The twenty-sixth 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 9 September 1989 with the serial ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...

'', after a regular series of four serials was broadcast finishing with ''

Survival Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...

'' which was the final episode of ''Doctor Who'' to air before a 16-year absence from episodic television following its cancellation.

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.

Casting

Main cast

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

and

both continue their roles as the Seventh Doctor and Ace for their final season.

Recurring stars

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Ea ...

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', created by writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln and ...

Anthony Ainley Anthony Ainley (20 August 1932 – 3 May 2004) was an English actor. He was the fourth actor to portray the Master in ''Doctor Who''. Early life Ainley was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, the son of the actor Henry Ainley, on 20 August 1932, al ...

as the Master

returned to play

in ''Battlefield''. He first appeared with the Second Doctor in 1968 in ''

The Web of Fear ''The Web of Fear'' is the partly missing fifth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 3 February to 9 March 1968. The serial is set on the ...

'' before becoming a recurring character throughout the Second Doctor to the Fifth Doctor and last appearing in ''

The Five Doctors ''The Five Doctors'' is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago ...

'' (1983).

returned to play The Master in ''Survival'', having last 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 ...

'' (1986). This was Ainley's final television appearance in the role, though he portrayed the Master one last time in the 1997 computer game '' Destiny of the Doctors''.

Guest stars

Jean Marsh, who had portrayed Sara Kingdom in ''

The Daleks' Master Plan ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' is the mostly missing third serial of the third season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in twelve weekly parts from 13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966. Thi ...

'' (1965–66), also appeared in ''Battlefield'' playing the part of the main antagonist.

Serials

Continuing on from Season 25, Season 26 continued script editor

's move to push the series towards a darker approach, focusing this time more on Ace's personal life as well as The Doctor's past and manipulations. This season was broadcast on Wednesdays.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 6 September to 6 December 1989. ''The Curse of Fenric'' was originally intended to be aired before ''Ghost Light'', but was subsequently rescheduled.

Home media

VHS releases

DVD and Blu-ray releases

In print

Season 27

Initial planning work had begun on Season 27, intended for the end of 1990, in mid-1989 with

and a group of regular writers, including

Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the ''Rivers of London'' series of novels. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from ''Doctor Who' ...

, Ian Briggs and Marc Platt, discussing potential story ideas. One of the major intentions was to have been the departure of

halfway through, which would have seen the character taken to Gallifrey to become a Time Lord. This would also have seen the subsequent introduction of a new companion, planned as an "aristocratic cat burglar". The cancellation of the series meant that no detailed work was undertaken beyond these initial ideas: *'' Bad Destination'' by Ben Aaronovitch: Intended to feature a new monster called the "Metatraxi", a race of

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

-like insect warriors, this was planned as a story concerning the politics of humanitarian aid. The only significant detail was the idea of the opening, which would have featured Ace as the captain of a starship. *'' Thin Ice'' by Marc Platt: Planned as the serial that would see the departure of Ace, this was to see the return of the

Ice Warrior The Ice Warriors are a fictional Extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of List of reptilian humanoids, reptilian humanoids in the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' ...

s and be set in London in 1968. *''

Action At A Distance In physics, action at a distance is the concept that an object can be affected without being physically touched (as in mechanical contact) by another object. That is, it is the non-local interaction of objects that are separated in space. Non- ...

'' by Andrew Cartmel: Planned as the introduction of the new companion, who would have come across the Doctor in the midst of robbing a country house. *''Alixion'', by Robin Mukherjee: It would have featured the Doctor playing a series of deadly games on an asteroid, and would have likely led to the

's regeneration and

's departure. *'' Blood And Iron'', by Andrew Cartmel: was being considered for the final serial as well. Four of the five proposed serials were subsequently adapted by the authors alongside Big Finish Productions into audio adventures that were released as part of their '' Doctor Who: The Lost Stories'' range in 2011: *''Bad Destination'' was released as ''Earth Aid'' *''Thin Ice'' was released under its own title *''Action at a Distance'' became ''Crime of the Century'' *''Blood and Iron'' was released as ''Animal'' The only one of the proposed stories that did not receive a release from Big Finish was ''Alixion''. Although the first series of ''Doctor Who''s return in 2005 is the 27th full series of the show, the production team officially restarted the series numbering from scratch. This was mainly due to the 16-year gap between Season 26 and the new series (not counting the 1996 television movie).

References

Bibliography

* {{Doctor Who episodes, C26 1989 British television seasons Season 26 Season 26 26