M is for... Mace, Richard

The Doctor and his companions were rescued by the rogue-ish Richard Mace when they were attacked by some angry villagers. The year was 1666, and the country was being ravaged by plague - leading smaller rural communities to react violently to strangers. Mace had a pair of pistols and chased the villagers off. He was an actor, turned to highway robbery to make ends meet following the enforced closure of the theatres.

Taking the TARDIS crew to the barn where he was sleeping, the Doctor discovered spent power packs there - indicating that it had recently given shelter to someone not of the Earth.

It transpired that a small group of escaped Terileptil convicts had crash-landed in the area some time before. They had taken over the local manor house where their leader had set up a laboratory. He planned to adapt the plague to make it even more virulent and deadly, as part of a plan to take the planet for themselves. Mace found himself joining forces with the Doctor and his companions to try to stop the aliens. He had to contend with an android disguised as Death - the Grim Reaper, and was threatened with execution by the villagers. At one point he was captured and hypnotised by the Terileptil leader and made to help load carts full of plague-ridden rats.

He travelled in the TARDIS to nearby London, where the aliens had set up their new base. This was in a bakery on Pudding Lane. The building went up in flames after one of the Terileptil guns exploded, igniting the soliton gas they favoured. Mace elected to stay and help fight the rapidly expanding fire as the TARDIS crew beat a hasty retreat.

Played by: Michael Robbins. Appearances: The Visitation (1982).

• Robbins, who died in 1992, will forever be associated with his role as Stan's long-suffering brother-in-law Arthur, husband to Olive, in ITV sitcom On The Buses. This spawned three spin-off movies from Hammer Studios.
• Writer Eric Saward was not very happy with the casting. He had originally created the character as a more erudite Victorian actor in a series of BBC radio plays. This Richard Mace investigated crimes.