F is for... Forgill, Duke of

When the TARDIS materialised in the Highlands of Scotland, responding to a summons to return to Earth from the Brigadier, the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan were given a lift to the nearest village by the Duke of Forgill. He was on his way there anyway, in order to complain to the head of an oil company about his men trespassing on his land. The Duke lived on a sizable estate bordering on the shores of Loch Ness, which his family had owned for centuries. He appeared to be dismissive of stories about the loch's famous monster. Later, his gamekeeper - a man known as the Caber - shot and killed a survivor from one of the oil rigs recently destroyed in the North Sea. Harry was with the man, and was wounded. He was then abducted from the oil company's sickbay, and found himself in an alien spaceship resting on the floor of the loch. This belonged to the Zygons, who had the ability to take on the appearance of kidnapped human beings whose original bodies were held in suspended animation on their vessel. The Duke whom the Doctor and his companions had encountered had been a disguised Zygon - their leader Broton. Pretending to be the Duke, Broton could hamper investigations into the rig disasters. The real Duke was also President of the Scottish Energy Commission, which would give Broton the opportunity to destroy a forthcoming conference on the banks of the Thames in London, planting a homing device which would attract the Skarasen - a huge reptilian cyborg creature whose fleeting appearances in the loch had given rise to the monster myths over the centuries. The Doctor rescued the real Duke, along with the Caber and the local district nurse whose bodies had also been copied. He then blew up the Zygon spaceship. Broton was later killed before the Skarasen could attack the conference. The Duke accompanied the Brigadier and Harry to the TARDIS landing site, to see the Doctor and Sarah off on their continuing travels - berating the Brigadier for having paid for return tickets for the pair.

Played by: John Woodnutt. Appearances: Terror of the Zygons (1975).

• Third of four appearances by Woodnutt in the series. His first was as plastics factory owner Hibbert in Spearhead from Space, followed by the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space. His final role was as Consul Seron in The Keeper of Traken.
• Other cult roles include a memorable turn as the sinister butler in Children of the Stones, and as a villain in a 1973 adventure for The Tomorrow People.