The TARDIS crew lands in the Himalayas of Cathay in 1289, their ship badly damaged, and are picked up by Marco Polo's caravan on its way along the fabled Silk Road to see the Emperor Kublai Khan. The story concerns the Doctor and his companions' attempts to thwart the machinations of Tegana, who attempts to sabotage the caravan along its travels through the Pamir Plateau and across the treacherous Gobi Desert, and ultimately to assassinate Kublai Khan in Peking, at the height of his imperial power.
William Hartnell
as The Doctor
Carole Ann Ford
as Susan Foreman
Jacqueline Hill
as Barbara Wright
William Russell
as Ian Chesterton
Mark Eden
as Marco Polo
Derren Nesbitt
as Tegana
Zienia Merton
as Ping Cho
Martin Miller
as Kublai Khan
Jimmy Gardner
as Chenchu
Charles Wade
as Malik
Philip Voss
as Acomat
Paul Carson
as Ling-Tau
