STARRING Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, this four-part story was originally broadcast in the spring of 1971.

The Axons, a race of golden-skinned humanoids, have landed on earth asking for hospitality after their planet was crippled by a solar flare.

But despite their stated peaceful intentions, the Doctor is suspicious and with the help of Jo Grant (Katy Manning) and UNIT, discovers that they are all part of a parasite brought to earth by The Master in order to drain all living energy from the planet.

Can the Doctor and his finds thwart The Master again and send the Axons on their way?

This was previously released on DVD in 2005, but the Special Edition, apart from being remastered bristles with some interesting new extras.

Axon Stations is the ‘making of’ featurette and has co-writer Bob Baker (this was his and Dave Martin’s very first Who story) telling us how they came to write for the show.

Cast and crew also regale us with stories about the psychedelic effects and the rigours of filming in the cold.

One revelation (Spoiler alert) is that the story was originally to be entitled The Vampire From Space.

Living With Levene profiles a weekend in the life of stalwart John Levene who played the popular character of Sergeant Benton, who confides that UNIT almost had their own spin-off series.

A welcome reissue of a superb story, much loved by the fans of the show.

BBCDVD3670.