Ambassadors of Death

"The Space Suits of Doom", "The Ferero Rochet Killers"

"The One Where The Brits Think They Can Get Into Space" (USA)

Doctor Who and Liz stop some baddie aliens from… no, that's not it… Doctor Who and Liz help some goodie aliens stop some baddie humans

*** - Liz proves that scientists can wear hats and still retain their aura of superiority

"Get into ze car Mizz Shaw"

"What are you doing? We decided Taltalion isn't French and we're absolutely definitely not changing our minds on this" (from pre-studio location filming)

"How can I possibly tell who the pants are from until I know what they say?"

Don't be alarmed - the video really does do that

Ralph Cornish was named after the popular singer Ralph Harris and the popular resort of Cornwall.

The fact that there are seven Mars Probes and seven Recovery craft implies that every single Mars crew has needed rescuing.

Jon Pertwee used to like telling the story of when Caroline John turned round on set and everyone was wearing woollen mini-dresses and absurd hats. How they all roared.

The producer deliberately called the experimental super-fuel "M3" as an ironic swipe at the state of Britain's motorways.

The London Sneeze described it as "emotionally sieving" while the Buxton Spring said it was "tasty, tasty, very very tasty, it's very tasty."

...is that TV presenters with beards attract trouble.

Si Hunt

Albanian Video

"In keeping with the theme of Story CCC, Ian Devine and I were once asked to be representatives of our people. My late brother Donald Brent ran the Firkinside "Star Trek" Club and invited us to attend one of his conventions in the role of ambassadors for the Firkinside "Doctor Who" Club. There had been some unpleasantness between the two societies (started, naturally, by troublemakers from the Firkinside "Blake's Seven" Club who hoped to start a war and then take over the whole Firkinside telehistorical territory once we had utterly destroyed each other) and my presence was designed to smooth over the troubled waters. Once we got there, however, there was an atmosphere of mistrust and loathing which was caused almost entirely by the FBSC's antics, although I will concede that our choice of plastic ears may have been overly ironic for those dull witted proles. Much like the alien ambassadors in Story CCC Ian Devine and I didn't realise our own powers. We were aware that "Star Trek" has poor quality convention anecdotes (for example they roared with laughter at six separate tales concluding with the William Shatner punch line "Repeat remark about my [hair/waistline/ghostwriters/wife] and I'll take legal action") but we didn't realise that a simple telling of the "Eye patch" story or one of Wendy Padbury's humorous "miniskirt" tales would actually cause the "Trekkos" to collapse in greasy heaps on the floor. My brother Donald's true motives were revealed, however, when he forced Ian Devine and I on to the stage and used us as part of a scheme to rally the massed "Trekkos" behind him and become the new president of the Club. Luckily I was able to stun them with Terrance Dicks' marvellous anecdote about the line "once I'd like to meet an alien race that wasn't immune to bullets" and in their paroxysms we were able to escape. I sent Donald a rather tart note demanding an apology and he complied by return of post. All's well that ends well."

Geoff Beadle (writing in "K9's Plastic Bone") wrote a lengthy article about how good this story was because it exposed the myth that all aliens were cuddly and nice and didn't want to take over the world. "Finally someone stands up for our people against the invading menace" he ranted. "I keep having to remind myself that, sadly, General Carrington is just an actor and not a real person that I can honour, respect and love." Meanwhile, in 1983 "Time Tot's Treat" devoted an entire issue to Ambassadors of Death without once mentioning Cyril Shaps. The editor would later describe this as "the worst mistake I ever made and that's coming from a man who killed and ate his neighbours." Barry Mendel showed his lack of fondness for the story when he opined that he would only "give a couple of tonsils or some skin" for a tape of the story.