Season 22 of Doctor Who ran from 5 January 1985 to 30 March 1985. It starred Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown. The season opened with Attack of the Cybermen and concluded with Revelation of the Daleks.
Overview[]
The season consisted of six serials comprised of thirteen episodes. With this season the BBC experimented with the format of the series, reducing the number of episodes to thirteen, but making each episode forty-five minutes long. The experiment did not result in improved ratings and at the end of the season the BBC announced it was cancelling the series; uproar from fans resulted in the BBC changing its mind and putting the series on an eighteen-month hiatus instead. This season is notable for featuring the final appearance of Patrick Troughton as the beloved Second Doctor, in a storyline that gave rise to a popular fan theory known as Season 6B.
It was the final series of the classic series to feature more than four serials.
Television stories[]
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attack of the Cybermen | Paula Moore, aka Eric Saward Ian Levine (extent of contribution is currently debated) Paula Woolsey |
2 | Return of 76 Totter's Lane. First story to be produced in 45-minute episodes. The only televised instance where the chameleon circuit on the Doctor's TARDIS is shown functioning. |
| 2 | Vengeance on Varos | Philip Martin | 2 | First appearance of Sil the Mentor. |
| 3 | The Mark of the Rani | Pip and Jane Baker | 2 | First appearance of the First Rani. |
| 4 | The Two Doctors | Robert Holmes | 3 | Reappearance of the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon. Final performance by Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. |
| 5 | Timelash | Glen McCoy | 2 | Final classic serial to focus on a historical figure. |
| 6 | Revelation of the Daleks | Eric Saward | 2 | Final classic serial with 45-minute episodes. Last serial produced before the series went on an eighteen-month hiatus. |
Cast[]
Recurring[]
- Lytton - Maurice Colbourne
- Sil - Nabil Shaban
- The First Rani - Kate O'Mara
- The Tremas Master - Anthony Ainley
- The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
- Jamie - Frazer Hines
- Davros - Terry Molloy
- Dalek Voices - Roy Skelton, Royce Mills
Guest[]
- Griffiths - Brian Glover
- Bates - Michael Attwell
- Stratton - Jonathan David
- Flast - Faith Brown
- Cyber Leader - David Banks
- Cyber Controller - Michael Kilgarriff
- Governor - Martin Jarvis
- Chief Officer - Forbes Collins
- Jondar - Jason Connery
- Areta - Geraldine Alexander
- Arak - Stephen Yardley
- Etta - Sheila Reid
- Lord Ravensworth - Terence Alexander
- Luke Ward - Gary Cady
- George Stephenson - Gawn Grainger
- Dastari - Laurence Payne
- Chessene - Jacqueline Pearce
- Shockeye - John Stratton
- Stike - Clinton Greyn
- Varl - Tim Raynham
- Tekker - Paul Darrow
- Mykros - Eric Deacon
- Vena - Jeananne Crowley
- Borad - Robert Ashby
- Herbert - David Chandler
- Jobel - Clive Swift
- Tasambeker - Jenny Tomasin
- D.J. - Alexei Sayle
- Kara - Eleanor Bron
- Vogel - Hugh Walters
- Orcini - William Gaunt
- Bostock - John Ogwen
Stories set during this season[]
After Vengeance on Varos:
After The Mark of the Rani:
After The Two Doctors:
- AUDIO: Davros
- AUDIO: Cryptobiosis
- PROSE: Blue Box
- Involvement in AUDIO: The Light at the End
After Timelash:
After Revelation of the Daleks:
- AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair (takes place directly after Revelation of the Daleks)
- AUDIO: The Ultimate Evil
- AUDIO: Mission to Magnus
- AUDIO: The Hollows of Time
- AUDIO: The Macros
- HOMEVID: A Fix with Sontarans
Adaptations and merchandising[]
Home media[]
VHS releases[]
- Attack of the Cybermen (part of Cybermen Tin) (2000)
- Vengeance on Varos (1993)
- The Mark of the Rani (1995)
- The Two Doctors (1993)
- Timelash (1998)
- Revelation of the Daleks (part of Dalek Box Set) (1999)
DVD & Blu-ray releases[]
All serials of season 22 were released individually between 2001 and 2009.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack of the Cybermen | 2 × 45 min. | 16 March 2009 | 7 May 2009 | 7 July 2009 |
| Vengeance on Varos | 2 × 45 min. | 15 October 2001 | 8 January 2002 | 4 March 2003 |
| Vengeance on Varos – Special Edition | 2 × 45 min. | 10 September 2012 | 5 September 2012 | 11 September 2012 |
| The Mark of the Rani | 2 × 45 min. | 4 September 2006 | 2 November 2006 | 7 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 2003 | 7 January 2004 | 1 June 2004 |
| Timelash | 2 × 45 min. | 9 July 2007 | 31 July 2007 | 1 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 2005 | 1 September 2005 | 6 June 2006 |
| The Collection - Season 22 | 13 x 45 min. | 20 June 2022 | TBA | 18 October 2022 |
Download/streaming availability[]
| Serial name | Amazon Video | iTunes |
|---|---|---|
| Attack of the Cybermen (2 episodes) | ||
| Vengeance on Varos (2 episodes) | ✓ | |
| The Mark of the Rani (2 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Two Doctors (3 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Timelash (2 episodes) | ✓ | |
| Revelation of the Daleks (2 episodes) |
Novels[]
- Attack of the Cybermen
- Vengeance on Varos
- The Mark of the Rani
- The Two Doctors
- Timelash
- Revelation of the Daleks
Publishing Notes[]
- Target Books was originally unable to come to an agreement that would have allowed Revelation of the Daleks to be adapted as a novel. However, Eric Saward eventually novelised the story in collaboration with BBC Books in 2019, 34 years after the story first premiered on television.
- Depending on personal opinion about the authorship of Attack of the Cybermen, this is the first season which all of its novelisations were written by the original scriptwriters.
External links[]
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