Doctor Who just made history by casting its first black Doctor. Jo Martin has been unveiled as a surprise former incarnation of the Time Lord in a momentous first for the sci-fi series. Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. As of 1 January 2021, update 862 episodes of Doctor Who have aired, concluding the twelfth series. This includes one television movie and multiple specials, and encompasses 296 stories over 38 seasons.
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File usage
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| Doctor Who | |
|---|---|
| Season 26 | |
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of stories | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 6 September – 6 December 1989 |
| Season chronology | |
← Previous Season 25 | |
| List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989) | |
The twenty-sixth season of Britishscience fiction television series Doctor Who began on 9 September 1989 with the serial Battlefield, after a regular series of four serials was broadcast finishing with Survival which was the final episode of Doctor Who to air before a 16-year absence from episodic television following its cancellation.
Casting[edit]
Main cast[edit]
- Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor
- Sophie Aldred as Ace
Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred both continue their roles as the Seventh Doctor and Ace for their final season.
Recurring stars[edit]
- Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- Anthony Ainley as the Master
Nicholas Courtney returned to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield. He first appeared with the Second Doctor in 1968 in The Web of Fear before becoming a recurring character throughout the Second Doctor to the Fifth Doctor and last appearing in The Five Doctors (1983).
Anthony Ainley returned to play The Master in Survival, having last appeared in The Ultimate Foe (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[edit]
Jean Marsh, who had portrayed Sara Kingdom in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965–66), also appeared in Battlefield playing the part of the main antagonist.
Serials[edit]
Continuing on from Season 25, Season 26 continued script editor Andrew Cartmel'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.
| Story | Serial | Serial title | Episode titles | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | UK viewers (millions) [1] | AI[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 152 | 1 | Battlefield | 'Part One' | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 6 September 1989 | 7N | 3.1 | 69 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Two' | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 13 September 1989 | 7N | 3.9 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Three' | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 20 September 1989 | 7N | 3.6 | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Four' | Michael Kerrigan | Ben Aaronovitch | 27 September 1989 | 7N | 4.0 | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Doctor and Ace discover that a UNIT platoon has come under assault whilst transporting a nuclear warhead. The attackers are knights from another dimension led by the legendary sorceress Morgaine, half-sister of King Arthur, whose magical powers appear to be real. The Doctor learns that one of his future incarnations will become Merlin, and bury Arthur beneath the waters of a nearby lake. With Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart at his side one last time, the Doctor must confront Morgaine, who has summoned a demonic entity known as the Destroyer of Worlds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 153 | 2 | Ghost Light | 'Part One' | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 4 October 1989 | 7Q | 4.2 | 68 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Two' | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 11 October 1989 | 7Q | 4.0 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Three' | Alan Wareing | Marc Platt | 18 October 1989 | 7Q | 4.0 | 64 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Doctor takes Ace back to 1883 to a Perivale house called Gabriel Chase which Ace recognises. Josiah Smith, an alien who has spent millennia adapting to humanity, intends to assassinate Queen Victoria and seize the British throne. Meanwhile, buried in the basement is Smith's former master – a powerful entity who intends to halt all evolution on Earth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 154 | 3 | The Curse of Fenric | 'Part One' | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 25 October 1989 | 7M | 4.3 | 67 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Two' | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 1 November 1989 | 7M | 4.0 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Three' | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 8 November 1989 | 7M | 4.0 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Four' | Nicholas Mallett | Ian Briggs | 15 November 1989 | 7M | 4.2 | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Doctor and Ace land in England during World War II, at a secret seaside base which houses the Ultima Machine, a powerful codebreaking device. But disturbances plague the installation: Russians are trying to steal the Ultima, mysterious Viking runes are found in a church crypt, and vampiric Haemovores are rising from the ocean. The Doctor discovers his ancient foe, Fenric, has manipulated events in order to gain his freedom. And central to Fenric's schemes is none other than Ace. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 155 | 4 | Survival | 'Part One' | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 22 November 1989 | 7P | 5.0 | 69 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Two' | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 29 November 1989 | 7P | 4.8 | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Part Three' | Alan Wareing | Rona Munro | 6 December 1989 | 7P | 5.0 | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ace returns to Perivale to visit her friends, only to find many of them have gone missing. The Doctor discovers that they have been abducted to an alien planet by a race called the Cheetah People. Pursuing them, the time travellers find the Cheetah People are being controlled by the Master, who is trapped on the planet, and is slowly turning into a Cheetah Person himself. The Doctor must find a way off the planet, before they all succumb to the dying world's savage influence. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Broadcast[edit]
