Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor's 15 Greatest Stories

4. Pyramids Of Mars

Something's interfering with time, Mr. Scarman. And time is my business.

Along with the first appearance of Davros, Sutekh is the greatest villain in Doctor Who history. An ancient Egyptian god, he is the devil by another name, imprisoned in his pyramid on Mars and seeking to return. Gabriel Woolf brings a menace to his vocal performance, sitting in his chair observing the events of Earth. Cold and utterly ruthless, it is a story in which no one besides the Doctor and Sarah survives. Sutekh is a villain that is able to push the Doctor to his very limits. It is no surprise that Woolf was asked to return to voice the Beast in 2006's The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. Like so many of Tom Baker's best stories, the historical setting works to the advantage of the story. With the knowledge that the priory - on the grounds of current UNIT head quarters - will be burned to the ground there is the sense that the final battle is going to turn bad. The robot mummies are a masterpiece too and utterly unstoppable, killing everything in their path. Add to that the vision of the future Earth as a wasteland following Sutekh's return and stakes are raised even higher. Death hangs over this episode. There is a brilliant moment where Sarah rants against the Doctor's lack of remorse over their ally Marcus Scarman's death. It is the tour-de-force performances and the iconic villain that elevates this story to greatness.