The Terileptils were alien criminals that had escaped from the tinclavic mines on the planet Raaga. The reptilian Terileptils arrived on Earth in 1666, where they created an android dressed as the Grim Reaper to scare the locals. They also planned to release a plague of rats (the Black Death) to wipe out humanity and take the Earth for themselves. Thankfully, the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric were around to defeat the Terileptils. But in doing so, the Doctor accidentally started the Great Fire of London in Pudding Lane, one of many occasions in Doctor Who when the Doctor and his companions have become part of history.

The Visitation

★★★★☆

TX: 15/02/1982 – 23/02/1982

Written by Eric Saward    Directed by Peter Moffatt

The Fifth Doctor tries to take his companion, air stewardess Tegan back to present day Heathrow. However, the TARDIS accidentally lands in England, 1666, the right place but the wrong time. The local villagers are being terrorised by an android dressed as the Grim Reaper. The Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric meet Richard Mace, a travelling thespian. The Doctor discovers that the villagers are being controlled by devices on their wrists. Nyssa and Adric battle the Grim Reaper, which is really a jazzy android dressed as death. The culprits are the Terileptils, reptilian criminals that have escaped from the tinclavic mines on Raaga. The Terileptils created the android Grim Reaper to scare the villagers away. The Terileptils are dependent on a gas known as soliton, which the Doctor recognises. The Terileptils plan to release a plague of rats (the Black Death) in London in order to wipe out humanity and take the Earth for themselves. The Doctor and his companions follow the Terileptils to Pudding Lane, London where a fight ensues. During the fight, the Terileptils are shot and the Doctor drops a flaming torch which accidentally starts the Great Fire of London! Richard Mace stays to help put out the fire whilst the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric depart in the TARDIS.