Doctor Who (season 22)

Doctor Who (season 22)
Cover art of the Region 2 DVD release for first serial of the season
Starring
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of stories 6
No. of episodes 13
Release
Original network BBC One
Original release 5 January (1985-01-05) – 30 March 1985 (1985-03-30)
Season chronology

The twenty-second season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 January 1985 with the serial Attack of the Cybermen, and ended with Revelation of the Daleks.

Casting

Main cast

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant continue their roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown.

Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return to play the Second Doctor and his companion Jamie McCrimmon in The Two Doctors. Their last on-screen appearance was (briefly) The Five Doctors in 1983.

Recurring stars

Anthony Ainley returns in The Mark of the Rani as The Master.

Kate O'Mara makes her first appearance as the Rani in The Mark of the Rani.

Terry Molloy returns to play Davros in Revelation of the Daleks and also played Russell in Attack of the Cybermen.

Guest stars

Maurice Colbourne returned as Lytton from the story Resurrection of the Daleks in Attack of the Cybermen.

David Banks makes his third of four appearances as a Cyber-leader in Attack of the Cybermen.

Michael Kilgarriff reprises his role of the Cyber-Controller from The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967).

Synopsis

The season mostly focused on Peri trying to adjust to the Sixth Doctor, who is still having trouble "getting his head on straight" while they're on adventures.

Serials

The series moved back to once-weekly Saturday broadcasts. All episodes were 45 minutes long, though they also exist in 25-minute versions. Although there were now only 13 episodes in the season, the total running time remained approximately the same as in previous seasons since the episodes were almost twice as long.

StorySerialTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		UK viewers
(millions) [1]		AI [1]
1371Attack of the CybermenMatthew RobinsonPaula Moore5 January 1985 (1985-01-05)
12 January 1985		6T8.9
7.2		61
65
The TARDIS is commandeered by the mercenary Lytton and a group of Cybermen, who are using another captured time machine to travel back to 1985. There, the Cybermen intend to use Halley's Comet to obliterate the Earth, thus preventing the destruction of their home planet Mondas in 1986 and perverting the course of history. Taken prisoner on Telos, the Doctor and Peri escape and ally themselves with the native Cryons. But in order to stop the Cyber plot, they may have to rely on none other than Lytton, whose motivations remain a mystery to all.
1382Vengeance on VarosRon JonesPhilip Martin19 January 1985 (1985-01-19)
26 January 1985		6V7.2
7.0		63
65
When the TARDIS runs out of vital Zyton-7 ore, the Doctor makes an emergency landing on the planet Varos, which is rich in the mineral. Varos is a former penal colony whose residents now derive pleasure purely from the televised tortures which perpetually pass across their screens. The Governor of Varos is engaged in negotiations with the ruthless sluglike businessman Sil, who is trying to cheat the Varosians out of their rightful profit of Zyton-7. It is up to the Doctor and Peri to stop Sil's plans, and break the natives of Varos out of their daily cycle of video nasties.
1393The Mark of the RaniSarah HellingsPip and Jane Baker2 February 1985 (1985-02-02)
9 February 1985		6X6.3
7.3		64
64
The TARDIS is drawn to Earth during the Luddite Uprisings. There, the Master is once again trying to alter the planet's history, while an evil Time Lady called the Rani is also present, extracting chemicals from the brains of local workers for her own use. As a result of the Rani's experiments, rioting amongst the workers is intensifying, threatening the work of famed engineer George Stephenson. It falls to the Doctor and Peri to foil the uneasy partnership between the two villains and restore Earth's history to its proper course.
1404The Two DoctorsPeter MoffattRobert Holmes16 February 1985 (1985-02-16)
23 February 1985
2 March 1985		6W6.6
6.0
6.9		65
62
65
The Time Lords send the Second Doctor and Jamie to Space Station Camera, to put an end to temporal experiments being conducted by Dastari, an old friend of the Doctor's. Dastari has genetically augmented a savage Androgum named Chessene, who has forged an alliance with the Sontarans. They kidnap the Doctor and take him to a hacienda outside Seville, where they plan to isolate the genetic code which allows Time Lords to travel through the vortex. The Sixth Doctor and Peri rescue Jamie and follow the others to the hacienda, in a race against time with the Doctor's past and future at stake.
1415TimelashPennant RobertsGlen McCoy9 March 1985 (1985-03-09)
16 March 1985		6Y6.7
7.4		66
64
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Karfel, which is ruled by an enigmatic tyrant known as the Borad who wields the power of a space-time tunnel called the Timelash. The Borad stokes the fires of war with Karfel's neighbours, the Bandrils. He plans to use the conflict to repopulate Karfel with beings such as himself: a hideously mutated cross between a human and a reptilian Morlox. And Peri will be but the first...
1426Revelation of the DaleksGraeme HarperEric Saward23 March 1985 (1985-03-23)
30 March 1985		6Z7.4
7.7		67
65
The Doctor and Peri go to Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor's. There they discover that Davros is posing as the Great Healer of Tranquil Repose, a famed institution where the terminally ill can be placed in suspended animation until a cure for their ailment is found. Davros is experimenting on the comatose bodies to produce a new race of Daleks loyal to himself. To defeat his old foe, the Doctor may have no choice but to ally himself with the original Daleks on Skaro.

Supplemental episodes

A specially written segment produced for the BBC children's programme Jim'll Fix It featuring Colin Baker in character as the Sixth Doctor. It was broadcast on 23 February 1985. It is not generally considered to be canonical by Doctor Who fans.[2]

TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
"A Fix with Sontarans"Marcus MortimerEric Saward23 February 1985 (1985-02-23)
The Doctor accidentally beams on board Tegan Jovanka and an Earthling called Gareth Jenkins, who happens to be dressed in an outfit similar to his own. They then have a short battle with two Sontarans.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 5 January to 30 March 1985.

DVD Releases

All serials of season 22 were released individually in between 2001 and 2009.

Serial name Number and duration
of episodes		 R2 release date R4 release date R1 release date
Attack of the Cybermen2 × 45 min.16 March 20097 May 20097 July 2009
Vengeance on Varos2 × 45 min.15 October 20018 January 20024 March 2003
Vengeance on Varos – Special Edition2 × 45 min.10 September 2012[3]5 September 201211 September 2012
The Mark of the Rani2 × 45 min.4 September 20062 November 20067 November 2006
The Two Doctors
Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.		3 × 45 min.8 September 20037 January 20041 June 2004
Timelash2 × 45 min.9 July 200731 July 20071 April 2008
Revelation of the Daleks
Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4.
Only available individually in Region 1.		2 × 45 min.11 July 20051 September 20056 June 2006

In print

Serial name Novelisation title Author First published
Attack of the Cybermen Attack of the Cybermen Eric Saward 20 April 1989
Vengeance on Varos Vengeance on Varos Philip Martin 21 January 1988
The Mark of the Rani The Mark of the Rani Pip and Jane Baker 16 January 1986
The Two Doctors The Two Doctors Robert Holmes 15 August 1985
Timelash Timelash Glen McCoy 12 December 1985
Revelation of the Daleks Never novelised^1

:^1 As of March 2018, Revelation of the Daleks is one of two serials by Eric Saward never to have been novelised.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Mento, Charles. "A Fix with Sontarans". Doctor Who Reference Guide. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  3. ↑ "Doctor Who Online – Vengeance on Varos DVD for 2012". News.drwho-online.co.uk. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
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