The Web of Fear is the fifth serial of thefifth season of the Britishscience fiction television seriesDoctor Who, first broadcast in six weekly parts from 3 February to 9 March 1968. Written by writersHenry Lincoln andMervyn Haisman, the serial is a sequel to 1967 serialThe Abominable Snowmen. The plot concerns the incorporealGreat Intelligence and its roboticYeti minions invading theLondon Underground in order to lead thetime travellingSecond Doctor (Patrick Troughton) into a trap where it can drain the Doctor's mind of its knowledge.The Web of Fear marks the first appearance ofNicholas Courtney as ColonelAlistair Lethbridge-Stewart, who would serve as a major recurring character in the series going forward.

The serial was commissioned as a result of then story editorPeter Bryant being highly pleased withThe Abominable Snowmen, additionally wanting to feature the Yeti more due to a desire to include more "monsters" in the series. Haisman and Lincoln decided to set the story in theLondon Underground, wanting the serial's events to be close to home for viewers. The Yeti were redesigned after their appearance in the prior serial, giving the creatures a "rougher" appearance. Due to difficulties in scheduling the Underground for filming, the Underground was reconstructed as a set at BBC studios, where most of the serial's filming took place.

The serial has been regarded as an iconic serial in the series and has received largely positive reviews from retrospective critics. Following the serial's airing, the serial's episodes were destroyed, rendering the serial asmissing. One episode was recovered in 1978, with four other episodes being recovered inNigeria in 2013. The serial's third episode has not been recovered but was reconstructed via animation for a 2021 physical release of the serial.

TheTARDIS lands in a desertedLondon Underground, with London appearing to be completely abandoned. The elderlyProfessor Travers (Jack Watling) had previously met theSecond Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and hiscompanions forty years earlier inTibet, where the group had fought off the villainousGreat Intelligence; Travers had brought back a roboticYeti with him, which he recently had accidentally re-activated. The Yeti escaped, and in the following days, London was beset by a deadly web-likefungus. Travers and his daughter Anne (Tina Packer) are working with theBritish military to try and resolve the situation.

The Doctor and his companions encounter the military, who are trying to stem the spread of the fungus by demolishing tunnels with explosives. The explosives are rendered unable to detonate by a number of Yeti, which allows the Doctor to deduce that the Great Intelligence has returned. Travers is able to convince the military that the Doctor will be able to help them stop the Intelligence. Soon after, the group is joined byLieutenant-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), who takes command.

The fungus begins to expand into the military's explosives stores, rendering them unusable. The Doctor discovers a Yeti-attracting beacon at the scene, indicating to him that someone in the base is working with the Intelligence. The base is attacked by Yeti, killing several soldiers and kidnapping Travers. The Doctor tells the military of the TARDIS, and a group is sent to retrieve it to allow for later escape, though all the soldiers barring Lethbridge-Stewart are killed.

Soon after, Travers, possessed by the Intelligence, arrives at the military's base. The Intelligence explains that it seeks to drain the Doctor's mind of knowledge. The Doctor appears to submit to the Intelligence, but not before reprogramming a Yeti to aid his allies. Later, the traitor is revealed to be one of the soldiers named Arnold (Jack Woolgar), who has been killed and possessed by the Intelligence. As the Doctor enters a device to have his mind drained, the reprogrammed Yeti attacks Arnold while the others drag the Doctor out of the device and destroy it, which causes the Intelligence to disperse. The Doctor reveals he had intended to use the device to drain the Intelligence, and hence the others' interference has allowed it to escape back into space. The Doctor and his companions depart in the TARDIS.

A Yeti as seen in a photo taken during filming ofThe Abominable Snowmen (1967) (left) and a Yeti costume fromThe Web of Fear (1968) as seen on display at theDoctor Who Experience. The Yeti were re-designed for the serial for multiple reasons.

Story editorPeter Bryant was so greatly pleased byMervyn Haisman andHenry Lincoln's previous serial,The Abominable Snowmen, that Bryant commissioned a sequel for the serial to be produced beforeThe Abominable Snowmen had even aired.^[1] Bryant sought to include more "monsters" in the series as he believed they were popular with viewers. TheGreat Intelligence and itsYeti minions were brought back, with Haisman and Lincoln deciding to set the serial in theLondon Underground in order to provide a familiar backdrop that would "bring the Doctor's adventures far closer to home".^[2] Haisman and Lincoln stated that the Underground also served as a logical location for potential invaders of London to try and control. Bryant soon took over as producer for the series, resulting inDerrick Sherwin taking over as script editor. Sherwin found himself having disagreements with Haisman and Lincoln, who were very protective over their scripts.^[2]

