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| The Sixth Doctor |
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 Season Twenty Two was the first full season for Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. In many respects it could be considered to be beginning of the Sixth Doctor’s era, even though his first story, "The Twin Dilemma" was the last story of Season Twenty One. But because "The Twin Dilemma" is considered by many fans to be one of the least liked stories it is easy to see why the Sixth Doctor’s first story is sometimes forgotten and that the first story of this season, "Attack of the Cybermen", is more like his first – especially as the opening sequences between The Doctor and his travelling companion, Peri, contains many references to The Doctor’s recent regeneration.
One of the most notable changes to the show, that occurred with this season, was that after just three years the show returned to its traditional Saturday teatime slot. But the biggest change that occurred in this season was the length of the episodes. Since the show began in 1963, with the First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child", and apart from the Twentieth Anniversary special, "The Five Doctors" and the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Resurrection of the Daleks", the standard length of an episode had been twenty five minutes. However, all the stories for Season Twenty Two were forty five minutes long.
After the initial burst of interest in the Fifth Doctor era (in which the frequency of broadcast was increased to twice a week) the ratings for the show had been fairly tepid. Therefore with Season Twenty Two it was decided to return Doctor Who to its traditional Saturday evening slot, but with thirteen 45 minute episodes instead of the usual twenty six episodes of 25 minutes duration. A successful experiment broadcasting "Resurrection of the Daleks" this way in the previous season, to accommodate the Winter Olympics, merely substantiated the plan. It was though soon discovered that the process of writing for the new duration was a much larger adjustment (especially in terms of pacing) than merely combining two standard episodes together to create a 45 minute episode.
Despite having only six stories, and with only thirteen episodes (which is equivalent to 26 twenty five minute episodes), this season’s total running time remained approximately the same as in the majority of seasons since Season Nine, due to the episodes being almost twice as long. Interestingly, despite Producer John Nathan-Turner disliking the length of six-part stories, "The Two Doctors", being three episodes long, is nearly the same length as a six-part story.
The experiment to increase the length of the episodes however, did not result in improved ratings. Even so this season was still watched by 7.1 million viewers – which is the same as the previous two seasons. This is the only season, during the original run of the show, where the episodes were forty five minutes long. As of the next season the episode lengths reverted back to being twenty five minutes long and it would not be until the show was revived, in 2005, that the standard length of an episode would once again be forty five minutes.
Unfortunately for many this season is seen as the darkest period, in tone, of the show’s history. Many of the stories were criticised for being to violent. Especially regarding to the following scenes: In "Attack of the Cybermen" we witness Cybermen killing people with their bare hands; In "Vengeance on Varos" there are numerous scenes of torture as well as the infamous acid bath scene (The Doctor though does not actually push the guards into the acid but the fact that he does not react with horror, but instead tosses off a quip, unfortunately, exacerbates the controversy); There is no doubt that "The Two Doctors" is one of the most violent in the show’s history. During this story there are multiple stabbings and knife wounds, blood spillage (Human, Time Lord and Sontaran) and the attempted cooking and eating of humans. The Doctor is even seen killing Shockeye (all-be-it in self-defence) with cyanide. The increased violence in these stories therefore added to the ongoing media criticism over the level of violence in the Sixth Doctor’s era.
What was not obvious at the time was that Colin Baker was forced to play the Sixth Doctor as being rather unstable. The idea being that his incarnation would be in sharp contrast to his generally more amiable predecessors and so who would initially be a source of suspicion for the audience. Consequently, the Sixth Doctor would appear to be erratic and untrustworthy - but, in principle at least, would eventually earn the viewer’s faith and respect.
Continuing with him on his journeys was Peri (played by Nicola Bryant). She would continue throughout this season and would remain The Doctor’s only permanent travelling companion. During this season the relationship between The Doctor and Peri would be tested and it is a credit to Nicola Bryant that her character stayed loyal to The Doctor.
As well as facing the Cybermen, the return of the Sontarans (after an absence of seven years), Davros and two factions of Daleks, this season introduced some new enemies for The Doctor to defeat. Of the most significant was The Rani - a malevolent, scientifically-minded Time Lady who became involved with The Master in his quest to defeat The Doctor. Also making their debut appearances were the bloodthirsty Androgums, and the villainous Sil (from Thoros-Beta) - the later of which would return during the following season. The Rani herself would make a return to the show in the Seventh Doctor’s first story "Time and The Rani".
The most significant thing about this season was the Sixth Doctor and Peri were aided by The Doctor’s second incarnation (played by Patrick Troughton) and his former companion Jamie McCrimmon (played by Frazer Hines). In "The Two Doctors" both played a significant part in defeating the Sontarans and the Androgums. It was a joy to see the Second Doctor interacting with his Sixth incarnation and with Shockeye.
