Doctor Who (1963) 14.05.04

Robots of Death - Part 4

Commander Uvanov saves the doctor by stabbing the robot that's strangling him with a laser probe. The robot isn't destroyed but it is seriously impaired and they escape to the bridge.

Leela finds Toos, who was strangled by a robot. She survived only because the robot thought she was dead and left after receiving ordered from SV7. Leela and Toos make their way to the bridge.

D84 finds Poul and takes him to bridge.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.05.03

The Robots of Death - Part 3

Dask prevetns the sandminer from overheating by cutting some of the primary circuits. The engines stop running as do the life support systems. Dask goes down to the engine rooms to get things working again. Poul explains why he had Commander Ulanov locked up. He suspects that Ulanov killed Zilda. He goes on to explain that Ulanov has killed before. Poul was there and saw it happen, as was Kerel. The man who Ulanov killed was Zilda's brother.

The Doctor goes to find D84. He tells Leela to keep an eye on Poul, the Doctor doesn't trust him. Poul tricks Leela and locks her in a room. The Doctor finds D84 and has a chat with him. He learns, from D84, about Taran Cappell, a genius in the field of robotics. The doctor surmises that Cappell must be aboard the sandminer.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.05.02

The Robots of Death - Part 2

The Doctor is saved by SV7, the command robot, from the room that was filling up with debris. The Doctor tries telling SV7 about the dead body he found but he doesn't get very far before SV7 has him restrained on orders from Commander Uvanov.

Leela watches from a hiding spot as Chubb is wheeled out of the store room by two robots. She goes looking for the doctor and finds Cass, dead. She is approached by D84, a robot, who speaks to her even though she later learns that it shouldn't be able to speak. The robot asks her not to tell the others about it.

Doctor Who (1963) 14.05.01

The Robots of Death - Part 1

The TARDIS materializes inside of a sand mining craft. The Doctor and Leela get and out and go for a look around. They return to where the TARDIS was but it is gone. A door opens and robots emerge. They take the Doctor and Leela to a room within the mining ship.

The human crew of the mining ship is in the midst of chasing down a storm when Chubb, one of the crew, gets murdered in a remote part of the ship. He is killed by a robot. Poul, one of the other crew members, finds Chub. Mining operations are discontinued. The crew gets together to discuss what they know.

The Sandmine Murders (2012)

directed by Steve Broster

32 minutes

This is a documentary about the making of The Robots of Death. They cover quite a bit of ground in just 32 minutes. It opens with director Michael Briant and producer Peter Hinchcliffe talking about their memories of the origin of the story. Tom Baker wasn't a big fan of the story when he first read it. 

There are five members of the cast interviewed for this documentary: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, plus three members of the cast who played crew members on the sandminer (Pamela Salem, David Collings, Brian Croucher). Elizabeth Waller, who worked on costumes for the show, talks about the look and design of the costumes worn by the robots and the crew.