Broadcast and Reception
| Episode | Broadcast date | Run time | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Part One" | 2 September 1978 (1978-09-02) | 25:02 | 8.3 |
| "Part Two" | 9 September 1978 (1978-09-09) | 24:46 | 8.1 |
| "Part Three" | 16 September 1978 (1978-09-16) | 24:42 | 7.9 |
| "Part Four" | 23 September 1978 (1978-09-23) | 24:50 | 8.2 |
Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a favourable review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), calling it "a lovely story". In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker praised the "cracking set of scripts" and production values. They described Binro as "perhaps the most fascinating and well written of all the characters in the main part of the story set on Ribos" and also praised Mary Tamm's debut as Romana, despite noting that "she goes through the whole of The Ribos Operation giving the impression that she has got an unpleasant smell under her nose". In 2010, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times gave a the story a positive review, in particular towards the acting and production, but stated that he did not like Binro. The A.V. Club reviewer Christopher Bahn called The Ribos Operation one of Robert Holmes' better stories, writing that it was "a fun, tightly constructed caper". DVD Talk's Justin Felix gave the story three and a half out of five stars, writing that it was an "effective beginning" to the season despite being a "simple" story. While he praised Romana's character, he felt that Tamm's performance was "a bit flat".
Read more about this topic: The Ribos Operation
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