Doctor Who (season 2)

The second season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 31 October 1964 with the story Planet of Giants and ended on 24 July 1965 with The Time Meddler. 37 of 39 episodes exist in the BBC archives; 2 episodes remain missing. As a result, only 1 serial is incomplete.

Doctor Who
Season 2
Cover art of the Region 2 DVD release for first serial of the season
Starring	William Hartnell Carole Ann Ford Jacqueline Hill William Russell Maureen O'Brien Peter Purves
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of stories	9
No. of episodes	39 (2 missing)
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	31 October 1964 – 24 July 1965
Season chronology

Casting

Main cast

• William Hartnell as the First Doctor
• Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman
• Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright
• William Russell as Ian Chesterton
• Maureen O'Brien as Vicki
• Peter Purves as Steven Taylor

William Hartnell continued his role as the First Doctor accompanied by his original companions: his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), and schoolteachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill).

Susan departed at the end of the second story The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and was soon replaced by Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) in The Rescue.

The penultimate story The Chase saw the departure of Ian and Barbara, and the arrival of Steven (Peter Purves) as a regular member of the TARDIS crew. At the end of the season, aside from the Doctor, the main cast had changed and would do so the following season when it finished.

Guest stars

Peter Butterworth makes his first of two appearances as the Meddling Monk in the serial The Time Meddler.

Serials

Dennis Spooner replaced David Whitaker as script editor after The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and edited the remainder of the season apart from The Time Meddler, which was edited by Donald Tosh. Verity Lambert continued in her role as producer for the entire season while Mervyn Pinfield served as associate producer until the end of The Romans.[1] This season was originally intended to have 40 episodes with Planet of Giants originally shot and edited as 4 x 25 minute episodes. After viewing the episodes, Head of series and serials Donald Wilson found them to be lacking in action and ordered that the final two episodes be edited into 1 episode. The episode left over was later used to produce the single-episode teaser "Mission to the Unknown" in Season 3.

The Time Meddler is the first example in the series of what became known as "pseudo-historical" stories – these are serials that are set in the past, but have a story that involves significant science-fiction elements (beyond the presence of the TARDIS and its crew).[2]

Season 2 is the most complete season of Doctor Who during its black-and-white era, as only two episodes, both from The Crusade, are missing from the BBC archive.

Story	Serial	Serial title	Episode titles	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions) [3]	AI [3]
9	1	Planet of Giants	"Planet of Giants"	Mervyn Pinfield	Louis Marks	31 October 1964	J	8.4	57
			"Dangerous Journey"	Mervyn Pinfield	Louis Marks	7 November 1964	J	8.4	58
			"Crisis"	Douglas Camfield	Louis Marks	14 November 1964	J	8.9	59
Arriving on Earth, the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan have been shrunk to the size of an inch.
10	2	The Dalek Invasion of Earth	"World's End"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	21 November 1964	K	11.4	63
			"The Daleks"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	28 November 1964	K	12.4	59
			"Day of Reckoning"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	5 December 1964	K	11.9	59
			"The End of Tomorrow"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	12 December 1964	K	11.9	59
			"The Waking Ally"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	19 December 1964	K	11.4	58
			"Flashpoint"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	26 December 1964	K	12.4	63
The Daleks have invaded Earth following a plague and meteorite strike.
11	3	The Rescue	"The Powerful Enemy"	Christopher Barry	David Whitaker	2 January 1965	L	12.0	57
			"Desperate Measures"	Christopher Barry	David Whitaker	9 January 1965	L	13.0	59
On the planet Dido, Vicki, a marooned survivor awaiting a rescue ship, lives in fear of Koquillion, a bipedal inhabitant which is stalking the area.
12	4	The Romans	"The Slave Traders"	Christopher Barry	Dennis Spooner	16 January 1965	M	13.0	53
			"All Roads Lead to Rome"	Christopher Barry	Dennis Spooner	23 January 1965	M	11.5	51
			"Conspiracy"	Christopher Barry	Dennis Spooner	30 January 1965	M	10.0	50
			"Inferno"	Christopher Barry	Dennis Spooner	6 February 1965	M	12.0	50
While enjoying a holiday at a Roman villa in the year 64AD, the Doctor and Vicki decide to visit the city of Rome while Ian and Barbara are kidnapped and sold into slavery.
13	5	The Web Planet	"The Web Planet"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	13 February 1965	N	13.5	56
			"The Zarbi"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	20 February 1965	N	12.5	53
			"Escape to Danger"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	27 February 1965	N	12.5	53
			"Crater of Needles"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	6 March 1965	N	13.0	49
			"Invasion"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	13 March 1965	N	12.0	48
			"The Centre"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	20 March 1965	N	11.5	42
On the planet Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki ally with the Menoptra to battle the Zarbi.
14	6	The Crusade	"The Lion"	Douglas Camfield	David Whitaker	27 March 1965	P	10.5	51
			"The Knight of Jaffa"^†	Douglas Camfield	David Whitaker	3 April 1965	P	8.5	50
			"The Wheel of Fortune"	Douglas Camfield	David Whitaker	10 April 1965	P	9.0	49
			"The Warlords"^†	Douglas Camfield	David Whitaker	17 April 1965	P	9.5	48
The TARDIS materialises in 12th century Palestine, during the time of the Third Crusade. When the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki emerge, they find themselves in the middle of a Saracen ambush.
15	7	The Space Museum	"The Space Museum"	Mervyn Pinfield	Glyn Jones	24 April 1965	Q	10.5	61
			"The Dimensions of Time"	Mervyn Pinfield	Glyn Jones	1 May 1965	Q	9.2	53
			"The Search"	Mervyn Pinfield	Glyn Jones	8 May 1965	Q	8.5	56
			"The Final Phase"	Mervyn Pinfield	Glyn Jones	15 May 1965	Q	8.5	49
In a space museum on the planet Xeros, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki find themselves encased and on display.
16	8	The Chase	"The Executioners"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	22 May 1965	R	10.0	57
			"The Death of Time"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	29 May 1965	R	9.5	56
			"Flight Through Eternity"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	5 June 1965	R	9.0	55
			"Journey into Terror"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	12 June 1965	R	9.5	54
			"The Death of Doctor Who"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	19 June 1965	R	9.0	56
			"The Planet of Decision"	Richard Martin and Douglas Camfield (uncredited)	Terry Nation	26 June 1965	R	9.5	57
Using a time machine, the Daleks pursue the TARDIS through time and space in order to exterminate its crew.
17	9	The Time Meddler	"The Watcher"	Douglas Camfield	Dennis Spooner	3 July 1965	S	8.9	57
			"The Meddling Monk"	Douglas Camfield	Dennis Spooner	10 July 1965	S	8.8	49
			"A Battle of Wits"	Douglas Camfield	Dennis Spooner	17 July 1965	S	7.7	53
			"Checkmate"	Douglas Camfield	Dennis Spooner	24 July 1965	S	8.3	54
In 1066 Northumbria, a "Monk" who is actually one the Doctor's people attempts to meddle with history.

