All episodes Season 9 S09E15 1972-04-08 25 min 1960s BBC

Doctor Who

The Mutants, Part One

TV Flash files “The Mutants, Part One” as hour 318 of 700 in the TV Flash guide — Doctor Who (1963–) on BBC, season 9, episode 15, aired 1972-04-08, 25 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S09E15: listed hour 318 of 700 in the Doctor Who guide, hour 15 of 26 in season 9. It aired 1972-04-08 (25 min). The listed hour before it is “The Sea Devils, Part Six” (S09E14). Next is “The Mutants, Part Two” (S09E16). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Doctor Who — The Mutants, Part One (S09E15)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

The Doctor and Jo arrive on the planet Solos, on a assignment by the Time Lords. Where the Doctor and Jo learn that the native Solonians are mutating into ant-like mutant creatures and they uncover a conspiracy, where the evil Marshal of the Earth Empire plots to rule Solos for himself and plans to convert Solos atmosphere, since the planet's atmosphere is poisonous, so the planet can be colonized by the humans and he plans to wipe out all the mutated Solonians, who are evolving into a advanced super race.

Viewer FAQ

Where does The Mutants, Part One sit in the Doctor Who guide?

S09E15 is listed hour 318 of 700 — hour 15 of 26 in season 9, season 9 episode 15.

When did Doctor Who S09E15 air?

The Mutants, Part One aired 1972-04-08 and is listed at 25 minutes.

Where should I start with the 1960s serials?

William Hartnell's First Doctor is the origin of the TARDIS-and-companions contract. Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor is the proof that regeneration works. Start at a serial whose surviving episodes interest you; missing-episode gaps are part of the classic-era weather.

In the series

Why this series still plays

A Time Lord, a police box bigger on the inside, and regeneration as infinite franchise life: Doctor Who launched from the BBC in 1963 and never really parked. Early black-and-white serials built the mythology; Hartnell-to-Troughton proved the lead could change without ending the show. The longest experiment in serialized reinvention — woolly, weird, endlessly renewable.

November 23, 1963, is a drop that never really parked. BBC's *Doctor Who* launched a Time Lord and a blue police box bigger on the inside, then treated the lead as renewable inventory. **Regeneration is the window.** Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, and Donald Wilson were among the early architects. Early black-and-white serials built the mythology; companions, sonic screwdrivers, and cliffhangers became ritual. Rex wants woolly national inheritance. Fine. The business model is recasting without ending the show.

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