4N3 - The Hand of Fear 3

Even though most people's presiding memory of the alien in The Hand of Fear is the female form of Eldrad, as played by Judith Paris, she actually only shows up a third of the way through Episode Three. Eldrad's a memorable character, if only because of the svelte figure that Paris cuts, which, couple with the supernatural powers that Eldrad has at her disposal, makes the Kastrian a marked departure from the usual hulking beasts of the show's past.

Despite Eldrad's strengths as an interesting character, my favourite thing about this episode is, again, Glyn Houston as Professor Watson. His lamenting to Miss Jackson once the dust has settled that no one will believe the fantastic events he has seen is just lovely. One has to think that many a person left in The Doctor's wake in the past could say the same thing, so it's nice to finally see someone wrestle with that dilemma. What a shame that Watson never returned to the series in some way (although, dramatically, it would have been difficult to find yet another reason to base a story at a nuclear power plant), as the Professor makes his mark on the show despite only appearing in two full episodes.

From the final third of this episode onwards, though, this story is essentially a three-hander, with The Doctor, Sarah, and Eldrad carrying the bulk of the action - a rarity at this point in the series' history.