Doctor Who and the Monsters

Doctor Who and the Monsters was a season of repeats organised by John Nathan-Turner in 1982, following the success of The Five Faces of Doctor Who the previous year.

However, unlike The Five Faces of Doctor Who, Doctor Who and the Monsters featured stories only from the respective eras of Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison, with nothing shown from those of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. These were not broadcast in their original form from Mondays to Thursdays on BBC Two, but once a week — on Mondays — as fifty-minute compiled episodes on BBC One.

This repeat season came about due to the unexpected cancellation in March of NBC's Western television series revival Bret Maverick (1981-82), as a result of which seven fifty-minute transmission slots were available. The season was proposed by Nathan-Turner as a showcase for the series' three most popular monsters, the Ice Warriors, the Daleks and the Cybermen — with the stories chosen being The Curse of Peladon, Genesis of the Daleks and Earthshock respectively.

The four-part stories The Curse of Peladon and Earthshock were each re-edited and broadcast as 2 x 50 minute episodes. The six-part Genesis of the Daleks was originally planned to be broadcast as 3 x 50 minute compiled episodes, but this proposed repeat had to be re-adjusted when one of the transmission slots was given over to a reshowing of the NBC science-fiction adventure series Star Trek (1966-69). The story was thus re-edited extensively from the existing 625 line PAL colour videotapes in order to fit the required 2 x 50 minute slots and — at the same time — ensure that it made sense to viewers.

The repeat transmission dates — which were not scheduled by BBC One Cymru, Wales — were as follows:


 * The Curse of Peladon
 * Billed as The Ice Warriors in Radio Times.
 * (Monday 12 and Monday 19 July 1982)


 * Genesis of the Daleks
 * Billed as The Daleks in Radio Times.
 * (Monday 26 July and Monday 2 August 1982)


 * Earthshock
 * Billed as The Cybermen in Radio Times.
 * (Monday 9 and Monday 16 August 1982)