Pyramids of Mars is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 25 to November 15, 1975. Thomas Stewart Baker (born January 20, 1934) is an English actor. ... The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... This entry is about the television scriptwriter. ... Lewis Griefer was a writer for television associated with the Doctor Who story Pyramids of Mars. ... Paddy Russell Paddy Russell is a British television director. ... Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Hinchcliffe (born 1944) is a British television producer, who is probably best known for the overseeing of the golden era of British television series Doctor Who in the mid-1970s. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Planet of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 27 to October 18, 1975. ... The Android Invasion is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from November 22 to December 13, 1975 // Synopsis The Doctor and Sarah find themselves in the English village of Devesham near a Space Defence Station. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Doctor hoe is a long-running nudistBritish science fiction television programmar (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

Synopsis

In a Victorian gothic mansion, strange things are afoot. The master of the house, away in Egypt, has been replaced by a sinister Egyptian and cloth-wrapped mummies roam the grounds killing people. Beneath a pyramid, the last of the Osirians — Sutekh the Destroyer — waits to be freed, to at long last bring his gift of death to all who live. Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster, London: Gothic details provided by A.W.N. Pugin The Gothic Revival was an architectural movement which originated in mid-18th century England. ... This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ...

Plot

"Kneel before the might of Sutekh!"

Egypt, 1911. Marcus Scarman, Fellow and Professor of Archaeology at All Souls College, Oxford University, is excavating a blind pyramid and finds that the door to the burial chamber is inscribed with the Eye of Horus. Scarman's Egyptian assistants panic and flee at the sight of the glowing hieroglyph, leaving the Professor to enter the chamber alone. As he holds a light up to see the undisturbed tomb, he is blasted by a green ray that emanates from a seated and cowled figure. Download high resolution version (867x663, 39 KB)Sutekh, the last of the extraterrestrial Osirians, teaches the Fourth Doctor some manners (from Doctor Who - Pyramids of Mars). ... Download high resolution version (867x663, 39 KB)Sutekh, the last of the extraterrestrial Osirians, teaches the Fourth Doctor some manners (from Doctor Who - Pyramids of Mars). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Archaeology, archeology, or archology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... All Souls College (in full: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Hieroglyphic version of the Eye of Horus The Eye of Horus (originally, The Eye of Ra) is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and power, from the deity Horus or Ra. ... It has been suggested that Hieroglyph (French Wiki article) be merged into this article or section. ...

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith are still on their way back to UNIT headquarters in the TARDIS. At the same moment as the tomb is disturbed, the TARDIS is forced out of its flight path and Sarah sees an apparition of an alien, jackal-like face in the console room. The Doctor comments that a mental projection that could have this effect on the TARDIS would be powerful beyond imagination. The Doctor follows the energy source back to its point of origin and lands the TARDIS in the Scarman family home, a former priory somewhere in England. The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Planet of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 27 to October 18, 1975. ... The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (also known as UNIT) is a fictional military organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS in the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space. ... The Doctor is the central fictional character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series. ... A priory is an ecclesiastical circumscription run by a prior. ...

The Doctor and Sarah explore the priory and find what appear to be Egyptian artifacts in the storeroom in which the TARDIS materialised. Discovered by the butler, they are told that the house has been taken over by a mysterious Egyptian gentleman by the name of Ibrahim Namin. The butler urges them to leave. As he turns to inspect the room after the Doctor and Sarah's departure via the window, a sarcophagus lid is seen to be moving. Stone sarcophagus of Pharaoh Merenptah Detail of a stone sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archeological Museum showing a hunting scene Anthropoid sarcophagus discovered at Cádiz A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. ...

In another part of the priory, Namin is being confronted by Dr. Warlock, an old friend of Professor Scarman, but their heated debate is interrupted by a scream. Warlock and Namin find that the scream came from the butler, who has been crushed to death in the storeroom. Namin shoots Warlock in order to prevent him from going for help. The Doctor, who has witnessed the argument and heard the scream, prevents the shot from being immediately fatal by using his scarf to pull the gun in Namin's hand. The three make their escape into the grounds of the estate. Instead of following, Namin removes the lid of another sarcophagus to reveal a mummy. Holding up his ring, he commands the mummy to activate and orders it to pursue them. A mummy is a corpse whose skin and dried flesh have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or airlessness. ...

