Image of the Fendahl ( TV story ) Image of the Fendahl was the third story of season 15 of " Doctor Who " . Synopsis . The present day : just as the Fourth Doctor and Leela arrive in Fetchborough , England , Professor Fendelman prepares to experiment on a fossilized skull which science says should not exist . The skull is actually an artefact of the Fendahl , a god - like being who feeds on the life force of others . It has begun to awaken and kill . Worse yet , others seek to exploit the Fendahl ' s dreadful power . Plot . Part 1 . In Fetch Priory , scientists Thea Ransome and Adam Colby are examining a skull they have nicknamed " Eustace " . The skull is twelve million years old , and they are incredulous at the evolutionary implications . Meanwhile , lead scientist Dr Fendelman and his collaborator , Maximillian Stael , begin their nighttime experiments with a time scanner . Its power seems to affect the skull , of which they seem unaware . The skull in turn has some sort of effect on Thea . In the woods outside of the Priory , a hiker walking by is attacked by an unseen creature . Meanwhile , the Fourth Doctor and Leela are in the TARDIS , worrying over the damaged K9 . The Doctor insists on referring to K9 as an " it " , to Leela ' s chagrin . As the Doctor tries to repair K9 , the TARDIS is affected by a Relative Continuum Displacement Zone — a hole in time . The Doctor traces it to Earth , and the TARDIS lands near the Priory the next day . The Doctor and Leela find a man called Ted Moss . He says there are strange things going on in the Priory . Adam finds the corpse of the hiker while out walking their dog , Leakey . Fendelman suggests covering this up , loathe to media and police interrupting their potentially groundbreaking work . Fendelman tells Stael to have armed guards posted and to do a postmortem on the body . Thea and Adam learn of the lockdown though guard David Mitchell after a loud argument between him and an old local woman , Martha Tyler . She is a white witch and the cook at the priory . Stael reports his inability to discover the cause of the hiker ' s death , but the body is decomposing rapidly . Fendelman orders him to dispose of the body . The Doctor and Leela decide they must investigate the priory just as Thea switches on the time scanner . A compulsion draws her to the machine . The skull and she seem to merge . Leela has split up from the Doctor . As she investigates a nearby cottage , a shotgun is fired at her . Meanwhile , the Doctor feels the presence of the same unseen creature . He finds himself paralysed , unable to run as the creature is about to consume him . Part 2 . The Doctor regains control of his legs and runs from the creature . Ted Moss reloads his shotgun and moves to the door of the Tyler cottage , where Leela overpowers him . Jack Tyler gets rid of Ted Moss and talks with Leela . Thea is being gradually taken over by the skull , the Fendahl . The Fendahl kills Mitchell , the security guard . Embryo Fendahleen briefly appear on the unconscious Thea as the Doctor and Adam watch . Fendelman has the Doctor locked up in a storage room on suspicion of Mitchell ' s murder . Jack Tyler talks to Leela about his " gran " and the old religion , and being involved with " something nasty " . Adam goes to talk to Dr Fendelman about the disconnected telephone . Fendelman thinks the skull is extraterrestrial . He shows Adam a skull x - ray ; a pentagram is part of the bone structure , and he believes it is a neural circuit that stores energy and then , eventually , signal to others that there intelligent life on the planet . Mrs Tyler returns to the cottage , terrified . Mother Tyler says that something was after her , " hungry " for her soul . Thea is again drawn to the room where the time scanner is kept . She sees the x - ray of the skull . Stael appears and , revealed as the leader of the local coven , proclaims she is the key to his power , the chosen one . The Doctor enters the room where the skull is kept . He finds the skull . It begins to " power up " , glowing brightly . It forces him to touch it . He yells in pain as the skull glow ever brighter . Part 3 . Leela arrives and pries the Doctor away from the skull . The Doctor tells her it ' s a Fendahl ' s , a species he believed a myth . He rouses Mrs Tyler from her shock and asks her about the being which attacked her . She has precognition as a result of growing up near a time fissure . She later tells Jack that the figure she saw in her mind was a woman . Meanwhile , Stael pulls a gun on Dr Fendelman and Adam . He shackles them to pillars in the cottage ' s basement . The Doctor and Leela use the TARDIS to follow the time fissure and find the Fendahl ' s home planet . It had been placed in a time loop — and only the Time Lord s could do that . Stael assembles his cult , preparing their ceremony . Fendelman realises what is happening . The Fendahl has used his ancestors and him to regain life . He pleads desperately with Stael and his followers to stop , but Stael shoots him . When they return , the Doctor , Leela and the Tylers head back to the Priory . Suddenly they find their legs cannot move . The group are all stuck as a full - grown Fendahleen bears down on them . Part 4 . The Doctor uses Jack ' s gun , loaded with rock salt , to kill the Fendahleen . The group concentrate and escape its telepathic influence . Meanwhile , the cult uses Thea ' s body as a host for the Fendahl core to manifest . The Fendahl turns the cult members into Fendahleen and paralyses Stael when he catches its gaze . The Doctor and Leela sneak into the cult ' s room and free Adam . The Doctor tells Leela to get Adam to safety and tries to help Stael . He begs the Doctor to bring him his gun . Stael kills himself . The Doctor confers with the others . He realises the Fendahl requires thirteen Fendahleen to become an incredibly powerful gestalt entity , but with Stael and a Fendahleen dead , the creature is incomplete . While the Doctor works on the time scanner , he theorises the Fendahl may have guided human evolution . This may explain mankind ' s darker nature . Leela and Jack are attacked by the Fendahl ' s forces and kill one of the Fendahleen . The Doctor rigs the scanner to destroy the entire priory . He and Leela enter the basement and take the skull . The Fendahl core tries to stop them , but in its weakened state , they avoid its paralytic effects . Without the skull , the core is rendered powerless and is destroyed in the explosion . The Doctor and Leela leave in the TARDIS to find a star about to go supernova and drop the Fendahl skull into it . The Doctor calls K9 a " him " , saying that he can if he wants — after all , K9 is his dog . K9 nods in agreement .