Season 8

Season 8 of Doctor Who ran from 2 January 1971 to 19 June 1971. It starred Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, John Levene as John Benton and Roger Delgado as. The season opened with Terror of the Autons and concluded with The Dæmons.

Overview
It consisted of five serials comprised of twenty-five episodes. , season 8 remains notable for being the season with the most number of regular characters. Not only did it see a new companion in the form of Jo Grant, but it featured a regular enemy — — who was the first Time Lord enemy of the Doctor to appear more than twice, and an expanded regular UNIT cast that now included Sergeant Benton and Mike Yates in most episodes. Adding in returning regulars Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney, the regular cast swelled to six.

Cast

 * Dr. Who - Jon Pertwee
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * Sergeant Benton - John Levene
 * The Master - Roger Delgado

Recurring

 * Corporal Bell - Fernanda Marlowe

Guest

 * Auton Voice - Hayden Jones
 * Rossini - John Baskcomb
 * Rex Farrel - Michael Wisher
 * McDermott - Harry Towb
 * Farrel Senior - Stephen Jack
 * Mrs. Farrel - Barbara Leake
 * Captain Chin Lee - Pik-Sen Lim
 * Dr. Summers - Michael Sheard
 * Barnham - Neil McCarthy
 * Fu Peng - Kristopher Kum
 * Mailer - William Marlowe
 * Vosper - Hayden Jones
 * Major Cosworth - Patrick Godfrey
 * Chinn - Peter Bathurst
 * Filer - Paul Grist
 * Hardiman - Donald Hewlett
 * Winser - David Savile
 * Axon Man - Bernard Holley
 * Captain Harker - Tim Piggott-Smith
 * Ashe - John Ringham
 * Mary Ashe - Helen Worth
 * Winton - Nicholas Pennell
 * Norton - Roy Skelton
 * Dent - Morris Perry
 * Caldwell - Bernard Kay
 * Morgan - Tony Caunter
 * Primitive - Pat Gorman
 * Miss Hawthorne - Damaris Hayman
 * Bert the Landlord - Don McKillop
 * Winstanley - Rollo Gamble
 * Bok - Stanley Mason
 * Sgt. Osgood - Alec Linstead
 * Azal - Stephen Thorne

Stories set before this season
The following stories are the known stories set between Season 7 finale Inferno and Season 8 opener Terror of the Autons.
 * COMIC: The Kingdom Builders
 * AUDIO: Binary
 * AUDIO: Taken For Granted
 * AUDIO: The Rings of Ikiria

Stories set during this season
Based on Theory:Timeline - Third Doctor

Between Terror of the Autons & The Mind of Evil Between The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos In-between all stories of this season and in-between Seasons 8 and 9:
 * PROSE: Dark Intruders
 * PROSE: War in the Abyss
 * PROSE: Hunt to the Death
 * PROSE: Doorway into Nowhere
 * PROSE: The Claw
 * PROSE: Saucer of Fate
 * PROSE: The Phaser Aliens
 * AUDIO: The Sentinels of the New Dawn
 * COMIC: Prologue: The Third Doctor
 * AUDIO: Damascus
 * PROSE: Deadly Reunion


 * PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy (all serials of season 8)

VHS releases

 * Terror of the Autons (1993) (colour restoration)
 * The Mind of Evil (1998) (in B/W)
 * The Claws of Axos (1992)
 * Colony in Space (2001)
 * The Dæmons (1993) (colour restoration)
 * The Pertwee Years (1992) (The Dæmons episode 5 - in B/W)

DVD & Blu-ray releases
All serials of season 8 were released individually on DVD between 2005 and 2013. The complete season was upscaled in 1080i50 high definition and released on Blu-ray as Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 8 in the UK on 8 March 2021.

Picture restoration was undertaken by Peter Crocker, with sound restoration by Mark Ayres. Design and illustration was provided by Lee Binding. The Executive Producer was Russell Minton.

The Dæmons required significant additional colour restoration. This was undertaken by Gavin Rymill, Anthony Lamb and 'Dr Hue' colourisers Rich Tipple and Kieran Highman.

Download/streaming availability
BritBox is available only in the US. iTunes stores carry Doctor Who serials in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US, unless stated otherwise.

Novels

 * Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons
 * The Mind of Evil
 * Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos
 * Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon
 * Doctor Who and the Dæmons