For their re-appearance inThe Web of Fear, the original Yeti costumes had already started to deteriorate, and many had criticised the "cuddly" Yeti designs.^[1] As a result, the next design was made to be "rougher" and had glowing eyes.^[1] They usedyak hair for their construction, were slightly smaller sized than the originals, and wielded "web guns" to attack, unlike before where they solely used their physical strength.^[2] They were constructed by freelance prop builders Jack and John Lowell.^[2] An original Yeti costume fromThe Abominable Snowmen was used briefly in the serial as a display piece in a museum, and the old design was transitioned to the new design during the serial's events.^[2]Brian Hodgson of theBBC Radiophonic Workshop developed a Yeti roar for the Yetis' second appearance, created by slowing down the sound of a flushing toilet.^[3]

The episode's credits are played over a glowing, pulsating web, unlike the usual black screen used for the credits.^[4] Stock incidental music is used during the serial as a cost-saving measure,^[2] including a theme that was previously used in serials depicting theCybermen.^[5]

Jack Watling reprises his role of Professor Travers from the previous year'sThe Abominable Snowmen, wearing heavy makeup to make it appear as though Travers has aged significantly.^[4]John Levene, who portrays a Yeti in this serial, had previously portrayed a Cyberman in 1967'sThe Moonbase, and would later return to the series as the recurring characterSergeant Benton in the 1970s.^[4]Tina Packer portrays Anne Travers in the serial, whileJack Woolgar portrays Arnold.^[6] Woolgar also portrays the Intelligence's voice, albeit in an uncredited role.^[2]

Nicholas Courtney portrays Lethbridge-Stewart in the serial. He previously portrayed the role of Bret Vyon in the 1965 serialThe Daleks' Master Plan. Courtney would later reprise the role of Lethbridge-Stewart in 1968'sThe Invasion and would go on to be a recurring character in the series.^[5]David Langton was originally cast as Lethbridge-Stewart, but he pulled out before rehearsals and Courtney (originally cast as the character Captain Knight) was given the part instead.^[7]Nicholas Selby was also considered for the role, but he was not interested in it.^[8] Maurice Brooks briefly portrays the character via boots seen in the serial's second part prior to Courtney's first on-screen appearance.^[5]

The production team originally planned to film in theLondon Underground; according to the BBC'sThe Fourth Dimension guide, the production team was denied permission,^[4] while according to the BBC andThe Complete History, the production team would have been forced to pay £200 an hour, with a stipulation to film only between 2 and 5 AM.^[1][2] DesignerDavid Myerscough-Jones thus re-created the tunnels at the BBC studios in such detail that the London Underground reportedly contacted the BBC to accuse them of illegally filming there.^[4] The same platform set is re-used for the multiple different platforms featured in the serial, with the signage changed to indicate that the characters were at different platforms.^[4] Visual effects for the serial were handled by Ron Oates.^[2]

Filming for the serial began in December 1967, with much of it being filmed in BBC's Television Film Studios inEaling. Some location filming was performed for scenes depicting the Yeti fighting the military at an old yard inCovent Garden, with further Yeti shots performed on nearby streets. Filming was done early in the morning on a Sunday, allowing for little crowd control to be needed for filming to commence. The scene in which the Yeti is re-activated by Travers was filmed at theNatural History Museum, London. Oates's team completed filming using scale models at theTelevision Centre, London.^[2] Patrick Troughton took a week's holiday during the rehearsals and recording of Episode 2.^[4] Filming finish in January 1968, with further studio recording concluding the following month.^[6]

The serial was directed by Douglas Camfield. Camfield found directing easier than his prior serials, which had been with previous lead actorWilliam Hartnell; Camfield found the current lead,Patrick Troughton, easier to work with. The team ran into problems with the Yeti as several action sequences could not be performed, such as a scene where a Yeti lifts and throws a soldier, due to how heavy the costumes were. Camfield grew to dislike the Yeti as he found them limiting in stories.^[2]

^†Episode is missing

As a result of the Yeti's popularity and the new design, prior to the airing ofThe Web of Fear, a special trailer featuringPatrick Troughton in character as the Second Doctor was shown, telling audiences to expect far scarier Yeti in the serial.^[10] The trailer was broadcast shortly after the final episode of the prior serial,The Enemy of the World (1967) aired.^[2]The Web of Fear was broadcast from 3 February 1968 to 9 March 1968. The serial saw an increase in viewing figures from the prior serial, withThe Web of Fear's sixth episode resulting in the series featuring in the top forty programs for the first time since September 1967. The serial also garnered a healthyaudience appreciation rating, ranging from 51 to 55 across the six episodes.^[2]

