The Twin Dilemma

136 – The Twin Dilemma
Doctor Who serial
In a regenerative crisis, the Doctor attacks Peri
Cast
Doctor Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor)
Companion Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown)
Others Maurice Denham — Edgeworth Edwin Richfield — Mestor Kevin McNally — Hugo Lang Dennis Chinnery — Sylvest Gavin Conrad — Romulus Andrew Conrad — Remus Seymour Green — Chamberlain Oliver Smith — Drak Barry Stanton — Noma Dione Inman — Elena Helen Blatch — Fabian Roger Nott — Prisoner John Wilson — Jacondan Guard
Production
Directed by	Peter Moffatt
Written by	Anthony Steven
Script editor	Eric Saward
Produced by	John Nathan-Turner
Incidental music composer	Malcolm Clarke
Production code	6S
Series	Season 21
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	22 March 1984
Date ended	30 March 1984
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Caves of Androzani Attack of the Cybermen

The Twin Dilemma

Author	Eric Saward
Cover artist	Andrew Skilleter
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	103
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	October 1985 (hardback) 13 March 1986 (paperback)
ISBN

The Twin Dilemma is the seventh and final serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1984, the first to star Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

After his regeneration from their previous adventure, the Doctor starts behaving erratically. He goes to the wardrobe looking for a new outfit and finds a glaring, mismatched, brightly coloured coat to which he immediately takes a shine. Peri tells him that he could not go outside wearing such an awful garb, to which the Doctor takes offence.

Two twins, Romulus and Remus Sylveste, receive a visitation from a mysterious old man called Professor Edgeworth. They question how he managed to get inside their house; he tells them he will return when their father is there, then proceeds to abduct them and the trio disappear. They arrive on a spacecraft in deep space. Edgeworth then communicates with his superior, a slug-like creature called Mestor, who instructs Edgeworth to take the twins to Titan 3.

In the console room, the Doctor has a funny turn, quoting a poem about a Peri — a good and beautiful fairy in Persian mythology, but one which used to be evil. The Doctor accuses her of being evil, and of being an alien spy before rushing toward her and throttling her. He catches a sight of his own manic face in a mirror and collapses in a heap, releasing Peri. When she tells him that he tried to kill her, he initially denies he could be capable of such an act, but seeing how terrified of him she is, decides he must become a hermit on the desolate asteroid Titan 3.

The twins' father contacts the authorities; he found Zanium in their room — a sure sign of intergalactic kidnap. A Commander Lang begins the pursuit and soon finds a suspicious ship previously reported missing. He tries to contact it, but it enters warp drive — something that class of ship is not designed to do.