Doctor Who Logo 'Enlightenment'
(4 Parts)
Story Code '6H'

by Barbara Clegg
The Doctor

Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough receive a warning of danger from the White Guardian. The time / space ship materialises aboard an Edwardian sailing ship, The SS Shadow, where the travellers meet Captain Striker and his crew, who are taking part in a boating competition. The Doctor and his companions are amazed to discover that although the ship looks like an ordinary boat, it is in fact a space ship, making its way on a race around the solar system, for the prize of 'Enlightenment'. Striker and the ship's officers are members of an immortal alien race called Eternals, who despite having incredible mental powers, have no imagination; they have abducted emphemerals - human beings - as they find their minds to be extremely interesting and diverting; they have hypnotised them and set them to work as the ship's crew. Turlough is unable to fulfil his bargain with the Black Guardian, as he cannot bring himself to kill the Doctor. He attempts to escape the Black Guardian's wrath by jumping overboard into space, where pirate captain Wrack rescues him. After some of the other competing ships are mysteriously destroyed, Striker, the Doctor and Tegan are invited to a ball held by Wrack aboard her ship. Wrack is secretly in league with the Black Guardian, as she covets the prize of Enlightenment; she has been using the Black Guardian's power to destroy the rival ships to ensure her success. However, she does not realise that the Black Guardian is using her for his own ends, as he hope that the Eternals will use Enlightenment to spread chaos throughout time and space. The Black Guardian has also sworn to destroy Turlough, who is cannot bring himself to kill the Doctor as per their pact. Wrack attempts to secret a focusing device on Tegan's tiara, planning to use it to destroy The Shadow once she and her friends return. But the Doctor and Turlough are able to stop her plans, and manage to throw Wrack overboard, enabling them to steer her ship into the glowing, crystalline port. The two Guardians banish the remaining Eternals, and offer Enlightenment, in the form of a giant diamond, to the Doctor. The Time Lord refuses, instead offering it to Turlough, but the young boy throws the diamond at the Black Guardian, who vanishes in flames, and severing the bond between them. Turlough is now free, as Enlightenment was not the crystal, but the choice it offered.

Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Keith Barron (Striker), Valentine Dyall (Black Guardian), Cyril Luckham (White Guardian), Christopher Brown (Marriner), Tony Caunter (Jackson), Clive Kneller (Collier), James McClure (First Officer), Lynda Baron (Wrack), Leee John (Mansell)

Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Fiona Cumming


TX:
Part 1 - 1st March, 1983 @ 6.55pm - 7.20pm
Part 2 - 2nd March, 1983 @ 6.45pm - 7.10pm
Part 3 - 8th March, 1983 @ 6.55pm - 7.20pm
Part 4 - 9th March, 1983 @ 6.45pm - 7.10pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough