Doctor Who (season 26)

Doctor Who season 26
Doctor Who logo as used in this season
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	14
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	6 September 1989 (1989-09-06) – 6 December 1989 (1989-12-06)
Home video release
DVD release
Region 1	as individual stories: June 2004 - 5 May 2009
Region 2	6 October 2003 - 26 December 2008
Region 4	11 February 2004 - 5 May 2009
Series chronology
← Previous Season 25 Next → Series 1
List of Doctor Who serials

The 26th season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 9 September 1989 with the serial Battlefield, after a regular series of four serials was broadcast finishing with Survival which was was the final episode of Doctor Who to air before a 16-year absence from episodic television following its cancellation.

Casting

Main Characters

Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred both continue their roles as the Seventh Doctor and Ace for their final season. Sylvester McCoy returned to portray the Doctor once again in Doctor Who: The Movie .

Guest stars

Nicholas Courtney returns to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield. Having first appeared with the first Doctor in 1965 in The Daleks' Masterplan before becoming a recurring character throughout the second Doctor to the fifth Doctor and last appearing in The Five Doctors.

Anthony Ainley returns to play The Master in Survival having last appeared in The Ultimate Foe (1986).

Episodes

The final season continued to push the series towards a darker approach, focusing this time more on Ace's personal life as well as The Doctor's past and manipulations.

Story No.	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	UK viewers (million)	Original air date	Production code
152	1	"Battlefield"	Michael Kerrigan	Ben Aaronovitch	3.65[1]	6-27 September 1989	7N
The Doctor and Ace join forces with UNIT and his old friend the Brigadier against Morgaine (Jean Marsh) and Mordred, Arthurian villains who recognize the Doctor as Merlin.
153	2	"Ghost Light"	Alan Wareing	Marc Platt	4.1[2]	4-18 October 1989	7Q
The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her home town of Perivale.
154	3	"The Curse of Fenric"	Nicholas Mallett	Ian Briggs	4.1[3]	25 October - 15 November 1989	7M
It's 1943, and Fenric plans a last game of chess with a Time Lord.
155	4	"Survival"	Alan Wareing	Rona Munro	4.9[4]	22 November - 6 December 1989	7P
A visit to the suburbs lands the Doctor and Ace on a planet of killer cats.

Broadcast

DVD Release

All serials of season 26 were released individually inbetween 2003 and 2009.

References

1. ^ http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/ratings.html
2. ^ http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/ratings.html
3. ^ http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/ratings.html
4. ^ http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/ratings.html