Season 12 (Doctor Who 1963)

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The twelfth season of Doctor Who ran between 28th December 1974 and 10th May 1975. It was the first season of the series to feature Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. It was also the last Doctor Who season to have a December/January start until the Peter Davison era.

Overview

Season 12 consisted of 5 serials, and 20 episodes, which made it the shortest season to date. The season was shortened due to a decision by the BBC to move Terror of the Zygons, originally intended as the finale, to the start of Season 13 in order to allow the next season to begin earlier and allow Doctor Who to better compete against the soon-to-debut Space: 1999. All the stories in this season were interconnected, with several forming a loose story arc relating to Space Station Nerva. The Cybermen return to the series for the first time since The Invasion. Genesis of the Daleks, a story which introduced Davros and showed the creation of the Daleks is one of the most famous of all Doctor Who serials.

Television Stories

#	Title	Writer	Episodes	Notes
1	Robot	Terrance Dicks	4	First appearance of Harry Sullivan; final regular appearance of Bessie. First story to feature videotaped exteriors
2	The Ark in Space	Robert Holmes	4
3	The Sontaran Experiment	Bob Baker Dave Martin	2
4	Genesis of the Daleks	Terry Nation	6	First appearance of Davros
5	Revenge of the Cybermen	Gerry Davis	4	First full appearance of the Cybermen since 1969

Main Cast

Regular

• The Doctor - Tom Baker (introduced Robot)
• Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
• Harry Sullivan - Ian Marter (introduced Robot)

Guest

• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney (Robot)
• Warrant Officer Benton - John Levene (Robot)

Notes

• Though they only appeared in one story during Season 12, the Brigadier and Benton had appeared more prominently in previous stories.

Adaptations and Merchandising

Home Media

VHS

• Robot
• The Ark in Space
• The Sontaran Experiment/Genesis of the Daleks
• Revenge of the Cybermen
• The Tom Baker Years (extracts from each of the stories)

DVD

• Robot (2007)
• The Ark in Space (2002)
• The Sontaran Experiment (2006)
• Genesis of the Daleks (2006)
• Revenge of the Cybermen (2010)

Novels

• Doctor Who and the Giant Robot
• Doctor Who and the Ark in Space
• Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment
• Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks
• Revenge of the Cybermen

Scriptbooks

• In 2004, BBC Books published a hardcover, annotated collection of all the scripts from Season 12.

External links

• BBC website guide to Season 12

Previous season: Season 11

Next season: Season 13