Stories Television Doctor Who Season 7 Serial: 1 2 3 4 Spearhead from Space 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 13 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 7 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, January 3, 1970 Production Code AAA Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Derek Martinus Runtime 100 minutes Story Type Clean break, New Companion Introduction, New Doctor Introduction Time Travel Present Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Earth Invasion, Hospital, Milkman, Stranded on Earth, The Doctor Falls, The Doctor’s Name Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Exile on Earth, Working for UNIT Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) TARDIS magnet Location (Potential Spoilers!) Ashbridge Cottage Hospital, Earth, England, London, Oxley Woods, UNIT HQ Synopsis Forbidden to continue travelling the universe by his own people, the Time Lords, and exiled to Earth in the late 20th century, the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods accompanied by a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating the occurrence is the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short), an organisation which had previously been associated with the Doctor during the Cybermen's invasion. Led as before by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT is soon in action when people and meteorites start going missing. Most puzzling is the attempted kidnapping of a strange hospital patient: a man with two hearts, who insists that he knows the Brigadier. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 4 Episodes Episode 1 First aired Saturday, January 3, 1970 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Derek Martinus UK Viewers 8.4 million Appreciation Index 54 Synopsis As the newly-regenerated Doctor arrives on Earth, so does the Nestene too. Episode 2 First aired Saturday, January 10, 1970 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Derek Martinus UK Viewers 8.1 million Synopsis UNIT's attempts to locate the meteorites are hampered by the mysterious plastic Autons, being constructed by Channing at a nearby factory, while the Doctor makes another attempt to escape from the hospital. Episode 3 First aired Saturday, January 17, 1970 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Derek Martinus UK Viewers 8.3 million Synopsis Ransome manages to escape from the plastics factory and alert UNIT, prompting the Doctor and the Brigadier to start an investigation. Episode 4 First aired Saturday, January 24, 1970 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by Derek Martinus UK Viewers 8.1 million Appreciation Index 57 Synopsis With UNIT's investigation being blocked by the Replica of Scobie, the Doctor and Liz visit Madame Tussaud's to try and find out more as Channing prepares to activate the Autons. Show All Episodes Characters Third Doctor Jon Pertwee First Appearance Liz Shaw Caroline John First Appearance The Brigadier Nicholas Courtney Autons First Appearance The Nestene Consciousness First Appearance UNIT Show All Characters (6) How to watch Spearhead from Space: Watch on iPlayer DVD An Introduction to the Third Doctor Blu-Ray Spearhead from Space DVD Mannequin Mania (Spearhead from Space & Terror of the Autons) DVD The Third Doctor Collection DVD Spearhead from Space VHS Spearhead from Space (VHS) (1st edition) VHS The Pertwee Years (VHS) VHS Spearhead from Space (VHS) (2nd edition) Blu-Ray The Collection Season 7 (Limited Edition Packaging) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 13 reviews 30 March 2025 · 43 words Review by Scottybguud 1 A brilliant start to my favourite classic Doctor. Jon Pertwee suits the role immediately. Liz Shaw is good as the companion, more competent than most female companions. We get the familiar face of Brigadier, giving this a nice connection to the previous era. Scottybguud View profile Like Liked 1 27 March 2025 · 35 words Review by Azurillkirby 1 INCREDIBLE start to the Third Doctor era. I LOOOOVE the whole vibe going on. I'm so excited for more of this. Also just like... the fact that it's in color helps so much lmao A+. Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 1 18 March 2025 · 55 words Review by KieranCooper 1 Made on film, and looks stunning Iconic introduction to this era and one of my favorite companions ever, Liz Shaw The Autons are their best in this story, they are creepier and scarier when written like this The story just rolls on beautifully The ending might have needed a re-draft, but at least wasn't terrible KieranCooper View profile Like Liked 1 12 March 2025 · 141 words Review by Shayleen Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! Spearhead from Space is an incredibly strong start to the Third Doctors era. It acts as a soft reboot,completely reformatting the show from adventures through time and space into, literally, a more grounded, earthbound era of the show. A bold move, and one that pays off. Pertwee is off to an immediately great start as the Doctor, Courtney returns as the Brigadier and John is strong as Liz Shaw. It is a great cast. The script is strong, it runs at a good length and develops the Doctor well across the four episodes. The autons are a great threat and have a degree of creepiness to them, the threat builds well and manages to have both human and inhuman aspects to its threat. Spearhead from Space boldly takes the show into a new direction and era in style and substance. Shayleen View profile Like Liked 1 26 January 2025 · 54 words Review by utkusahna Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! As both the first colored story of Doctor Who Classic Era, The first episode of the Third Doctor, this was a delightful story to watch. Autons being introduced in this story was a good choice. P.S: Autons were also the first evil protagonists of the very first episode of Doctor Who Revival Era. utkusahna View profile Like Liked 1 Show All Reviews (13) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating627 members 4.21 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating648 votes 3.95 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1104 Favourited 190 Reviewed 13 Saved 7 Skipped 1 Related Stories Virgin Missing Adventures Who Killed Kennedy Rating: 3.98 Story Skipped Book More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Virgin Missing Adventures Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved The Companion Chronicles S7 • Episode 4 The Last Post Rating: 4.43 Story Skipped Audio Book Reviews(4) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Companion Chronicles Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved The Blogs of Doom Sam Seeley Rating: ??? Story Skipped Short Story More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Blogs of Doom Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Classic Who S8 • Serial 1 · (4 episodes) Terror of the Autons Rating: 3.80 Story Skipped Television Reviews(9) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who Season 8 Set of Stories: Doctor Who (1963-1996) Set of Stories: Third Doctor Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion Rating: 3.88 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite LIZ: Then what do you do, exactly? BRIGADIER: We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth, or even beyond. LIZ: Alien invaders? Little blue men with three heads? BRIGADIER: Ten tons of alien material drift through space and land on this planet every day. LIZ: And do no harm to anyone. — Spearhead from Space Show All Quotes (7) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Episode One [UNIT Tracking station] (On Earth, a bored, sweaty, uniformed radar operative sees a line of dots appear on his screen. He grabs the internal telephone.) TECHNICIAN: Duty Officer, please. Urgent. (A woman in the same uniform enters.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window
