The Web of Fear is the fifth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast in six weekly parts from 3 February to 9 March 1968. Written by writers Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman, the serial is a sequel to 1967 serial The Abominable Snowmen. The plot concerns the incorporeal Great Intelligence and its robotic Yeti minions invading the London Underground in order to lead the time travelling Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) into a trap where it can drain the Doctor's mind of its knowledge. The Web of Fear marks the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney as Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, who would serve as a major recurring character in the series going forward.
The serial was commissioned as a result of then story editor Peter Bryant being highly pleased with The Abominable Snowmen, additionally wanting to feature the Yeti more due to a desire to include more "monsters" in the series. Haisman and Lincoln decided to set the story in the London Underground, wanting the serial's events to be close to home for viewers. The Yeti were redesigned after their appearance in the prior serial, giving the creatures a "rougher" appearance. Due to difficulties in scheduling the Underground for filming, the Underground was reconstructed as a set at BBC studios, where most of the serial's filming took place.
The serial has been regarded as an iconic serial in the series and has received largely positive reviews from retrospective critics. Following the serial's airing, the serial's episodes were destroyed, rendering the serial as missing. One episode was recovered in 1978, with four other episodes being recovered in Nigeria in 2013. The serial's third episode has not been recovered but was reconstructed via animation for a 2021 physical release of the serial.
Plot
The TARDIS lands in a deserted London Underground, with London appearing to be completely abandoned. The elderly Professor Travers (Jack Watling) had previously met the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions forty years earlier in Tibet, where the group had fought off the villainous Great Intelligence; Travers had brought back a robotic Yeti with him, which he recently had accidentally re-activated. The Yeti escaped, and in the following days, London was beset by a deadly web-like fungus. Travers and his daughter Anne (Tina Packer) are working with the British military to try and resolve the situation.
The Doctor and his companions encounter the military, who are trying to stem the spread of the fungus by demolishing tunnels with explosives. The explosives are rendered unable to detonate by a number of Yeti, which allows the Doctor to deduce that the Great Intelligence has returned. Travers is able to convince the military that the Doctor will be able to help them stop the Intelligence. Soon after, the group is joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), who takes command.
The fungus begins to expand into the military's explosives stores, rendering them unusable. The Doctor discovers a Yeti-attracting beacon at the scene, indicating to him that someone in the base is working with the Intelligence. The base is attacked by Yeti, killing several soldiers and kidnapping Travers. The Doctor tells the military of the TARDIS, and a group is sent to retrieve it to allow for later escape, though all the soldiers barring Lethbridge-Stewart are killed.
Soon after, Travers, possessed by the Intelligence, arrives at the military's base. The Intelligence explains that it seeks to drain the Doctor's mind of knowledge. The Doctor appears to submit to the Intelligence, but not before reprogramming a Yeti to aid his allies. Later, the traitor is revealed to be one of the soldiers named Arnold (Jack Woolgar), who has been killed and possessed by the Intelligence. As the Doctor enters a device to have his mind drained, the reprogrammed Yeti attacks Arnold while the others drag the Doctor out of the device and destroy it, which causes the Intelligence to disperse. The Doctor reveals he had intended to use the device to drain the Intelligence, and hence the others' interference has allowed it to escape back into space. The Doctor and his companions depart in the TARDIS.
Production Writing and design
Story editor Peter Bryant was so greatly pleased by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln's previous serial, The Abominable Snowmen, that Bryant commissioned a sequel for the serial to be produced before The Abominable Snowmen had even aired. Bryant sought to include more "monsters" in the series as he believed they were popular with viewers. The Great Intelligence and its Yeti minions were brought back, with Haisman and Lincoln deciding to set the serial in the London Underground in order to provide a familiar backdrop that would "bring the Doctor's adventures far closer to home". Haisman and Lincoln stated that the Underground also served as a logical location for potential invaders of London to try and control. Bryant soon took over as producer for the series, resulting in Derrick Sherwin taking over as script editor. Sherwin found himself having disagreements with Haisman and Lincoln, who were very protective over their scripts.
For their re-appearance in The Web of Fear, the original Yeti costumes had already started to deteriorate, and many had criticised the "cuddly" Yeti designs. As a result, the next design was made to be "rougher" and had glowing eyes. They used yak hair for their construction, were slightly smaller sized than the originals, and wielded "web guns" to attack, unlike before where they solely used their physical strength. They were constructed by freelance prop builders Jack and John Lowell. An original Yeti costume from The Abominable Snowmen was used briefly in the serial as a display piece in a museum, and the old design was transitioned to the new design during the serial's events. Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop developed a Yeti roar for the Yetis' second appearance, created by slowing down the sound of a flushing toilet.
