Monsters, Villains and Alien Worlds

The Toymaker, wearing a brown apron over a waistcoat and shirt, is leaning on a wooden shop counter. On the counter and the adjacent shelves are a variety of old-fashioned toys and figures of Punch and Judy. — Image caption,
The Doctor is reunited with The Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) in The Giggle (2023)

21 November 2023

BBC Archives has unearthed an eclectic selection of the brutes, beasts and baddies that The Doctor has encountered on his travels through time and space.

Emerging from the vaults are Yetis, Weeping Angels, Atlantean Fish People, The Voord, Menoptera and Bernard Bresslaw. Continue scrolling if you dare……

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things" The Second Doctor (1967)

The Doctor, wearing his stripy scarf and brown coat, sits opposite Commander Sharrel, who wears a skin-tight white outfit with silver belt and collar and hair in silver braided dreads with black beads at the ends. They are both in a white, futuristic looking spaceship interior, with other Movellans, similarly dressed to Sharrel, in the background. — Image caption,
The Doctor (Tom Baker) meets beautiful robots, the Movellans, led by Commander Sharrel (Peter Straker) in Destiny of the Daleks (1979)

Black and white photo of Susan, wearing a v-necked sleeveless jumper over a white long-sleeved top and black trousers, is approaching the corner of a building. In the foreground, and around the corner from Susan, is a Voord, wearing a skin-tight black rubber suit and a strange head with gaping eye holes, swept-back horns and a stick and loop antenna on the top front. — Image caption,
The Voord hiding from Susan (Carole Ann Ford) in The Keys of Marinus: The Sea of Death (1964)

A shadowy image of Davros, who is sitting in his life-support chair wearing a black top. His face is wrinkled with age and in the centre of his forehead is a single blue eye. His mechanical right hand is holding on to switches on the front of his chair. — Image caption,
Davros (Julian Bleech), creator of the Daleks, in Journey's End (2008)

A black and white photo of a man-sized insect which has a black body with fluffy white stripes and large wings. His head is covered with a fluffy white hood, on top of which are antenna. — Image caption,
In The Web Planet (1965) the Doctor and his companions help the insect like Menoptera to regain control of their world.

In a room full of Daleks Missy, wearing a long purple skirt and jacket, is holding on a to a bronze Dalek’s suction-cup arm and gunstick. She looks joyful and is kicking one leg up behind her as if dancing. — Image caption,
Missy (Michelle Gomez) teams up with the Daleks in The Witch's Familiar (2015)

Black and white photo of two fish people in an underwater landscape. In the background is the full-length person with arms raised and wearing a short-skirted outfit, looking like a dancer. In the foreground is the head and shoulders of another fish-person whose head and upper body is covered in large sequin-like scales with goggle-like eyes and fins extending from each side of their head. — Image caption,
The Atlantean Fish People in The Underwater Menace (1966)

Several people, all in the same sitting pose and wearing identical large black eyed World War Two gas masks. The central figure is dressed as a nurse in a blue uniform with white apron adorned with a red cross. — Image caption,
"Physical injuries...as plague" The gas-mask wearing patients all rise out of bed in The Empty Child (2005)

Black and white photo of six Cybermen, all wearing identical silver suits with large chest boxes and blank, emotionless faces, walking across a lunar landscape. — Image caption,
The dreaded Cybermen return to challenge The Doctor in The Moonbase (1967)

A grey stone statue-like Weeping Angel looking directly at the camera, arms outstretched. The Angels is in a tunnel which has many statue-like arms reaching out from the roof and walls. — Image caption,
Don't look away! The terrifying Weeping Angel in Village of the Angels (2021)

Black and white photo of a young woman, wearing a 1960s style short-sleeved dress, cowering at the approach of a Yeti, a large fur-covered monster with glowing eyes. — Image caption,
Anne Travers (Tina Packer) is attacked by a Yeti in The Web of Fear (1968)

Linx, with a head that looks a little like a potato with human eyes, nose and mouth, wears a uniform with a high metal collar up to his chin. His arms are upstretched, showing that each hand has three fingers. — Image caption,
The Doctor has met the Sontarans many times, beginning with Linx (Kevin Lindsay) in The Time Warrior (1973)

The Master, dressed in a dark suit and shirt, is standing in a strange landscape with his hands outstretched and fingers splayed. His mouth is wide open, as if he is screaming into the void. — Image caption,
The Spy Master (Sacha Dhawan) in Spyfall (2020)

Black and white photo of two Sensorites – vaguely humanoid apart from their heads, which have very a high, wide forehead and a bald head. Their faces are small and closed, with thin lips and eyes that look almost closed. They have beards at their chin. — Image caption,
The Sensorites, a softly-spoken, telepathic alien race met by the Doctor and his companions in The Sensorites (1964)

The head and shoulders of a monster with a bony, ridged head, deep-set eyes and a large mouth containing extended gums and sharp pointed teeth. — Image caption,
Facing the gruesome Hoix in Love and Monsters (2006)

A black and white photo of a woman with short hair and wearing glasses. She has a paintbrush in her right hand which she is using to paint detail to the eye of a strange, one eyed, shaggy-haired creature. — Image caption,
Make up supervisor Sonia Markham puts the finishing touches to a one-eyed Monoid for The Ark (1966)

A silver-suited Cyberman with a large boxy head which has black handles running between the top of the head and where his ears would be. He is holding a cylinder shaped gun in his right hand. — Image caption,
The Cyberleader (David Banks) tries to negotiate one of the many traps on Gallifrey's Death Zone in The Five Doctors (1983)

Several Autons, with blank, plastic-looking heads. They look to have escaped from a menswear shop, as they are all wearing suit jackets and shirts. — Image caption,
The Autons, aliens made of living plastic, taking the shape of shop window dummies in Rose (2005)

The Master, wearing dark robes with voluminous sleeves which have red and gold trim an a large, high red collar. He is raising his gloved left hand with the index finger pointing upwards. — Image caption,
Always dressing for the occasion. The Master (Eric Roberts) in Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)

Black and white photo showing Jenny and Barbara standing with their backs to a pillar, their necks held by a thick metal ring. Jenny is looking defiant while facing a Dalek. — Image caption,
Jenny (Ann Davies) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) captured by the Daleks in The Dalek Invasion of Earth - Flashpoint (1964)

Several Ood, identically dressed in grey, button-up uniforms, with conical shaped heads and tentacles instead of a mouth. The are walking through a doorway, each with a light-emitting translation sphere in their right hand and glowing red eyes. — Image caption,
Members of the mysterious Ood in The Impossible Planet (2006)

A black and white photo of an actor wearing a shirt and tie with an Ice Warrior helmet on his head. He is holding up a small mirror to see himself while smiling. — Image caption,
Bernard Bresslaw getting into character as Verga the leader of the Ice Warriors (1967)

Maestro, wearing a black outfit with voluminous sleeves and printed keyboard lapels, is climbing out of the top of an upright piano. — Image caption,
Beware the power of music and the melodiously obsessed Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) in The Devil's Chord (2024)

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