Doctor Who (Season 3)
From Iwe
| Doctor Who season 2 | |||
| Country of origin | United Kingdom | ||
| No. of episodes | 39: 9 serials | ||
| Broadcast | |||
| Original channel | BBC One | ||
| Original run | 31 October 1964 – 24 July 1965 | ||
| Season chronology | |||
| ← Previous Season 1 | Next → Season 4 | ||
| List of Doctor Who serials | |||
The third season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 11 September 1965 with the story Galaxy 4 and ended on 16 July 1966 with The War Machines.
Contents |
Casting
- See also: List of Doctor Who cast members
Main characters
William Hartnell continues his journey as The First Doctor, accompanied by companions Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) and Steven (Peter Purves). In the third story The Myth Makers, Vicki departed and was replaced by Katarina (Adrienne Hill). Katarina's tenure was brief, the character being killed in episode 4 of the following story, The Daleks' Master Plan. In some companion lists, Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh) is included as a companion, though her appearances was limited to later episodes of the serial The Daleks' Master Plan.
Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) joined the Doctor and Steven in the next serial, The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. There were no changes in the primary cast until Steven's departure in the penultimate story, The Savages. In the final story The War Machines, Dodo also departs, and the Doctor was joined by Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze). Like the previous season, the cast of companions had changed from start to finish.
Guest stars
Peter Butterworth makes his second and final appearance as the Meddling Monk in the serial The Daleks' Master Plan, though his presence in the story is limited to three parts only; "Volcano", "Golden Death", and "Escape Switch".
Serials
John Wiles replaced Verity Lambert as producer after "Mission to the Unknown". Innes Lloyd, in turn, replaced Wiles after The Ark. Donald Tosh continued as script editor until The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: "Priest of Death", and was replaced by Gerry Davis beginning with The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve: "Bell of Doom".
The practice of giving each individual episode a different title was abandoned after The Gunfighters, near the end of the season. This season was notable for the longest serial to date, The Daleks' Master Plan, which contained 12 episodes. The record of The Daleks' Master Plan as the longest serial was eventually taken by the 14-part The Trial of a Time Lord, which spanned the whole of Season 23. The single-episode prequel to this story, "Mission to the Unknown", was not only the shortest story, but was notable for the absence of the entire regular cast. The episode came about when Planet of Giants, the opening serial of Season 2, was reduced from four to three episodes, leaving a single episode held over in the production schedule. Rather than attempt to create a single-episode story, or add an episode to an already commissioned story, it was decided to use this one episode as a trailer to set up the upcoming 12-part Dalek story.
Four of the stories from Season 3 ("Mission to the Unknown", The Myth Makers, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, and The Savages) are completely missing from the BBC archive, with no surviving episodes. Further, "Mission to the Unknown" and The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve are two of only three stories from the entire run of Doctor Who with no surviving footage from any sources (the other being Marco Polo from Season 1). Only three of this season's stories (The Ark, The Gunfighters and The War Machines) are complete.
Season 3 holds the distinction of being the longest-running season of Doctor Who to date, having produced 45 episodes in 10 serials. Season 6 produced just one episode less in 7 serials.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve was the first serial that saw the lead actor cast in a dual role; William Hartnell not only plays the Doctor, but also the Abbot of Amboise. This would be repeated by Patrick Troughton in Season 5's The Enemy of the World.
| Story | Serial | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code | UK viewers (million) | AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 018 | 1 | Galaxy 4 "Four Hundred Dawns"†[1] "Trap of Steel"†[2] "Air Lock" "The Exploding Planet"†[3] | Derek Martinus and Mervyn Pinfield | William Emms | 9.0 9.5 11.3 9.9 | 56 55 54 53 | 11 September 1965 18 September 1965 25 September 1965 2 October 1965 | T |
| Two ships have crashed after a space battle, but the planet they have landed on is about to be destroyed. The beautiful female Drahvins seem friendly, but in fact it is the ugly Rills that are more tolerant and forgiving. | ||||||||
^†: Episode is missing
Missing episodes
DVD releases
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes | R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
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