Doctor Who season 17

The seventeenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 1 September 1979 with the story Destiny of the Daleks, and ended with The Horns of Nimon. This was Graham Williams' final season producing Doctor Who. The script editor was Douglas Adams.

Doctor Who
Season 17
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring	Tom Baker Lalla Ward David Brierly
No. of stories	5 (+1 unaired)
No. of episodes	20 (+6 unaired)
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	1 September 1979 (1979-09-01) – 12 January 1980 (1980-01-12)
Season chronology
List of episodes

Casting

See also: List of Doctor Who cast members

Main cast

• Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor
• Lalla Ward as Romana
• David Brierly as Voice of K9

Tom Baker continued as the Fourth Doctor. Lalla Ward, who played Princess Astra in the season 16 finale The Armageddon Factor, returned to the series as the newly regenerated Romana, replacing Mary Tamm in the role. After John Leeson declined to return as K9, David Brierly replaced him in the part for the season's final four serials, including Shada.

Serials

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

Season 17 was intended to follow the same format as had every season since Season 13, with five 4-part serials and a 6-parter closing the season out. However, the planned final serial of the season, Shada, was affected by an industrial dispute involving the BBC's technicians; while the location filming and the first studio recording session were completed, strike action by staff meant that the planned second studio session had to be cancelled. Although the dispute was resolved and plans were put in place to continue work on the story, it was eventually shelved, as the BBC was concerned that its Christmas productions might be affected. A BBC historian has suggested that by cancelling completely instead of finishing what little was required, the management could demonstrate that the strikes had consequences.^[1] Ironically, the viewer ratings of Season 17 were also affected by a strike, with the BBC's main rival, ITV, off air due to a dispute.

No. story	No. in season	Serial title	Episode titles	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions) [2][3]	AI [2][3]
104	1	Destiny of the Daleks	"Episode One"	Ken Grieve	Terry Nation	1 September 1979 (1979-09-01)	5J	13.0	67
			"Episode Two"			8 September 1979 (1979-09-08)		12.7	—
			"Episode Three"			15 September 1979 (1979-09-15)		13.8	63
			"Episode Four"			22 September 1979 (1979-09-22)		14.4	64
The TARDIS lands the Fourth Doctor and Romana on a strangely familiar planet. There, they meet the android Movellans, who are locked in a war with the Daleks. The planet is Skaro, and in a bunker sits an enemy long thought dead — Davros, creator of the Daleks.
105	2	City of Death	"Part One"	Michael Hayes	"David Agnew" (Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, from a story by David Fisher)	29 September 1979 (1979-09-29)	5H	12.4	—
			"Part Two"			6 October 1979 (1979-10-06)		14.1	64
			"Part Three"			13 October 1979 (1979-10-13)		15.4	—
			"Part Four"			20 October 1979 (1979-10-20)		16.1	64
In 1979 Paris, the alien Scaroth intends to erase human history by saving his fellow Jagaroth 400 million years in the past.
106	3	The Creature from the Pit	"Part One"	Christopher Barry	David Fisher	27 October 1979 (1979-10-27)	5G	9.3	—
			"Part Two"			3 November 1979 (1979-11-03)		10.8	67
			"Part Three"			10 November 1979 (1979-11-10)		10.2	—
			"Part Four"			17 November 1979 (1979-11-17)		9.6	—
On the planet Chloris, the Doctor and Romana soon find themselves caught up in a long and secret enmity between the Lady Adrasta, who rules the planet in fear, and the mysterious creature that she keeps in a pit.
107	4	Nightmare of Eden	"Part One"	Alan Bromly	Bob Baker	24 November 1979 (1979-11-24)	5K	8.7	—
			"Part Two"			1 December 1979 (1979-12-01)		9.6	—
			"Part Three"			8 December 1979 (1979-12-08)		9.6	—
			"Part Four"			15 December 1979 (1979-12-15)		9.4	65
The TARDIS lands at the site of a hyperspatial collision between two spacecraft – as a result of which, neither ship is dimensionally stable, risking the lives of all those aboard.
108	5	The Horns of Nimon	"Part One"	Kenny McBain	Anthony Read	22 December 1979 (1979-12-22)	5L	6.0	—
			"Part Two"			29 December 1979 (1979-12-29)		8.8	—
			"Part Three"			5 January 1980 (1980-01-05)		9.8	—
			"Part Four"			12 January 1980 (1980-01-12)		10.4	67
After colliding with a spaceship, the Doctor, Romana and K9 learn that young natives from a peaceful planet called Aneth are being transported into a great labyrinth called the "Power Complex".
108.5[4]	—	Shada	N/A	Pennant Roberts	Douglas Adams	19 July 2018 (2018-07-19)[note 1]	5M	—	—
The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, an up-and-coming would-be conqueror of the universe, needs the assistance of one of the prison's inmates, but finds that nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth.