^† Episode is missing

Production

The first two serials were produced in the programme's first production block, but were held back until the beginning of the second season.[4] Verity Lambert began lobbying for a second season in August 1964, and was initially only guaranteed 13 episodes. Nine were already planned as Planet of Giants and The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and with only four episodes after that Lambert felt it was too short a time to retain the regular actors and it would be then pointless to write Susan out at the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. In best interest of the actors and their agents, a deal was struck of an additional 13 episodes, and the commitment of 26 episodes in the second production block was accepted the day The Dalek Invasion of Earth finished filming.[4]

Missing episodes

• The Crusade – Episodes 2 & 4 (of 4 total)

Home media

VHS releases

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
2	009	Planet of Giants	3 × 25 mins.	January 2002[5][6]	March 2002[6]	May 2003[6]
	010	The Dalek Invasion of Earth	6 × 25 mins.	May 1990[7][8] (2 x VHS)	November 1990[8] (2 x VHS)	February 1994[8] (2 x VHS)
	011 012	The Rescue/The Romans: The Rescue (2 episodes) The Romans (4 episodes)	6 × 25 mins.	September 1994[9][10][11] (2 x VHS)	November 1994[11] (1 x VHS)	March 1996[11] (2 x VHS)
	013	The Web Planet	6 × 25 mins.	September 1990[12][13] (2 x VHS in separate boxes)	May 1991[13] (1 x VHS)	August 1994[13] (1 x VHS)
	014 015	The Crusade The Space Museum (4 episodes)	6 × 25 mins.	July 1999[14][15] (released only in UK as part of a boxset "The Crusade and The Space Museum")	July 1999[15] (released only in AU as part of a boxset "The Crusade and The Space Museum")	January 2000[15] (released only in US as part of a boxset "The Crusade and The Space Museum")
	016	The Chase (6 episodes)	6 × 25 mins.	September 1993[16][17] (2 x VHS released only in UK as part of a boxset "The Chase / Remembrance of the Daleks")	September 1993[17] (2 x VHS released only in AU as part of a boxset "The Chase / Remembrance of the Daleks")	October 1993[17] (2 x VHS released only in US as part of a boxset "The Chase / Remembrance of the Daleks")
	017	The Time Meddler	4 × 25 mins.	November 2002[18][19] (3 x VHS released only in UK as part of a boxset "The First Doctor Collection")	December 2002[18] (3 x VHS released only in AU as part of a boxset "The First Doctor Collection")	October 2003[20]

