Doctor Who season 25

The twenty-fifth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 October 1988. It comprised four separate serials, beginning with Remembrance of the Daleks and ending with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. To mark the 25th anniversary season, producer John Nathan-Turner brought back the Daleks and the Cybermen. The American New Jersey Network also made a special behind-the-scenes documentary called The Making of Doctor Who, which followed the production of the 25th anniversary story Silver Nemesis. Andrew Cartmel script edited the series.

Doctor Who
Season 25
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring	Sylvester McCoy Sophie Aldred
No. of stories	4
No. of episodes	14
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	5 October 1988 (1988-10-05) – 4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)
Season chronology
List of episodes

Background

Season 25 saw script editor Andrew Cartmel, who had joined for the previous season, exert a greater influence on the style of the series. He had watched serials from the Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes era such as The Seeds of Doom and The Talons of Weng-Chiang in preparation for it and concluded that the series should return to a more serious and dramatic approach.^[1] The season also saw the start of a move to explore the Doctor's past; Cartmel had felt that as more of the character's own history, together with the history of the Time Lords, had been revealed, some of the mystery about the Doctor had been lost. As a consequence, together with new writers Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt, he began developing the seeds of a new backstory, which would be hinted at throughout the season, that suggested the Doctor to be more powerful than most people were aware of.^[2] This concept eventually came to be known as the "Cartmel Masterplan".

Cartmel Masterplan

The Cartmel Masterplan is a fan name for the planned Doctor Who backstory developed primarily by script editor Andrew Cartmel and writers Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt, by which they intended to restore some of the mystery of the Doctor's background that had been lost through revelation of the existing backstory.^[2] Although hints were dropped in the last two seasons, the proposed revelations never materialised on screen as the programme was not renewed into the 1990s.

Some of the stories during the Seventh Doctor's tenure were intended to deal with the lack of mystery by suggesting that much of what was believed about the Doctor was wrong and that he was a far more powerful and mysterious figure than previously thought. In an untelevised scene in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), the Doctor stated that he was "far more than just another Time Lord." In Silver Nemesis (1988), lines about the creation of validium and Lady Peinforte knowing the Doctor's secrets were meant to point towards this mystery.^[2]

In 2014, Cartmel speculated that the "great secret" Lady Peinforte knew about the Doctor in Silver Nemesis was "perhaps" connected to his name, which during the siege on the Fields of Trenzalore in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) is said to be what would allow the Time Lords to return to the universe.^[3]

The Other was first mentioned explicitly in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks (1990) by Ben Aaronovitch as a shadowy figure in Time Lord history, one of the founding Triumvirate of Time Lord society after the overthrow of the cult of the Pythia that had, until then, dominated Gallifrey.^[4] The other two members of the Triumvirate were Rassilon and Omega.

Casting

See also: List of Doctor Who cast members

Main cast

• Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor
• Sophie Aldred as Ace

Recurring stars

• Terry Molloy as Davros

Terry Molloy makes his final appearance as Davros, the Dalek creator (now acting as the Dalek Emperor) in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Guest Stars

John Leeson who previously regularly voiced the robot companion K9 from 1977 to 1978 and 1980–1981, appears as one of the Dalek voices in Remembrance of the Daleks.

David Banks makes his final of four appearances in the series in Silver Nemesis as a Cyber-leader.

Serials

See also: List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989)

This season was broadcast on Wednesdays.

