, who believes them to be aiding gunrunners.
Androzani Minor is the only source of the spectrox drug, produced by bats within the desert planet's cave systems.
They are caught in the middle of one of the battles, and Peri is captured by Chellak, while the Doctor is forced to leave with Stotz and Krelper.
The Doctor commandeers Stotz's ship and redirects it back to the surface of Androzani Minor, setting off to rescue Peri.
When Peri asks what has happened, the Doctor replies, "Change, my dear, and it seems not a moment too soon..." The working title of this story was Chain Reaction.
This story was the first time former script editor Robert Holmes had written for the series since The Power of Kroll (1978), as Nathan-Turner had been keen to use writers new to the show instead.
Apparently, as a boy, the Doctor had started a "blown glass bottle collection," which was made from the sand of different planets.
Other Doctor Who stories adversely affected by the industrial actions of the late 1970s and the 1980s were Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), which was delayed by a year, and Shada (1980), which was not completed.
This required Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Gerald Flood and Anthony Ainley to return in cameos for the regeneration sequence.
He has said that he particularly enjoyed the script by veteran Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes and working with the director Graeme Harper, who he claimed brought "pace" and "energy" to the programme, as well as directing it "far more filmically than it had ever been done before.
Robert Glenister and Peter Davison had previously played brothers Brian and Steve Webber in the BBC sitcom Sink or Swim (1980–82).
[10] John Normington guest stars as Morgus; he returned to the series as Trevor Sigma in the Seventh Doctor story The Happiness Patrol (1988).
It was the only Peter Davison story to feature in the top ten (Tom Baker had five entries while Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant had two each).
[14] In 2013, Den of Geek's Andrew Blair selected The Caves of Androzani as one of the ten Doctor Who stories that would make great musicals.
The Caves of Androzani was released on VHS in the United Kingdom in February 1992 (along with Tom Baker’s debut story ‘Robot’) and on DVD on 18 June 2001.
The original music soundtrack to this serial by Roger Limb and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was released by Silva Screen Records on 25 March 2013, and reissued in a 2-LP set on translucent purple vinyl on 25 November 2013.