The Web of Fear
Joe Siegler
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The Web of Fear
This Story: Season 5, Story 5. Production Code QQ
Overall: Story 41, Episodes 192-197
Airdates: 3 Feb 1968 to 9 Mar 1968
Written by Meryvn Haisman & Henry Lincoln. Directed by Douglas Camfield.
Notes
- For decades, only Episode 1 was available. Then the remainder of the episodes were found in 2013, but before they could be fully recovered, Episode 3 was lost again (read stolen). So it’s out there. It was animated (very poorly) in a 2021 release.
- This is the first story for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, although he’s just a Colonel here.
- The day before I started this story in my project, Henry Lincoln died. He was the last remaining author from 1960’s era Doctor Who that was still living. They’re all gone now. :(
- ADMIN NOTE: On 8 Jun 2026, I noticed a fault with the display of my episode commentaries for Episode 1. As such I moved them from Twitter to BlueSky. The original tweets for Episode 1 can still be viewed here.
Links
[ Wikipedia | Tardis Data Core | Amazon US DVD | SPS Historium | Amazon US SE DVD | Amazon UK DVD | Amazon UK SE DVD | Amazon UK SE Blu-Ray ]#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 192 - The Web of Fear 1/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 3 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 1/3 I wanted to mention Henry Lincoln (story author). He died this week; thought I should remember him. He was the last author from the 60's era who was still with us. #RIPHenry (repost from 25 Feb 2022)
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) June 8, 2026 at 7:45 AM
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#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 192 - The Web of Fear 1/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 3 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 2/3 Picking up immediately after the last story ended, the Tardis is trapped in space w/a really good effect. This is a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen, & brings back the Yeti. For decades this was the
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) June 8, 2026 at 7:45 AM
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#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 192 - The Web of Fear 1/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 3 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 3/3 only episode available. The remainder were discovered in 2013, but b4 they could be recovered, ep3 was stolen, so it was animated (poorly) in 2021. Had a great atmosphere with some really good sets.
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) June 8, 2026 at 7:45 AM
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#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 193 - The Web of Fear 2/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 10 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) February 28, 2022
The reporter character in this story is someone I want to feed to the Yeti. Annoying he is. The military here is the first appearance of UNIT in the show's history, but at this pic.twitter.com/x29w1aGx1H
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 193 - The Web of Fear 2/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 10 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) February 28, 2022
time we don't know that. UNIT seems to be after the Yeti in the London tunnels. Troughton was on vacation, so the Doctor wasn't in this ep. This ep seemed a bit like padding. pic.twitter.com/dqLvUwx3hu
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 194 - The Web of Fear 3/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 17 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) February 28, 2022
The lone missing ep. It was animated with a new style in 2021; it was very poorly received. So much so I'm using the telesnap reconstruction for this ep, as the animation is bad. pic.twitter.com/2lres6etqx
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 194 - The Web of Fear 3/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 17 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) February 28, 2022
This ep is mostly known as the 1st appearance of Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier (then Colonel) Lethbridge Stewart of UNIT. UNIT still trying to figure out what the Yeti are doing. pic.twitter.com/j7YKWL89s9
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 195 - The Web of Fear 4/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 24 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 1, 2022
Back to proper episodes. Yeti make it into the base and attack, taking Travers prisoner. The Brig (Colonel) spends a lot of time pointing a gun & looking threatening. Very him. pic.twitter.com/FY3crkJRsW
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 195 - The Web of Fear 4/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 24 Feb 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 1, 2022
The underground sets look amazing, and work well in black & white, I think. They re-used some excellent music from Tomb of the Cybermen here. Good battle scene w/Yeti here. pic.twitter.com/iT19OGqdTH
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 196 - The Web of Fear 5/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 2 Mar 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 2, 2022
The Great Intelligence reveals its plan, it wants to drain the Doctor's mind for all his knowledge. It speaks through Travers, who is under the GI's control. The Doctor plots to pic.twitter.com/SOht2V1bjc
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 196 - The Web of Fear 5/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 2 Mar 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 2, 2022
defeat the Yeti & the Great Intelligence. As we approach the end of the story, it doesn't feel like it is nearing the end, feels like there's more plot to go we haven't seen. pic.twitter.com/zidu9OL19c
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 197 - The Web of Fear 6/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 9 Mar 1968. #DoctorWho 1/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 2, 2022
The pacing in this story felt off. I thought it looked great (especially the subway parts), acting was good enough, but there never seemed like a ton of urgency to the plot pic.twitter.com/Ehm9OjriZ3
#DoctorWhoMarathon Ep 197 - The Web of Fear 6/6 (Serial QQ, Story 41) - 9 Mar 1968. #DoctorWho 2/2
— jᎾᎬ sᎥᎬᎶᏞᎬᏒ (@JoeSiegler) March 2, 2022
elements here. Like why is the GI doing this? Just revenge on the Doctor? Seems elaborate for that. This is the last time we see the GI until 2012 when Matt Smith was the Doctor. pic.twitter.com/E7cGGIhL3P