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[edit]
Doctor Who 123movies
VHS releases[edit]
| Season | Story no. | Serial name | Number and duration of episodes | R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 152 | Battlefield | 4 x 25 mins | March 1998 | October 1998 | March 1998 |
| 153 | Ghost Light | 3 x 25 mins | May 1994 | July 1994 | June 1996 | |
| 154 | The Curse of Fenric | 4 x 25 mins | February 1991 | July 1991 | January 1992 | |
| 155 | Survival | 3 x 25 mins | October 1995 | November 1996 | September 1996 |
DVD and Blu-ray releases[edit]
| Season | Story no. | Serial name | Number and duration of episodes | R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 152 | Battlefield | 1 × 96 min. | 26 December 2008[2] | 19 March 2009[3] | 5 May 2009[4] |
| 153 | Ghost Light | 3 × 25 min. | 20 September 2004[5] | 3 February 2005[6] | 7 June 2005[7] | |
| 154 | The Curse of Fenric | 1 × 104 min. | 6 October 2003[8] | 11 February 2004[9] | 1 June 2004[10] | |
| 155 | Survival | 3 × 25 min. | 16 April 2007[11] | 6 June 2007[12] | 14 August 2007[13] | |
| 152–155 | Complete Season 26[a] | 14 × 25 min. | 27 January 2020 (B)[14] | 11 March 2020 (B)[15] | 24 March 2020 (B)[16] |
- ^Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 26 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three in Region A.
In print[edit]
| Serial title | Novelisation title | Author | Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield | Marc Platt | 18 July 1991 | ISBN042620350X | |
| Ghost Light | Marc Platt | 20 September 1990 | ISBN0426203518 | |
| The Curse of Fenric | Ian Briggs | 15 November 1990 | ISBN0426203488 | |
| Survival | Rona Munro | 18 October 1990 | ISBN0426203526 |
Season 27[edit]
Initial planning work had begun on Season 27, intended for the end of 1990, in mid-1989 with Andrew Cartmel and a group of regular writers, including Ben Aaronovitch, Ian Briggs and Marc Platt, discussing potential story ideas. One of the major intentions was to have been the departure of Ace 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:[17]
Doctor Who 12 Torrent
- Earth Aid by Ben Aaronovitch: Intended to feature a new monster called the 'Metatraxi', a race of samurai-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 Warriors and be set in London in 1968.
- The third serial was planned as the introduction of the new companion, who would have come across the Doctor in the midst of robbing a country house.
- The fourth and final serial was tentatively to be Alixion, by then-newcomer Robin Mukherjee.[18] It would have featured the Doctor playing a series of deadly games on an asteroid, and would have likely led to the Seventh Doctor's regeneration and Sylvester McCoy's departure.
The proposed Season 27 serials, with the exception of Alixion, have been commissioned by Big Finish as part of its Doctor Who: The Lost Stories range of audio adventures.
Doctor Who Complete Classic Seasons 1 To 26
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[edit]
Doctor Who 123 Movies Season 4
Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 26
- ^ ab'Ratings Guide'. Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^'Doctor Who - Battlefield'. 26 December 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who Battlefield by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia'. Fishpond. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^'Doctor Who: Battlefield'. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who : Ghost Light'. 20 September 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who Ghost Light by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia'. Fishpond. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^'Doctor Who: Ghost Light'. 7 June 2005. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric'. 6 October 2003. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Dr. Who - Curse of Fenric [2 Discs] by Roadshow Home Ent - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia'. Fishpond. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^'Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric'. 1 June 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who - Survival'. 16 April 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who Survival by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia'. Fishpond. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^'Doctor Who: Survival'. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 26 [2019]'. Retrieved 27 November 2019 – via Amazon.
- ^'Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 26 [2020]'. Retrieved 28 January 2020 – via Sanity.
- ^'Doctor Who - Sylvester McCoy - Complete Season Three [2020]'. Retrieved 28 January 2020 – via Blu-ray.com.
- ^Molesworth, Richard (Producer) (2007). 'Endgame (documentary)'. Survival. Doctor Who. London: BBC Worldwide.
- ^James T. (19 June 2011). 'Doctor Who episodes and spin-offs that never happened'. Den of Geek. Retrieved 12 September 2019.