The Bannerman are hunting for the Chimeron Queen, having wiped out the rest of the Chimeron. Gavrok and the Bannermen pursue her to a holiday camp in Wales, 1959. Mel joins the Chimeron Queen on a galactic holiday bus and the Seventh Doctor follows in the TARDIS to Wales. The Bannermen arrive and battle commences in this explosive Doctor Who story!

Delta and the Bannermen

★☆☆☆☆

TX: 2-16/11/1987

Written by Malcolm Kohll      Directed by Chris Clough

Most of the Chimeron have been wiped out by the Bannermen. But the Queen of the Chimeron, Delta has survived and takes an intergalactic Navarino tourist bus to Disneyland, 1959 with Mel. The Doctor follows them in the TARDIS to Earth. The holiday vehicle collides with an Earth satellite and is diverted off course, landing at a holiday camp in South Wales, led by camp director Burton. However, Gavrok and the Bannermen arrive to find and kill the Chimeron Queen Delta, who has escaped clutching her egg. Delta’s egg hatches into a bright green baby that starts to grow at a startling rate. The Chimeron Queen supports this development with the equivalent of royal jelly given to bees. Delta captures the heart of Billy, the camp’s mechanic, to the chagrin of Ray, who loves Billy herself. Ray confides her situation to the Doctor, and they stumble across a bounty hunter making contact with the Bannermen to tell them of the Chimeron’s whereabouts. Gavrok and his troops soon arrive. Delta and Billy head off for a picnic while the Doctor busies himself coordinating things back at the camp. Meanwhile, the Bannermen have destroyed the Navarino bus with all its passengers. Two American CIA agents, Hawk and Weismuller, appear on the scene, tracking the missing satellite. Gavrok booby-traps the TARDIS in an attempt to kill the Doctor. A battle ensues with Gavrok and his Bannermen against the Doctor and his crew: Ray & Billy, Goronwy, Mr. Burton and the two CIA agents. The Bannermen are foiled by honey, Goronwy’s bees and finally by the amplified scream of the Chimeron child Princess—a sound which is painful to Bannermen. Goronwy explains to Billy the purpose of royal jelly in the lifecycle of the honeybee, provoking the mechanic to consume Delta’s equivalent that she has been feeding her daughter, in the hope of metamorphosing into a Chimeron. As Gavrok and the Bannermen attack Shangri-La, the amplified scream of the Chimeron princess traumatises the attackers, including Gavrok, who becomes so stunned that he falls into the booby-trap he placed on the TARDIS and is killed. Delta and Billy leave together with the child, the two agents watch on with surprise and Goronwy winks knowingly as the Doctor and Mel slip away.