Doctor Who: the ark in space

The Doctor (Tom Baker), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) find themselves on space station Nerva - otherwise known as the Ark - where mission control appears to be sabotaged and all life forms have been cryogenically preserved in suspended animation. Sarah Jane finds herself one of the frozen chosen when she lies on a tranquilliser couch/short-range matter transmitter. When two of the Ark’s inhabitants are re-animated, med-tech Vira (Wendy Williams) and leader Noah (Kenton Moore) - they reveal that civilisation underwent mass cryogenic processing to avoid their imminent destruction by solar flares; the only problem being that their best laid plans for a programmed re-animation didn’t work due to their equipment being damaged by an unknown being. The unknown beings turn out to be The Wirrn, an insect race who have found a valuable food source on the Ark and laid it’s eggs on the solar stacks. It’s up to the Doctor to save the day. This was the second episode in which the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker 1974-1980) appeared. Originally broadcast in the UK on BBC1 between January 25 and April 15, 1975. Written by Robert Holmes.