Harold Chorley Harold Chorley was a Northern Irish television and print journalist . He and his brother Lawrence grew up in Monaghan with an abusive father . When Harold ( " Harry " ) was seven , to his horror , he saw his brother defended himself and accidentally killed their dad . He refused to see this as an accident and the two boys had a ruined relationship . As they grew up , Harold resented Lawrence for , as he saw it , stealing credit for Harold ' s successes and assigning blame for failures . As adults , the brothers both went into journalism and , despite looking similar , worked to cover up their familial ties . Lawrence took the name Larry Greene . For years , however , Harold would be ready to threaten to reveal Larry ' s childhood manslaughter to get favours from him . To get ahead in journalism , Harold worked to remove his original accent and cultivate a refined , posh English accent . ( PROSE : " The Lost Skin " ) When the British government decided to allow only one correspondent into the London Underground to cover the British Army ' s fight against the Great Intelligence and its robot Yeti , Chorley was selected for the job by the press industry . At first he was proud to be chosen for this unique assignment , but when he realised the danger he was in , he panicked and attempted to flee . His disappearance caused several people , including Jamie McCrimmon , to suspect him of working for the Great Intelligence . During the crisis , he met Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge - Stewart . ( TV : " The Web of Fear " ) When he tried to reveal the truth of what happened , the government had him blocked and blacklisted from the BBC . Chorley took his colleague Larry Greene ' s career with him . ( PROSE : " The Schizoid Earth , Mutually Assured Domination " ) In his attempts to reveal the truth , he deeply researched Travers ' history . ( PROSE : " The Lost Skin " ) In 1969 , Chorley was a freelancer who was still struggling to work , found himself mocked by figures like Vanessa Redgrave , and was separated from his wife . After covering an anti - war protest and saving two hippie s from police violence , Chorley was drawn into a conspiracy around Dominex Industries . He became tied to Lethbridge - Stewart after phoning him to get bailed out of jail , and promised to report what he found at Dominex . The company turned out to be a front for the Dominator s and after looking into it with Lethbridge - Stewart , Chorley was captured and brainwashed into doing puff pieces for the aliens . The brainwashing failed at a crucial moment and Chorley was able to save Lethbridge - Stewart , but his memories were left a confused jumble . ( PROSE : " Mutually Assured Domination " ) He became increasingly more erratic and a heavier drinker , his career falling apart , and he followed Lethbridge - Stewart in a desperate hope to learn what had happened . The memory damage even affected his knowledge of aliens . He ended up accidentally falling in with ex - CIA agent Hannsen ' s attempts to bring down the Nazi Vilhelm Schädengeist , who was constructing a bunker under Billy Lovac ' s TV studio . He narrowly escaped being captured by Schädengeist ' s men during an investigation and tried to bring Lethbridge - Stewart in . The colonel used him as a cover for investigating the studio and when snooping around for a story , Chorley witnessed the brutal murder of a staff writer by Schädengeist ( disguised as the actor Aubrey Mondegreene ) . To keep Chorley quiet , Lethbridge - Stewart convinced the disintegrating Lovac to give Chorley a fake story about what happened and that the murder was just special effects . Chorley , mentally recovered thanks to his tabloid - level scoop , sold the story to the Evening Standard and decided to get his wife back . ( PROSE : " The Showstoppers " ) Near the end of that year , Chorley was still trying to expose Lethbridge - Stewart and forcing Larry Greene to assist , even as his obsession continued to retard his career . ( Chorley remained bitter and envious of Greene ' s own recent career successes ) Chorley learned Lethbridge - Stewart was working with the army in Scotland but arrived after the brigadier had already gone on leave abroad . He abandoned Larry to follow Professor Travers on the trail of an alleged selkie . ( PROSE : " The Lost Skin " ) For years after , he would attempt to reveal the existence of aliens and be stonewalled by UNIT . ( PROSE : " The Forgotten Son original opening " ) In the 1970s , he hosted a daytime chat show called " Chorley ' s People " . His counterpart on the Inferno Earth also hosted a show of the same name . ( PROSE : " Still Lives " ) After leaving journalism , he supplemented his retirement fund by ghost - writing autobiographies . With only a month left to live , Lethbridge - Stewart summoned Chorley to his nursing home and asked Chorley to help him write his memoirs . ( PROSE : " The Forgotten Son original opening " )