Season 23



Season 23 of Doctor Who ran between 6th September 1986 and 6th December 1986. Though produced as four separate serials from a practical standpoint, it aired as a single serial entitled The Trial of a Time Lord. It starred Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.

Overview
This season had a unique, never-repeated format. Doctor Who had returned to production after a near-cancellation and an 18 month long production hiatus. For the first time, a season consisted of one single story, The Trial of a Time Lord, however this was broken down into four shorter serials with an overarching theme. The trial storyline itself acted as a framing device bracketing the story. In the last two episodes, commonly known as The Ultimate Foe, the trial took center stage. The experiment of 45-minute episodes having been deemed a failure, the BBC reverted the series back to 25-minute episodes, but kept the episode count at 14, effectively halving the number of episodes available for a season. The last episode, however, ran to 30 minutes. Uniquely, so far, not one of the stories had any scenes set in modern-day (or historical) Earth.

This format remained for the remainder of the classic series. This was the final season to feature Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor; following its conclusion, Baker was removed from the role and did not return to play the Doctor for the regeneration that led off the next season. It was the last season to use the "neon tubing" logo introduced in 1980.

In terms of narrative chronology, the stories take place in the following order:


 * The Mysterious Planet, evidence sequences (episodes 1-4)
 * Mindwarp, evidence sequences (episodes 5-8)
 * The Mysterious Planet, trial sequences (episodes 1-4)
 * Mindwarp, trial sequences (episodes 5-8)
 * Terror of the Vervoids, trial sequences (episodes 9-12)
 * The Ultimate Foe (episodes 13 and 14)
 * Terror of the Vervoids, evidence sequences (episodes 9-12)

Regulars

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant (The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp)
 * Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford (introduced Terror of the Vervoids; Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe)
 * The Valeyard - Michael Jayston
 * The Inquisitor - Lynda Bellingham

Semi-regulars

 * The Master - Anthony Ainley (The Ultimate Foe)
 * Sabalom Glitz - Tony Selby (The Mysterious Planet and The Ultimate Foe)

VHS

 * The Trial of a Time Lord
 * Packaged in a tin.

DVD

 * The Trial of a Time Lord
 * This was released on DVD, Region 2 29th Septemeber 2008 and Region 1 7th October 2008.

Novelisations

 * The Mysterious Planet
 * Mindwarp
 * Terror of the Vervoids
 * The Ultimate Foe