Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Returning to London, the Doctor and Sarah Jane find a city almost completely devoid of life. The civilian population has been evacuated in the wake of an unimaginable event: somehow dinosaurs have returned to terrorize the Earth.

As the Brigadier and UNIT fend off increasingly vicious attacks from gigantic prehistoric reptiles, the Doctor investigates just how these monsters are appearing without warning. But when Sarah Jane is kidnapped, the Doctor realizes perhaps even his oldest friends can't be trusted.

Who is responsible for the devastating carnage? And what will Sarah Jane do when she awakes aboard a spaceship many light years from home?

The Doctor and Sarah return to 20th Century London to find it deserted. Initially arrested as looters, they are soon back with UNIT. The Brigadier explains that central London has been evacuated due to the unexplained and random appearance of prehistoric monsters. The Doctor and Sarah discover that the monsters are being brought through time by two scientists, Whitaker and his henchman Butler, as part of a conspiracy to clear London of people.
The Doctor's investigations are deliberately hindered first by Captain Yates and then by the Army's General Finch, both of whom are involved in the conspiracy. Sarah visits Sir Charles Grover, the Government Minister in charge during the emergency, but discovers that he too is involved.
Captured and hypnotised, she revives to find herself apparently on board a spaceship en route to colonise another world. She soon realises that the ship is just a mock-up and those on board, led by a number of elders, have been duped.
The conspirators in fact intend to use a time machine to return London to a 'Golden Age' before the Earth became polluted, so that they and the would-be colonists can start civilisation afresh.
The Doctor and the Brigadier mount a raid on their underground headquarters. Grover makes a last-ditch attempt to operate the time machine, but the Doctor has changed the settings and he succeeds only in sending himself and Whitaker back to the era of the dinosaurs. The Brigadier arranges for the misguided Yates to be given a chance to resign quietly from UNIT.

First Transmitted
1 - 12/01/1974 17:30
2 - 19/01/1974 17:30
3 - 26/01/1974 17:30
4 - 02/02/1974 17:30
5 - 09/02/1974 17:30
6 - 16/02/1974 17:30

Directed by Paddy Russell
Written by Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Barry Letts
Original Music by Dudley Simpson
Film Editing by Bob Rymer
Costume Design by Barbara Kidd

Well-known actor Martin Jarvis plays Butler. Jarvis had previously portrayed Hilio in the season two story The Web Planet, and went on to make one further Doctor Who appearance, as the Governor in the season twenty-two story Vengeance on Varos.

There is the first appearance of the Doctor's futuristic new car, named the Alien by its makers but referred to generally (although never on-screen) as the Whomobile. It had still to be fully completed by the time the filming for this story took place, and so is seen with no roof and only a makeshift windscreen.