Stories Television Doctor Who Season 8 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 The Dæmons 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 11 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 8 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, May 22, 1971 Production Code JJJ Written by Guy Leopold (Pseudonym), Barry Letts, Robert Sloman Directed by Christopher Barry Runtime 125 minutes Story Type Series Finale Time Travel Present Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Cult, Lost the TARDIS, Master of Disguise, Occult, Reverse the polarity, Ritual, Stranded on Earth Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Exile on Earth, Working for UNIT Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Bessie Location (Potential Spoilers!) Devil's End, Earth, England, Wiltshire Synopsis The Master, posing as a rural vicar, summons a cloven-hoofed demon-like creature named Azal in a church crypt. Seeking to gain the ancient titan's demonic power, he gathers a cult and then corrupts or controls the residents of Devil's End to bow to his will. Dark elemental forces begin to disturb the village on the eve of May Day: unexplained murders, a stone gargoyle come to life, and a nigh-impenetrable infernal energy dome. With the Master fully prepared to destroy the Earth, the Doctor and UNIT — aided by a benevolent practitioner of witchcraft — battle the wicked rites of a secret science wielded by an alien from another world. 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 5 Episodes Episode One First aired Saturday, May 22, 1971 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Christopher Barry UK Viewers 9.2 million Synopsis Earth, the near future. When an archaological dig at the village of Devil's End goes disastrously wrong, an ancient power begins to revive. Can even the Doctor withstand the power of the Daemons? And just what is the local vicar up to in his spare time? Episode Two First aired Saturday, May 29, 1971 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Christopher Barry UK Viewers 8 million Synopsis With the Doctor frozen by the energy release from the barrow, Jo calls Yates and Benton for help, but when the Brigadier tries to join them he finds the village surrounded by a heat barrier. Episode Three First aired Saturday, June 5, 1971 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Christopher Barry UK Viewers 8.1 million Synopsis The Doctor explains to his friends that the Master is trying to gain the power of the last of the Daemons, a race who influenced Earth's development, while the Master brings the rest of the village under his control. Episode Four First aired Saturday, June 12, 1971 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Christopher Barry UK Viewers 8.1 million Synopsis The Master orders Bert to set a trap for the Doctor at the village while a concussed Jo makes for the cavern. Episode Five First aired Saturday, June 19, 1971 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Christopher Barry UK Viewers 8.3 million Synopsis The Master decides to sacrifice Jo to Azal and when the Doctor and his friends try to intervene they come under attack from Bok. Show All Episodes Characters Third Doctor Jo Grant Azal First Appearance The Master [UNIT Era] The Brigadier John Benton Mike Yates Tom Osgood First Appearance UNIT Olive Hawthorne Show All Characters (10) How to watch The Dæmons: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 8 DVD An Introduction to the Third Doctor DVD The Dæmons VHS The Dæmons (VHS) 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 11 reviews 18 May 2025 · 67 words Review by kawaii2234 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! this is easily one of the best serials in classic who. it features a village of actually insane people and I love it. no one is helping them or imprisoning them. Bok the evil statue just runs around and blows people up and sometimes a demon farts people awake. I love it. Delgado!master is just juggling like 18 different cults at this point, absolutely insane of him. kawaii2234 View profile Like Liked 0 21 April 2025 · 272 words Review by Newt5996 Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! I think The Dæmons gets better every time I watch it. It’s Doctor Who going full folk horror with a remote English village where the Master has set himself up as the vicar and is using the uncovering of a burial mound as a route to calling forth the Dæmon Azal. Barry Letts and Robert Sloman have written a story pulling between magic and science a la Clarke’s Law, with nearly everything on screen being explained with a “scientific” explanation despite having a character claim to be a white witch (Damaris Hayman as Miss Hawthorne is such a delight and the first important older woman stock character). Even with the explanations much of the serial is written with pagan tradition in mind, making it have this completely unique feeling for all of what Doctor Who would do. The format being five episodes also gives it almost an archaic structure, adding quite a bit to the general folk horror feeling because everything intentionally feels off. It’s also the third season in a row that really attempted a big finale, though shorter than The War Games and Inferno, The Dæmons ends with the Master captured. Roger Delgado gets some of his best material, Barry Letts being one of the serial’s cowriters obviously helps, but the vicar material is just so captivating. Stephen Thorne gets to be his first big shouty villain for the series, though not his best. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are always a delight. Christopher Barry directs and makes liberal use of the location shoot, an incredibly ambitious shoot that really pays off. Plus the script is incredibly punchy and quotable. Newt5996 View profile Like Liked 1 18 April 2025 · 39 words Review by Azurillkirby The Doctor insisting something is science while other characters claim that it's magic is a bad trope. This story did very little for me, though it certainly isn't bad. I'm also just not a fan of this aesthetic. C. Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 0 13 April 2025 · 34 words Review by Scottybguud My favourite from this season. Cool concept for the story and the Master gets a lot to do. As do a lot of the cast. Pertwee doesn't though tbf. But such a fun story. Scottybguud View profile Like Liked 0 25 March 2025 · 23 words Review by BSCTDrayden 1 This is probably the most bonkers and silliest Doctor Who story I've seen in ages if ever and I love it. So fun! BSCTDrayden View profile Like Liked 1 Show All Reviews (11) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating546 members 4.01 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating379 votes 3.75 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 965 Favourited 142 Reviewed 11 Saved 7 Skipped 3 Related Stories Reeltime Pictures Dæmos Rising Rating: 2.67 Story Skipped Movie Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Reeltime Pictures Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Virgin Missing Adventures Who Killed Kennedy Rating: 4.06 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 Blogs of Doom Bert the Landlord Rating: 2.30 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 Hawthorne's Brigade The Ghost Rating: ??? Story Skipped Comic More Actions 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 Dæmons Rating: 3.96 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 BRIGADIER: Now I'm not going to sit here like a spare lemon waiting for the squeezer. — Third Doctor, The Dæmons Show All Quotes (8) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Episode One [Village Green] (It is a dark and stormy night. The quiet village of Aldbourne in Wiltshire pretends to be Devil's End, with an appropriate eerie howling wind and thunderstorm. Lightning briefly illuminates the church across the green as the public house, the Cloven Hoof, turns out its last customers - a man and his dog - into the storm.) JIM: Goodnight, Frank.FRANK [OC]: Goodnight, Jim. (By the churchyard, the dog gets free of his master and runs through the gravestones, barking. Jim follows, and we hear a strange noise as a look of terror comes over his face.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window