"The Two Doctors" is the fourth story to include the Sontarans and is also the fourth to have its location footage being recorded abroad - this time in Seville, Spain. "The Two Doctors" though is one of only a few multi-Doctor stories but it has though achieved notoriety amongst Doctor Who fans because writer Robert Holmes decided to eschew established continuity and portrayed the Second Doctor and Jamie as working directly for the Time Lords, with Jamie being aware of The Doctor’s background - despite this only being revealed in the Second Doctor’s final story, "The War Games", where he is forced to regenerate as a punishment by the Time Lords.
This season though would contain the final appearance of the Sontarans in the original run of the show (they would eventually make a come-back in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky"). This season would also contain the last story to be filmed abroad until the 1996 Eighth Doctor film, "Doctor Who: The Movie".
But more significantly this season has the final appearance, in the show, for both Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. Although Patrick Troughton expressed the desire to continue an involvement in the show this never transpired and unfortunately, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the 28th March 1987, while attending a Doctor Who convention in Columbus, Georgia.
Despite being the Sixth Doctor’s first full season, the return of the Second Doctor and all the media criticism over the level of violence, all this was overshadowed by the sudden announcement, half way through the season, that Doctor Who would be put on hold for a year. Much controversy still surrounds this period and the action taken, with disputes over whether or not the show was facing cancellation outright at this stage, and the roles of various BBC officials such as BBC One controller Michael Grade and Head of Drama Serials Jonathan Powell.
This sudden announcement even meant that the ending of the final story, "Revelation of the Daleks", had to be hastily re-edited to it ending with The Doctor saying the letter ‘B’ followed by a freeze frame – instead of the intended word ‘Blackpool’ as part of The Doctor’s line, ‘I know, I'll take you to...’. This had intended to be a lead into the following planned story, "The Nightmare Fair", that would have been set in Blackpool and would have featured the return of Michael Gough, as the Celestial Toymaker. But "The Nightmare Fair", along with all the planned stories for the original Season Twenty Three, was shelved.
This was a sad time for the show and after a continuous run of seasons the inevitable had finally happened. At first it was thought that the show had been cancelled altogether and so fan campaigns to save Doctor Who were quickly underway and these were soon joined by various media outlets. The huge outcry even resulted in a single called "Doctor In Distress" being released. It featured the voices of Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Anthony Ainley, Nicholas Courtney, and a host of other British entertainers, under the collective name "Who Cares?".
The fan campaign continued to wage throughout the hiatus, but one bright spot for fans was the decision by BBC Radio 4 to air a six-part Doctor Who story, the first time the programme had ever been broadcast on radio. Entitled "Slipback", the audio adventure was written by Eric Saward and featured Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, battling both a crazed spaceship captain, who threatened to unleash a deadly virus on his crew, and a schizophrenic computer that wanted to restructure the Universe. "Slipback" was broadcast between the 25th July and the 8th August 1985, with two episodes being transmitted per week.
Although frequently called the ‘18-month hiatus’, the broadcast of the first story of Season Twenty Three was only delayed by about nine months. But despite this the show suffered considerable and the Sixth Doctor’s era would become the most disjointed.
Season Twenty Two had started with high hopes that the show would regain its huge popularity but despite some interesting introductions it finished with many loyal fans wondering if the show would even return, and many other viewers, unfortunately, no longer caring.
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| Lyton and the Cyber Leader |
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If you enjoyed last season’s "Resurrection of the Daleks", and the involvement Lyton had in that story, then you would have been pleased to see that Lyton making a return in "Attack of the Cybermen". This story also sees the return of the Cyber Controller. The first episode of this story also contains some humorous scenes - especially between The Doctor and Peri.
While in "Vengeance on Varos" the scheming Sil (from Thoros-Beta) makes his first of two appearances in the show. The next story, "The Mark of The Rani", sees the return of The Master who is doing all he can to once again humiliate The Doctor. This story also introduces The Rani - the villainous female Time Lord who is a brilliant biochemist and an exile from Gallifrey. When The Rani discovers that both The Master and The Doctor have arrived, in Nineteenth Century England at the dawn of the industrial revolution and so could risk her whole operation on Earth, she is obviously less than happy.
This story is followed by "The Two Doctors" which not only sees the return of the Sontarans but also includes the one-off appearance of the Second Doctor and his companion Jamie McCrimmon. Look out for the scene when the two incarnations of The Doctor finally meet each other.
The final story "Revelation of the Daleks" sees the welcome return of the Daleks and their creator the evil Davros (masquerading as ‘The Great Healer’). This story also introduces the concept of two factions of Daleks - those created by Davros and those loyal to the Supreme Dalek - who end up in a pitch battle in the corridors of Tranquil Repose on the planet Necros.
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(Position = 30 out of 31)
(Position = 35 out of 36)
