A hapless inventor finally finds success with a flying car, which a dictator from a foreign government sets out to take for himself.

Scientist Doctor Who accidentally activates his new invention, the Tardis, a time machine disguised as a police telephone box. Who, his two granddaughters Barbara and Susan, and Barbara's boyfriend Ian are transported through time and space to the planet Skaro, where a peaceful race of Thals are under threat of nuclear attack from the planet's other inhabitants: the robotic mutant Daleks.

Dominic Behan's play concerning the IRA’s bombing campaign in London in 1939

A struggling pulp fiction writer who doubles as an incompetent jewel thief. He gets caught in the act every time, but he uses his looks and charm to make the best of it. Soon he becomes a celebrity. Wealthy women start leaving their jewels out like milk and cookies for Santa Claus in hopes that the sex thief will unlawfully invade their domiciles.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Susan, Barbara, and Ian to the planet Skaro where they meet two indigenous races — the Daleks, malicious mutant creatures encased in armoured travel machines, and the Thals, beautiful humanoids with pacifist principles. They convince the Thals of the need to fight for their own survival.

The Doctor and his companions are pursued through time and space by the Daleks on the desert planet Aridius and beyond.

The Doctor returns to Peladon fifty years after his last visit, to find Queen Thalira, daughter of the late King Peladon, on the throne. A tense labour dispute between Pel nobility and miners is worsened when apparitions of their deity Aggedor attack and kill several miners. The Galactic Federation desperately needs trisilicate for its war against Galaxy 5 and sends in brutal Ice Warrior troopers to ensure production. The Doctor discovers a devious plot at the heart of Aggedor's appearances.

The TARDIS arrives in London in 1966 and the First Doctor and Dodo visit the Post Office Tower. There they meet Professor Brett, whose revolutionary new computer WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue) can actually think for itself and is shortly to be linked up to other major computers around the world — a project overseen by civil servant Sir Charles Summer.

On the planet Vortis, the Doctor and his companions aid the butterfly-like Menoptra in their battle against the parasitic Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi.

The TARDIS arrives in a desolate future London, where the Doctor discovers his old enemies the Daleks have taken control of Earth.