Doctor Who
Season 15
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of stories6
No. of episodes26
Release
Original networkBBC1
Original release3 September 1977 (1977-09-03) –
11 March 1978 (1978-03-11)
Season chronology

The fifteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 September 1977 with the episode Horror of Fang Rock, and ended with The Invasion of Time. The fourth series for the Fourth Doctor, new producer Graham Williams became producer for this series (and the two following), while Robert Holmes left script editing for Anthony Read midway through.

Casting

Main cast

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson continue their roles as the Fourth Doctor and Leela. K9, played by John Leeson, makes his first appearance during the second serial The Invisible Enemy. Louise Jameson makes her final appearance as Leela in The Invasion of Time.

Serials

Graham Williams took over as producer from Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes was replaced as script editor by Anthony Read, during The Sun Makers. The season took a short transmission break of two weeks over the Christmas 1977 period, between the broadcasts of The Sun Makers and Underworld.

No.
story		No. in
season		Serial titleEpisode titlesDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		UK viewers
(millions) [1]		AI [1]
921Horror of Fang Rock"Part One"Paddy RussellTerrance Dicks3 September 1977 (1977-09-03)4V6.858
"Part Two"10 September 1977 (1977-09-10)7.1—
"Part Three"17 September 1977 (1977-09-17)9.860
"Part Four"24 September 1977 (1977-09-24)9.957
Three lighthouse men face their fears when something comes in from the sea, which brings death to all it touches.
932The Invisible Enemy"Part One"Derrick GoodwinBob Baker and Dave Martin1 October 1977 (1977-10-01)4T8.6—
"Part Two"8 October 1977 (1977-10-08)7.3—
"Part Three"15 October 1977 (1977-10-15)7.5—
"Part Four"22 October 1977 (1977-10-22)8.360
A shuttle crew encounters a cloud in space that infects them with an intelligent virus. When the Doctor answers the distress call, he is infected as well.
943Image of the Fendahl"Part One"George Spenton-FosterChris Boucher29 October 1977 (1977-10-29)4X6.7—
"Part Two"5 November 1977 (1977-11-05)7.575
"Part Three"12 November 1977 (1977-11-12)7.9—
"Part Four"19 November 1977 (1977-11-19)9.161
Scientists investigating an ancient skull unwittingly start to revive the Fendahl, an ancient life-form feared even by the Time Lords.
954The Sun Makers"Part One"Pennant RobertsRobert Holmes26 November 1977 (1977-11-26)4W8.5—
"Part Two"3 December 1977 (1977-12-03)9.5—
"Part Three"10 December 1977 (1977-12-10)8.968
"Part Four"17 December 1977 (1977-12-17)8.459
In the far future, the planet Pluto is habitable, heated by several miniature suns. However, the heat is available only to the ruling classes.
965Underworld"Part One"Norman StewartBob Baker and Dave Martin7 January 1978 (1978-01-07)4Y8.965
"Part Two"14 January 1978 (1978-01-14)9.1—
"Part Three"21 January 1978 (1978-01-21)8.9—
"Part Four"28 January 1978 (1978-01-28)11.7—
The remnants of the Minyans have an old link to the Time Lords. The Doctor must help them to find the hidden race banks that will save their dying race.
976The Invasion of Time"Part One"Gerald Blake"David Agnew"
(Graham Williams and Anthony Read)		4 February 1978 (1978-02-04)4Z11.256
"Part Two"11 February 1978 (1978-02-11)11.4—
"Part Three"18 February 1978 (1978-02-18)9.5—
"Part Four"25 February 1978 (1978-02-25)10.9—
"Part Five"4 March 1978 (1978-03-04)10.3—
"Part Six"11 March 1978 (1978-03-11)9.8—
The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, having claimed the Presidency. He orders Leela expelled from the Capitol Citadel. However, the Doctor is doing this to prevent a Vardan instigated disaster.

Production

Season fifteen proved to be a difficult transition period. Philip Hinchcliffe's departure coincided with the loss of a number of long-time contributors to the show as Graham Williams took over as Producer. Williams remarked, "I had to try and find some new ones, and that wasn't the least of the problems. Bob Holmes was stuck on Weng-Chiang for ages... all the scripts were coming in late...".[2]

Robert Holmes remained to work on the three stories he had commissioned, while his successor, Anthony Read, trailed him in preparation of taking over the position. Read, an experienced director and producer, had only agreed to the position of Script Editor because he was intrigued by the chance to work on Doctor Who. Holmes completed Horror of Fang Rock and The Invisible Enemy, before leaving due to creative exhaustion. Image of the Fendahl fell to Read, who had to hastily write K-9 into the story when Holmes made him a regular character.

While Tom Baker enjoyed working with John Leeson (the voice of K-9) in rehearsals, he disliked the prop. Holmes recalled, "it used to drive Tom spare, and more often than not, he'd kick it out of frustration."[2] Holmes agreed to write The Sun Makers, and while the story was meant to follow K-9's introduction and establish him as a regular character, scheduling problems--resulting in the shelving of scripts that Fang Rock had to replace--required the story order to change, with Fendahl preceding it.[2]

Baker had found it difficult to accept the violent Leela character since her introduction, contributing to growing tensions between himself and Louise Jameson. According to Jameson, the tension came to a head during the recording of Fang Rock, when she finally confronted Baker over multiple takes of a scene caused by him entering early and cutting her off.[3] Tensions between the two eased over the course of the season.

