BBC Archive: Doctor Who: The Legend of Omega

BBC News

02-06-2025

As season two of Doctor Who draws to a close and the Doctor once again faces not just the Rani, but Omega too, BBC Archives takes a look back at the creation of the character of Omega and his previous encounters with the Doctor.
"Omega? But that's impossible. Omega was destroyed." The Doctor (1973)
Omega first appeared in the 1973 story The Three Doctors – the first multi-Doctor story in the Whoniverse. The character took a while to develop, as can be seen in these letters from Doctor Who script editor Terrence Dicks to story writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin. This first letter shows that the character of Omega (at this stage named 'Ohm') and the setting of the anti-matter universe he lives in were established early on in the story writing process.
As plans for the story progressed, Terrence Dicks continued to correspond with writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin. He suggests that they could create three different aspects of Ohm "to match the three Doctors ", although "the most evil Ohm would finally gain the upper hand".
By the time The Three Doctors was seen on screen Ohm had become Omega, the powerful temporal engineer of Time Lord mythology. No wonder the Rani would seek him out for her plans.
"Without me, there would be no time travel" Omega (1973)
The imposing figure of Omega was originally played by statuesque actor Stephen Thorne. Stephen had previously appeared in the Doctor Who story The Dæmons as the equally towering Azal. He was an actor known for his great voice as well as his height, and could be often heard on BBC radio in addition to his appearances on television.
The character of Omega returned to Doctor Who in the 1983 story Arc of Infinity, now played by Ian Collier, where he still hoped to escape the anti-matter universe.
In Arc of Infinity Omega tried to use Time Lord technology to give himself a new physical form, copying that of the Doctor, and so was briefly also played by Peter Davison.
"Things could have been different. Power, and the greatness of Omega, could have been yours." Omega (1983)
Omega returned to Doctor Who in The Reality War having become the god the Time Lord legends created. This time there was no mask wearing actor inside a suit, but the whole character was created by CGI. But the Doctor was still able to force him to remain trapped in the Underverse, maybe to meet again some day, because legends never really die.