The Deadly Assassin

The Deadly Assassin is a four episode serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, starring Tom Baker as the Doctor.

The plot concerns the Doctor being accused of assassinating the Time Lord president, his subsequent investigation of a plot and its cover up, and his battles against his adversary, The Master, who was trying to gain control of the presidency. The Master was a withered shell having used up all twelve regenerations a Time Lord has and was seeking a way to use the president's powers to regenerate once more.

Part of this battle occurs in The Matrix, a virtual reality environment the Doctor accesses by linking his mind to the Amplified Panatropic Computer Net. This net contains all the Time Lords' wisdom.

The story was written by Robert Holmes and directed by David Maloney. The cast also includes Helen Batch, Michael Bilton, Erik Chitty, John Dawson, Bernard Horsfall, Angus Mackay as Cardinal Borusa, Peter Mayock, Peter Pratt, George Pravda, Maurice Quick, Llewellyn Rees, Derek Seaton, and The Hand of Fear |width="40%" align="center"|List of Doctor Who serials |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
The Face of Evil |}