No. story	No. in season	Serial title	Episode titles	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions) [5][6]	AI [5][6]
148	1	Remembrance of the Daleks	"Part One"	Andrew Morgan	Ben Aaronovitch	5 October 1988 (1988-10-05)	7H	5.5	68
			"Part Two"			12 October 1988 (1988-10-12)		5.8	69
			"Part Three"			19 October 1988 (1988-10-19)		5.1	70
			"Part Four"			26 October 1988 (1988-10-26)		5.0	72
The Seventh Doctor and Ace arrive in Shoreditch in 1963, where two Dalek factions are fighting: Imperial Daleks on an orbiting mothership, controlling the Coal Hill School, and Renegade Daleks, controlling the junkyard. Both sides seek the Hand of Omega, a Time Lord device the Doctor left on Earth during his first visit to 1963. The Renegades are using a schoolgirl as their eyes and ears. The Renegades find the Hand and Imperial Daleks arrive to seize it from them, defeating them and wiping out all but a Supreme Dalek. The Imperial Daleks take the Hand to the mothership, leaving for their home planet, Skaro. The Doctor establishes communication with the Dalek Emperor, who is really their creator, Davros, who means to destroy the Time Lords. The Doctor mocks him but then feigns fear. Davros launches the Hand, Skaro's sun goes supernova, and Skaro is destroyed along with the mothership. The Hand returns to Gallifrey. The Doctor persuades the Supreme Dalek to relinquish control of the schoolgirl. The Supreme Dalek self-destructs, and the girl screams and faints, but is unharmed. Ace asks the Doctor if tricking Davros was good, to which he responds: "Time will tell".
149	2	The Happiness Patrol	"Part One"	Chris Clough	Graeme Curry	2 November 1988 (1988-11-02)	7L	5.3	67
			"Part Two"			9 November 1988 (1988-11-09)		4.6	65
			"Part Three"			16 November 1988 (1988-11-16)		5.3	65
Terra Alpha is under the steel fist of Helen A and her executioner, a sadistic robot made out of sweets called the Kandy Man. Joy is perpetual on Terra Alpha, because to be unhappy invites the wrath of Helen A's crack police force, the Happiness Patrol. Allying themselves with Terra Alpha's oppressed natives, the Pipe People, a former Happiness Patrolwoman named Susan Q and blues player Earl Sigma, the Doctor and Ace must end Helen A's reign of terror.
150	3	Silver Nemesis	"Part One"	Chris Clough	Kevin Clarke	23 November 1988 (1988-11-23)	7K	6.1	71
			"Part Two"			30 November 1988 (1988-11-30)[a]		5.2	70
			"Part Three"			7 December 1988 (1988-12-07)[a]		5.2	70
In the year 1638, the Doctor sends into orbit around Earth a statue called Nemesis. It is made of the deadly living validium, which served Gallifrey as its last line of defence. In 1988, the Nemesis statue's orbit decays, it returns to Earth, and is pursued on Earth by three factions: the Cybermen, a Neo-Nazi named De Flores, and the mad, time-travelling Lady Peinforte, The latter faction nearly gained possession of the statue in 1638 and knows the darkest secrets of the Doctor's past.
151	4	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy	"Part One"	Alan Wareing	Stephen Wyatt	14 December 1988 (1988-12-14)	7J	5.0	68
			"Part Two"			21 December 1988 (1988-12-21)		5.3	66
			"Part Three"			28 December 1988 (1988-12-28)		4.8	69
			"Part Four"			4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)		6.6	64
Despite Ace's protestations that she hates clowns, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to Segonax to see the famed Psychic Circus. But there they discover that the self-styled Greatest Show In The Galaxy has become something sinister: its founder, Kingpin, has disappeared; the callous Chief Clown deals violently with anyone who tries to flee; and prospective Circus stars must entertain an enigmatic family – or die. The time travellers learn that the Psychic Circus has fallen under the influence of the evil Gods of Ragnarok, and the Doctor's next performance may be his last.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 5 October 1988 to 4 January 1989. Transmission moved to Wednesday nights. Season twenty-five was originally to have been broadcast in production order, with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy second. However, the expected start of the season on 7 September was postponed to 5 October as a result of BBC coverage of the Seoul Summer Olympics. Nathan-Turner still wanted to lead off the year with Remembrance of the Daleks and have episode one of the twenty-fifth anniversary story, Silver Nemesis, broadcast on 23 November – the actual date of Doctor Who's 25th anniversary. This left only three weeks in between the two serials. Consequently, the original season finale, The Happiness Patrol, was exchanged with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

Home media

See also: List of Doctor Who home video releases and List of other Doctor Who home video releases

VHS releases

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	UK release date	Australia release date	USA/Canada release date
25	148	Remembrance of the Daleks	4 x 25 mins	September 1993	September 1993	October 1993
	149	The Happiness Patrol	3 x 25 mins	August 1997	May 1998	March 1998
	150	Silver Nemesis - Extended Edition	3 x 25 mins	April 1993	June 1993	August 1994
	151	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy	4 x 25 mins	January 2000	September 1999	November 1999

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

• ^(B) indicates a Blu-ray release

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
25	148	Remembrance of the Daleks	4 × 25 min.	26 February 2001[8]	8 May 2002[9]	2 April 2002[10]
		Remembrance of the Daleks (Special Edition)[b]	4 × 25 min.	26 November 2007 20 July 2009[11][c]	2 June 2008[12] 1 October 2009[13][d]	2 March 2010[14]
	149	The Happiness Patrol[e]	3 × 25 min.	7 May 2012[15]	7 June 2012[16]	8 May 2012[17]
	150	Silver Nemesis[f]	3 × 25 min.	9 August 2010[18]	7 October 2010[19]	2 November 2010[20]
	151	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy	4 × 25 min.	30 July 2012[21]	16 August 2012[22]	14 August 2012[23]
	148–151	Complete Season 25[g]	14 × 25 min.	21 October 2024 (B) [24]	18 December 2024 (B) [25]	25 February 2025 (B) [26]

1. Parts Two and Three of Silver Nemesis were first broadcast in New Zealand on 25 November 1988 as part of a compilation broadcast before their UK transmission.^[7]
2. Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
3. The Regions 2 and 4 releases of the Special Edition of Remembrance of the Daleks was originally only available as part of The Complete Davros Collection box set, but was later re-released on its own.
4. The Regions 2 and 4 releases of the Special Edition of Remembrance of the Daleks was originally only available as part of The Complete Davros Collection box set, but was later re-released on its own.
5. Only available as part of the Ace Adventures box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
6. Only available as part of the Cybermen box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
7. Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 25 in Region B.

In print

See also: List of Doctor Who novelisations

Season	Story no.	Library no.[a]	Novelisation title	Author	Paperback release date[b]	Audiobook release date[c]
25	148	148	Remembrance of the Daleks	Ben Aaronovitch	21 June 1990	19 February 2015
	149	146	The Happiness Patrol	Graeme Curry	15 February 1990	2 July 2009
	150	143	Silver Nemesis	Kevin Clarke	16 November 1989	6 July 2023[27]
	151	144	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy	Stephen Wyatt	21 December 1989	1 August 2013

1. Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
2. Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
3. Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated