Doctor Who (season 22)

The twenty-second season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 January 1985 and ended on 30 March 1985. It opened with the serial Attack of the Cybermen and ended with the serial Revelation of the Daleks. The season returned to the traditional Saturday transmission for the first time since Season 18, but for the first and only time in the series' first run it featured 45-minute episodes in its entirety. During transmission, BBC One controller Michael Grade announced an 18-month hiatus for the series, partly citing the violence depicted in the stories of the season.[1]

Doctor Who
Season 22
Cover art of the Region 2 DVD release for first serial of the season
Starring	Colin Baker Nicola Bryant Patrick Troughton Frazer Hines
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of stories	6
No. of episodes	13
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	5 January – 30 March 1985
Season chronology

Casting

Main cast

• Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor
• Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown
• Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor
• Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon

Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant continue their roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown.

Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines return to play the Second Doctor and his companion Jamie McCrimmon in The Two Doctors. Their last on-screen appearance was (briefly in the case of Hines) The Five Doctors in 1983.

Recurring stars

• Anthony Ainley as The Master
• Kate O'Mara as the Rani
• Terry Molloy as Davros

Anthony Ainley returns in The Mark of the Rani as The Master.

Kate O'Mara makes her first appearance as the Rani in The Mark of the Rani.

Terry Molloy returns to play Davros in Revelation of the Daleks and also played Russell in Attack of the Cybermen.

Guest stars

Maurice Colbourne returned as Lytton from the story Resurrection of the Daleks in Attack of the Cybermen.

David Banks makes his third of four appearances as a Cyber-leader in Attack of the Cybermen.

Michael Kilgarriff reprises his role of the Cyber-Controller from The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967).

Synopsis

The season mostly focused on Peri trying to adjust to the Sixth Doctor, who is still having trouble "getting his head on straight" while they're on adventures.

Serials

The series moved back to once-weekly Saturday broadcasts. All episodes were 45 minutes long,[2] though they also exist in 25-minute versions. Although there were now only 13 episodes in the season, the total running time remained approximately the same as in previous seasons since the episodes were almost twice as long.

Story	Serial	Serial title	Episode titles	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions) [3]	AI [3]
137	1	Attack of the Cybermen	"Part One"	Matthew Robinson	Paula Moore	5 January 1985	6T	8.9	61
			"Part Two"	Matthew Robinson	Paula Moore	12 January 1985	6T	7.2	65
The TARDIS is commandeered by the mercenary Lytton and a group of Cybermen, who are using another captured time machine to travel back to 1985. There, the Cybermen intend to use Halley's Comet to obliterate the Earth, thus preventing the destruction of their home planet Mondas in 1986 and perverting the course of history. Taken prisoner on Telos, the Doctor and Peri escape and ally themselves with the native Cryons. But in order to stop the Cyber plot, they may have to rely on none other than Lytton, whose motivations remain a mystery to all.
138	2	Vengeance on Varos	"Part One"	Ron Jones	Philip Martin	19 January 1985	6V	7.2	63
			"Part Two"	Ron Jones	Philip Martin	26 January 1985	6V	7.0	65
When the TARDIS runs out of vital Zyton-7 ore, the Doctor makes an emergency landing on the planet Varos, which is rich in the mineral. Varos is a former penal colony whose residents now derive pleasure purely from the televised tortures which perpetually pass across their screens. The Governor of Varos is engaged in negotiations with the ruthless sluglike businessman Sil, who is trying to cheat the Varosians out of their rightful profit of Zyton-7. It is up to the Doctor and Peri to stop Sil's plans, and break the natives of Varos out of their daily cycle of video nasties.
139	3	The Mark of the Rani	"Part One"	Sarah Hellings	Pip and Jane Baker	2 February 1985	6X	6.3	64
			"Part Two"	Sarah Hellings	Pip and Jane Baker	9 February 1985	6X	7.3	64
The TARDIS is drawn to Earth during the Luddite Uprisings. There, the Master is once again trying to alter the planet's history, while an evil Time Lady called the Rani is also present, extracting chemicals from the brains of local workers for her own use. As a result of the Rani's experiments, rioting amongst the workers is intensifying, threatening the work of famed engineer George Stephenson. It falls to the Doctor and Peri to foil the uneasy partnership between the two villains and restore Earth's history to its proper course.
140	4	The Two Doctors	"Part One"	Peter Moffatt	Robert Holmes	16 February 1985	6W	6.6	65
			"Part Two"	Peter Moffatt	Robert Holmes	23 February 1985	6W	6.0	62
			"Part Three"	Peter Moffatt	Robert Holmes	2 March 1985	6W	6.9	65
The Time Lords send the Second Doctor and Jamie to Space Station Camera, to put an end to temporal experiments being conducted by Dastari, an old friend of the Doctor's. Dastari has genetically augmented a savage Androgum named Chessene, who has forged an alliance with the Sontarans. They kidnap the Doctor and take him to a hacienda outside Seville, where they plan to isolate the genetic code which allows Time Lords to travel through the vortex. The Sixth Doctor and Peri rescue Jamie and follow the others to the hacienda, in a race against time with the Doctor's past and future at stake.
141	5	Timelash	"Part One"	Pennant Roberts	Glen McCoy	9 March 1985	6Y	6.7	66
			"Part Two"	Pennant Roberts	Glen McCoy	16 March 1985	6Y	7.4	64
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Karfel, which is ruled by an enigmatic tyrant known as the Borad who wields the power of a space-time tunnel called the Timelash. The Borad stokes the fires of war with Karfel's neighbours, the Bandrils. He plans to use the conflict to repopulate Karfel with beings such as himself: a hideously mutated cross between a human and a reptilian Morlox. And Peri will be but the first...
142	6	Revelation of the Daleks	"Part One"	Graeme Harper	Eric Saward	23 March 1985	6Z	7.4	67
			"Part Two"	Graeme Harper	Eric Saward	30 March 1985	6Z	7.7	65
The Doctor and Peri go to Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor's. There they discover that Davros is posing as the Great Healer of Tranquil Repose, a famed institution where the terminally ill can be placed in suspended animation until a cure for their ailment is found. Davros is experimenting on the comatose bodies to produce a new race of Daleks loyal to himself. To defeat his old foe, the Doctor may have no choice but to ally himself with the original Daleks on Skaro.

Supplemental episodes

A specially written segment produced for the BBC children's programme Jim'll Fix It featuring Colin Baker in character as the Sixth Doctor. It was broadcast on 23 February 1985. It is not generally considered to be canonical by Doctor Who fans (although a book in the Big Finish Short Trips series nevertheless features a sequel to it).[4]

Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
"A Fix with Sontarans"	Marcus Mortimer	Eric Saward	23 February 1985
The Doctor accidentally beams on board Tegan Jovanka and an Earthling called Gareth Jenkins, who happens to be dressed in an outfit similar to his own. They then have a short battle with two Sontarans.

Home media

VHS releases

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
22	137	Attack of the Cybermen	2 x 45 min.	November 2000	November 2000	November 2000
	138	Vengeance on Varos	2 x 45 min.	May 1993	August 1993	June 1995
	149	The Mark of the Rani	2 x 45 min.	July 1995	October 1995	February 1997
	140	The Two Doctors	3 x 45 mins	November 1993	March 1994	June 1995
	141	Timelash	2 x 45 mins	January 1998	September 1998	March 1998
	142	Revelation of the Daleks	2 x 45 mins	November 1999	December 1999	February 2001

DVD and Blu-ray releases

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
22	137	Attack of the Cybermen	2 × 45 min.	16 March 2009[5]	7 May 2009[6]	7 July 2009[7]
	138	Vengeance on Varos	2 × 45 min.	15 October 2001[8]	7 January 2002[9]	6 September 2005[10]
		Vengeance on Varos (Special Edition)	2 × 45 min.	10 September 2012[11]	10 September 2012[12]	11 September 2012[13]
	139	The Mark of the Rani	2 × 45 min.	4 September 2006[14]	1 November 2006[15]	7 November 2006[16]
	140	The Two Doctors[lower-alpha 1]	3 × 45 min.	8 September 2003[17]	7 January 2004[18]	1 June 2004[19]
	141	Timelash	2 × 45 min.	9 July 2007[20]	1 August 2007[21]	1 April 2008[22]
	142	Revelation of the Daleks[lower-alpha 2]	2 × 45 min.	11 July 2005[23]	1 September 2005[24]	6 June 2006[25]

1. Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
2. Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.

In print

Serial title	Novelisation title	Author	Date	ISBN
Attack of the Cybermen	Attack of the Cybermen	Eric Saward	20 April 1989	ISBN 0426202902
Vengeance on Varos	Vengeance on Varos	Philip Martin	21 January 1988	ISBN 0426202910
The Mark of the Rani	The Mark of the Rani	Pip and Jane Baker	16 January 1986	ISBN 0426202325
The Two Doctors	The Two Doctors	Robert Holmes	15 August 1985	ISBN 0426202015
Timelash	Timelash	Glen McCoy	12 December 1985	ISBN 0426202295
Revelation of the Daleks	Revelation of the Daleks	Eric Saward	14 November 2019[26]	ISBN 9781785944352

References

1. Banks, David (1990). Doctor Who: Cybermen. WH Allen & Co. p. 126. ISBN 0352327383.
2. "Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - Season 22". BBC. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
3. "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
4. Mento, Charles. "A Fix with Sontarans". Doctor Who Reference Guide. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
5. "Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen". 16 March 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
6. "Doctor Who Attack of the Cybermen by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
7. "Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen". 7 July 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
8. "Doctor Who - Vengeance on Varos". 15 October 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
9. "Doctor Who Vengeance On Varos by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
10. "Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos". 6 September 2005. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
11. "Doctor Who - Vengeance on Varos". 10 September 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
12. "Doctor Who Vengeance On Varos by 2 Entertain - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
13. "Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos". 11 September 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
14. "Doctor Who - The Mark of the Rani". 4 September 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
15. "Doctor Who The Mark of Rani by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
16. "Doctor Who: The Mark of the Rani". 7 November 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
17. "Doctor Who - The Two Doctors". 8 September 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
18. "Doctor Who The Two Doctors by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
19. "Doctor Who: The Two Doctors". Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
20. "Doctor Who - Timelash". 9 July 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
21. "Doctor Who Timelash by BBC - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
22. "Doctor Who: Timelash". 1 April 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
23. "Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks". 11 July 2005. Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
24. "Doctor Who Revelation of the Daleks by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". FishPond. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
25. "Doctor Who - Revelation Of The Daleks". Retrieved 9 June 2017 – via Amazon.
26. {{cite book|title=Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks: Amazon.co.uk: Eric Saward: 9781785944352: Books |id=ASIN 1785944355