The Doctor, Sarah and Warlock hide in the woods until the pursuing mummies are called off the hunt by Namin, who is summoned to the central room of the house by a blast of organ music. The three fugitives make their way to a hunting lodge in the grounds that is used by Laurence Scarman, Professor Scarman's brother, as a home. Laurence is an amateur scientist whose marconiscope has intercepted a signal from Mars. The Doctor uses a more portable device to decode the signal as "Beware Sutekh". Guglielmo Marchese Marconi, GCVO (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor, best known for his development of a practical radiotelegraph system, which served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies worldwide. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ...

The Doctor explains that Sutekh is the last of a powerful alien race called the Osirians, a paranoid megalomaniac who came to believe that all life was his enemy. He was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus and was finally defeated on Earth by the combined might of 740 Osirians. The Doctor returns to the house in order to formulate a plan to stop Sutekh, followed by Sarah and Laurence Scarman. The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe currently known to support life. ... Horus is an ancient god of Egyptian mythology, whose cult survivved so long that he evolved dramatically over time and gained many names. ...

Namin and the mummies — really service robots — greet the arrival of Sutekh's servant who travels to the priory via a spacetime tunnel, the portal of which is disguised as an upright sarcophagus. The Servant of Sutekh appears as a dark-helmeted humanoid figure dressed in black. The Servant ignores Namin's pleas for his life and kills him, declaring that Sutekh needs no other servant. ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ... In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time into a single construct called the space-time continuum, in which time plays the role of the 4th dimension. ...

After killing Namin, the Servant transforms into Marcus Scarman, although he appears to be an animated corpse. Scarman then uses the spacetime tunnel to communicate with Sutekh, immobile in his pyramid, who orders Scarman to secure the perimeter of the estate and to construct an Osirian war missile. After Scarman and the robots leave to execute their orders, the Doctor, Sarah and Laurence Scarman enter the main room. The Doctor locates the spacetime tunnel but accidentally activates it and is nearly dragged through. He disrupts the tunnel using the TARDIS key and is knocked unconscious by the energy discharge. Laurence hides the three of them in a priest hole for fear of being discovered by his brother. The concealed entrance to a Priest Hole in Partingdale House, Middlesex (to right of drawing) A priest hole is the term given to hiding places for priests built into many of the principal Middle Ages Roman Catholic houses of England. ...

In another part of the estate, a poacher, Clements, finds a mummy trapped one of his snares. He retreats but is prevented from escaping the estate by the deflection barrier that Sutekh has ordered to be generated in order to secure the perimeter. Once Scarman has finished placing the generators, he finds Warlock and questions him about the other people within the barrier. Clements hears Warlock's death scream and tracks Marcus Scarman back to the house.

While in hiding, the Doctor realises that he will be able to stop Sutekh controlling his Servant and the mummies by using Namin's ring and Laurence Scarman's scientific apparatus. Marcus Scarman is prevented from finding them by the sudden appearance of Clements. Clements fires his shotgun at Marcus Scarman's back and is amazed to see the explosion reverse and all damage healed. Clements panics and retreats, pursued by the robots.

The Doctor locates Namin's corpse and retrieves the ring. All three proceed into the TARDIS to avoid detection. Laurence is amazed by the dimensionally transcendental nature of the TARDIS. Sarah suggests they should just leave in the TARDIS, because they know that the world did not end in 1911. The Doctor demonstrates otherwise by moving the TARDIS forward in time to 1980. There, the TARDIS doors open onto a blasted wilderness, with thunder, rain and lightning hammering down on to ash fields. Sarah understands that they have no choice but to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh, or the future will be lost. 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

The TARDIS returns to 1911 and the three retreat to the hunting lodge in order to jury-rig a jamming unit to prevent Sutekh controlling his servants. Laurence finds it too hard to deal with the Doctor's assertion that Marcus Scarman is dead and that the being with his appearance is just a puppet. Laurence overhears the Doctor telling Sarah that when the jamming device is activated, all of Sutekh's servants will stop, Marcus Scarman included. 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...

At the crucial moment when the device is activated, Laurence attempts to stop it from happening. The robots overrun the hunting lodge after finding and killing Clements. They knock Laurence out and throw the Doctor to the floor.

One of the robots attacks the jamming device and is disabled by a sudden discharge of power. Sarah is threatened by a robot, but the Doctor tells Sarah to grab the ring that they took from Namin and order the robots to return to Control. Sarah does so and the robots obey.

Surveying the ruined equipment, the Doctor decides that the only thing that he can do is to blow up the partially-assembled rocket in the stable courtyard of the Priory. Laurence suggests using blasting gelignite, a supply of which Clements in his hut on the estate. The Doctor and Sarah leave to locate the gelignite, ordering Laurence to strip the bindings from the now deactivated robot left in the hunting lodge. Gelignite, also known as Blasting gelatin, is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in nitroglycerine and mixed with wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate. ...

