Four to Doomsday
Encyclopedia
- The working title for this story was Days Of Wrath.
- Although Castrovalva was the first story aired which featured Peter Davison as the Fifth DoctorFifth DoctorThe Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
, this story was the first in the season to be produced. - It was originally decided that after Castrovalva, the Doctor would only have two companions, Adric and Tegan. As a result, the character of Nyssa was to be written out of the series at the end of this story. However, Peter Davison strongly opposed this move because he felt that Nyssa was the companion who was "most suited to his vision of the Doctor." Given this, producer John Nathan-Turner and the rest of the production team relented and Nyssa was retained. The story for the following serial Kinda was already developed with two companions and Nyssa was not featured in that narrative as written. Rather than a complete rewrite of Kinda to include Nyssa in the narrative, she remains absent much of that serial, said to be resting in the TARDIS. This was set up with Nyssa's collapse at the end of this story.
Cast notes
- Guest stars in this serial include Stratford Johns as Monarch and Burt Kwouk as Lin Futu. See Celebrity appearances in Doctor WhoCelebrity appearances in Doctor WhoThis is a list of actors who have made guest appearances in Doctor Who.-First Doctor stories:-Second Doctor stories:-Third Doctor stories:-Fourth Doctor stories:-Fifth Doctor stories:-Sixth Doctor stories:-Seventh Doctor stories:...
. - Kwouk later played Doctor Hayashi in the audio play Loups-GarouxLoups-GarouxLoups-Garoux is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
while Paul ShelleyPaul ShelleyPaul Shelley is an English actor.Shelley trained at RADA and has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor...
appeared in The Whispering ForestThe Whispering ForestThe Whispering Forest is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
.
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance DicksTerrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, was published by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in April 1983.
VHS and DVD releases
- This story was released on VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in September 2001. - A DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of the story was released on 15 September 2008.