Stories Television Doctor Who Season 14 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Deadly Assassin 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 14 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 3 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, October 30, 1976 Production Code 4P Written by Robert Holmes Directed by David Maloney Runtime 100 minutes Story Type Companion-Lite Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Breaking the Fourth Wall, Miniaturisation Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Regeneration Limit Location (Potential Spoilers!) APC Net, Gallifrey, The Matrix, The Panopticon Synopsis Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history... 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 Part One First aired Saturday, October 30, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 11.8 million Synopsis Gallifrey, planet of the Time Lords. Summoned home by a premonition of murder, the Doctor discovers a dark conspiracy at the highest levels of Time Lord society... and his oldest enemy, who poses a threat to the existence of Gallifrey itself... Part Two First aired Saturday, November 6, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 12.1 million Appreciation Index 59 Synopsis The President of the High Council has been killed and the Doctor is the prime suspect. The Time Lords are eager to dispense quick justice and the Doctor must race agains the clock to discover the truth... and an old enemy. Part Three First aired Saturday, November 13, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 13 million Synopsis The Doctor has entered the computation Matrix to prove his innocence. But his opponent is prepared for him and the two engage in a mental duel to the death. Part Four First aired Saturday, November 20, 1976 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Holmes Directed by David Maloney UK Viewers 11.8 million Appreciation Index 61 Synopsis The Doctor has won his fight in the Matrix and revealed the assassin. But the Master is not defeated and sets a plan in motion that could destroy the Time Lords. Show All Episodes Characters Fourth Doctor Tom Baker The Decayed Master First Appearance The Time Lords Spandrell First Appearance Engin First Appearance Borusa First Appearance Pandad IV Rassilon First Appearance Goth Show All Characters (9) How to watch The Deadly Assassin: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray Time Lord Victorious: Road to the Dark Times Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 14 DVD The Deadly Assassin VHS The Deadly Assassin (VHS) VHS The Time Lord Collection (VHS) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Default 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 14 reviews 4 July 2025 New· · 73 words Review by Jonathan_ Spoilers This review contains spoilers! Really good episode, the Doctor has to solve a murder on Gallifrey. We see more of Gallifrey in this episode than any so far and its great. We get a sense of the Doctor's role in the society that we did not have before. The Master is back, this time as a weird skull face guy. The duel between he (or his henchman I guess) and the Doctor is really cool as well. Jonathan_ View profile Like Liked 0 25 June 2025 · 323 words Review by JayPea 1 The Deadly Assassin! A brilliant first two parts, and... a third and fourth part. It may be that the Gallifrey series has spoilt me for gallifreyan intrigue and politics, but while the first two parts set that all up really nicely (the assassination of a president, the exposition about life on Gallifrey, seeing the bureaucracy in action, the loopholes in law), when the Doctor enters the matrix near the end of part 2, it starts to somewhat fall apart. It's not that the matrix sections are particularly bad or anything, it's just that they feel very much like standard fare for the show, and the story up until that point had managed to feel somewhat out there, even despite its 'grounding' of the Time Lords. It'd felt somewhat more unique, the bureaucratic aspect being something not often seen in the show, and here The Doctor isn't the clear smartest man in the room like he often is, we're even introduced to his old mentor. When we get into The Matrix though, it's The Doctor running around a quarry. The show can say that The Master's controlling the environment as much as they want, but it doesn't really affect all that much, and it still ultimately comes down to, well, The Doctor fighting an enemy in a quarry, about the most standard story you can have in classic who. It does somewhat come back after he leaves, especially with The Master's plans with faking his death to get what he wants and that, but even then, it feels like a Master story. Master stories are always good, and I of course appreciate that there hadn't been one in such a long time, but for a story that started setting itself apart from the standard action of the show, it's a little disappointing that it ends up being standard Who story. Don't get me wrong, a good standard Who story, but still a standard Who story. JayPea View profile Like Liked 1 8 May 2024 · 170 words Review by 15thDoctor Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! After 13 and a half seasons of randomly pottering around time and space, with the occasional dash of continuity, The Doctor finds himself back home and revealing unprecedented amounts about his his race and home planet. This story has the rare accolade of being both set on Gallifrey and actually being good. It helps that a large chunk of the story is set in a frightening nightmare hallucination, so you never get a chance to get bored of the setting - which is home to assassination, lies and political games. I like that The Time Lords are set up as generally being total bastards. It makes total sense of why The Doctor left his home planet. It was wonderful to see The Master back after all this time - and in a new incarnation. It only increases the grand sense of history this story has. It’s a very special 4 parter that fees like a reward for sticking with the show up to this point and a celebration of its 13 year history. 15thDoctor View profile Like Liked 1 4 June 2024 · 420 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! Deadly Assassin is far from perfect, and has a number of strange quirks to it, but by and large it is a very unique story from the Classic series that kind of has an irreplaceable, vital part of the franchise and its history. Sure, we had gotten scant glimpses of the Time Lords and Gallifrey up until now, but this is a whole new level, building so much into the world in these four short parts and bringing in a lot of new ideas and concepts to the franchise and the Doctor's people. That being said, it is a bit of a double-edged sword. While Deadly Assassin does a number of things right, like getting into multiple chapters and the fun use of colour in their costumes to denote each character's faction and position in Time Lord Society, it isn't perfect either. The danger of stories like this is that they simplify the Time Lords a bit. I find it weird they don't have a word or concept of framing somebody for a crime to the point they have to borrow it from the English language according to the dialogue, even when they prove as a people more than capable of such an action. As always in stories like these and the Gallifrey series, the Time Lords become a little too basic and easily susceptible to manipulation when we subject them to stories like this, and I prefer the air of power and authority they are more generally given from a distance. These are more insignificant concerns though, as Deadly Assassin is creative and entertaining, which matters most to me when evaluating something from Doctor Who. It is still held back by issues with its pacing, but it is an exciting story, a nice take on a politically themed thriller that is definitely worth checking out. It is weird to me that the Doctor is so unfamiliar with Time Lord politics here, and I think that was more done for the sake of exposition and the fact there isn't really a companion in this story. That's part of what makes it so unique and special though, the Doctor being involved in this story on his own without the usual support structure he leans on adds to the tension very nicely here. Still, there are a lot of good characters surrounding him in these four episodes and I really like the ending between the Doctor and Borusa alluding to their history. A great entry in Doctor Who history, to be sure. dema1020 View profile Like Liked 0 21 June 2025 · 50 words Review by greenLetterT Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! The Gallifrey murder mystery plot is fun. The Doctor wandering about the dreamlike matrix is fun. The Doctor wandering about the dreamlike matrix slap-bang in the middle of the Gallifrey murder mystery plot brings the whole thing to a screeching halt for part 3 and the story never quite recovers itself greenLetterT View profile Like Liked 1 Show All Reviews (14) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating582 members 4.05 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1048 Favourited 142 Reviewed 14 Saved 7 Skipped 1 Related Stories Doctor Who Magazine The Legacy of Gallifrey Rating: 3.46 Story Skipped Short Story Reviews(2) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who Magazine Short Stories 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 Deadly Assassin Rating: 3.70 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 BORUSA: Chancellor, all presidents are faced with difficult decisions. It is by their decisions that they are judged. — Borusa, The Deadly Assassin Show All Quotes (3) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Part One Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected from all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power.But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history ... [TARDIS] (Now alone in the wooden console room, the Doctor has a vision.) DOCTOR: The Panopticon. Show Full Transcript Open in new window