Doctor Who: Battlefield

Heralded by Who fans for its masterful mash-up of love stories, gory monsters, intriguing plotlines, sword duels, explosions, the return of UNIT and other classic elements, Battlefield launched Sylvester McCoy's final season as the seventh Doctor in the original Doctor Who series in magnificent form. The TARDIS materializes in the English countryside near the village of Carbury, where UNIT's Brigadier Winifred Bambera (Angela Bruce, Bad Girls) has run into difficulties. Lying on the bed of the nearby Lake Vortigern is a spaceship from another dimension containing the body of King Arthur and his sword Excalibur. When the Doctor reveals himself as Merlin, the powerful sorceress Morgaine (Jean Marsh, Upstairs, Downstairs) unleashes a nightmarish creature that leads to a ferocious battle between UNIT and Morgaine's men. Could this really be the end? Digitally remastered with exclusive extras.

Responding to a distress signal, the Doctor and Ace arrive near the village of Carbury, where a nuclear missile convoy has run into difficulties. The peace of the English countryside is shattered as UNIT troops are besieged by armored knights from another dimension. As the crisis deepens, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is called out of retirement to join the battle. Together, he and the Doctor must face the Destroyer, a fearsome demon summoned by the witch queen Morgaine to devour the world.

The TARDIS materialises in the English countryside near the village of Carbury, where a nuclear missile convoy under the command of UNIT's Brigadier Winifred Bambera has run into difficulties. Lying on the bed of the nearby Lake Vortigern is a spaceship from another dimension containing the body of King Arthur, supposedly held in suspended animation, and his sword Excalibur.
Ancelyn, a knight from the other dimension, arrives on Earth to aid the King but is followed by his rival Mordred and the latter's mother, a powerful sorceress named Morgaine. They all recognise the Doctor as Merlin - a fact that the Time Lord attributes to events in his own future.
A battle breaks out between UNIT and Morgaine's men. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has come out of retirement to assist in the crisis and ends up using silver bullets to kill the Destroyer - an awesomely powerful creature unshackled by Morgaine to devour the world - although he himself is almost killed in the process.
Morgaine tries to fire the nuclear missile but is overcome by shock when the Doctor tells her that Arthur is in fact dead. She and her son are then taken prisoner by UNIT.

The Brigadier's wife, Doris, is apparently the same woman mentioned in a scene in season eleven's Planet of the Spiders.

The Doctor pays for his drinks with a five pound piece - they are in the future, he tells Ace.
During recording of the sequence where Ace is trapped in the water tank, the tank cracked, causing Sophie Aldred to sustain minor cuts to her hands and creating a major hazard as water flooded out onto the studio floor. The moment when the tank first cracked can be seen in Part Three as the Doctor struggles with the controls and Ace is lifted clear of the water.

James Ellis, well remembered for his role as Lynch in Z Cars, appears here as archaeologist Peter Warmsly.

Jean Marsh, former wife of third Doctor Jon Pertwee, makes her third Doctor Who appearance. In season two's The Crusade she was Princess Joanna; in season three's The Daleks' Master Plan she was Sara Kingdom; here she is Morgaine.

Directed by Michael Kerrigan
Costumes by Anushia Nieradzik
Producer by John Nathan-Turner
Script Editor by Andrew Cartmel
Title Music by Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Keff McCulloch
Visual Effects by Dave Bezkorowajny
Writer by Ben Aaronovitch