The Doctor finds the energy barrier and, with Sarah's help, deactivates a generator loop in order to get through. The deactivation is detected by Sutekh, who orders Marcus Scarman to investigate. Marcus finds Laurence in the hunting lodge. Laurence tries to make Marcus remember his childhood in order to revive his humanity, but fails, and Marcus tortures Laurence in order to find out more about the Doctor.

The Doctor and Sarah find the gelignite and hide it near the rocket before returning to the lodge. There they find Laurence in a rocking chair, strangled, and a robot stripped of its bindings. The Doctor asks Sarah to disguise him in the bindings in order for him to place the gelignite on the rocket without being detected.

However, when Sarah detonates the gelignite by shooting it with a hunting rifle, they see the explosion pause, then retreat back upon itself. The Doctor realises that Sutekh is holding back the detonation using mental power alone and that the only way to destroy the missile is travel to Sutekh's prison using the spacetime tunnel and distract him. As he enters the chamber and calls out Sutekh's name, the last of the Osirians turns in response. On Earth, the explosion consumes the rocket. Angered, Sutekh paralyses the Doctor with a blast of mental force.

Sutekh interrogates the Doctor and discovers that he is a Time Lord from Gallifrey. Declaring that he will turn the Doctor into his plaything, Sutekh locates the TARDIS and decides to use it to transport Scarman to the Pyramids of Mars in order to deactivate the Eye of Horus, the force that is trapping him. The Doctor avoids being killed by claiming that the TARDIS controls are isomorphic, meaning they respond to him alone. Sutekh subjects the Doctor to mind control and returns him to the priory as another of his servants. He then orders Scarman to bring a robot and Sarah into the TARDIS to travel to Mars. This article is about the Time Lords from Doctor Who. ... A Vardan spaceship approaches Gallifrey from space (from The Invasion of Time). ... A plaything is an object of very little value that exists merely as a source of amusement for someone, to be used at their whim and then quickly discarded. ...

On Mars, Sutekh orders Scarman to dispose of the Doctor and the robot strangles him. Scarman and the robot then find the way out of the first chamber beneath the pyramid and leave Sarah weeping over the Doctor. The Doctor then wakes up, revealing that his respiratory bypass system allowed him to avoid death, and they then set off in search of Scarman.

The Eye of Horus is located at the end of a corridor beneath the pyramid. The corridor is divided in to a series of chambers and progress through the chambers is dependent upon solving logical and philosophical problems. Sutekh navigates Scarman and the robot through each problem with no deliberation but the Doctor and Sarah are slower. At the last puzzle, a transparent cylinder materialises around Sarah. The voice of Horus tells the Doctor that the chamber has two switches and that he is allowed to ask one question of one Guardian of Horus. The Guardians materialised at the same moment as the Crucible and are mummy robots swathed in gold bindings. There is not much time as Sarah has a limited air supply within the chamber and will suffocate unless he can find out from them which is the right switch to activate. One robot will always tell the truth and the other always lie, but which is which?

Since the Guardians are contra-programmed so that one will always give a false answer, the Doctor asks one Guardian, if he were to ask the other Guardian which was the life switch, which would the other indicate? The Doctor reasons that if the Guardian he asks tells the truth then it must indicate the death switch and the if it is the liar then it would still indicate the death switch. The Doctor presses the other switch and the chamber and Guardians disappear, freeing Sarah.

Scarman and the robot reach the chamber containing the Eye of Horus. Another Guardian of Horus appears and does battle with Sutekh's robot. Sutekh realises that he is moments away from freedom and channels all of his power through Scarman in order to destroy the Eye of Horus. Scarman momentarily transforms into the jackal creature Sarah saw earlier in the TARDIS and destroys the Eye before falling to the floor and decaying to dust in an instant. Arriving too late, the Doctor looks back and sees the bulkhead doors open one by one, revealing the TARDIS at the end of the corridor. He realizes that the time factor can still save them.

Back in the priory, the Doctor exits the TARDIS at a run, holding a piece of the TARDIS console. He runs to the main room of the priory and attaches the device to the spacetime tunnel. Sutekh appears in the tunnel, travelling towards the exit, but he cannot seem to reach it. He pleads with the Doctor to release him, but the Doctor simply turns the dial and Sutekh recedes screaming. The Doctor declares that Sutekh lived for about 7000 years. The Doctor explains that time control from the TARDIS shifted the mouth of the spacetime tunnel into the far future, which Sutekh could never hope to reach. They had two minutes to return to Earth from Mars and set the trap because this is the amount of time that it takes for radio waves to propagate between the two planets.

