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| The Doctor with Jo Grant and Captain Yates |
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 Season Eight is best known for three things - the arrival of Katy Manning as new companion and agent-in-training Jo Grant, the arrival of Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates and the introduction of Roger Delgado as renegade Time Lord - The Master. The now-famous ‘UNIT Family’ was complete.
Jon Pertwee’s second season continued to build on his first. With the season opener "Terror of the Autons", seeing the second and final time the Nestene Consciousness and the Autons would make an appearance (until the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Rose"), to the season’s finale – the classic "The Dæmons". Doctor Who was, for many, really into its stride.
The only element that may be considered, in hindsight, to have let this season down is having overexposed The Master by having him appear in every story that year - something that even the production team would later admit to. Having The Master in all the stories of a season was an occurrence that was to remain unparalleled in the series’ history.
The Master, as an enemy, is something special. His relationship to The Doctor has been likened to that of Moriarty is to Sherlock Holmes. Being also a Time Lord, The Master is a renegade bent upon evil who would tangle with The Doctor and UNIT on many occasions. The Master would prove to be a worthy adversary for The Doctor with Roger Delgado being just one of many actors playing the part in the show’s history. However, many fans consider Roger Delgado’s portrayal as being the best. As Roger Delgado is reported to have said: ‘I love playing The Master. He is the man the fans love to hate’.
As to the season itself it was clear that Producer Barry Letts, working closely with Script Editor Terrance Dicks, was keen to steer the series back more toward its family viewing roots with lighter, fantasy-based entertainment and warm, more identifiable characters like it had in the past. Hence the reason for introducing Jo Grant as a new companion - an impetuous teenager assigned to UNIT as a result of some swing pulling by an influential relative - who was much more akin to the old-style companions. Played by Katy Manning the character of Jo Grant would prove to be a very popular companion both at the time and since.
Like the previous season we are lucky to be able to watch most of the stories still in colour – thanks to 525-line colour NTSC versions recorded off-air that have been obtained from the USA and Canada. Sadly the BBC wiped most of the original 625-line PAL colour videotapes (retaining by good fortune just the 16mm black & white telerecordings). Even "The Dæmons" did not escape unscathed. This was despite a request made at the time by producer and co-writer, Barry Letts, for this story to be retained as an example of 1970s Doctor Who. "The Mind of Evil" is the exception where today it is still the only Third Doctor story in which the BBC holds no complete colour copies of any of its episodes. Sadly of the 25 episodes made only 3 are held in their original colour format and 16 have had to be re-coloured
At the time the UNIT team now consisted of The Brigadier with Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates and the three would aid The Doctor and his companion in many battles against The Master and other forms of alien forces throughout this season and beyond. Together they would comprise the largest regular cast in the show's history.
And a treat would be in store for the next season – the return (after an absence of 4½ years) of the dreaded Daleks…
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| 'Chap With Wings…' |
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There are two main things to watch out for during this season. The first is the introduction of new companion Jo Grant in "Terror of the Autons". At first The Doctor is far from pleased about the loss of Liz Shaw and then being introduced to the nervous, bumbling young girl imposed on him, by The Brigadier, as Liz’s replacement. As The Brigadier states: ‘Nonsense, what you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes, and to tell you how brilliant you are’. Of course as the story progressed The Doctor’s attitude towards Jo mellowed and her nervousness quickly diminished even if her ability to get into trouble, and so the need to be rescued by either The Doctor or the men in UNIT, did not.
The second scene that is classed as a must see is during the season’s finale, "The Dæmons", in which The Brigadier finally comes to The Doctor’s rescue in the village of Devils End. Unable to reach the cavern under the church - due to the presence of Bok who is guarding the churchyard, and so rescue Jo, who is being held captive by The Master, The Doctor is forced into allowing UNIT to use their greater fire power on the dangerous gargoyle. And so the scene is set for the classic line of the whole season and possible the whole show, where The Brigadier orders one of the UNIT soldiers with the words: ‘Jenkins... chap with wings there, five rounds, rapid!’.
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(Position = 12 out of 31)
