| Season Start: | 11 September 1965 | | Season End: | 16 July 1966 | | Season Length: | 45 Weeks | | Writers: | Brian Hayles, Donald Cotton, Donald Tosh, Gerry Davis, Ian Stuart Black, John Lucarotti, Lesley Scott, Pat Dunlop, Paul Erickson, Terry Nation and William Emms | | Directors: | Bill Sellars, Christopher Barry, Derek Martinus, Douglas Camfield, Michael Ferguson, Michael Imison, Michael Leeston-Smith, Paddy Russell and Rex Tucker | | Producers: | Innes Lloyd, John Wiles and Verity Lambert | | Story Editors: | Donald Tosh and Gerry Davis | | Visual Effects: | The BBC Radiophonic Workshop | | Title Sequence: | Bernard Lodge | | Title Music: | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire |
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Incarnation of the Doctor: |
The First Doctor
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| Number of
Companions: |
7 |
| The
Companions: |
Vicki (Departs), Steven Taylor (Departs), Katarina (Joins and Dies), Sara Kingdom (Joins and Dies), Dodo (Joins and Departs), Polly Wright (Joins) and Ben Jackson (Joins)
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| Number of
Stories: |
10
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Stories: |
7
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| Number of
Episodes: |
45
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Episodes: |
28
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| Percentages: |
| Full Stories Held | 30% | | Episodes Held | 38% |
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| Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998) | | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009) | | | Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014) | |
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| The Doctor and Dodo Arrive in London |
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 If by the end of Season One, Doctor Who had proved itself a big success and by the end of Season Two Doctor Who was fast becoming the UK's most popular series by the end of the third season things no longer looked, or felt, so rosy.
There is one word that can best describe Season Three, ‘Change’. Both in front of the camera and behind.
With the departure of Jacqueline Hill, as Barbara Wright, and William Russell, as Ian Chesterton, at the end of the second season this left only William Hartnell as the remaining member of the original regular cast. Even though both Peter Purves, as Steven Taylor, and Maureen O'Brien, as Vicki, became The Doctor’s companions neither would remain through the whole of season Three. Vicki would leave at the end of "The Myth Makers" to be replaced by Katarina, who would only last for 5 episodes, then Sara Kingdom, who would only last for 9 episodes, and the finally Dodo, who also would leave the show before the end of the season finale "The War Machines". Steven Taylor faired better remaining until "The Savages". Worse still William Hartnell's ill health was starting to worsen – not enough to stop him working but enough to give the production staff concern.
Behind the camera the biggest change was that of the departure of producer Verity Lambert. Having being involved with the show right from the start she had certainly put her mark on the show and things would never be the same again. After 19 stories Verity Lambert was replaced by John Wiles. However, after just 4 stories he was replaced by Innes Lloyd.
Apart from not renewing Peter Purves' and Maureen O'Brien’s contracts the biggest change Innes Lloyd carried out was to no longer allocate individual episode titles but to use just story titles and to allocate each episode a number. This too effect from "The Savages onwards" and would remain the norm until the shows revival in 2005.
With all this change this season still managed to produce some really classic stories – namely "Galaxy 4", "The Celestial Toymaker" and "The War Machines". It would also include the most ambitious story to date – the 13 part "The Daleks' Master Plan" (and its prequel "Mission to the Unknown"). It is a shame that from the First Doctor’s era it is Season Three that suffers the most from lost stories (with 7 out of the 10 incomplete and nearly two thirds of the episodes missing). And these lost stories don’t just include the poorer ones as all but one of the classic stories listed above are still missing.
Season Three has the accolade of having the most stories and the most episodes during the original series - 10 and 45 respectively. This season would have had the longest number of weeks but due to a two week gap during Season Six the Second Doctor’s final season would be 46 weeks long – one more week than Season Three.
Despite decreasing viewing figures the show was still just as popular. However, by the end of the season the biggest change of all was just about to happen and the show would never be the same again…
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| The Doctor with The Toymaker |
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With so many of the good stories missing from this season it is hard to distinguish items to look out for when there seems to be very little chance of ever seeing these stories in their entirety in the future. However, if you were lucky enough to have seen the show when it was first broadcast or are happy with watching the odd episode, that luckily still exists, or are happy just to listen to the audio soundtrack then are still some sequences that are worth watching.