The videotapes forThe Web of Fear were ordered to be destroyed in mid-1969, and they were wiped later that year. The first episode was recovered by chance in 1978, when BBC Archive selector Sue Malden found the episode in a pile of film cans returned from Hong Kong that were waiting to be destroyed. The episode was screened at various events over the years.^[2] Copies of the remaining five episodes were found at a relay station inJos, Nigeria byPhilip Morris of Television International Enterprises Archive, and all but one were returned to the BBC archives in 2013; the third episode was lost "en route" during the film cans' retrieval, with Morris presuming it was sold to a private collector.^[11][12] Morris stated in 2018 that he was "close" to recovering the episode,^[12] though in 2020 and 2025, he said he was not certain of its whereabouts and was hoping to have it returned.^[13][14]

In the years followingThe Web of Fear's release, the serial has been considered highly iconic, withPopMatters writer J.C. Macek III describing it as a "classic",^[15] whileThe Daily Telegraph's Matthew Sweet described the serial as a "restored fragment of our cultural heritage".^[16] Literary criticJohn Kenneth Muir considered the story to be highly important to the show as a whole, as it established Lethbridge-Stewart, who would go on to be a major character in the series, as well as a style of alien invasion stories that would be repeated with great success throughout the show's run.^[17] Writing inThe Television Companion, David J Howe and Stephen Walker praised the serial, particularly positively highlighting Camfield's direction, Myerscough-Jones's set design and the usage of the Yeti as antagonists, with their presence in a familiar environment allowing the Yeti to have increased menace as antagonists.^[5] Patrick Mulkern fromRadio Times praised Camfield's direction, the execution of the paranoia caused by the presence of a traitor, and the well-developed side characters, with Mulkern praising the serial as one of the show's best.^[6]

Macek highlighted the serial's dark lighting, which allowed for the Yeti to act as effective antagonists, though felt the Yeti were not as effective in the scenes shot in above ground in daylight.^[15] Christopher Bahn, writing forThe A.V. Club, praised the serial's tension building, usage of the Yeti, and the character of Lethbridge-Stewart, but he felt the serial's ending was weak and let down by the lack of a sequel story.^[18] Graeme Burk and Stacey Smith?, writing in the bookThe Doctors Are In: The Essential and Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who's Greatest Time Lord, both considered the serial to be strong, with several highly effective moments. Smith, however, believed the serial was unable to be experienced the same as when it was first aired due to viewers now knowing that Lethbridge-Stewart could not be a culprit due to his recurring role, while Burk felt that many of the culprits were negative stereotypes of various groups, such as the Jewish and Welsh, and that the fights with the Yeti in the daylight were not done well.^[19]

Simon Morgan-Russell, writing in theJournal of Popular Film & Television, opined that the serial served as a representation of anxieties present in the British public at the time of its airing. Morgan-Russell wrote that the serial's Underground setting evoked a feeling of familiarity in audiences, and the presence of the Intelligence and the Yeti in such a space served to represent how evils and uncertainties of the time, such asCold War anxieties and home soil reforms, could invade the familiar and commonplace elements of British life.^[20]

A novelisation of this serial, written byTerrance Dicks, was published byTarget Books in August 1976, entitledDoctor Who and The Web of Fear.^[2] Episode 1 ofThe Web of Fear, then the only surviving episode of the serial, was released on DVD in 2004 as part of theLost in Time box set. The serial's surviving audio was later released on CD and as an MP3 download by the BBC, with linking narration provided byFrazer Hines.^[4]

On 11 October 2013, the recovered episodes were released on iTunes,^[21] with episode 3 represented with atele-snap photo reconstruction accompanied by the surviving off-air soundtrack.^[22] The iTunes release would become one of the top ten most downloaded releases of that week.^[23] The serial was released on VOD in 2013 and on DVD in 2014.^[22] A special edition, featuring an animated third episode, was released on DVD andBlu-ray on 16 August 2021.^[24][25]

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• The Web of Fear atBBC Online
• Photonovel ofThe Web of Fear on the BBC website
• Doctor Who Locations – The Web of Fear

• Doctor Who and the Web of Fear title listing at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• On Target —Doctor Who and the Web of Fear

• Second Doctor serials
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• Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks
• 1968 British television episodes
• Yeti in fiction
• London Underground in popular culture
• Television episodes set in London
• Television episodes set in the 1960s
• Television episodes set in the 1970s

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