The twenty-fourth season of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series '' Doctor Who'' began on 7 September 1987 with

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

's first story ''

Time and the Rani ''Time and the Rani'' is the first serial of the 24th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 7 to 28 September 1987. It was the first to feature Sylvester McCoy ...

'', and ended with '' Dragonfire''.

John Nathan-Turner John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' firs ...

produced the series, with

Andrew Cartmel Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British author and journalist. He was the script editor of ''Doctor Who'' during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other television serie ...

script editing.

Production

Colin Baker Colin Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor who played Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series '' The Brothers'' from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series ''Docto ...

(contracted for four years starting in 1985) was originally due to reprise his role as the

Sixth Doctor The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Colin Baker. Although his televisual time on the series was comparatively brief and turbulent, Ba ...

prior to his dismissal at the request of

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

, who said that a 24th season would only happen if a new actor took the title role. Baker was offered the chance to film a single four-part story ending in his character's demise, but he declined (as he did not want to miss out on other work in the meantime), instead offering to do the entirety of the season and leave the show at its conclusion. The BBC never responded to his letter. Had Baker reprised his role, a story featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel properly meeting for the first time was going to open the season. A new logo for the series was introduced with this season along with a new opening credits sequence that moved away from the "starfield" motif introduced in 1980, as producer

thought it was time for the series to have a brand new look. As with the opening sequence from the Sixth Doctor era, the Seventh Doctor's opening does not use a static image of the Doctor, but rather one with

limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...

: the image of the Doctor starts as a scowl, then fades to a wink followed by a smile. McCoy wears makeup that gives his face and hair a silver/grey appearance. Episode four of ''Time and the Rani'' mistakenly uses an early version of this sequence, which gives the Doctor's face a shadowy look which producer

felt was not prominent enough.

Music

Keff McCulloch Keff McCulloch is an English composer best known for his electronic music for ''Doctor Who'' in the late 1980s. In 1987, he was employed by producer John Nathan-Turner to arrange the ''Doctor Who'' theme music for the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester ...

arranged the new opening theme. It was used until the end of the regular run of the series. The new theme arrangement marked the first time since the early part of the

Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. While the Troughton era of ''Doctor Who'' is well-remembered by fans an ...

's era that the theme's "middle eight" section was regularly heard during the opening credits (the previous two arrangements used the middle eight during the closing credits only).

Casting

Main cast

as the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. ...

Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford (born 22 July 1964) is an English actress, dancer and singer. She came to prominence as a child star in the 1970s, when she had a notable role in the TV series ''Just William''. In the 1980s, she played c ...

as Mel Bush *

Sophie Aldred Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter. She has worked extensively in children's television as a presenter and voice artist. She played the Seventh Doctor's companion, Ace, in the television series ''D ...

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

New Companion

The departure of Bonnie Langford saw plans to introduce a new companion. However, owing to Langford being undecided as to when she would actually leave the show, producer

asked writers Malcolm Kohll and Ian Briggs to formulate characters that could be used as potential companions. Kohll designed a character in his script, titled ''The Flight of the Chimeron'' (eventually to take shape as ''Delta and the Bannermen''), called Ray. Initially, it appeared that ''The Flight of the Chimeron'' would be the final serial of the season, which would see Ray leave with the Doctor. However, by the time it came to production and scheduling for the season, Kohll's serial had been swapped in the running order with Ian Briggs' (which became ''Dragonfire''), and led to Briggs' creation, who eventually became Ace, taking Mel's place with the Doctor.

Recurring stars

Kate O'Mara Kate O'Mara (born Francesca Meredith Carroll;Michael CoveneObituary: Kate O'Mara ''The Guardian'', 30 March 2014 10 August 1939 – 30 March 2014) was an English film, stage and television actress, and writer. O'Mara made her stage debut in a ...

the Rani The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The Rani is a renegade Time Lord, an amoral scientist who considers everything secondary to her research; she h ...

makes her second appearance as

in McCoy's first serial ''

''.

Guest stars

guest stars as Ace in '' Dragonfire''; Ace joins the Doctor at the end of this story to become his companion throughout the next two seasons.

Tony Selby Anthony Samuel Selby (26 February 1938 – 5 September 2021) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Clive Mitchell in ''EastEnders'', Corporal Percy Marsh in '' Get Some In!'', and Sabalom Glitz in ''Doctor Who''. Life and c ...

, having recently appeared in ''

The Trial of a Time Lord The twenty-third season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. It contained four adventures: ''The Mysterious ...

'', also made a guest appearance as Sabalom Glitz in the same story.

Serials

Andrew Cartmel takes over as script editor. This season is moved to a Monday schedule. The previous season, while ostensibly a single 14-part serial, was divided into three stories of four episodes and one of two episodes. For this season, this was re-jigged into a new format that would be followed over the next three years, with a pair of four-parters and a pair of three-parters. Not including ''

The Two Doctors ''The Two Doctors'' is the fourth serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 16 February to 2 March 1985. The serial is set on an alien ...

'', which had episodes of 45-minute duration, ''Delta and the Bannermen'' was the first standard format (25-minute) 3 part serial since ''

Planet of Giants ''Planet of Giants'' is the first serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Written by Louis Marks and directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield, the serial was first broadcast on BBC1 i ...

'' in

Season 2 Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album) * '' 2econd Season'' See also

* {{disambig ...

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 7 September to 7 December 1987. Transmission for this season moved to Monday nights. In this way, BBC1 scheduled it against '' Coronation Street'' on ITV, ensuring ratings struggles.

Home media

VHS releases

DVD releases

Blu-ray releases

In print

References

{{Doctor Who episodes, C24 1987 British television seasons Season 24 Season 24 24