FEATURING two classic stories starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, both stories find The Doctor pitted against The Autons, controlled by The Nestene who can control all types of plastic which makes phone flexes, dolls and even chairs deadly adversaries.

The first story, Spearhead From Space, was the first story to star Pertwee as the Doctor.

Newly regenerated, the Doctor is found by UNIT, led by Brigadier Lethbrige-Stewart (played to perfection by the late Nicholas Courtney).

Exiled to earth by the Time Lords, the Doctor decides to help UNIT against the army of shop dummies that have seemingly come to life.

Shown originally in January 1970, this was the first Who story in colour and re-introduces UNIT, who appeared in many of the Third Doctor’s adventures.

Terror Of The Autons opened the 1971 season and introduced Katy Manning as the Doctor’s new assistant Jo Grant.

We also meet for the first time, the enemy who would also feature prominently in his future adventures – even to the present day – The Master played by Roger Delgado.

The Master has a scheme to destroy humanity by awakening the power of The Nestene.

Spearhead has been released on DVD before, but this time benefits from being newly remastered and comes with loads of extras that were absent from the original, such as a documentary called Regenerations which focuses on the challenges faced by the programme-makers in the transition of the show from black and white to colour.

With Terror, there is a special featurette about The Master and his enduring appeal.

Also included are Photo Galleries, Making Of documentaries and commentaries.

Both stories contain four episodes, but the wealth of extras mean that it takes three discs to contain it all.

There are many ‘firsts’ in this box-set making it a historical release in the Who canon: the first colour episodes, the first appearances of the Third Doctor, Jo Grant and The Master, plus the introduction of UNIT as a regular entity.

Catalogue Number: BBCDVD3135.

Release Date: 9th May 2011.