Steven Taylor’s and Dodo’s encounter with The Toymaker in "The Celestial Toymaker" where for the first time in Doctor Who our time travellers get caught up in a fantasy world. Trapped in a world where nothing at all makes sense Steven and Dodo are forced into playing silly children's games in an attempt to free the TARDIS. Separated from The Doctor they are confronted with The Toymaker's clowns and the King and Queen of Hearts – not realising at first the dangerous game they are being forced to play. With The Toymaker determined to make Steven and Dodo fail the tasks that he has set before them they become even more deadly. The final confrontation is with the devious Cyril who is more than happy to cheat so as to make our two companions fail in escaping from The Toymaker's domain.
Thankfully enough of season finale, "The War Machines", exists in the archives. In this story we get to see The Doctor, now only with Dodo, land in a contemporary Earth for the first time. With the threat of London being taken over by war machines, a power crazy computer in the newly opened Post Office Tower, The Doctor has his work cut out to defeat WOTAN. Luckily he has two new companions, Polly Wright and Ben Jackson, to help him.
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| Title | Release Date (UK) | Format | Source | Companions |
| Bunker Soldiers | February 1991 | Novel | The Past Doctors Stories | Steven Taylor and Dodo |
| The Golden Door | March 1994 | Short Story | Decalog | Steven Taylor and Dodo |
| The Man in the Velvet Mask | February 1996 | Novel | The Missing Adventures | Dodo |
| Tarnished Image | July 1996 | Short Story | Decalog 3: Consequences | Dodo |
| There Are Fairies At the Bottom of My Garden | March 1998 | Short Story | Short Trips | Dodo |
| Salvation | January 1999 | Novel | The Past Doctors Stories | Steven Taylor and Dodo |
| 64 Carlysle Street | March 1999 | Short Story | More Short Trips | Steven Taylor and Dodo |
| Planet of the Bunnoids | March 2000 | Short Story | Short Trips and Side Steps | Vicki and Steven Taylor |
| The Long Step Backward | March 2000 | Short Story | Short Trips and Side Steps | Vicki and Steven Taylor |
| The Little Drummer Boy | March 2003 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 2: Companions | Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom |
| Calliope: Katarina in the Underworld | September 2003 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 4: The Muses | Katarina |
| Ash | April 2004 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 6: Past Tense | Susan |
| Scribbles in Chalk | June 2004 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 7: Life Science | Steven Taylor and Katarina |
| (14:00) Making History | June 2005 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 13: A Day in the Life | Steven Taylor |
| (8:52) Waiting for Jeremy | June 2005 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 13: A Day in the Life | Steven Taylor |
| Mars | September 2005 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 14: The Solar System | Vicki and Steven Taylor |
| Mother Russia | October 2007 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor |
| Snowman in Manhattan | December 2007 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 22: The Ghosts of Christmas | Vicki and Steven Taylor |
| Home Truths | November 2008 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Sara Kingdom |
| White on White | December 2008 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 27: Christmas Around The World | Steven Taylor |
| Do you Smell Carrots? | December 2008 | Short Story | The Big Finish Short Trips 27: Christmas Around The World | Steven Taylor |
| The Drowned World | July 2009 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Sara Kingdom |
| The Guardian of the Solar System | July 2010 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Sara Kingdom |
| The Perpetual Bond | February 2011 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor and Oliver Harper |
| The Cold Equations | June 2011 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor and Oliver Harper |
| Tales From the Vault | July 2011 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor, Zoe, Jo Grant and 1st Romana |
| The First Wave | November 2011 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor and Oliver Harper |
| The Anachronauts | January 2012 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom |
| Tales From the Vault | November 2012 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor |
| The War To End All Wars | May 2014 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) | Steven Taylor and Dodo |
| An Ordinary Life | December 2014 | Audio | The Big Finish Audio Stories (The Early Adventures) | Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom |
(Position = 25 out of 31)
