Doctor Who (season 15)
| Doctor Who (season 15) | |
|---|---|
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of stories | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 3 September 1977 – 11 March 1978 |
The fifteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 September 1977 with the episode Horror of Fang Rock, and ended with The Invasion of Time.
Casting
Main cast
- Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor
- Louise Jameson as Leela
- John Leeson as Voice of K-9 Mk. I
Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue their roles as the Fourth Doctor and Leela. K-9, played by John Leeson, makes his first appearance during the second serial The Invisible Enemy. Louise Jameson makes her final appearance as Leela in The Invasion of Time.
Serials
Graham Williams took over as producer from Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes was replaced as script editor by Anthony Read, during The Sun Makers. The season took a short transmission break of two weeks over the Christmas 1977 period, between the broadcasts of The Sun Makers and Underworld.
| Story | Serial | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | UK viewers (millions) [1] | AI [1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92 | 1 | Horror of Fang Rock | Paddy Russell | Terrance Dicks | 3 September 1977 10 September 1977 17 September 1977 24 September 1977 | 4V | 6.8 7.1 9.8 9.9 | 58 — 60 57 |
| Three lighthouse men face their fears when something comes in from the sea, which brings death to all it touches. | ||||||||
| 93 | 2 | The Invisible Enemy | Derrick Goodwin | Bob Baker and Dave Martin | 1 October 1977 8 October 1977 15 October 1977 22 October 1977 | 4T | 8.6 7.3 7.5 8.3 | — — — 60 |
| A shuttle crew encounters a cloud in space that infects them with an intelligent virus. When the Doctor answers the distress call, he is infected as well. | ||||||||
| 94 | 3 | Image of the Fendahl | George Spenton-Foster | Chris Boucher | 29 October 1977 5 November 1977 12 November 1977 19 November 1977 | 4X | 6.7 7.5 7.9 9.1 | — — — 61 |
| Scientists investigating an ancient skull unwittingly start to revive the Fendahl, an ancient life-form feared even by the Time Lords. | ||||||||
| 95 | 4 | The Sun Makers | Pennant Roberts | Robert Holmes | 26 November 1977 3 December 1977 10 December 1977 17 December 1977 | 4W | 8.5 9.5 8.9 8.4 | — — 68 59 |
| In the far future, the planet Pluto is habitable, heated by several miniature suns. However, the heat is available only to the ruling classes. | ||||||||
| 96 | 5 | Underworld | Norman Stewart | Bob Baker and Dave Martin | 7 January 1978 14 January 1978 21 January 1978 28 January 1978 | 4Y | 8.9 9.1 8.9 11.7 | 65 — — — |
| The remnants of the Minyans have an old link to the Time Lords. The Doctor must help them to find the hidden race banks that will save their dying race. | ||||||||
| 97 | 6 | The Invasion of Time | Gerald Blake | David Agnew (Graham Williams and Anthony Read) | 4 February 1978 11 February 1978 18 February 1978 25 February 1978 4 March 1978 11 March 1978 | 4Z | 11.2 11.4 9.5 10.9 10.3 9.8 | 56 — — — — — |
| The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, having claimed the Presidency. He orders Leela expelled from the Capitol Citadel. However, the Doctor is doing this to prevent a Sontaran-instigated disaster. | ||||||||
Production
Season fifteen proved to be a difficult transition period. Philip Hinchcliffe's departure coincided with the loss of a number of long-time contributors to the show as Graham Williams took over as Producer. Williams remarked, "I had to try and find some new ones, and that wasn't the least of the problems. Bob Holmes was stuck on Weng-Chiang for ages... all the scripts were coming in late...".[2]
Robert Holmes remained to work on the three stories he had commissioned, while his successor, Anthony Read, trailed him in preparation of taking over the position. Read, an experienced director and producer had only agreed to the position of Script Editor because he was intrigued by the chance to work on Doctor Who. Holmes completed The Horror of Fang Rock and The Invisible Enemy, before leaving due to creative exhaustion. Image of the Fendahl fell to Read, who had to hastily write K-9 into the story when Holmes made him a regular character.
While Tom Baker enjoyed working with John Leeson (the voice of K-9) in rehearsals, he disliked the prop. Holmes recalled, "it used to drive Tom spare, and more often than not, he'd kick it out of frustration."[2] Holmes agreed to write The Sun Makers, and while the story was meant to follow K-9's introduction and establish him as a regular character, scheduling problems- resulting the shelving the scripts that Fang Rock had to replace- required the story order to change, with Fendahl preceding it.[2]
Baker had found it difficult to accept the violent Leela character since her introduction, contributing to growing tensions between himself and Louise Jameson. According to Jameson, the tension came to a head during the recording of Fang Rock, when she finally confronted Baker over multiple takes of a scene caused by him entering early and cutting her off.[3] Tensions between the two eased over the course of the season.
Read commissioned Bob Baker and Dave Martin to write Underworld, the penultimate story of the season. Right away, the production was hit hard by record inflation, resulting in the design staff working day and night and inventing new techniques and processes to complete the story on time.[4] The final story, The Invasion of Time, proved even more chaotic: with a reduced budget, a complete last-minute re-write by Read and Williams, and a BBC industrial-dispute between the props department and the electricians.
Broadcast
The entire season was broadcast from 3 September 1977 to 11 March 1978.
DVD Releases
All serials of season 15 were released individually in between 2005 and 2011.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horror of Fang Rock | 4 × 25 min. | 17 January 2005 | 7 April 2005 | 6 September 2005 |
| The Invisible Enemy Only available as part of the K9 Tales box set with the Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company in all regions. | 4 × 25 min. | 16 June 2008 | 4 September 2008 | 2 September 2008 |
| Image of the Fendahl | 4 × 25 min. | 20 April 2009 | 4 June 2009 | 1 September 2009 |
| The Sun Makers | 4 × 25 min. | 1 August 2011 | 1 September 2011 | 9 August 2011 |
| Underworld Only available as part of the Myths and Legends box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. | 4 × 25 min. | 29 March 2010 | 3 June 2010 | 6 July 2010 |
| The Invasion of Time Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. | 6 × 25 min. | 5 May 2008 | 3 July 2008 | 2 September 2008 |
In print
| Serial name | Novelisation title | Author | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horror of Fang Rock | Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock | Terrance Dicks | 1978 |
| The Invisible Enemy | Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy | Terrance Dicks | 1979 |
| Image of the Fendahl | Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl | Terrance Dicks | 1979 |
| The Sun Makers | Doctor Who and the Sunmakers | Terrance Dicks | 1982 |
| Underworld | Doctor Who and the Underworld | Terrance Dicks | 1980 |
| The Invasion of Time | Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time | Terrance Dicks | 1980 |