The A to Z Of Doctor Who

F is for...

Fang Rock

A rock off the south coast of England on which a lighthouse is situated.  There was a legend about the Beast of Fang Rock, which was said to have previously either killed or driven mad the lighthouse crew.  In about 1902, Fang Rock was attacked by a lone Rutan, aiming to create a base on Earth for their war against the Sontarans.  In the course of a night, the Rutan killed the three members of the lighthouse crew and the four survivors from a shipwreck, but the Doctor and Leela succeeded in destroying both it and the Rutan mother-ship.

These incidents may have partly inspired Wilfred Gibson's poem Flannan Isle.