7th Doctor
Delta and the Bannermen
Serial 7F
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Producer
John Nathan-Turner

Script Editor
Andrew Cartmel

Designer
John Asbridge

Written by Malcolm Kohll
Directed by Chris Clough
Incidental Music by Keff McCulloch

Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie), Don Henderson (Gavrok), Belinda Mayne (Delta), Stubby Kaye (Weismuller), Morgan Deare (Hawk), Ken Dodd (Tollmaster) [1], Richard Davies (Burton), David Kinder (Billy), Sarah Griffiths (Ray), Johnny Dennis (Murray) [1-2], Brian Hibbard (Keillor) [1-2], Tim Scott (Chima) [1], Anita Graham (Bollit) [1-2], Leslie Meadows (Adlon) [1-2]; Robin Aspland, Keff McCulloch, Justin Myers, Ralph Samins (The Lorells) [1]; Tracey Wilson, Jodie Wilson (Vocalists); Hugh Lloyd (Goronwy) [2-3], Martyn Geraint (Vinny) [2], Clive Condon (Callon) [2-3], Richard Mitchley (Arrex) [2-3]; Jessica McGough, Amy Osborn (Young Chimeron) [2]; Laura Collins, Carley Joseph (Chimeron Princess) [3].


The Chimeron homeworld is attacked by Gavrok and his troops - the Bannermen. The sole survivor is the Chimeron Queen, Delta, who flees carrying with her the last chance for the future of her race...

The Doctor and Mel arrive at a Galactic Tollport, to discover they've won a holiday to Disneyland in 1959, alongside a party of disguised alien Navarions. Just before they all depart, the tour is joined by Delta, who travels with them back to Earth...

Colliding with an early American satellite, the trip back in time is thrown widely off course. Instead of ending up at Disneyland, the whole party lands instead at the Shangri-La holiday camp in South Wales, 1959.

The Doctor and Mel take full advantage of the holiday camp, entertainment and some vintage rock 'n' roll. But the Bannermen are tracking Delta, and before long the holiday camp is the scene for a battle that could decide the survival of the Chimeron race - not to mention the survival of all those caught up in the conflict...


Original Broadcast (UK) 
Part One		      2nd November, 1987		7h35pm - 8h00pm
Part Two		      9th November, 1987		7h35pm - 8h00pm
Part Three		      16th November, 1987		7h35pm - 8h00pm
Notes:
  • Released on video in episodic format. [+/-]

    U.K. Release U.S. Release

  1. DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN
    • U.K. Release: March 2001 / U.S. Release: June 2002
      PAL - BBC video BBCV7131
      NTSC - Warner Video E1648
  • Novelised as Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen by Malcolm Kohll. [+/-]

    Virgin Edition W.H. Allen Edition

    • Paperback Edition - W.H. Allen.
      First Edition: January 1989.
      ISBN: 0 426 20333 X.
      Cover by Alister Pearson.
      Price: £1.99.

    • Paperback Edition - Virgin Publishing Ltd.
      First Edition: November 1991.
      ISBN: 0 426 20333 X.
      Cover by Alister Pearson.
      Price: £2.99.
  • Doctor Who Magazine Archive: Issue #184.
 
 
 
 
Part One
(drn: 24'47")

The ruthless Bannermen have all but destroyed their enemies the Chimeron. The last of the Chimeron and their beautiful humanoid queen, Delta, try to escape on a Bannerman ship, but Gavrok kills the last Chimeron before he can escape. Delta escapes with a silver egg-shaped package, and Gavrok sets off in pursuit of her, the last Chimeron survivor.

The TARDIS materializes at a space tollport, where the Doctor and Mel emerge to find that they're the tollport's ten billionth customers and have thus won a trip to Disneyland in the year 1959. The alien Navarinos' 1950s Club have physically altered themselves to resemble humans, and are preparing to travel back in time on a space cruiser disguised as a 1950s bus; the Doctor, however, recognizes Nostalgia Trips as the most accident-prone tour company in the Universe and decides to follow on behind in the TARDIS. Just as the bus is about to take off, Delta arrives at the tollport and rushes on board, as Gavrok and his men try to compensate for her sudden change of direction.

