Doctor Who (season 11)

Doctor Who (season 11)
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Starring	Jon Pertwee Elisabeth Sladen Nicholas Courtney John Levene Richard Franklin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26 5 stories
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	15 December 1973 (1973-12-15) – 8 June 1974 (1974-06-08)

The eleventh season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 15 December 1973 with the serial The Time Warrior, and ended with Jon Pertwee's final serial Planet of the Spiders. The season's writing was recognized by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain for Best Children's Drama Script.

Casting

See also: List of Doctor Who cast members

Main cast

• Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor
• Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith

Jon Pertwee makes his final appearance as the Third Doctor in Planet of the Spiders (although he would reprise the role in 1983 in The Five Doctors, a special episode made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the programme). Elisabeth Sladen makes her first appearance as Sarah Jane Smith in The Time Warrior. Tom Baker makes his first uncredited appearance as the Fourth Doctor in Part 6 of Planet of the Spiders, when Jon Pertwee's Doctor dies and regenerates into the Fourth Doctor.

Recurring cast

• Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
• John Levene as Sergeant Benton
• Richard Franklin as Mike Yates

Nicholas Courtney and John Levene continue their roles of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, while Richard Franklin makes his final regular appearance as Captain Yates in Planet of the Spiders

Guest stars

Alan Bennion makes his third of three appearances in the series. In this, his final appearance (to date), he portrays Lord Azaxyr in The Monster of Peladon.

Serials

This season was the last to have Barry Letts as Producer and Terrance Dicks as Script Editor, ending the relationship that had gone through the whole of Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor. It saw the introduction of a new logo that would be used nearly throughout the fourth Doctor's era, as well as the new companion Sarah Jane Smith and the alien race, the Sontarans.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
70	1	The Time Warrior	Alan Bromly	Robert Holmes	15 December 1973 22 December 1973 29 December 1973 5 January 1974	UUU	8.7 7.0 6.6 10.6	59 — — 60
In the Middle Ages, a rabble of criminals find the crashed spaceship of a Sontaran warrior. Meanwhile the Doctor is investigating the disappearance of several scientists from a top secret research complex.
71	2	Invasion of the Dinosaurs	Paddy Russell	Malcolm Hulke	12 January 1974 19 January 1974 26 January 1974 2 February 1974 9 February 1974 16 February 1974	WWW	11.0 10.1 11.0 9.0 9.0 7.5	62 — 63 — — 62
The Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find that it has been evacuated due to the mysterious appearance of dinosaurs.
72	3	Death to the Daleks	Michael E. Briant	Terry Nation	23 February 1974 2 March 1974 9 March 1974 16 March 1974	XXX	8.1 9.5 10.5 9.5	61 — 61 62
Travelling through space, the TARDIS suffers an energy drain and crash-lands on the planet Exxilon.
73	4	The Monster of Peladon	Lennie Mayne	Brian Hayles	23 March 1974 30 March 1974 6 April 1974 13 April 1974 20 April 1974 27 April 1974	YYY	9.2 6.8 7.4 7.2 7.5 8.1	—
The Third Doctor returns to Peladon, where once again the sacred beast Aggedor casts its shadow.
74	5	Planet of the Spiders	Barry Letts	Robert Sloman and Barry Letts	4 May 1974 11 May 1974 18 May 1974 25 May 1974 1 June 1974 8 June 1974	ZZZ	10.1 8.9 8.8 8.2 9.2 8.9	58 60 57 — — 56
Mysterious goings-on at a meditation retreat run by Tibetan monks are linked to the blue planet Metebelis III, and a colony of monstrous, evolved spiders.

Broadcast

Episode one of The Time Warrior saw the first appearance of the iconic diamond-shaped Doctor Who logo. This would be used throughout the Third Doctor's final season and almost through the Fourth Doctor's tenure before retiring in part four of The Horns of Nimon (not including the unbroadcast and incomplete serial Shada which would have followed The Horns of Nimon).

The entire season was broadcast from 15 December 1973 to 8 June 1974.

DVD releases

See also: List of Doctor Who home video releases

All serials of season 11 have been released on DVD.

Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
The Time Warrior Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.	4 × 25 min.	3 September 2007	3 October 2007	1 April 2008
Invasion of the Dinosaurs Only available as part of the U.N.I.T. Files box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.	6 × 25 min.	9 January 2012	5 January 2012	10 January 2012
Death to the Daleks	4 × 25 min.	18 June 2012	5 July 2012	10 July 2012
The Monster of Peladon Only available as part of the Peladon Tales box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.	6 × 25 min.	18 January 2010	4 March 2010	4 May 2010
Planet of the Spiders	6 × 25 min.	18 April 2011	2 June 2011	10 May 2011

In print

Main article: List of Doctor Who novelisations

Serial name	Novelisation title	Author	First published
The Time Warrior	Doctor Who and the Time Warrior	Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes	1978
Invasion of the Dinosaurs	Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion	Malcolm Hulke	1976
Death to the Daleks	Death to the Daleks	Terrance Dicks	1978
The Monster of Peladon	Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon	Terrance Dicks	1980
Planet of the Spiders	Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders	Terrance Dicks	1975