DVD

Now here's a fitting way of celebrating Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. Not only is The Mind of Evil the last John Pertwee story to be released on DVD –excluding any future ‘Revisitations’ of previous Third Doctor DVDs - but this release is also the first time that the six episodes have been seen in colour in decades (click here for how and why). The recolourisation is generally impressive – especially Stuart Humphryes' work on episode one – although the quality varies from episode to episode. As we’ve come to expect from the Doctor Who DVD range, the non-anamorphic 1.33:1 transfer is technically excellent, as is the Dolby Digital dual-mono soundtrack.

This two-disc set also comes packed with the expected array of top-quality extras. The likes of Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, Pik-Sen Lim, Fernanda Marlow, Timothy Combe, Katy Manning and Derek Ware all pop in and join moderator Toby Hadoke on a revolving-door commentary for the serial itself. Meanwhile a second disc houses the 23-minute retrospective documentary The Military Mind (which proves particularly poignant thanks to its interviews with the late Nic Courtney and Barry Letts), a Now & Then location featurette, a 1971 archival piece about Television Centre, a photo gallery, PDF materials (Radio Times listings and a 1971 Kellogs Sugar Smacks promotion) and a trailer for the Blu-ray release of Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space.

Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil, BBC Worldwide, R2 DVD, £20 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 4/5