The Americans have launched an experimental satellite, and CIA agents Hawk and Weismuller are in Wales with orders to monitor its progress. The satellite, however, collides with the bus while its driver, Murray, is talking with Mel and the reticent Delta, and the bus begins spiralling out of control towards Earth. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to generate an anti-gravity loop, gently lowering the bus to Earth near the Welsh holiday camp Shangri-La. The camp leader, Burton, assumes them to be the holiday group he was expecting to arrive, and when Murray accidentally breaks the replacement warp crystal he was trying to fit to the bus' engines, the Doctor advises the Navarinos to stay here for the night while he grows a new one.

Mel shares a room with Delta, but her attempts to get her roommate to open up are met with cold silence. Delta panics and pulls a gun on Mel when she hears the dinner gong, but reluctantly concedes that Mel doesn't seem to pose a danger and lets her go. Mel takes her story straight to the Doctor, who worries that Delta may not be the only one in danger if she's who he suspects she is. Meanwhile, Weismuller and Hawk receive new orders from America; they're to look for the downed satellite, which apparently landed somewhere in this area. Elsewhere, the Bannermen storm the tollport, question the terrified tollmaster, and kill him when he's unable to help them locate the missing tour bus.

That night, Delta attends the "getting to know you" dance in a dress she borrowed from Mel. Billy, the camp's mechanic, is singing at the dance with his band, using special amplifiers he built himself; he's fallen in love with Delta at first sight, much to the horror of his childhood friend Rachel ("Ray"), who's been nurturing an unrequited crush on Billy for years. Delta leaves the dance and returns to her room, where she apologizes to Mel for her behaviour and begins to tell her the truth... just as her silver egg-shaped package hatches into a green, wrinkled Chimeron baby.

The Doctor hears Ray sobbing in the camp's laundry room and tries to console her; they then hear someone approaching and hide, and see one of the Navarino tourists -- actually a mercenary named Keillor -- contacting the Bannermen to tell them where Delta is. He activates a homing signal to lead them to Earth, but then finds the Doctor and Ray spying on him and prepares to shoot them both.

Part Two
(drn: 24'23")

Gavrok sends an energy pulse down the path of the homing signal, frying Keillor and incidentally knocking the Doctor and Ray unconscious. Meanwhile, Billy arrives to surprise Delta with flowers, and is surprised himself by the green little creature she's holding. She agrees to tell him and Mel the whole truth.

The next morning, Billy offers to take Delta to a beauty spot he knows of in the hills, while Mel, exhausted, falls asleep. The Doctor awakens just in time to see Billy and Delta driving off, unaware that Gavrok and the Bannermen are on their way. He and Ray awaken and warn Mel of the danger, and she leaves to warn Murray and the Navarinos while the Doctor and Ray try to convince Burton of the danger. He's unconvinced until the Doctor, in desperation, shows him the inside of the TARDIS; Burton then agrees to evacuate the staff from the camp while he remains to protect his livelihood. The Doctor hands the nearly-completed warp crystal to Murray, who desperately tries to will it to hurry while the Doctor and Ray set off to find and warn Billy and Delta.

The Doctor and Ray search the local beauty spots, and eventually track down Billy and Delta; Delta is feeding her child a special food which is causing the child to metamorphose into a beautiful Chimeron princess. The Princess sings in a high-pitched voice which can be either a song of peace or an attack frequency for use against the Bannermen. The Doctor and Ray arrive and warn Delta of the danger, and they set off back to the camp.

The Bannermen land in a nearby field, capture the puzzled Weismuller and Hawk, and set off in search of the camp they were told about. Murray has just installed the warp crystal and is preparing to take off when the Bannermen arrive and open fire, destroying the bus and all the Navarino tourists inside. Mel, horrified, tries to convince Gavrok that the Chimeron Queen died on the bus, but just at that moment, the Doctor and his friends arrive. They make a quick U-turn and flee, pursued by Bannermen, but as Gavrok prepares to kill Mel for her deceit Burton arrives and advises him to take her hostage instead, to use as bait.