As the Doctor and Sarah pack up and prepare to leave, a thermal imbalance in the time tunnel causes it to catch fire. The Doctor remembers that the UNIT headquarters was built on the remains of a burnt priory and the two decide to leave it alone, re-entering the TARDIS and dematerialising. Outside, the priory is consumed in flames.

Cast

• Doctor Who — Tom Baker
• Sarah Jane Smith — Elisabeth Sladen
• Sutekh — Gabriel Woolf
• Marcus Scarman — Bernard Archard
• Laurence Scarman — Michael Sheard
• Dr Warlock — Peter Copley
• Collins — Michael Bilton
• Ernie Clements — George Tovey
• Ibrhaim Namin — Peter Mayock
• Ahmed — Vik Tablian
• Mummies — Nick Burnell, Melvyn Bedford, Kevin Selway

The Doctor is the central fictional character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series. ... Thomas Stewart Baker (born January 20, 1934) is an English actor. ... Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Elisabeth Sladen on BBC Ones Breakfast, 27 April 2006. ... This is a list of villains from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. ... Gabriel Woolf Gabriel Woolf (born 2 October 1932) is an English film and television actor. ... Bernard Archard is an English actor born in London, England on August 20, 1922. ... Michael Sheard Michael Sheard (born 18 June 1940 in Aberdeen, died 31 August 2005) was a Scottish actor who featured in a large number of films and television programmes. ... Peter Copley (born 20 May 1915 in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England) is an actor, best remembered for his appearances on television. ... Michael Bilton Michael Bilton was an English actor born 12 December 1919, died 5 May 1993. ...

Cast notes

• Features a guest appearance by Michael Sheard. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
• Gabriel Woolf reprised his role as Sutekh in the Faction Paradox audio dramas Coming to Dust (2005) and The Ship of a Billion Years (2006), from Magic Bullet Productions.

Michael Sheard Michael Sheard (born 18 June 1940 in Aberdeen, died 31 August 2005) was a Scottish actor who featured in a large number of films and television programmes. ... Several celebrities have made guest appearances in Doctor Who. ... Faction Paradox is a fictional time travelling voodoo cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate created by Lawrence Miles. ... Magic Bullet Productions is an independent audio-production company formed in 2001 by Alan Stevens. ...

In print

The Target novelisation by Terrance Dicks

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in December 1976. Image File history File links Doctor_Who_and_the_Pyramids_of_Mars. ... Image File history File links Doctor_Who_and_the_Pyramids_of_Mars. ... by David Whitaker, published in 1964, was the very first Doctor Who novelisation. ... Terrance Dicks Terrance Dicks (born 1935 in East Ham, London, England, UK) is a British writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular childrens books during the 1970s and 80s. ... Terrance Dicks Terrance Dicks (born 1935 in East Ham, London, England, UK) is a British writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular childrens books during the 1970s and 80s. ... Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. ...

Continuity

• Although the name of Sutekh's race is pronounced "Osiran" throughout the serial, the scripts and publicity material spell it as "Osirian" in some places and as "Osiran" in others. Many fans use the "Osiran" spelling, as do some reference works such as The Discontinuity Guide.
• Sarah Jane Smith refers to her encounter with "mummies" in an argument with Rose Tyler during the episode School Reunion (2006).

Rose Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... School Reunion is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Production

• The story was originally written by Lewis Griefer, but was considered unworkable. As Griefer was unavailable to do rewrites, the scripts were completely rewritten by Robert Holmes. The pseudonym used on transmission was Stephen Harris.
• The exterior scenes were shot on the Stargroves estate in Hampshire, which was owned by Mick Jagger at the time. The same location would be used during the filming of Image of the Fendahl.
• Sarah refers to the puzzles being similar to that of the Exxilon City in Death to the Daleks, although she never set foot in the City in that story.
• The Doctor notes that the Osirians had "dome-shaped heads, and cerebrums like spiral staircases". However, the unmasked form of Sutekh at the end of the serial (resembling the Set animal) does not have a domed head.
• Pyramids of Mars has the unfortunate distinction of contributing to one of the biggest and most widely discussed contradictions in the Doctor Who universe: the "UNIT dating controversy."
• Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen improvised a number of moments in this story, most notably a scene in Part Four where the Doctor and Sarah start to walk out of their hiding place and then when they see a mummy, quickly walk right back to their hiding place. Baker based the scene on a Marx Brothers routine.
• The new TARDIS console which debuted in the preceding story Planet of Evil does not appear again until The Invisible Enemy. Due to the cost of setting up the TARDIS console room for the filming of only a handful of scenes, a new and far less expensive set and console were designed for the following season.
• Several scenes were deleted from the final product. A model shot of the TARDIS landing in the landscape of a barren, alternative 1980 Earth was to be used in Part Two, but director Paddy Russell decided viewers would feel more impact if the first scene of the new Earth was Sarah's reaction as the TARDIS doors opened. Three scenes of effects such as doors opening and the Doctor materializing from the sarchopagus were removed from the final edit of Part Four because Russell felt the mixes were not good enough. These scenes were included on the DVD, along with an alternate version of the poacher being hunted down in Part Two, and a full version of the Osirian rocket explosion.

