Parts: 4
Writer: Stephen Wyatt
Airdates: 14 December 1988 - 4 January 1989
Production Code: 7J

Doctor: seventh
Companion: Ace

Megalomaniacs of the Week: Gods of Ragnarok
Creature Feature: Clowns

Story: An advertising satellite breaches the TARDIS' defense systems with the innocuous aim of giving the Doctor and Ace a multimedia presentation on the famous Psychic Circus, also known as the Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Although Ace is less than thrilled - she finds clowns creepy, though is loathe to admit it - the Doctor is intrigued, and pilots the TARDIS to the planet of Segonax. En route to the Circus, the Doctor and Ace meet a variety of interesting people who have the same destination in mind - including explorer Captain Cook and his companion Mags - but they also learn that the natives take a wide berth around the notorious Circus.

According to the advertising satellite, the planet Segonax was once lush...but it has become almost totally arid, and the Doctor suspects the work of some evil force. He thinks he has found it when he and Ace, along with Captain Cook and Mags, run into a murderous robot conductor aboard an abandoned hippie bus. But when the Captain and Mags arrive at the Circus slightly ahead of the TARDIS crew, they discover that there is something even more sinister behind the scenes.

Something inhabiting the planet of Segonax ensnared the members of the Psychic Circus when their travelling show came to the planet. Now they are under immense pressure to produce constant entertainment for their audience - and if any of them try to escape, only torture or death awaits them. Unwary visitors to the Psychic Circus are forced to compete in the ring...and even if their act is popular, success only stalls the inevitable. When the Doctor and Ace get trapped in the billowing corridors of the sinister circus tent, they must entertain...or die.