Doctor Who: 10 Best London-Set Adventures

3. The Talons Of Weng-Chiang

Time to go back a century or so to Victorian London (recreated in 1977) for Robert Holmes' much-admired tale and one of the ultimate penny dreadfuls, The Talons Of Weng-Chiang. It starred Tom Baker in full Sherlock Holmes regalia (a few years before he went on to play the part itself) and Louise Jameson's Leela covering up for a change - not that any of us were complaining about her attire in the first place! TV Centre housed a selection and weird, wild sets, from future-born warmonger Magnus Greel's basement lair to the city's sewer network, patrolled by a giant cuddly rat. But when it came to the fog-strewn avenues and alleyways, Wapping formed the canvas onto which the BBC's peerless period details were projected. This delivered a flippin' great wallop of credibility to a classic collection of characters, who gave a whole new meaning to the term "rogues gallery". Crooked magician Li H'sen Chang, ventriloquist's dummy slash assassin Mr Sin and of course two of the ultimate supporting characters in Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago (currently to be heard via Big Finish Productions) added a splash of colour to the Fourth Doctor and Leela's escapade. Well, not so much a splash as a steaming crimson torrent!