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Season 01 / Story 007 / Production code G
The Sensorites
The Doctors?: William Hartnell
The Companions: Susan Foreman | Barbara Wright | Ian Chesterton
Other Main Characters: Sensorites
Peter R Newman: Writer
Mervyn Pinfield: Director
Frank Cox: Director
Verity Lambert: Producer
The TARDIS lands on board a spaceship from 28th-century Earth. Its three occupants at first appear to be dead but then suddenly revive. Captain Maitland explains that he and his crew members, Carol Richmond and John, have come under the influence of a race of telepathic aliens called Sensorites?, who plunge them into catatonic trances for indeterminate periods.
Through telepathic communication with Susan, two Sensorites convey a request from their leader for a meeting with the travellers. While Maitland and Barbara remain on the spaceship, the Doctor, Ian, Susan, Carol and John all journey down to the creatures' planet, the Sense-Sphere?, for talks.
The Sensorites' First Elder and Second Elder explain that they know the humans have discovered the metal molybdenum on the Sense-Sphere and that they are afraid of being exploited. They fear humans as, since an earlier expedition left, many of their race have died from a mysterious disease. Despite opposition from the devious City Administrator, the Doctor is given permission to try to learn the cause of the deaths.
After carrying out extensive tests, the Doctor discovers that the deaths are due not to a disease at all, but to deadly nightshade poison in one of the city's aqueducts. He tracks down the culprits to a cave system near the aqueduct. They are three spacemen left behind from the earlier expedition, who have become deranged after experimenting with telepathy. The City Administrator is arrested and banished after his attempts to cause mistrust between the Sensorites and humans are brought to light.
6 episodes:
- Strangers in Space - 20 June 1964
- The Unwilling Warriors - 27 June 1964
- Hidden Danger - 11 July 1964
- A Race Against Death - 18 July 1964
- Kidnap - 25 July 1964
- A Desperate Venture - 01 August 1964
Script available in print from Titan Books.