Broadcast

Part 4 of The Horns of Nimon saw the last appearance of the diamond-shaped logo that had been used since The Time Warrior in 1973 until it was reintroduced in the 60th anniversary specials starting with "The Star Beast" in 2023.

The entire season was broadcast from 1 September 1979 to 12 January 1980.

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
17	104	Destiny of the Daleks	4 x 25 min	July 1994	August 1994	May 1997
	105	City of Death	4 x 25 min	April 1991	September 1991	May 1994
	106	The Creature from the Pit	4 x 25 min	July 2002	October 2002	October 2003
	107	Nightmare of Eden	4 x 25 min.	December 1998	March 1999	May 1999
	108	The Horns of Nimon	4 x 25 min.	June 2003	September 2003	October 2003
	108.5[6]	Shada	—	July 1992	February 1993	October 1992

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

• ^(B) indicates a Blu-ray release
• ^(D,B) indicates a simultaneous DVD and Blu-ray release

Season	Story no.	Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
17	104	Destiny of the Daleks[a]	4 × 25 min.	26 November 2007[7]	6 February 2008[8]	4 March 2008[9]
	105	City of Death	4 × 25 min.	7 November 2005[10]	1 December 2005[11]	8 November 2005[12]
	106	The Creature from the Pit	4 × 25 min.	3 May 2010[13]	1 July 2010[14]	7 September 2010[15]
	107	Nightmare of Eden	4 × 25 min.	2 April 2012[16]	3 May 2012[17]	8 May 2012[18]
	108	The Horns of Nimon[b]	4 × 25 min.	29 March 2010[19]	3 June 2010[20][21][22]	6 July 2010[23]
	108.5[24]	Shada[c]	1 × 25 min. 4 × 18 min. 1 × 14 min.	7 January 2013[25]	9 January 2013[26]	8 January 2013[27]
		Shada (Animated Edition)	1 × 138 min.	4 December 2017(D,B) [28]	10 January 2018(D,B) [29]	4 September 2018[30][31]
	104–108[d]	Complete Season 17[e]	27 × 25 min. 1 × 138 min. 4 × 18 min. 1 × 14 min.	20 December 2021 (B) [32]	16 February 2022 (B) [33]	5 April 2022 (B) [34]

1. Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
2. Only available as part of the Myths and Legends box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
3. Only available as part of The Legacy Box set (Regions 2 and 4). Released with the same materials in the box set as Shada in Region 1.
4. Including Shada
5. Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Tom Baker: Complete Season Six in Region A.

In print

See also: List of Doctor Who novelisations

Season	Story no.	Library no.[a]	Novelisation title	Author	Hardcover release date[b]	Paperback release date[c]	Audiobook release date[d]
17	104	21	Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks	Terrance Dicks	22 November 1979		5 September 2024[35]
	105	—	City of Death (unabridged)	James Goss	21 May 2015	11 February 2016[e]	21 May 2015
			City of Death (abridged)		—	5 April 2018	—
	106	11	Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit	David Fisher	15 January 1981		7 April 2008
	107	45	Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden	Terrance Dicks	18 September 1980	21 August 1980	6 October 2022
	108	31	Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon		16 October 1980		4 April 2024[36]
	108.5[37]	—	Shada	Gareth Roberts	15 March 2012	31 January 2013[e]	15 March 2012

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
5. Published by BBC Books

Notes

1. Shada was initially left unfinished due to a strike. The serial was eventually completed using animation, released digitally in November 2017, and later broadcast by BBC America on 19 July 2018 in a feature-length edit.^[5]