Read commissioned Bob Baker and Dave Martin to write Underworld, the penultimate story of the season. Right away, the production was hit hard by record inflation, resulting in the design staff working day and night and inventing new techniques and processes to complete the story on time.[4] The final story, The Invasion of Time, proved even more chaotic: with a reduced budget, a complete last-minute re-write by Read and Williams, and a BBC industrial-dispute between the props department and the electricians.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 3 September 1977 to 11 March 1978.

Home media

VHS releases

Season Story no. Serial name Number and duration
of episodes		 UK release date Australia release date USA/Canada release date
15 92 Horror of Fang Rock 4 x 25min. July 1998 November 1998 March 1999
93 The Invisible Enemy 4 x 25 min. September 2002 November 2002 October 2003
94 Image of the Fendahl 4 x 25 min. March 1993 July 1993 June 1996
95 The Sun Makers 4 x 25 min. July 2001 September 2001 February 2002
96 Underworld 4 x 25 min. March 2002 May 2002 May 2003
97 The Invasion of Time 6 x 25 min. March 2000
2 x VHS		 August 2000 August 2000
2 x VHS

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD

Season Story no. Serial name Number and duration
of episodes		 R2 release date R4 release date R1 release date
15 92 Horror of Fang Rock 4 × 25 min. 17 January 2005[5] 7 April 2005[6] 6 September 2005[7]
93 The Invisible Enemy[lower-alpha 1] 4 × 25 min. 16 June 2008[8] 4 September 2008[9] 2 September 2008[10]
94 Image of the Fendahl 4 × 25 min. 20 April 2009[11] 4 June 2009[12] 1 September 2009[13]
95 The Sun Makers 4 × 25 min. 1 August 2011[14] 1 September 2011[15] 9 August 2011[16]
96 Underworld[lower-alpha 2] 4 × 25 min. 29 March 2010[17] 3 June 2010[18][19][20] 6 July 2010[16]
97 The Invasion of Time[lower-alpha 3] 6 × 25 min. 5 May 2008[21] 3 July 2008[22] 2 September 2008[23]
92–97 Complete Season 15[lower-alpha 4] 26 × 25 min. 2024[24] TBA 4 June 2024[25]
  1. ↑ Only available as part of the K9 Tales box set with the Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company in all regions
  2. ↑ Only available as part of the Myths and Legends box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
  3. ↑ Available individually or in the Bred for War box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
  4. ↑ Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 15 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Tom Baker: Complete Season Four in Region A.

In print

Season Story no. Library no.[lower-alpha 1] Novelisation title Author Hardcover
release date[lower-alpha 2]		 Paperback
release date[lower-alpha 3]		 Audiobook
release date[lower-alpha 4]
1509232Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang RockTerrance Dicks30 March 19782 February 2017
09336Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy29 March 19792 August 2018
09434Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl26 July 19796 February 2020
09560Doctor Who and the Sunmakers18 November 19827 February 2019
09667Doctor Who and the Underworld24 January 19806 May 2021
09735Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time21 February 19801 September 2016
  1. ↑ Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
  2. ↑ Published by Target's parent companies (Allen Wingate, W. H. Allen, BBC Books) unless otherwise indicated
  3. ↑ Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
  4. ↑ Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated

References

  1. 1 2 "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel. Boxtree Ltd|Adrian Rigelsford, 1994.
  3. ↑ "The Horror of Fang Rock" DVD, Commentary Track.|BBC, 2005.
  4. ↑ "Underworld" DVD, Into the Unknown, Making-of Documentary.|BBC, 2010.
  5. ↑ Smith 2014, Horror of Fang Rock.
  6. ↑ "Doctor Who Horror At Fang Rock by Roadshow Home Ent - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock". 6 September 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
  8. ↑ Smith 2014, The Invisible Enemy.
  9. ↑ "Doctor Who K-9 Tales by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy". 2 September 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
  11. ↑ Smith 2014, Image of the Fendahl.
  12. ↑ "Doctor Who Image of the Fendahl by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  13. ↑ "Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl". 1 September 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
  14. ↑ Smith 2014, The Sun Makers.
  15. ↑ "Doctor Who The Sun Makers by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  16. 1 2 "Doctor Who: The Sun Makers". 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
  17. ↑ Smith 2014, Underworld.
  18. ↑ "Doctor Who Myths and Legends (The Time Monster, Underworld, and The Horns Of Nimon)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  19. ↑ "Doctor Who Myths and Legends". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  20. ↑ "Doctor Who Myths and Legends 3 DVD Set". BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  21. ↑ Smith 2014, The Invasion of Time.
  22. ↑ "Doctor Who Invasion of Time by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  23. ↑ "Doctor Who: The Invasion of Time". 2 September 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Amazon.
  24. ↑ "Season 15 announced as the next instalment in The Collection Blu-ray range". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season 4 (Blu-ray) - BBC Shop US". BBC Shop. Retrieved 11 January 2024.

Bibliography

  • Smith, Paul (2014). The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium. United Kingdom: Wonderful Books. ISBN 978-0-9576062-2-7.
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