The eighth season of
British science fiction television series ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' began on 2 January 1971 with ''
Terror of the Autons'' and ended with ''
The Dæmons
''The Dæmons'' is the fifth and final serial of the eighth season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in five weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971.
In the serial, the alien ...
'' featuring
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...
as the
Third Doctor. This is the second of five series which
Barry Letts produced consecutively and
Terrance Dicks was the script editor.
Casting
Main cast
*
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...
as the
Third Doctor
*
Katy Manning as
Jo Grant
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...
continues his role as the
Third Doctor.
Katy Manning makes her first appearance as companion
Jo Grant in ''
Terror of the Autons''.
Recurring cast
*
Nicholas Courtney as
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
*
John Levene as
Sergeant Benton
Sergeant John Benton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', played by John Levene. He was the senior NCO of the British contingent of UNIT, an international organisation that defends Earth fr ...
*
Richard Franklin as
Mike Yates
Captain Mike Yates is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', played by Richard Franklin. He was adjutant of the British contingent of UNIT, an international organization that defends Earth from al ...
*
Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming ...
as
The Master
Nicholas Courtney and
John Levene continue their roles of
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and
Sergeant Benton
Sergeant John Benton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', played by John Levene. He was the senior NCO of the British contingent of UNIT, an international organisation that defends Earth fr ...
, while
Richard Franklin makes his first appearance as Captain
Mike Yates
Captain Mike Yates is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', played by Richard Franklin. He was adjutant of the British contingent of UNIT, an international organization that defends Earth from al ...
.
Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming ...
makes his first appearance as
The Master in ''
Terror of the Autons'' and continues to make appearances in each of the five serials.
Guest stars
Fernanda Marlowe
Fernanda Marlowe (born 1942) is a British actress, best known for her role as Corporal Bell in the ''Doctor Who'' stories ''The Mind of Evil'' (1971) and ''The Claws of Axos'' (1971). She also appeared in a ''Dixon of Dock Green
''Dixon o ...
makes appearances in ''The Mind of Evil'' and ''The Claws of Axos'' as Corporal Bell.
Serials
The season marks the first appearance of the Master who goes on to make further appearances through the season in every serial as the main antagonist who is finally captured at the end of the season. ''
Colony in Space'' was the first serial set away from Earth since ''
The War Games'' at the end of
Season 6
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
, and came about as a result of producer
Barry Letts' feeling that the Earthbound stories of the Doctor's exile were too limiting in terms of potential plotting.
Broadcast
The entire season was broadcast from 2 January to 19 June 1971.
Home media
VHS releases
DVD and Blu-ray releases
In print
Tie-In Comics
During the release of the season, several comics were published to tie in to the events of the season. ''The Kingdom Builders'' (Set before the events of the season) was published in
TV Comic magazine. ''Gemini Plan, Timebenders'' (''S''et after the events of the season) & ''The Vogan Slaves (Set years into The Doctor's future)'' were published in
Countdown magazine
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Who (season 08)
1971 British television seasons
Season 08
Season 08
8