53. The Hand of Fear

With its nuclear anxieties, god complexes, temporal abysses and evil transmitted through a slogan, The Hand of Fear (1976) explores multiple sources of terror and unease. In an era when Doctor Who drew inspiration from cinematic horror icons, it takes a long tradition of disembodied creeping hands as the starting point in building its ancient, messianic villain, a character of mutable gender long before they became familiar in Doctor Who.