Many months after the death of Cory (see story T/A - Mission to the  Unknown) the Doctor  lands on Kembel and finds a new expedition from Earth led by Space Special Security Agent Bret Vyon.  The Doctor finds Cory's tape and he and Vyon decide to warn Earth of the impending Dalek attack. The year is AD 4000 and Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, has just betrayed Earth by giving to the Daleks the taranium element which will enable them to power their supreme weapon: the Time Destructor. The Doctor and his friends steel the taranium element but are unable to alert Earth as Chen has them branded as traitors. In the Course of their escape from the Daleks Katarina sacrifices herself to save the Doctor from Kirksen, a psychopathic criminal.  Bret Vyon is killed by his sister Sara Kingdom, who subsequently finds out the truth and helps the Doctor.  After a chase through Time and Space the TARDIS lands on the Volcanic planet Tigus, where the Doctor meets his old enemy, the Meddling Monk, who betrays him to the Daleks.  The next stop is Ancient Egypt where Mavic Chen blackmails the Doctor  into surrendering the taranium core.  The Monk flees in his TARDIS but becomes stranded on an ice world because the Doctor stole his directional unit.  Back on Kembel the Daleks exterminate Chen.  The Doctor activates the Time Destructor which destroys the Daleks, but Sara begins aging rapidly and dies.



The Doctor: William Hartnell
Steven Taylor: Peter Purves
Katarina: Adrienne Hill
Sara Kingdom: Jean Marsh

Guest Appearances:
Kert Gantry: Brian Cant
Bret Vyon: Nicholas Courtney
Lizan: Pamela Greer
Roald: Philip Anthony
Mavic Chen: Kevin Stoney
Interviewer: Michael Guest
Zephon: Julian Sherrier
Trantis: Roy Evans
Kirksen: Douglas Sheldon
Bors: Dallas Cavell
Garge: Geoffrey Cheshire
Karlton: Maurice Browning
Gearon: Jack Pitt
Daxtar: Roger Avon
Borkar: James Hall
Fryon: Bill Meilen
Rhynmal: John Herrington
Celation: Terrence Woodfield
Meddling Monk: Peter Butterworth
Trevor: Roger Brierley
Scott: Bruce Wightman
Khepren: Jeffrey Isaac
Tuthmos: Derek Ware
Hyksos: Walter Randall
Malpha: Bryan Mosley
Daleks: Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin
Daleks Voices: Peter Hawkins, David Graham

Producer:  John Wiles.
Script Editor:  Donald Tosh.
Writer: Donald Cotton.
Director: Michael Leeston-Smith.
Designer: John Wood.
Costume: Daphne Dare, Tony Pearce.
Make up: Elizabeth Blattner. Humphrey Searle.
Music: Tristram Cary. (Eric Walker ensemble) (including partial re-use of music originally composed for "The Daleks").

Novelised in two books. "Part of Doctor Who - The Mission to The Unknown" (The Daleks' Master Plan 1) by John Peel (0 426 20343 3) covers episodes one through six. First published by W.H. Allen (now Virgin Publishing Ltd.) in 1989 with cover by Alister Pearson. Target library number 141.

The later episodes novelised as "Doctor Who - The Mutation of Time" (The Daleks' Master Plan II)  by John Peel (0 426 20344 5) first published by W.H. Allen (now Virgin Publishing Ltd.) in 1989 with cover by Alister Pearson.  Target library number 142.

a
Limited Availability On Video; Episodes "Counter Plot" and "Escape Switch" included on Daleks - The Early Years (BBCV 4810) first released in 1992 with photomontage cover. WHV catalogue #E1143).

Complete recording for this episode exists. A five-CD box set, "The Daleks' Master Plan" was released by the BBC Radio Collection in October 2001, presented by Peter Purves, which also includes the story "Mission to the Unknown"; the first CD also contains PC files, including the complete scripts for both "Mission" and "Master Plan" and MP3 versions (without narration) of each.

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This was the longest Doctor Who story ever until Trial of a Time Lord. 
Nicholas Courtney, who plays Space Agent Bret Vyon, later appeared in a part for which he is better known, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT. 
It also featured the return of Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk (from "The Time Meddler").
Two companions, Katarina and Sara, are also killed in this story.

Episodes five and ten exist as 16mm telecine recordings; both were recovered from a church basement in October 1983. All other episodes do not exist.

Ealing filming. (27 September - 1 October; 4-8, 18, 21 October; 15 November 1965)
Studio recording in TC3. (22, 29 October; 5, 12, 19, 26 November; 3, 12, 17, 31 December 1965; 7, 14 January 1966)
Studio recording in TC4. (19 November 1965)
Hammersmith Park, South Africa Road, Shepard's Bush, London, W12. (25 October 1965)

Episode 1 - The message found on the tape recorder is different from the one left by Marc Cory in the prequel episode "Mission to the Unknown".