The Ribos Operation

098 – *The Ribos Operation*
098 – The Ribos Operation
Doctor Who serial
Cast
	Doctor Tom Baker – Fourth Doctor;
	Companions Mary Tamm – Romana; John Leeson (Voice of K9);
	Others Cyril Luckham – The Guardian; Iain Cuthbertson – Garron; Nigel Plaskitt – Unstoffe; Paul Seed – Graff Vynda-K; Robert Keegan – Sholakh; Timothy Bateson – Binro; Ann Tirard – The Seeker; Prentis Hancock – Shrieve Captain; Oliver Maguire, John Hamill – Shrieves;
Production
Directed by	George Spenton-Foster
Written by	Robert Holmes
Script editor	Anthony Read
Produced by	Graham Williams
Executive producer(s)	None
Music by	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5A
Series	Season 16
Running time	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
First broadcast	2 – 23 September 1978
Chronology
← Preceded by; The Invasion of Time	Followed by →; The Pirate Planet
	List of episodes (1963–1989)

The Ribos Operation is the first serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 September 1978. This serial introduces Mary Tamm as the companion Romana.

The serial is set on the primitive and superstitious planet Ribos. In the serial, the exiled Emperor of Levithia, Graff Vynda-K (Paul Seed), seeks a piece of the rare element jethrik on the planet. At the same time, the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and his travelling companion Romana (Mary Tamm) look for the first segment of the powerful Key to Time, disguised as the same jethrik piece.