Doctor Who season 8

This article is about the 1971 season. For the 2014 series, see Doctor Who (series 8).

Doctor Who (season 8)
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Starring	Jon Pertwee Katy Manning Nicholas Courtney John Levene Richard Franklin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	25 5 stories
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	2 January 1971 (1971-01-02) – 19 June 1971 (1971-06-19)

The eighth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 2 January 1971 with Terror of the Autons and ended with The Dæmons featuring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.

Casting

See also: List of Doctor Who cast members

Main cast

• Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor
• Katy Manning as Jo Grant

Jon Pertwee continues his role as the Third Doctor. Katy Manning makes her first appearance as companion Jo Grant in Terror of the Autons.

Recurring cast

• Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
• John Levene as Sergeant Benton
• Richard Franklin as Mike Yates
• Roger Delgado as The Master

Nicholas Courtney and John Levene continue their roles of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, while Richard Franklin makes his first appearance as Captain Mike Yates.

Roger Delgado makes his first appearance as The Master in Terror of the Autons and continues to make appearances in each of the five serials.

Guest stars

Fernanda Marlowe makes appearances in The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos as Corporal Bell.

Serials

The season marks the first appearance of the Master who goes on to make further appearances through the season in every serial as the main antagonist who is finally captured at the end of the season. Colony in Space was the first serial set away from Earth since The War Games at the end of Season 6, and came about as a result of producer Barry Letts' feeling that the Earthbound stories of the Doctor's exile were too limiting in terms of potential plotting.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
55	1	Terror of the Autons	Barry Letts	Robert Holmes	2 January 1971 9 January 1971 16 January 1971 23 January 1971	EEE	7.3 8.0 8.1 8.4	—
The Master arrives on Earth and makes an alliance with the Autons to conquer the planet.
56	2	The Mind of Evil	Timothy Combe	Don Houghton	30 January 1971 6 February 1971 13 February 1971 20 February 1971 27 February 1971 6 March 1971	FFF	6.1 8.8 7.5 7.4 7.6 7.3	—
The Master creates the Keller Machine, a device that appears to rehabilitate prisoners, but instead kills them.
57	3	The Claws of Axos	Michael Ferguson	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	13 March 1971 20 March 1971 27 March 1971 3 April 1971	GGG	7.3 8.0 6.4 7.8	—
The Axons land on Earth supposedly peacefully, even offering a new energy source. However, that is not their real purpose.
58	4	Colony in Space	Michael E. Briant	Malcolm Hulke	10 April 1971 17 April 1971 24 April 1971 1 May 1971 8 May 1971 15 May 1971	HHH	7.6 8.5 9.5 8.1 8.8 8.7	—
On his first trip to another planet since his regeneration, the Doctor and Jo travel to Uxaerius, where they find that its colonists are struggling to survive.
59	5	The Dæmons	Christopher Barry	Guy Leopold (Robert Sloman and Barry Letts)	22 May 1971 29 May 1971 5 June 1971 12 June 1971 19 June 1971	JJJ	9.2 8.0 8.1 8.1 8.3	—
The Master summons Azal to assist him in an incident that happened at an archaeological dig at Devil's End.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 2 January to 19 June 1971.

DVD releases

See also: List of Doctor Who home video releases

Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
Terror of the Autons Only available as part of the Mannequin Mania box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.	4 × 25 min.	9 May 2011	2 June 2011	10 May 2011
Terror of the Autons - Doctor Who DVD Files Issue 101	4 × 25 min.	14 November 2012	14 November 2012	N/A
The Mind of Evil	6 × 25 min.	3 June 2013	5 June 2013	11 June 2013
The Claws of Axos	4 × 25 min.	25 April 2005	2 June 2005	8 November 2005
The Claws of Axos - Special Edition	4 x 25 min.	22 October 2012	7 November 2012	13 November 2012
The Claws of Axos - Doctor Who DVD Files Issue 97	4 × 25 min.	19 September 2012	19 September 2012	N/A
Colony in Space	6 × 25 min.	3 October 2011	1 December 2011	8 November 2011
The Dæmons	5 × 25 min.	19 March 2012	19 April 2012	10 April 2012

In print

Main article: List of Doctor Who novelisations

Serial name	Novelisation title	Author	First published
Terror of the Autons	Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons	Terrance Dicks	1975
The Mind of Evil	The Mind of Evil	Terrance Dicks	1985
The Claws of Axos	Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos	Terrance Dicks	1977
Colony in Space	Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon	Malcolm Hulke	1974
The Dæmons	Doctor Who and the Dæmons	Barry Letts	1974