All episodes Season 18 S18E17 1981-01-03 25 min 1960s BBC

Doctor Who

Warriors' Gate, Part One

TV Flash files “Warriors' Gate, Part One” as hour 548 of 700 in the TV Flash guide — Doctor Who (1963–) on BBC, season 18, episode 17, aired 1981-01-03, 25 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S18E17: listed hour 548 of 700 in the Doctor Who guide, hour 17 of 28 in season 18. It aired 1981-01-03 (25 min). The listed hour before it is “State of Decay, Part Four” (S18E16). Next is “Warriors' Gate, Part Two” (S18E18). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

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Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

While the Doctor and Romana desperately rack their brains over how to escape E-Space, Time Winds strike the TARDIS, damaging it and K-9. Strangest of all, it allows Biroc, a hurt and hunted lion-man, to enter, phased in time, and set the control coordinates at zero-zero, sending the TARDIS into a milk-white void. Before running off, he warns of others who will be soon following.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Warriors' Gate, Part One sit in the Doctor Who guide?

S18E17 is listed hour 548 of 700 — hour 17 of 28 in season 18, season 18 episode 17.

When did Doctor Who S18E17 air?

Warriors' Gate, Part One aired 1981-01-03 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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