Doctor Who season 26

Season of Doctor Who original TV series

Season of television series

The 26th season of Doctor Who premiered on 6 September 1989 with the serial "Battlefield," and consisted of four serials, ending with "Survival," which was the final episode of Doctor Who for over 15 years, until the show was revived in 2005. John Nathan-Turner produced the series, with Andrew Cartmel script editing.

Casting

Main cast

• 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

• 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 Trial of a Time Lord (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 Joanna in The Crusade (1965) and Sara Kingdom in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965–66), appeared in Battlefield playing the part of the main antagonist.

Serials

Season 26 continued Andrew Cartmel's trend of bringing a darker and more mysterious tone to the show, with a particular focus on Ace's past and the Doctor's manipulative nature. The season aired on Wednesdays, as per the previous season's schedule.

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

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

• ^(B) indicates a Blu-ray release

1. 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

1. Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
2. Published by Target's parent companies (Allen Wingate, W. H. Allen, BBC Books) unless otherwise indicated
3. Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
4. Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated

Season 27

Midway through 1989, Doctor Who's production team began initial planning for Season 27, which would have aired at the end of 1990. Andrew Cartmel and the writers he had worked with regularly, including Ben Aaronovitch, Ian Briggs, and Marc Platt, brainstormed possible story ideas. One of the major proposed plot points for Season 27 was the departure of Ace, who would have been taken to Gallifrey to become a Time Lord herself. 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:^[19]

• Bad Destination 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.
• Action At A Distance 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:^[20] 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.
• 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

1. Wright, Mark, ed. (24 February 2016). "Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Battlefield". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 45. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. p. 134. ISSN 2057-6048.
2. Wright, Mark, ed. (18 April 2018). "Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric and Survival". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 46. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. pp. 41, 79, 123.
3. Smith 2014, Battlefield.
4. "Doctor Who Battlefield by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
5. "Doctor Who: Battlefield". 5 May 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
6. Smith 2014, Ghost Light.
7. "Doctor Who Ghost Light by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
8. "Doctor Who: Ghost Light". 7 June 2005. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
9. Smith 2014, The Curse of Fenric.
10. "Dr. Who - Curse of Fenric [2 Discs] by Roadshow Home Ent - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
11. "Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric". 1 June 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
12. Smith 2014, Survival.
13. "Doctor Who Survival by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
14. "Doctor Who: Survival". 14 August 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
15. "Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 26 [2019]". Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2019 – via Amazon.
16. "Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 26 [2020]". Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020 – via Sanity.
17. "Doctor Who - Sylvester McCoy - Complete Season Three [2020]". Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020 – via Blu-ray.com.
18. "Doctor Who: Battlefield: 7th Doctor Novelisation (Audio Download): Marc Platt, Toby Longworth, BBC Audio: Amazon.co.uk: Books". Amazon UK.
19. Molesworth, Richard (Producer) (2007). "Endgame (documentary)". Survival. Doctor Who. London: BBC Worldwide.
20. James T. (19 June 2011). "Doctor Who episodes and spin-offs that never happened". Den of Geek. Retrieved 12 September 2019.

Bibliography

• Smith, Paul (2014). The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium. United Kingdom: Wonderful Books. ISBN 978-0-9576062-2-7.