The Doctor and Sarah are returning to UNIT HQ on Earth when the TARDIS is caught up by a mysterious force. Sarah sees an evil face materialize which terrifies her. Egyptologist Marcus Scarman has inadvertently broken into the pyramid prison of Sutekh, last of the Osirians. Sutekh is a creature with god like powers and his only ambition is to destroy all life in the Cosmos. Defeated by his brother Horns and the other Osirians, Sutekh has lain prisoner for centuries in his pyramid. The Doctor and Sarah arrive in Professor Scarman's house in England (which will later become the site of UNIT's HQ) just as Scarman, possessed by the spirit of Sutekh, returns to build a rocket to go to the Pyramids of Mars; they contain the Eye of Horus, the key to Sutekh's prison. Scarman's robots dressed as Egyptian mummies kill Scarman's brother but the Doctor manages, by distracting Sutekh, to blow up the rocket. Sutekh forces the Doctor to take Scarman to Mars in the TARDIS. Scarman destroys the Eye of Horus, but the Doctor returns to Earth in time to prevent Sutekh from leaving the Space/Time tunnel which is the only exit from his prison. Controlling the time factor of the tunnel, the Doctor sends Sutekh to the ends of time.
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The Doctor:  Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith:Elisabeth Sladen

Guest Appearances:
Marcus Scarman: Bernard Archard
Laurence Scarman: Michael Sheard
Dr. Warlock: Peter Copley
Namin: Peter Mayock
Collins: Michael Bilton
Ahmed: Vik Tablian
Mummies: Nick Burnell, Melvyn Bedford, Kevin Selway
Ernie Clemens: George Tovey
Sutekh: Gabriel Woolf


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Producer: Phillip Hinchcliffe
Script Editor: Robert Holmes
Writer: Stephen Harris (Pseudonym for Lewis Griefer and Robert Holmes)
Director: Paddy Russell
Designer: Christine Ruscoe
Costume: Barbara Kidd
Make up: Jean Steward
Visual Effects: Ian Scoones, John Friedlander
Music: Dudley Simpson

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Novelized as "Doctor Who Pyramids of Mars" by Terrance Dicks (0 426 11666 6) first published by Wyndham Publications as "Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars" in 1976 with cover by Chris Achilleos. New edition by W H Allen (now Virgin Publishing Ltd) in 1982 with cover by Andrew Skilleter New edition in 1993 with cover by Alister Pearson. Target library number 50.

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Released as "Planet of Evil" (BBCV 2014 & 4055), first released February 1985 with photomontage cover in omnibus format. Released in Us and Canada (Warner catalogue # E1109). Re-released in episodic format in 1995, PAL (BBC Video catalogue # 5220).

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This story sees the last appearance of the traditional style TARDIS console room set until "The Invisible Enemy" eleven stories later.
Most of the action took place on the grounds of the Stargroves mansion. At the time, the estate was owned by Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, but unknown to the production crew at the time - a previous occupant was Lord Caernarvon. Lord Caernarvon had been part of the team that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen in 1926 and had been one of the victims of Tut's alleged curse, having died under mysterious circumstances.

All four episodes exist in color on videotape.

Studio recording in Stage TC3. (19-20 May 1975)
Studio recording in Stage TC6. (2-3 June 1975)
Stargrove Manor, East End, Hampshire. (29 April-2 May 1975)

Episode 1 - When Scarman breaks into the tomb, he says it's first dynasty, but you clearly see King Tutankamun's throne as one of the collection of treasures.
Episode 1 - The Doctor and Sarah get jostled by a time disturbance while they're in the TARDIS. Sarah stumbles, and when she reappears, the fancy hair-clips she had on before have disappeared.
Episode 1 - Sarah has obviously picked up some of that Time Lord telepathy: she puts on an Edwardian dress before the Doctor tells her that the TARDIS has landed in 1911.
Episode 2 - As Sarah climbs out of window after removing the ring from Ibraham Namin, she kicks the backdrop outside and you can see it moving.
Episode 3 - When the Doctor leaves the old house to find the dynamite, you can see his hat resting on a chair as he walks out the door. Immediately afterwards you see him walking through the woods with Sarah, and the hat has magically relocated itself to being on his head again. And when he eventually gets back to the cottage, the hat is there, sitting in the chair as if nothing had happened.
Episode 4 - Look out for the legendary "Hand of Sutekh" - a hand holding the cushion down in the scene where Sutekh stands up.
Episode 4 - Pity the special-effects designer who had to portray the TARDIS key floating through the air into the hands of Scarman. Three thin threads are used to quite obvious effect. Poor Scarman finally has to grab the dangling thing out of the air when it fails to land perfectly in his hands.
Episode ? - Watch the knot in Scarman's tie during the course of the story - initially the stripe goes from top-left-to-bottom-right, but over the course of the story it randomly changes so that sometimes the stripe goes from bottom-left-to-top-right instead.