This entry is about the television scriptwriter. ... Stargroves in East End, Newbury, was the 1970s home of Mick Jagger, who recorded Exile On Main Street and five songs from Sticky Fingers there. ... Hampshire, sometimes historically Southamptonshire or Hamptonshire, (abbr. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Image of the Fendahl is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 29 to November 19, 1977. ... Death to the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from February 23 to March 16, 1974. ... The telencephalon (te-len-seff-a-lon) is the technical name for a large region within the brain which is attributed many functions, which some groups would class as unique features which make humans stand out from other species. ... Spiral stairway in the Vatican Museum Stairs, staircase, stairway, and flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ... In Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelt Sutekh, Setesh, Seteh) is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, one of the two main biomes that constitutes Egypt, the other being the small fertile area on either side of the Nile. ... The UNIT dating controversy refers to an ongoing debate in Doctor Who fandom about exactly when the stories featuring the fictional military organization known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce actually take place in the timeline of the television series. ... Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo, Frenchy (father), Chico and Harpo. ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS in the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space. ... Planet of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 27 to October 18, 1975. ... The Invisible Enemy is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from October 1 to October 22, 1977. ...

Outside references

• The Doctor, Sarah and Laurence Scarman hide in a priest hole in the priory. This is an anachronism that even the Doctor comments on, since priest holes were a feature of the Elizabethan era and earlier, and not of Victorian architecture ("A priest hole." "In a Victorian Gothic folly? Nonsense!"). No explanation is given; however, the scene may refer to the occasional inclusion of similar, romanticised archaic architectural features in Gothic Revival domestic "follies" like Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill.
• British Conservative MP and government minister Norman Tebbit wrote an article about the BBC in the Monday Club Magazine in 1985 in which he made mention of Pyramids of Mars. He claimed in his article that the wasteland version of 1980 featured in the story was a "typical piece of BBC anti-Tory propaganda." Presumably Tebbit had recently seen the story after it was released on home video earlier that year and had not realised that the serial actually dated from the mid 1970s, when the Labour Party was in government.

The concealed entrance to a Priest Hole in Partingdale House, Middlesex (to right of drawing) A priest hole is the term given to hiding places for priests built into many of the principal Middle Ages Roman Catholic houses of England. ... Look up Anachronism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. ... Broadway Tower, England The folly at Wimpole Hall, England High Service Water Tower (1895), Lawrence, Massachusetts. ... Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster, London: Gothic details provided by A.W.N. Pugin The Gothic revival was a European architectural movement with origins in mid-18th century England. ... Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (September 24, 1717 – March 2, 1797), was a politician, writer and forerunner of the Gothic revival. ... Strawberry Hill is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames near Twickenham. ... Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC (born 29 March 1931) is a British Conservative politician and former MP for Chingford, who was born in Southgate in Enfield. ...

Broadcast and video releases

• This story first came out on VHS in an omnibus format in February 1985. It was subsequently released in episodic format in February 1994. It was released on DVD in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2004. One of the DVD extras (also in the R1 release) is the fan parody Oh Mummy, in which Gabriel Woolf reprises his role as Sutekh. The parody references a notorious blooper from episode 4, when Sutekh stands up from his throne and a crew member's hand is briefly glimpsed on the seat.
• This story was also repeated on BBC2 in 1994.

Top view of VHS cassette with U.S. 25c coin for scale Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and...

External links

• Pyramids of Mars episode guide on the BBC website
• Pyramids of Mars at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• Pyramids of Mars at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Oh Mummy — website for the DVD spoof

Reviews

• Pyramids of Mars reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• Pyramids of Mars reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide

Outpost Gallifrey is a fan website for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Target novelisation

• Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide

• On Target — Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars