Horror of Fang Rock ( TV story ) Horror of Fang Rock was the first story of season 15 of " Doctor Who " . Graham Williams ' three - year stint as producer of the series began with this story . It is the only time that the Rutan Host — the oft - mentioned mortal enemies of the Sontaran s — have been depicted in a broadcast television story . Synopsis . The cursed island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England is a place of rumour and tales of beasts from the sea . Three lighthouse men at the turn of the century face their fears when something comes from the sea to bring death to all it touches . Plot . Part 1 . The Doctor ' s plans to show Brighton to Leela are on hold for now , as yet again the TARDIS takes its occupants to the wrong time and place . This time they arrive on the island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England around the start of the 20th century . Noticing that the lighthouse isn ' t functioning properly , the Doctor decides to investigate and to ask for directions . After they arrive at the lighthouse and introduce themselves , the Doctor discovers the dead body of one of the keepers , Ben . The two other keepers — old , superstitious Reuben and keen young Vince — say that a light fell from the sky near the island earlier in the evening . They also say the electricity flow to the lamp on the lighthouse has become erratic . The Doctor deduce s that something is feeding on the flow . Reuben does not help matters with his constant references to the mythical Beast of Fang Rock which supposedly once terrorised the lighthouse . He is also unhappy about the replacement of the old oil lights with electrical ones . As the Doctor and Leela explore , " something " moves Ben ' s body out of the lighthouse and onto the island . A curious electric crackling also seems to have killed the local fish . The Doctor believes Ben was electrocuted . The freak fog continues to descend . A ship passes near the island , ignoring the fog and darkness and sailing at top speed . It crashes on Fang Rock . . . Part 2 . There are four survivors of the yacht ' s wreck : the bo ' sun Harker ; Colonel James Skinsale , an MP ; the yacht ' s owner , Lord Palmerdale ; and his highly strung secretary Adelaide Lessage . It emerges slowly that Palmerdale has bought government secrets from Skinsale and was desperate to reach the Stock Exchange in London to make a killing — that was why the ship was travelling at such high speed in the appalling weather . The Doctor continues to analyse the threat being faced . Reuben believes the Beast of Fang Rock is back , but the Doctor assures Leela there is no such thing . He thinks the light which fell from the sky was a spaceship landing . Aliens unfamiliar with humans are attracted to the lighthouse ' s electricity . They are keeping themselves out of sight while isolating Fang Rock by creating the fog . The Doctor deduce s an attack is imminent . Reuben goes to stoke the boiler . While he is in the boiler room , Leela feels another cold wave , and the electricity fails again . All is silent in the dark , save Reuben screaming in the boiler room . . . Part 3 . The Doctor and Leela go to investigate . Reuben returns while they are away , behaving very oddly , which the others put down to shock . The pattern of death now speeds up . Palmerdale is killed in the lamp room by a glowing alien presence outside the lighthouse . Harker is killed when Reuben corners him in the boiler room . Judging by the alien light emanating from Reuben , he has been possessed or transformed by the alien creature . The Doctor determines their best protection is to secure the lighthouse to keep the creature out . While inspecting the boiler room , the Doctor and Leela find both Harker ' s body and that of Reuben , which has been hidden . The Doctor says that Reuben ' s body is in " rigor mortis " — he ' s been dead for hours . Leela is confused , as she knew that Reuben was in his room . The shocked Doctor realises that he has overlooked the chameleon factor , which he says is sometimes called lycanthropy . In securing the lighthouse , the Doctor has locked the creature in with them . . . Part 4 . The creature , in the guise of Reuben , appears to Vince , with a grin , and kills him in a flash of blue light by placing a hand on his head . The Doctor and Leela discuss the creature as Leela fills the boiler . The Doctor says it has great power , but it needed to study the human life pattern first . He says that " organic restructuring is elementary physiology for Time Lord s " . Leela misunderstands , believing that if the creature is a Time Lord , then they have no