The episode's credits are played over a glowing, pulsating web, unlike the usual black screen used for the credits. Stock incidental music is used during the serial as a cost-saving measure, including a theme that was previously used in serials depicting the Cybermen.
Casting and characters
Jack Watling reprises his role of Professor Travers from the previous year's The Abominable Snowmen, wearing heavy makeup to make it appear as though Travers has aged significantly. John Levene, who portrays a Yeti in this serial, had previously portrayed a Cyberman in 1967's The Moonbase, and would later return to the series as the recurring character Sergeant Benton in the 1970s. Tina Packer portrays Anne Travers in the serial, while Jack Woolgar portrays Arnold. Woolgar also portrays the Intelligence's voice, albeit in an uncredited role.
Nicholas Courtney portrays Lethbridge-Stewart in the serial. He previously portrayed the role of Bret Vyon in the 1965 serial The Daleks' Master Plan. Courtney would later reprise the role of Lethbridge-Stewart in 1968's The Invasion and would go on to be a recurring character in the series. David Langton was originally cast as Lethbridge-Stewart, but he pulled out before rehearsals and Courtney (originally cast as the character Captain Knight) was given the part instead. Nicholas Selby was also considered for the role, but he was not interested in it. Maurice Brooks briefly portrays the character via boots seen in the serial's second part prior to Courtney's first on-screen appearance.
Filming
The production team originally planned to film in the London Underground; according to the BBC's The Fourth Dimension guide, the production team was denied permission, while according to the BBC and The Complete History, the production team would have been forced to pay £200 an hour, with a stipulation to film only between 2 and 5 AM. Designer David Myerscough-Jones thus re-created the tunnels at the BBC studios in such detail that the London Underground reportedly contacted the BBC to accuse them of illegally filming there. The same platform set is re-used for the multiple different platforms featured in the serial, with the signage changed to indicate that the characters were at different platforms. Visual effects for the serial were handled by Ron Oates.
Filming for the serial began in December 1967, with much of it being filmed in BBC's Television Film Studios in Ealing. Some location filming was performed for scenes depicting the Yeti fighting the military at an old yard in Covent Garden, with further Yeti shots performed on nearby streets. Filming was done early in the morning on a Sunday, allowing for little crowd control to be needed for filming to commence. The scene in which the Yeti is re-activated by Travers was filmed at the Natural History Museum, London. Oates's team completed filming using scale models at the Television Centre, London. Patrick Troughton took a week's holiday during the rehearsals and recording of Episode 2. Filming finished in January 1968, with further studio recording concluding the following month.
The serial was directed by Douglas Camfield. Camfield found directing easier than his prior serials, which had been with previous lead actor William Hartnell; Camfield found the current lead, Patrick Troughton, easier to work with. The team ran into problems with the Yeti as several action sequences could not be performed, such as a scene where a Yeti lifts and throws a soldier, due to how heavy the costumes were. Camfield grew to dislike the Yeti as he found them limiting in stories.
Reception Broadcast and ratings
Episode is missing
As a result of the Yeti's popularity and the new design, prior to the airing of The Web of Fear, a special trailer featuring Patrick Troughton in character as the Second Doctor was shown, telling audiences to expect far scarier Yeti in the serial. The trailer was broadcast shortly after the final episode of the prior serial, The Enemy of the World (1967) aired. The Web of Fear was broadcast from 3 February 1968 to 9 March 1968. The serial saw an increase in viewing figures from the prior serial, with The Web of Fears sixth episode resulting in the series featuring in the top forty programs for the first time since September 1967. The serial also garnered a healthy audience appreciation rating, ranging from 51 to 55 across the six episodes.
The videotapes for The Web of Fear were ordered to be destroyed in mid-1969, and they were wiped later that year. A 16 mm telerecording of the first episode was recovered by chance in 1978, when BBC Archive selector Sue Malden found it in a pile of film cans returned from Hong Kong that were waiting to be destroyed. The episode was screened at various events over the years. Copies of the remaining five episodes were found at a relay station in Jos, Nigeria by Philip Morris of Television International Enterprises Archive, and all but one were returned to the BBC archives in 2013; the third episode was lost "en route" during the film cans' retrieval, with Morris presuming it was sold to a private collector. Morris stated in 2018 that he was "close" to recovering the episode, though in 2020 and 2025, he said he was not certain of its whereabouts and was hoping to have it returned.
Critical response and analysis