Doctor Who (TV Series) The Hand of Fear: Part Three (1976) User Reviews

Best episode of Hand of Fear.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 27 February 2021]

A newly regenerated Eldrad requests The Doctor's help to return to her home planet of Kastria, when they arrive, Eldrad finds an unwelcome surprise waiting for her.

I've quite enjoyed the first two episodes, both were pretty good, I thought this third part was a cut above, the story became so much more interesting, and the character of Eldrad is fascinating.

Judith Paris is incredible as Eldrad, she not only looks sensational, but her performance is equally amazing, I had forgotten how little she was actually in it, but she's very memorable. Arguably one of the best pieces of design on the show?

Hand of Fear isn't a favourite of mine overall, but Part 3, is exceptional. 9/10.

Rebirth of a Rock...

[Xstal · 8/10 · 3 July 2022]

Eldrad reconstituted in new form, but humans do not like, if you're not norm (usually middle aged men), needs to get back to her world, find out all that's been unfurled, she's been gone a while, and she's keen to find her swarm.

Farewell Sarah Jane. A lot of wonderful highlights in this adventure and the sad departure of The Doctor's best ever companion.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 4 December 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

Sarah Jane Smith is thought by many, myself included, to be the greatest ever companion for The Doctor. It is incredibly sad to see her leave at the end of this story but this is a good send off for her. It is a great pity that she leaves in the final episode but the final scene between The Doctor and Sarah Jane is an extremely good, subtle and poignant farewell and she got this terrific adventure as her finale as a regular companion. Elisabeth Sladen is fabulous in her last regular story and the interactions with Tom Baker, who is also in top form, are perfect.

The start of episode 1 shows an alien world (Kastria) where a being called Eldrad who has been judged as a criminal is being supposedly destroyed. The Doctor and Sarah are then seen arriving accidentally in a quarry where rock blasting causes them to be buried by rubble. This opening couple of scenes does not indicate any greatness for this story, it is all looking pretty run of the mill. That is until Sarah reaches from under the rubble to take a hand she believes to be a rescuer only to find it is a hand not attached to a body. That moment is unnerving and quite intriguing. From that point on the opening episode gets better and better as it builds the suspense about the hand and its dangerous nature. It is, of course, the hand of the supposedly destroyed 'criminal' Eldrad and the TARDIS has clearly taken them where they need to be to deal with what happens. The hand has been in the ground for 150 million years but it now takes telepathic control of Sarah and makes her into a temporary (and convincing) villain. She takes the hand to a nuclear research centre station pursued by The Doctor.

There are believable, very well acted characters interacting brilliantly with our heroes. Glyn Houston as Professor Watson, Rex Robinson as Dr. Carter and Frances Pidgeon as Miss Jackson are convincing and wonderfully characterised. The story quickly becomes extremely interesting, gripping entertainment. The cliffhanger of episode 1 when the hand absorbs radiation and begins to move is brilliantly done and exciting.

The second and third episodes are absolutely marvelous, intelligent and thrilling. Eldrad is restored to a full female body and this alien being is a fabulous creation in every respect - visually superb, great voice, brilliantly acted by Judith Paris and full of interesting character, showing friendly and likable traits as well as threatening ones. The script expertly advances an intelligent plot with action and excitement side by side with clever and thoughtful ideas.

The final episode continues in the same fantastic way. Part way through the final episode it does have a few scenes that move away from the thoughtful, cerebral build up and turns into a more standard 'monster trying to destroy the universe' scenario. Eldrad changes into a male that looks pretty good but not quite as visually stunning or as impressively characterised as the female version. The male Eldrad played by Stephen Thorne does not have the fascinating character depth of the female version as he is revealed to be just another evil villain. It is a shame this less interesting choice for Eldrad's final scenes was made rather than the more nuanced character that had been there up until that point. It is more of a run of the mill villain finale for those few scenes but it is still exciting and a lot of fun.

As Part 4 turns out to be Sarah Jane's last episode as a regular companion (until returning in 1983's The Five Doctors, 2006's School Reunion and spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures) we get touching scenes where Sarah and The Doctor bid fond farewells. This is done with such class and poignancy and is so wonderfully acted by Tom and Lis that it ensures this final part maintains the top quality of the rest of the story.

It a pity in a way they could not have thought up a better finale to the Eldrad story, maintaining the more interesting female form but it was still a satisfying conclusion to a cracking adventure. Sarah's finale is done beautifully and if any character deserved a good farewell it is the delightful Sarah Jane Smith. Rest in peace Elisabeth Sladen, you played the best companion with sheer quality at all times.

My ratings: 10/10 for all 4 episodes.

Not quite as good as Episodes One & Two.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 26 February 2008]

Doctor Who: The Hand of Fear: Part Three starts as security guard Driscoll (Roy Boyd) opens the nuclear reactor core & steps in, there is a huge unexplosion & all the radiation & energy is absorbed by the hand. The army is called in & the RAF drop several bombs to blow the power plant up but the hand also absorbs the energy from them to finally regenerate into an alien being named Eldrad (Judith Paris) who looks like a blue skinned human female, the Doctor (Tom Baker) talks to her & discovers that she wants to go back to her home planet Kastria. Realising Eldrad doesn't belong on Earth the Doctor agrees & takes her aboard the TARDIS to Kastria but is Eldrad telling the truth...

Episode 7 from season 14 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during October 1976, directed by Lennie Mayne The Hand of Fear has been a very enjoyable Doctor Who story so far although I don't think I would call it amongst the show's greatest ever. The script by Bob Baker & Dave Martin is the first time in a number of years that a contemporary Earth set Doctor Who adventure didn't involve UNIT in any capacity, I think I'm right in saying the last one was the Patrick Troughton story Fury from the Deep (1968) although I could be wrong, it's certainly been a long time anyway & it's another indication of the new production team wanting to take the show in a different direction from the Jon Pertwee era. Anyway, after a cracking couple of opening episodes The Hand of Fear has tailed off somewhat with a largely chatty & uneventful Part Three, it's still enjoyable though, there's the trademark Tom Baker humour, the good solid script, decent character's & an intriguing storyline. The other thing that slightly goes against Part Three is the lacklustre cliffhanger ending which is poor & has the bad guy Eldrad impaled! He's the bad guy for Christ's sake, who cares! The ending just doesn't work, I mean at this point the audience should want him to die!

Part Three sees the introduction of Eldrad in the form of a blue skinned woman with an elongated head wearing a odd outfit, I thought she looked pretty cool actually & one of the better designed & realised aliens from the show & a big improvement on the other Kastians at the start of Part One who were all wearing stitched together duvet's! I think I spotted a script goof here, in the nuclear power plant control room after Eldrad almost kills Watson the Doctor, Sarah Jane & Eldrad leave with Miss Jackson entering the room literally seconds later only to tell Watson that she saw the Doctor & Sarah Jane drive off in his car which is impossible when you think about it. The power plant was huge so there's no way the Doctor, Sarah Jane & Eldrad could have left the plant & drove off with Miss Jackson seeing them & then her entering the power plant & getting to the control room in less than five seconds. I mean it probably would have took a good five minutes just to get out of the place from the control room.

The Hand of Fear: Part Three isn't quite as good as the first two episodes but it's still enjoyable & overall it's an enjoyable story so far despite the sinister living hand plot being totally done away with.