The Time Lords send the Doctor and Jo to the planet Peladon, which has just applied for membership of the Galactic Federation. King Peladon and Chancellor Torbis favor the union but the High Priest Hepesh is against such a union. Peladon has invited a committee of assessment to the planet to decide on the outcome of Peladon's application. Torbis is murdered and Aggedor, a semi mythical sacred monster is blamed. The TARDIS arrives on Peladon, on a slope of a mountain outside the city, and as the Doctor and Jo leave the TARDIS it slides down the slope. Forced to go up the mountain they go through a cave and tunnels, and as they emerge in the City the Doctor is mistaken for the Earth's Delegate. The other delegates have arrived: Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, and Izlyr of the Ice Warriors. The Doctor finds that Hepesh and Arcturus are behind the murders. With the help of the Ice Warriors the Doctor defeats Arcturus and exposes Hepesh. The priest orders Aggedor to kill the King but the Doctor has tamed the Monster and it is Hepesh who dies instead. The Doctor leaves as the true delegate from Earth arrives.
.
.


The Doctor:  Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant: Katy Manning

Guest Appearances:
Torbis: Henry Gilbert
King Peladon: David Troughton
Hepesh: Geoffrey Toone
Grun: Gordon St. Clair
Aggedor: Nick Hobbs
Alpha Centauri: Stuart Fell
Voice of Alpha Centauri: Ysanne Churchman
Arcturus: Murphy Grumbar
Voice of Arcturus: Terry Bale
Ssorg: Sonny Caldinez
Izlyr: Alan Bennion
Captain: George Giles
Amazonia: Wendy Danvers
.
.

Producer:  Barry Letts.
Script Editor: Terrence Dicks.
Writer:  Brian Hayles.
Director: Lennie Mayne.
Designer: Gloria Clayton. 
Costume:  Barbara Lane.
Make up: Sylvia James.
Visual Effects: Ian Scones, Bernard Wilke (episodes 3,4).
Music : Dudley Simpson.
.
.

Novelised as "Doctor Who And The Curse of Peladon"   by Brian Hayles  (0 426 11498 1) first published by Universal Tandem in 1974 as Doctor Who and The Curse of Peladon with cover by Chris Achilleos.  New hardback edition by W. H. Allen (now Virgin Publishing Ltd.) in 1980 with cover by Bill Donohoe.  New paperback edition in 1992 with cover by Alister Pearson.  Target library number 13.

.

a
Released as "The Curse of Peladon" in the UK, August 1993 and in Australia & New Zealand (BBC catalogue #4978). Released in US & Canada, 1995 (CBS/FOX catalogue #8291, reclassified as WHV #E1297). Cover art by Andrew Skilleter.

.

a
An abridged reading of the novelization by Jon Pertwee was released on cassette by BBC in 1995.

.

.

David Troughton, the son of former second Doctor Patrick troughton, played King Peladon. This was the third time that he had appeared in episodes.
The name of the real Earth delegate was Amazonia, who appears in the ending scene.

All four episodes exist in color as PAL conversions from NTSC 2" color videotape and in black & white as 16mm telerecordings.

Ealing filming on Satge 2. (16-17 December 1971)
Studio recording in TC3. (31 January; 1 February 1971)
Studio recording in TC4. (17-18 January 1972)

Episode 1 - The king says that the reason the chairman delegate has not yet arrived is that Earth is "many light-years" away from Peladon, and Alpha Centauri agrees, calling it "a remote and unattractive planet". Rather odd, since Alpha Centauri is in fact the nearest star to our Solar System, being only 4.3 light-years away from us.
Episode 2 - As Jo walks along the castle ledge to escape from the Ice Warriors' room, we'll gloss over the fact that the "stone" wall behind her wobbles like a thin wooden panel and mention something else instead: at one point, there's a quick shot of a piece of the ledge breaking off under Jo's shoe and falling down the cliff face. The only problem is that the shoe isn't Jo's! If you look closely, you'll see that the shoe in that brief shot is more pointed and of a darker colour than the shoes Jo is wearing, and has a strap across the ankle instead of being a slip-on.
Episode 2 - Immediately after the previous blooper, when Jo gets back inside the castle, her hair, which had been blown about by the wind outside, is suddenly all nice and neat again.
Episode 3 - When the Doctor goes through one of the secret doors leading down below the palace, watch the door as it closes behind him: overhead you can see the string which was used to pull the door open.
Episode 3, 4 - On several occasions the Doctor's spinning mirror directly reflects the studio lights, rather undermining the desired impression of a barbaric citadel lit only by flaming torches.
Episode 4 - When Aggedor attacks Hepesh, the Doctor tries to calm the beast with the hypnotic spinning wheel. Unfortunately, he misses the wheel at one point and it stops spinning – luckily Aggedor doesn't seem to notice.