DVD and Blu-ray releases

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
2	009	Planet of Giants	3 × 25 min.	20 August 2012[21][22]	5 September 2012[23]	11 September 2012[24]
	010	The Dalek Invasion of Earth	6 × 25 min.	9 June 2003[25][26]	13 August 2003[27]	7 October 2003[28]
	011–012	The Rescue The Romans	6 × 25 min.	23 February 2009[29][30]	2 April 2009[23]	7 July 2009[31]
	013	The Web Planet	6 × 25 min.	3 October 2005[32][33]	3 November 2005[34]	5 September 2006[35]
	015–016	The Space Museum The Chase	10 × 25 min.	1 March 2010[36][37]	6 May 2010[38]	6 July 2010[39]
	017	The Time Meddler	4 × 25 min.	4 February 2008[40][41]	2 April 2008[42]	5 August 2008[43]
Lost in Time, Volume 1
2–3	014 021 024	The Crusade[lower-alpha 1] The Daleks' Master Plan[lower-alpha 2] The Celestial Toymaker[lower-alpha 3]	6 × 25 min. (+ 2 × 25 min. audio)[lower-alpha 4]	1 November 2004[44][45]	2 December 2004[lower-alpha 5][46] 1 July 2010[lower-alpha 6][47]	2 November 2004[48]

1. Full episodes 1 & 3 of 4, with soundtracks of episodes 2 & 4.
2. Episodes 2, 5 & 10 of 12.
3. Episode 4 of 4.
4. Also includes surviving clips from The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet.
5. Original release.
6. Re-release.

In print

Serial name	Novelisation title	Author	First published
Planet of Giants	Planet of Giants	Terrance Dicks	18 January 1990
The Dalek Invasion of Earth	Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth	Terrance Dicks	24 March 1977
The Rescue	The Rescue	Ian Marter	20 August 1987
The Romans	The Romans	Donald Cotton	16 April 1987
The Web Planet	Doctor Who and the Zarbi	Bill Strutton	16 September 1965
The Crusade	Doctor Who and the Crusaders	David Whitaker	17 February 1966
The Space Museum	The Space Museum	Glyn Jones	15 January 1987
The Chase	The Chase	John Peel	20 July 1989
The Time Meddler	The Time Meddler	Nigel Robinson	15 October 1988

See also

• List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989)

References

1. "Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide – Season 2". BBC. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
2. "The Time Meddler". BBC. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
3. "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
4. Richard Molesworth (compiler) (23 February 2009). The Rescue with Information Text (DVD). The Rescue DVD: BBC Worldwide.
5. "DOCTOR WHO - PLANET OF THE GIANTS". bbfc.co.uk.
6. "Planet of Giants (VHS)". timelash.com.
7. "DOCTOR WHO - THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH". bbfc.co.uk.
8. "The Dalek Invasion of Earth (VHS)". timelash.com.
9. "DOCTOR WHO - THE RESCUE". bbfc.co.uk.
10. "DOCTOR WHO - THE ROMANS". bbfc.co.uk.
11. "The Rescue & The Romans (VHS)". timelash.com.
12. "DOCTOR WHO - THE WEB PLANET". bbfc.co.uk.
13. "The Web Planet (VHS)". timelash.com.
14. "DOCTOR WHO - THE CRUSADE". bbfc.co.uk.
15. "The Crusade and The Space Museum (VHS)". timelash.com.
16. "DOCTOR WHO - THE CHASE". bbfc.co.uk.
17. "The Chase (VHS)". timelash.com.
18. "The Sensorites (VHS)". timelash.com.
19. "DOCTOR WHO - THE TIME MEDDLER". bbfc.co.uk.
20. "The Time Meddler (VHS)". timelash.com.
21. "Doctor Who: Planet of Giants (DVD)". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
22. "Doctor Who: Planet of Giants". British Video Association. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
23. "Doctor Who Planet of Giants DVD". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
24. "Doctor Who: Planet of Giants". BBC. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
25. "Doctor Who: Dalek Invasion of Earth (DVD)". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
26. "Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth". British Video Association. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
27. "Doctor Who: Dalek Invasion of Earth DVD". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
28. "Doctor Who - Story #010: The Dalek Invasion of Earth". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
29. "Doctor Who: The Rescue & The Romans Box Set (DVD)". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
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31. "Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans". DVD Talk. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
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38. "Doctor Who Space Museum/The Chase Box Set 3 DVD Set". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
39. "Doctor Who: The Space Museum/The Chase". DVD Talk. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
40. "Doctor Who: The Time Meddler (DVD)". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
41. "Doctor Who: The Time Meddler". British Video Association. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
42. "Doctor Who - Time Meddler". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
43. "Doctor Who - Story #017: The Time Meddler". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
44. "Doctor Who: Lost In Time (DVD)". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
45. "Doctor Who: Lost in Time". British Video Association. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
46. "Lost in Time". timelash.com. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
47. "Doctor Who - Lost In Time". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
48. "Doctor Who - Story #014, 021, 024: Lost In Time: William Hartnell Years". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.