THE HIGHLANDERS

 THE HIGHLANDERS.   Written by Elwyn Jones and Gerry Davis.   4 episodes.
                    17th December 1966 - 7th January 1967.
                 
 COMPANIONS:- Ben, Polly and introducing James Robert McCrimmon.

   The TARDIS lands near the battlefield of Culloden in 1746, the scene of
 the English defeat of the Scots under Bonnie Prince Charlie. The TARDIS
 crew come across a group of Highlanders led by Colin McLaren, who is
 accompanied by his daughter Kirsty and piper Jamie McCrimmon. They are all
 captured by the English and at the camp, encounter a crooked solicitor
 named Gray who is working on a scheme to sell prisoners into slavery in the
 West Indies.
   The Doctor manages to escape and get arms to the prisoners who are being
 held aboard a stolen ship. The prisoners take control of the ship and hand
 it over to the rightful owner, who takes them to safety in France.
   The TARDIS departs with another passenger.
   This was the last purely historical story until BLACK ORCHID in 1982.
 Two different endings were filmed for this story, one where Jamie boards
 the TARDIS and the other where he stays behind. Each was shown to the heads
 of each department responsible for producing Dr Who and the rest is history,
 with Jamie becoming the longest serving companion in the history of the
 programme. His 113 episodes represent a longer stay on the programme than
 either of the fifth, sixth or seventh Doctors!