chance to stop it . The Doctor corrects her , saying that what his people consider " elementary " might take other species thousands of years to master , and she says , " Then we have nothing to worry about , " because the Doctor , as a Time Lord , should be able to deal with the creature easily . The Doctor seems to be buffered by her blind faith in his people and begins to consider why the creature took the form of Reuben . Leela suggests trying to deceive the creature into thinking its ruse was effective , but the Doctor says it ' s too dangerous . They then find an alien power relay being used with a distress beacon . He goes to look for the signal modulator but sends Leela to gather the rest of the survivors and bring them to the lamp room . Adelaide begs Skinsale to stop pacing . They ' re startled by the appearance of Leela , who tells them that Harker has died , the creature is inside , and they must fight for their lives . To Leela ' s consternation , Adelaide faints . " Reuben " interrupts the Doctor as he searches someone ' s bunk ; the Doctor evades him by climbing out the window , dangling by his fingertips . Adelaide is revived by Skinsale but doesn ' t want to go . They get her moving , only to find that " Reuben " has found " them " . The Doctor laboriously climbs back inside , revealing that he has found a device . " Reuben " kills Adelaide right in front of Leela and Skinsale , and they run for it . The Doctor confronts the alien and it sheds its disguise , revealing a tentacled glowing green gelatinous sphere resembling a giant jellyfish . The Doctor immediately recognises it as a Rutan , who uses plural pronouns to reference itself and declares that it is a scout trained in the " new metamorphosis techniques " . The Doctor tells him it ' ll get better at them in time . It refuses to tell the Doctor why it is there , but it is angered when the Doctor suggests that the Rutans must be losing their never - ending war with the Sontaran s . The Rutan Scout declares that the Rutan Host is instead making " a series of strategic withdrawls " , and although the Earth is remote , it has a sound enough strategic position to launch a counterattack . The Doctor is alarmed , as the Sontarans will use photonic bombardment ( which will kill many people ) to dislodge the Rutan presence . He realises that the Rutan scout ship crash landed in the sea , and it confirms that it is trying to summon its mother ship . The Doctor reveals that he has deactivated both the primary transmitter and the backup . The Rutan Scout says it was transmitting long enough , and the Doctor says it won ' t last that long before fleeing upstairs to the lamp room . Leela and Skinsale have made it to the lamp room and start following the Doctor ' s instructions to break open the maroons ( maroon flare s ) and spread the powder down the stairs . The Doctor rushes in and uses the powder and a fuse to hurt the Rutan Scout , who retreats back down the stairs . He explains that Ruta III is an icy planet ( so its inhabitants find heat painful ) and asks if they have more gunpowder or ( hopefully ) a flamethrower . Skinsale shows him a kind of mortar they brought up from below . The Doctor grabs a flare device , and they stuff it with items from their pockets to create shrapnel . As they do so , he explains that the " real " threat is the Rutan ship that is on the way . The three devise a plan , with Leela suggesting that the Doctor change the lighthouse into a laser , but the Doctor needs crystalline carbon — diamond — to focus it . Skinsale says that Palmerdale always carried diamonds , and they get to work . The men make their way downstairs while Leela covers them with the flare . Skinsale retrieves the diamonds from a hidden pouch . The Doctor selects one , then throws the rest on the floor before running back upstairs . Skinsale tries to collect the other diamonds , and so doesn ' t see the scout approaching . The Doctor glances back and watches as the Scout kills Skinsale . Leela shoots it with the mortar before gloating over its death . As the Doctor converts the lighthouse into a high - energy laser using the diamond , they watch the mothership approach . The Doctor warns Leela that once he turns it on , they cannot look back and they will have 117 seconds to get out of the lighthouse . They flee the lighthouse and run for cover as the laser destroys the Rutan mother ship . Leela sneaks a look back despite the Doctor ' s orders not to and is blinded by the flash ; she gives her knife to the Doctor and begs to be killed , as amongst the Sevateem it is the fate of the old and crippled . Although he takes the knife , the Doctor