Season 17 (Doctor Who 1963)

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The seventeenth season of Doctor Who ran between 1st September 1979 and 12th January 1980. It consisted of 5 stories and 20 episodes, plus the incomplete Shada, unfinished as a result of an industrial strike. Lalla Ward joined as Romana II, and the season is notable for the involvement of Douglas Adams in the writing department. This was the last season to use the traditional Delia Derbyshire "Doctor Who theme" arrangement.

Stories

• Destiny of the Daleks (4 episodes)
• City of Death (4 episodes)
• The Creature from the Pit (4 episodes)
• Nightmare of Eden (4 episodes)
• The Horns of Nimon (4 episodes)
• Shada (6 episodes; not completed and un-aired)

Regular cast

• The Doctor - Tom Baker
• Romana - Lalla Ward (introduction)
• K-9 (voice) - David Brierley (appears in The Creature from the Pit, Nightmare of Eden, The Horns of Nimon)

Notes

• Romana regenerates off screen, appearing in her new form at the start of Destiny of the Daleks.
• Season 17 had David Brierley replacing John Leeson as the voice of K-9. Leeson would return in Season 18 and all subsequent guest appearances and in the reconstructed video version of Shada.

Adaptations and merchandising

Video

VHS

• Destiny of the Daleks
• City of Death
• The Creature from the Pit
• Nightmare of Eden
• The Horns of Nimon
• Shada (with extra post-production work and linking narration of unfilmed sequences)
• The Tom Baker Years (extracts from all stories)

DVD

• Destiny of the Daleks
• City of Death

Novelisations

• Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks
• Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit
• Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden
• Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon

Contemporaries

Other selected TV series launched during the 1979-80 season:

• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Benson
• The Facts of Life
• Knots Landing
• Antiques Roadshow
• Nightline
• 3-2-1 Contact
• Mystery!
• That's Incredible!
• The Other 'Arf

External Links

BBC website guide to Season 17

Previous season: Season 16

Next season: Season 18