The Doctor gets very interested in the happenings at the Devil's Hump, the site of an archaeological dig. He learns of it thanks to the coverage of the dig by a news team from BBC3. The Doctor suspects that Professor Horner, who is in charge of the dig, may unearth something that might cause quite a bit of trouble. The fact that the professor has chosen to do said unearthing on Beltane (May 1) seems to increase the Doctor's anxiety. He rushes with Jo Grant to get to the site of the dig before midnight, when Professor Horner plans to break through a wall that has remained intact for thousands of years.
Miss Hawthorne, a local white witch, also fears that the Horner might cause problems with his stunt. She turns to the local vicar for help. The Master, disguised as the vicar, tries to hypnotize her but her abilities prevent him from succeeding in that venture.
The Doctor and Jo get lost but eventually make their way to the site of the dig. They get there just as the Professor is breaking through the wall. At that very moment the Master and his followers are participating in a ceremony to call on some ancient forces. The Doctor arrives at Devil's Hump just as something erupts from behind the wall and coats the Doctor and Professor Horner.
Thoughts
Barry Letts (producer) co-wrote this story with Robert Sloman although officially it was credited to the pen name of Guy Leopold. Together they also co-wrote three other stories, all of which were credited to Sloman.
Christopher Barry (director), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Damaris Hayman (Olive Hawthorne), and Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates) are on the commentary track for this episode.
I've seen snippets here are there from this story but I've never watched it in its entirety. This was an okay start. I'm not won over just yet by this story but the supporting cast, including Damaris Hayman as Miss Hawthorne and the actors who play Professor Horner and the reporter are definite pluses. It was interesting to see that for once they didn't hold back the reveal of the Master for the end of an episode.
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