laughs as he gets a closer look at her eyes . He explains that the blindness is temporary , but he is surprised to find that the flash has caused pigmentation dispersal in Leela ' s eyes — in plain English , they ' ve changed colour and are now blue . The Doctor quotes Wilfrid Gibson ' s poem as they leave Fang Rock , which echoes eerily on the empty island as the TARDIS fades away : Story notes . Production errors . " to be added " Max Headroom signal intrusion incident . On 22 November 1987 , a rebroadcast of " Horror of Fang Rock " on PBS affiliate WTTW in Chicago , Ill . , was the target of a prank in which individuals managed to hijack WTTW ' s broadcast feed and , for nearly 90 seconds , the pranksters aired footage of two individuals , one wearing a mask , spouting gibberish and advertising catchphrases including those at the time associated with Max Headroom and Coca - Cola , and humming music . The two also engaged in mildly risqué behaviour near the end of the tape . The signal intrusion occurred twice that evening : first during highlights from an American Football game on a newscast on the then - independent commercial station WGN - TV , and later during the broadcast of " Horror of Fang Rock " on public television station WTTW . The first attempt appeared to be partially unsuccessful as those responsible were unable to properly broadcast sound , only managing to provide electronic buzzing and screeches in the signal ' s audio channels , and were quickly cut off by WGN - TV . The " Doctor Who " interruption had proper sound , albeit distorted , and ran in its entirety . The " Doctor Who " interruption appeared to have been pre - recorded , and was transmitted during the first part of " Horror of Fang Rock " . The footage starts with a man disguised as television personality Max Headroom , referring to an unknown individual who the presenter describes as a " frickin ' nerd " before mentioning Chuck Swirsky and laughing . The presenter proceeds to toss a Coca - Cola can at the camera while saying " Catch the Wave " ( referencing the actual Max Headroom , who used the slogan as part of a marketing campaign for Coca - Cola ' s then - current " New Coke " ) before raising his middle finger up to the camera ( an obscene gesture in the United States , akin to the inverted V - sign in Britain ) while wearing a rubber finger atop the former . The presenter then states that " your love is fading , " a reference to the 1966 Temptations song " ( I Know ) I ' m Losing You , " and removes the rubber finger . He then sings the theme tune to the 1959 American synchro - vox cartoon " Clutch Cargo " and states , " I can still see the ' X ' " midway ( a reference to " Clutch Cargo " s final episode , " Big X " ) . Groaning , the presenter then moans , " My piles , " referring to haemorrhoid pain , and gyrates while making flatulent noises , describing it as " a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds " ( an apparent insult at WGN ) . He proceeds to don a cloth glove on his left hand ( stating that the other one is " dirty " and in his brother ' s possession ) before taking it off in disgust after complaining that there are bloodstains on it . At this point , the tape cuts to another angle where a second individual is visible . The first individual ' s rear end is visible , yet his face is left off - camera . He holds his mask up to the camera with the rubber finger in its mouth , claiming that " they ' re coming to get me , " before the second individual ( dressed as a French maid ) commands him to bend over . The second individual repeatedly spanks the first with a flyswatter while the latter pleads to " make it stop . " The transmission cuts to black and then " Doctor Who " resumes at the scene where the Fourth Doctor surmises that Ben had died of electrocution . Representatives for WTTW later admitted that they were powerless to stop the broadcast because the engineers were not on duty at the Sears Tower transmitters . In the days following , the scene from " Horror of Fang Rock " that had been interrupted was rebroadcast on local Chicago and national media . The individuals responsible for the illegal hijacking of the two broadcast signals have never been identified or apprehended ; it is also a mystery as to whether the " Doctor Who " broadcast had been targeted specifically , or if the pranksters just happened to choose that moment to begin their hijack . Home video and audio releases . DVD releases . This story was released as " Doctor Who : Horror of Fang Rock " . Released : Contents : Notes : VHS releases . This story was released as " Doctor Who : Horror of Fang Rock " . Released :