The Doctor and his friends take shelter at Goronwy's, a local eccentric beekeeper who's only too glad to help them out. While Billy, Delta and Ray shelter at Goronwy's, the Doctor borrows Billy's motorbike and returns to the camp under a flag of truce. Gavrok shoots the flag out of the motorbike and listens, apparently uninterested, to the Doctor's furious chastisement. The Doctor, warning Gavrok that he'll face judgement for his crimes, unties Mel and Burton and leads them back to the motorcycle... but as the entire Bannermen army take one step forward and ready their guns for firing, the Doctor realizes he may have gone a little too far.

Part Three
(drn: 24'22")

Despite their reservations, the Doctor, Mel and Burton continue on, board the motorcycle and depart, while the Bannermen apparently do nothing. Gavrok fires a flare which attracts the attention of Arrex and Callon, the two Bannermen left to guard Weismuller and Hawk. Arrex and Callon bind the two CIA agents in a neck brace and head off to carry out their new orders, but as soon as they've gone Ray arrives and picks the lock of the neck brace. Arrex and Callon set themselves up on the nearby country lane and fire at the Doctor and his companions as they pass. They appear to miss, but the Doctor knows better, and pulls off the road some distance away to dispose of their tracking device. Meanwhile, Gavrok locates the TARDIS and places a booby-trap on its roof. He tests the trap by throwing a twig, which bursts into flames as soon as it touches the TARDIS.

Goronwy feeds his bees and proudly shows them and his collection of classic honeys off to Billy and Delta. The bees are producing royal jelly, the food which turns an ordinary drone into a queen bee; Billy, drawing the obvious analogy, steals a package of the food which Delta has been feeding the Princess. Arrex and Callon, searching for the missing CIA agents, stumble across Goronwy's home and see Delta and the Princess in the backyard; but just as they're about to open fire, the Princess screams -- a shrill, piercing alien sound which bores through the Bannermen's heads. Callon flees, clutching his ears in pain, as Delta shoots Arrex.

Realizing that Gavrok and his men will soon arrive, the Doctor turns on the radio, plants Delta's scarf in the honey shed, and leads the others back to Shangri-La. Gavrok and his men follow the tracking signal to a nearby field only to find that the Doctor has tied the tracer to a goat; Callon then arrives with news of the Chimeron's location, and the Bannermen rush to Goronwy's and storm the house, hearing the radio playing inside. They eventually find Delta's scarf and break into the shed, but all of Goronwy's classic honey drops from the shelves and spatters over the Bannermen. They emerge, dripping with honey, and are immediately attacked by angry bees.

Back at Shangri-La, the Doctor notices the charred twig near the TARDIS and realizes what Gavrok has done. Meanwhile, Delta finds Billy consuming the "royal jelly", hoping to turn himself into a Chimeron so he can remain with her. The Bannermen return to Shangri-La, and the Doctor and Billy quickly set up their contingency plan; Billy wires his band's amplifiers to the camp's PA system, and as the Bannermen move into position for an assault, the Princess screams into the intercom. Her shrill cry sends the Bannermen into spasms -- and Gavrok, studying the TARDIS to find out why nobody stepped into his trap, clutches his ears in pain, stumbles into his own trap and is instantly disintegrated.

As Weismuller and Hawk tie up the recovering Bannermen and load them onto their ship, the Doctor watches Billy preparing to depart with Delta and the Princess; he knows that cross-species fertilisation could lead to horrible mutations but doesn't have the heart to deny Billy and Delta's love. Before leaving, Billy gives his motorbike to Ray, who promises to take care of it. Billy, Delta and the Princess set off to take their case to judgement. The Doctor removes the sonic cone, which is now drained of power, and points out to Weismuller and Hawk that the satellite they were looking for is jammed into the camp fence, where it ended up after the bus exploded. Another busful of tourists arrives, and Burton rushes off to try to deal with them without his staff. The Doctor and Mel bid goodbye to Goronwy and depart as "Happy Days Are Here Again" plays over the camp's PA.

Source: Cameron Dixon

 
 
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