The Hand of Fear

] [cite web
url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4n.html
title= The Hand of Fear
publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel
last = Sullivan
first = Shannon
date = 2007-08-07
accessdate = 2008-08-30]
*Working titles claimed for this story were "The Hand of Death" and "The Hand of Time". However, the production notes on the DVD release state that there were no working titles for this story.
*At the time, in terms of seasons, Elisabeth Sladen was the longest serving companion with any Doctor, appearing for over three seasons and surpassing Katy Manning's record as Jo Grant. Sladen held the record until Janet Fielding played Tegan Jovanka for three years and one month. Frazer Hines as companion Jamie McCrimmon holds the record for the longest serving companion in terms of the number of episodes he appeared in.
*When Sladen expressed her intention to leave the series, Sarah was originally supposed to be killed off in a pseudo-historical story involving aliens and the Foreign Legion. However Douglas Camfield, who was supposed to write the scripts, was unable to do so, much to Sladen's relief, as she did not want Sarah to be killed off or married off. Sladen also asked that Sarah's departure not be the main focus of the story, as she felt the program was about the Doctor, not the companion.
*A real-life quarry explosion was filmed for the episode. Unfortunately the crew badly underestimated the power of the explosion, and a rumour persisted for many years that a camera was totally destroyed in the blast. However, in the DVD commentary it is made clear that this is just a fan myth.
*The nuclear power station was originally supposed to be the Nuton Power Complex of "The Claws of Axos" but was renamed the Nunton Experimental Complex instead. The real-life location was the Oldbury nuclear power station in Gloucestershire.
*In the original script, Miss Jackson was a nameless male. Director Lennie Mayne built up the part, changed the gender, and cast his wife, Frances Pidgeon.
*Eldrad's home was originally supposed to be the black hole of Omega 4.6. When Robert Holmes pointed out to Bob Baker and Dave Martin that the name Omega had already appeared in "Doctor Who" (in "The Three Doctors"; ironically this story was also written by Baker and Martin), they changed the name to Kastria.
*The original script for the story featured an ageing Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, who had been moved from UNIT to the Extraterrestrial Xenological Intelligence Taskforce to study UFO activities. He was to be killed when he steered his spaceship into an Omegan kamikaze ship to prevent that ship from crashing into Earth. This plan did not go through due to Nicholas Courtney being unavailable for filming. The original script also featured Harry Sullivan.
*Baker and Martin intentionally did not write Sarah's departure scene. The script for that scene was rewritten by Sladen and Tom Baker from Robert Holmes' original version.
*In the final scene, Sarah Jane whistles the tune "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow". Since Sladen is unable to whistle, director Lennie Mayne provided the whistling while she mimed to it.Fact|date=August 2008

In print

Doctorwhobook
title=Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear
series=Target novelisations
number=30
featuring=


writer=Terrance Dicks
publisher=Target Books
coverartist=Roy Knipe
isbn=0 426 20033 0
set_between=
pages=
date=18 January 1979|preceding=Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment
following=Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy|A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in January 1979.

Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases

*This serial was released on VHS in February 1996.
*The story was released as a Region 2 DVD on 24 July 2006, and on Region 1 on 7 November 2006. it was re-released with new outer packaging on 2 July 2007. [http://www.gallifreyone.com/releases.php] [http://www.bbcshop.com/invt/bbcdvd1833&bklist=icat,3,,doctorwhodvdvideo] [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5963]

References

External links

*BBCCDW|id=handoffear|title=The Hand of Fear
*Brief |id=4n | title=The Hand of Fear
*Doctor Who RG | id=who_4n | title=The Hand of Fear

Reviews

*OG review | id=4n | title=The Hand of Fear
*DWRG | id=hand | title=The Hand of Fear

Target novelisation

*DWRG | id=handnov | title=Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear
* [http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1979/hand/79hand.htm On Target — "Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear"]

References

* Cornell P., Day M., Topping K. "The Discontinuity Guide" Doctor Who Books (1995)
* Haining P. "Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years" W H Allen (1988)