Season 2 (Doctor Who 1963)

You may wish to consult Series 2 for other, similarly-named pages.

The second season of Doctor Who ran between 31 October 1964 and 24 July 1965. It consisted of nine serials and thirty-nine episodes. Milestones this season included not one but two encore appearances by the Daleks; the departure of the original three companions, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton; and the first appearance of someone else from the Doctor and Susan's home planet.

Amongst the black and white seasons, season 2 has the most extant telerecordings; only the two missing episodes of The Crusade haven't been recovered as of December 2014.

Television stories

#	Title	Writer	Episodes	Notes
1	Planet of Giants	Louis Marks	3	First story other than the initial episode to be set on present day Earth.
2	The Dalek Invasion of Earth	Terry Nation	6	Final appearance of Susan Foreman and first encore appearance of an enemy.
3	The Rescue	David Whitaker	2	First appearance of Vicki.
4	The Romans	Dennis Spooner	4	First story to feature the talents of a major actor, Derek Francis.
5	The Web Planet	Bill Strutton	6	First appearance of a Great Old One.
6	The Crusade	David Whitaker	4	First story with a true multi-ethnic cast.
7	The Space Museum	Glyn Jones	4	First story to depict the dimensions of time and space; contains a cliffhanger that precludes the return of the Daleks.
8	The Chase	Terry Nation	6	First appearance of Steven Taylor and final appearances of Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. First and only appearance of the Mechanoids.
9	The Time Meddler	Dennis Spooner	4	First appearance of another member of the Doctor and Susan's race, though not yet identified as Time Lords.

Notes

• Each story consisted of between two and six episodes, with each chapter having a different episode title. Unlike season 1, however, the overall titles given to season 2 stories are generally widely accepted.

Cast

Recurring

• The First Doctor - William Hartnell
• Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
• Ian Chesterton - William Russell
• Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
• Vicki Pallister - Maureen O'Brien
• Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
• The Monk - Peter Butterworth

Guest

• Forester - Alan Tilvern
• David Campbell - Peter Fraser
• Bennett - Ray Barrett
• Maximus Pettulian - Bart Allison
• Vrestin - Roslyn De Winter
• William des Preaux - John Flint
• Sita - Peter Sanders
• Abraham Lincoln - Robert Marsden

Stories set during this season

• The Time Travellers is set between Planet of Giants and The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
• Venusian Lullaby is set between The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Rescue.
• The Book of Shadows is set directly after Venusian Lullaby.
• The Revenants is set between The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Rescue.
• Romans Cutaway and Byzantium! are set between the cliffhanger that ends The Rescue and the main action of The Romans.
• Starborn is set directly after The Romans.
• The Rocket Men and Unnatural Selection are set between The Web Planet and The Crusade.
• The Sleeping City is set between The Crusade and The Chase.
• The Doctor's Tale is set after The Crusade and before The Chase.
• The Plotters is set between The Space Museum and The Chase.
• The Eleventh Tiger is set after The Plotters and before The Chase.

Ratings

• Average: 10.5 million
• Highest: 13.5 million (The Web Planet episode 1 - "The Web Planet")
• Lowest: 7.7 million (The Time Meddler episode 3 - "A Battle of Wits")

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

VHS

• Planet of Giants (2002)
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1990) (in 2 parts)
• The Rescue/The Romans (1994)
• The Web Planet (1990)
• The Crusade and The Space Museum (1999) (Contains episodes 1 and 3 of The Crusade with narration of missing episodes)
• The Chase (1993)
• The Time Meddler (2002)
• The Hartnell Years (1991) (The Crusade Episode 3)

Loose Cannon VHS release

• The Crusade (2000) (episodes 2 and 4 only, with narration of existing episodes)

DVD releases

Serial name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
Planet of Giants	3 × 25 min	20 August 2012	5 September 2012	11 September 2012
The Dalek Invasion of Earth	6 × 25 min.	9 June 2003	13 August 2003	7 October 2003
The Rescue/The Romans: The Rescue (2 episodes) The Romans (4 episodes)	6 × 25 min.	23 February 2009	2 April 2009	7 July 2009
The Web Planet	6 × 25 min.	3 October 2005	3 November 2005	5 September 2006
The Space Museum/The Chase: The Space Museum (4 episodes) The Chase (6 episodes)	10 × 25 min.	1 March 2010	6 May 2010	6 July 2010
The Time Meddler	4 × 25 min.	4 February 2008	2 April 2008	5 August 2008
The Crusade (episodes 1 & 3 of 4; soundtracks of 2 & 4) {Lost in Time: William Hartnell}	6 × 25 min. + 2 × 25 min. audio	1 November 2004	2 December 2004 (Original release) 1 July 2010 (Re-release)	2 November 2004

Download/streaming availability

Serial name	Amazon Video	BBC Store	BritBox	iTunes
Planet of Giants (3 episodes)		✓	✓
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (6 episodes)	UK	✓	✓	✓
The Rescue (2 episodes)		✓	✓
The Romans (4 episodes)			✓
The Web Planet (6 episodes)		✓	✓
The Crusade
The Space Museum (4 episodes)		✓	✓
The Chase (6 episodes)		✓	✓
The Time Meddler (4 episodes)		✓	✓

BBC Store is available only in the UK. BritBox is available only in Canada and the US. iTunes stores carry Doctor Who serials in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US.

Novels

• Doctor Who – Planet of Giants
• Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Doctor Who – The Rescue
• Doctor Who − The Romans
• Doctor Who and the Zarbi
• Doctor Who and the Crusaders
• Doctor Who – The Space Museum
• Doctor Who – The Chase
• Doctor Who – The Time Meddler

Audiobooks

• The Crusade

Theatrical film

• Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. - based upon the second serial, The Dalek Invasion of Earth

External links

• BBC Website Guide to Season 2